T I M E SAutumn 2013 times.eui.eu Governing the ungovernable Guarding the guardians Hitting the debt ceiling PROFILES OPINIONS EVENTS | ntroduction Welcome to the fourth edition of EUI Times, the quarterly electronic magazine produced by the European University Institute in Florence. In this issue’s feature section we look first at the issue of climate govern- ance, asking how nations respond to climate change, and at the related work being done at the EUI by the Florence School of Regulation and the Global Governance Programme. We also profile the Centre for Me- dia Pluralism and Media Freedom and its activities towards developing a transparent measure of media pluralism. Our final feature is a Q&A with Professor David Levine, giving an economist’s view of the US gov- ernment shut down and debt ceiling negotiations. The EUI Times Profiles feature Brigid Laffan, the new Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, as she embarks on her five year term. We also speak to Ben Hammersley, Robert Schuman Fel- low at the Global Governance Programme, about his work which looks at the threat of terrorism through the prism of public health. Finally we interview Joseph Lacey, researcher in the Department of Political and Social Sciences and Fulbright Scholar at Princeton University, about his work on multilingual democracies. The Opinion section features contributions from two distinguished EUI professors. In light of the revelations about the activities of the US National Security Agency, Professor Martin Scheinin discusses the le- gal boundaries of mass electronic surveillance systems. Professor Hans- peter Kriesi looks back at September’s German general election and its implications for the European Union. We also invite readers to take a look at some key upcoming events, as well as a selection of recent publications by EUI members. As ever your thoughts and comments are welcome and can be sent to [email protected] I hope you enjoy the Autumn 2013 issue of EUI Times. Stephan Albrechtskirchinger Director, Communications Service T I M E S Autumn 2013 Features Features Features 4 GOVERNING THE 7 GUARDING THE 10 HITTING THE DEBT UNGOVERNABLE GUARDIANS CEILING The Florence School of A talk with the RSCAS' Centre Q&A with economist David Regulation and the Global for Media Pluralism and Levine on the October US Governance Programme talk Media Freedom government shut-down Climate Change Policy Profiles Profiles Profiles 13 Faculty 15 Fellow 17 Researcher A NEW DIRECTOR FOR THE A NON-TRADITIONAL LANGUAGE AND DEMOCRACY ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE ACADEMIC Joseph Lacey Brigid Laffan Ben Hammersley Opinions Opinions 20 Events 18 ELECTRONIC MASS 19 THE GERMAN ELECTIONS AND 23 Publications SURVEILLANCE VIOLATES EUROPE HUMAN RIGHTS Hanspeter Kriesi Martin Scheinin T I M E SAutumn 2013 times.eui.eu Governing the ungovernable Guarding the guardians Hitting the debt EUI TIMES European University Institute ceiling Autumn 2013 Badia Fiesolana - Via dei Roccettini, 9 PROFILES 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) - Italy OPINIONS EVENTS Director: Stephan Albrechtskirchinger +39 055 4685266 Editor: Jackie Gordon www.eui.eu Writing: Mark Briggs twitter: @europeanuni Web: Francesco Martino, Raul Pessoa, Federico Gaggero Published in October 2013 Online: times.eui.eu by the European University Institute Email: [email protected] © European University Institute, 2013 on the cover: Terrace, Villa San Felice GOVERNING THE UNGOVERNABLE Features he challenges posed by climate change are becoming increasingly apparent, as is the ac- When we move to an ceptance of the need to reduce emissions of “ Tgreenhouse gases, notably CO2, to mitigate against environmental problem its worst possible consequences. What remains un- with a global reach, clear however is how to organise a global response to a uniquely global problem. Do the solutions lie in there is no world policy, technology, economics, the life styles of indi- government, so how do vidual citizens, or all of the above? nations, human society, At the EUI, both the Florence School of Regulation and the Global Governance Programme are study- the globe organise ing this problem, working with policy makers to effectively to tackle create and measure effective responses to climate this problem? change. Professor Denny Ellerman and Professor ” Jean-Michel Glachant sat down with the EUI Times to discuss their work and wider context of dealing with climate change. Problems Climate change is not the first environmental chal- lenge humanity has faced, however it is the first with truly global causes and consequences. “We know that climate is a problem of global dimensions,” says Professor Ellerman, director of the Climate Gov- ernance research strand at the GGP and the FSR's Climate Policy Research Unit. “It is different from a local environment or pollution problem. If we are cleaning up the air in London or Los Angeles, there is a government structure in place to deal with the problem.” “When we move to an environmental problem with a global reach, there is no world government, so how Denny Ellerman 4 EUI TIMES | Autumn 2013 do nations, human society, the globe organise effec- tively to tackle this problem? Is it through multina- tional agreements, voluntary actions, trading sys- tems? That is the governance question.” The general trend of anthropomorphic generated warming has become accepted in Europe, as is the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However the exact level of the required reduction is still dis- puted, making drafting policy difficult says Eller- man: “You’re talking about what will be the situation in 2100. Technology will change, we don’t know what the demographics are, there are continuing issues in the science about the effect increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have on the cli- mate. The direction is all very clear, but the magni- tudes and timing are considerably less so, those are Jean-Michel Glachant areas of disagreement.” With no agreed upon destination and no global “We didn’t go for only this,” adds Glachant, “in 2007 government, policies have become piecemeal, Mrs Merkel got a European Council agreement on aimed at targeting specific problems rather than the ‘20-20-20’ in 2020 target. 20 per cent less emis- the overall picture. sions, 20 per cent renewables in our energy mix, 20 “We have several policies and sets of rules acting in per cent more energy efficiency.” the EU, sometimes they fit together and are co-ordi- Ellerman has a particular focus on the carbon price, nated, sometimes they are not,” bemoans Glachant. and says its success in Europe is causing other coun- Germany has a high percentage of its energy gener- tries to consider implementation. “The carbon prob- ated by renewables, which are less polluting but more lem is made for trading because the location doesn’t expensive. The country than supplements its energy matter. If you reduce the carbon in China it is just as requirements through the burning of cheap coal. effective globally as if it was reduced in Europe.” “It’s totally crazy to spend more than €20bn a year “There is this perception that an absolute limit on on renewables to still burn such an amount of coal. carbon emissions is a limit on growth. I think that Where is the carbon pricing gone?” is a false perception. The evidence is that you can re- move the carbon without really changing lifestyles all that much. It’s going to cost a little more, but life goes Solutions on pretty much the same. Before 2005 a carbon price did not exist in Europe, does Europe look much dif- According to Ellerman: “The EU has done more to ferent eight years later?” implement environmental policy than any other na- Despite Europe being in the grip of a continent-wide tion or set of nations. I would call Europe the world’s recession Ellerman says no serious academic argument climate policy laboratory”. has been made that connects slow economic growth Adding to local flagship environmental policies such with the carbon price, adding that other regions of the as London’s congestion charge, in 2005 a European- world have experienced the same post-2008 economic wide carbon price was established. The price, the first problems despite not having a carbon price. significant price on GHG emissions in the world, “The system is reliant on creating a scarcity to turn fluctuates with economic activity, among other carbon emission into a commodity, and it has done so things, such as weather and relative fuel prices. throughout the European Union despite the consid- 5 EUI TIMES | Autumn 2013 erable differences in per capita GDP among member states. One of the more interesting features of the EU The problems in ETS is the shift to significant auctioning that starts policy“ development this year. About 60 per cent of the allowances are auctioned, and the revenues are kept by the member lie in the politics state governments. One of the issues we will be look- not in the underlying ing at in the future is what governments will do with scientific reality. this. Although the revenue is small relative to total ” government revenue streams, member states facing debt crises will likely welcome these extra revenues. There will be 28 experiments about what countries “The problems in policy development lie in the poli- do with the revenue.” tics not in the underlying scientific reality,” states Ellerman. “We should not expect scientific knowl- edge alone to solve political problems. The climate Looking forward policy debate is stalled in some countries because of a stand-off between the so-called climate deniers “Climate change is a long term issue,” says Glachant, on one hand, and on the other, what might be called “It affects all human beings. In the EU we are not the climate catastrophists cum social utopians who see ones who are going to suffer the max of it.” Glachant is climate change as a compelling justification for dra- confident the EU will meet its self-imposed 20-20-20 matic societal changes.” targets, however he is unconvinced about the effect Ellerman suggests that even though climate is a glob- that an isolated EU policy ultimately has on global al problem, the solution may not require every single climate: “Today Europe is already small on the pol- nation.