Migration and health policies in Europe
Refugees’ and asylum seekers’ access to health care is an important aspect of their mid- to long-term integration into host countries’ societies – or of political endeavours to keep them at the margins of society, based on different conceptions of these persons either as temporary residents, or as future citizens of the host country. This research project studies the political regulation of refugees’ and asylum seekers’ access to health care in different EU member states.
The institutional evolution of the European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) – today one of the most powerful actors at EU level – was intended to be a mere consultative assembly at the founding of the European Communities. This research project sheds light on the beginnings of the EP’s parliamentarisation, from its establishment in 1952 to its first direct elections in 1979.
The informal construction of Europe
Informal dimensions of European integration have received limited academic attention to date, despite their historical and contemporary importance. This research project demonstrates how informality has impacted the functioning and development of the European Communities, and later the European Union, as well as other European and transatlantic organisations, such as the Western European Union, the G7 and NATO.
The supranational-level activism of EU institutions
This research project sheds light on the supranational-level activism of a wide range of EU institutions in the past and present. Based on a concise definition and conceptualisation of ‘supranational institutional activism’, this project contributes to a more systematic and comprehensive understanding of the contribution of different actors involved in EU policy making and European integration.
The development of EU social policy
The EU’s social policy differs in many respects from conventional definitions of (national) social policy, being principally regulatory and to a significant extent governed through soft-law mechanisms, whereas the power to decide upon distribution schemes remains at the member state level. Over the first decades of the European Communities’ existence, decision-making power on almost any aspect of social policy remained firmly in member state government hands. This research project studies how, nevertheless, a social dimension of the Communities emerged and expanded in the 1950s to 1980.
The EU discourse on atypical employment
An increasing number of persons in the EU member states are working in forms of employment that are considered atypical, i.e. occupations without clearly determined employer-employee relations, working hours, working place, wages, social-security coverage, or effective protection by labour law. This research project analyses how EU institutions and member states have come to define atypical work and have attempted to regulate it, and how their notions of atypical work have changed in recent years.