http://hdl.handle.net/10174/991 2026-04-10T05:52:31Z 2026-04-10T05:52:31Z Balla, Evanthia http://hdl.handle.net/10174/39844 2025-12-14T19:27:53Z 2024-11-27T00:00:00Z

Title: Estratégia Europeia em Busca de uma “Consciência Planetária”: Uma Cidadania Ecológica para além da Aritmética Verde? Authors: Balla, Evanthia Abstract: This article examines the European environmental strategy and, in particular, the nature of a European ecological citizenship. It argues that the European environmental strategy, despite its importance, is mainly based on a model of nature management, giving citizens a central role in this management. The current legal-political framework does not demonstrate a new paradigm of ‘planetary consciousness’ capable of guaranteeing real change. The argument is structured in four parts: firstly, the concepts of the Anthropocene, Capitalocene and the Green Arithmetic paradigm are examined, emphasising the framework of the European environmental strategy and the role of the European citizen in it. It then looks at the efforts, and underlying assumptions, to ‘save the planet’ at international and European level in search of evidence of a ‘planetary consciousness’. The third part uses a particular reading of the European legal-political framework, especially the European Green Deal, to critically analyse the role of the citizen as the driving force behind this change. Finally, we summarise the main conclusions and reflect on the EU’s response to the climate challenge, in the light of the trends identified and the urgency of finding a new paradigm suitable for a real change in thinking. This article makes a theoretical contribution by interpreting the European strategy, and in particular European ecological citizenship through the Green Arithmetic model, and neoliberal management. It also makes an empirical contribution by highlighting how European citizenship is understood under the terms of the European Green Deal.

2024-11-27T00:00:00Z Balla, Evanthia http://hdl.handle.net/10174/39757 2025-12-10T10:45:09Z 2024-12-31T00:00:00Z

Title: European citizenship in quest of a political culture: supranational by law or transnational by politics? Authors: Balla, Evanthia Abstract: The present article raises crucial questions regarding European citizenship. How has European citizenship been constructed and manifested within the legal and political domains of the European integration project, and how European citizens perceive their rights and duties across supranational and transnational manifestations of European citizenship? The main argument of this article is that European citizenship is constructed by European law in an ambiguous way, allowing for both supranational and transnational interpretations. Similarly, an individualistic conception of citizenship, as an earned status, rather than a vehicle for creating political culture of solidarity, justice, and inclusion, has been limiting the potential of the endeavour itself. The current work builds upon the foundations of political theory and employs a legal and political interpretive methodology.

2024-12-31T00:00:00Z Santos, Filipe Duarte O´Riordan, Timothy Rocha de Sousa, Miguel Pedersen, Jiesper Strandsbjerg Tristan http://hdl.handle.net/10174/39400 2025-10-07T10:56:56Z 2025-06-20T23:00:00Z

Title: The urgency of the Lancet Planetary Health–Earth Commission’s report and IPBES transformations versus the ongoing Z transformation: the need to soften the human sustainability boundaries Authors: Santos, Filipe Duarte; O´Riordan, Timothy; Rocha de Sousa, Miguel; Pedersen, Jiesper Strandsbjerg Tristan Editors: Takeuchi, Kazuhiko; Saito, Osamu Abstract: The Lancet Planetary Health–Earth Commission’s report proposes the translation of safe and just Earth-system boundaries across scales, transitions and transformations as being necessary to create a durable pathway to sustainability. Here we address the willingness and engagement of individual people to understand, feel the value, and implement the totality of its recommended transformations. We adopt an approach based on inner dimensions of sustainability. This depends on seven human critical determinants that we believe can act as human sustainability boundaries (HSB), but can be suitably softened. We conclude that the required softening of HSBs is unlikely to be successful without phasing down the current counter-sustainability Z transformation. This is an heir of the Neolithic and Industrial Revolutions, but has acquired its own powerful identity, and is apparently unable to deliver sustainability.

2025-06-20T23:00:00Z Caetano, José http://hdl.handle.net/10174/37438 2024-10-17T13:41:53Z 2024-08-31T23:00:00Z

Title: The Imperative to Reform Economic Governance in the European Union: Searching for a Silver Bullet Authors: Caetano, José Editors: Tavidze, Albert Abstract: The euro has faced significant challenges due to inherent deficiencies in its governance structure, which were brought to light during the sovereign debt crisis. In order to reinforce budgetary discipline in the European Union, reforms have been introduced which have undermined the budgetary sovereignty of the Member States in favour of the EU institutions. The advent of the global pandemic has underscored the need for a novel regulatory framework that can address the existing social, economic, and ecological disparities. This chapter revisits the debate triggered by the several proposals to reform the European Union´s fiscal governance framework and assess their potential impact on MS´s public finances, aiming at providing a critical analysis of how those proposals were reflected in the new legislation. It has been proposed that expenditures by MS on investments in the green and digital transitions be excluded from budget compliance indicators for highly indebted countries, with the aim of enhancing their resilience. However, it is believed that the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact rules should have been more comprehensive and it failed to meet the essential requirements. It is unlikely that the current framework will resolve the structural weaknesses in the European Monetary Union, especially the permanent tensions between MS sovereign fiscal policies and the common monetary policy in the Euro Area.

2024-08-31T23:00:00Z