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Sample records for eu countries agnaist

  1. Enlarging the EU's internal energy market: Why would third countries accept EU rule export?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prange-Gstoehl, Heiko

    2009-01-01

    Why would countries without a membership perspective seek integration into the EU's internal energy market? One major element of the EU's external energy policy is the export of EU energy norms and regulations to neighbourhood countries and beyond. A core legal instrument the EU uses in this context is the Energy Community Treaty (ECT). The ECT goes both geographically and regarding its depth significantly beyond neighbourhood or association policies, addressing potentially also countries in the 'far neighbourhood' and aiming at the creation of a Single Market for energy with these countries. While, however, EU candidate countries are obliged to adopt the 'acquis' before accessing the EU and therefore comply to EU rules already before they enter the Club, I argue that countries with no or only a vague membership perspective - i.e. countries where the EU cannot apply the 'conditionality' - approach (e.g., ENP countries)-aim at deeper integration with the EU because they are either eager to demonstrate their capability and potential to become part of the Club, they seek greater independence from a regional hegemon or they envisage significant economic gains as common norms, rules and standards are likely to increase economic exchange with the EU.

  2. Migration from New EU Member Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pytlikova, Mariola

    2007-01-01

    The main purpose of the paper is to give predictions of the migration potential from the 7 new EU member countries to the EEA/EU-13 countries. Being able to analyze 'real' migration behavior from these particular countries over the period 1990-2000 helps me to avoid problems related to (double) o...

  3. EU CONTRIBUTION TO SUPPORT DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana Popa

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the EU aid concerning to improved the economic situation from developing countries. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify how EU states contribute to helping poor countries, members of the World Trade Organization. For the beginning, we define the EU’position before, during and after the Doha Round – a round of WTO multilateral trade negotiations. Moreover, we analyse the development dimension, focusing on countries „marginalized” until early of XXI century in terms of international trade, because this represents the idea-axis of the Doha Round. In this context, the EU – one of the leading global commercial players and a key member of the institution mentioned above – has set several objectives to achieve the basic goal of negotiations and several ways to support developing countries. To conclude, we propose to define the key points of the European aid for least developed and developing countries.

  4. Consequences of EU air quality directives for spatial development plans in various EU countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koelemeijer, R.B.A.; Blom, W.F.; Bouwman, A.A.; Hammingh, P.; Backes, C.W.

    2005-01-01

    Over the past few years, the highest Dutch court of justice has rejected many building plans for new homes, roads and businesses because of reasons related to EU air quality limit values. This has made it clear that detailed impact assessments are necessary to having plans approved for permits, and that failure to achieve limit values can be a reason to reject a plan. An investigation to see whether such issues have also played a role in other EU countries has proven the contrary. Only a few similar court cases have taken place in other countries, while air quality limit values are breached in other EU countries as well. The reason is that the Netherlands has implemented the first EU Daughter Directive in a relatively strict manner in comparison to other countries, in particular: Adopting a strict legal coupling of air quality and spatial planning policies, with many types of plans being subject to an air quality impact assessment; Perceiving limit values as absolute limit values, whereas in many other countries a need to meet a limit value is weighted with other interests in granting permits; Applying limit values to the whole country. Although this application is, in principle, valid for all EU member states, some member states apply limit values only to locations where people can be exposed; Since air quality assessment is detailed in the Netherlands, many locations are appointed where air quality limit values are breached. Clearly, the role of limit values in granting permits for plans differs considerably among the EU countries, while the underlying EU legislation is the same, and while limit values are breached in other countries as well [nl

  5. Migration from the new EU member countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Louise Møller; Lund Thomsen, Trine

    2012-01-01

    investigates the potentials, limitations and conflicts of interests that are connected with temporary employment of Eastern European migrant workers within the unskilled labour sectors seen from the perspective of Danish labour market actors; politicians, labour marked unions, Danish employers, Danish......During the past four years more than 52.500 Eastern European EU citizens have worked and lived in Denmark. Migrant workers from the new EU countries are characterized by a high degree of mobility, flexibility and eagerness in terms of working and adapting to working conditions. Poorer socioeconomic...... and working conditions in their home countries as well as being of another cultural background than their Danish colleagues brings with it many challenges. This article examines the consequences of low-skilled labour migration to Denmark from the new EU member countries in Eastern Europe. The article...

  6. STATE REGULATION OF FRANCHISING IN THE EU MEMBER COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Solomiya Ohinok

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available In despite of extensive research of franchising in the scientific community, there are a lot of unresolved issues relating to franchising, in particular its regulation at the national level and at the level of the European Union that is why the purpose of the paper is to summarise and present the difference between state regulation of franchising in the EU member states and to research the basic principles of state regulation of franchising in the EU also to analyze legislation of the franchise relationship. Methodology. The survey is based on a comparison of data from all EU member countries and analisis of the legal framework of each country in particular and in general EU legislation. The article is devoted to a detailed analysis of main features of the franchise business in Europe. The mechanism of implementation of franchise relations between EU member states are studied. Government regulation of franchising in the EU member states are investigated. The rate of growth of franchising in Europe are analized. Results. By comparing different state laws and regulations of franchising we have identified the most effective and productive. We divided counties into two groups due to their regulation of franchising: countries which do not have a special government regulation of franchising; the countries which have state regulation of franchising; countries which have government regulation of franchising and it is governed by EU law, countries in which regulation is carried out in accordance with EU law. Thus, results of the survey showed that government regulation of franchising, as well as its regulation at the level of EU institutions have a positive impact on the development of franchising relationships. Practical implications of the results of the paper will help to develop well known network of franchise bussiness without legislative interference. Value/originality. It is first time we have grouped countries due to the main aspects of state

  7. ANALYSIS OF BUDGET DEFICIT IN THE CANDIDATE COUNTRIES FOR EU MEMBERSHIP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danijela Despotović

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The problems of deficit and debt are the traditional drivers of the recession in the past. Due to the high impact of the budget deficit to increase in indebtedness and deterioration of a macroeconomic performance, the European Union in Maastricht Treaty and later in the Pact of Stability and Growth strictly defined fiscal criteria which the member states should adhere to. Fiscal criteria are particularly important when it comes to candidate countries for EU membership. The aim of this paper is that, through theoretical and empirical basis perform a comparative analysis of the budget deficit in EU countries and candidates for membership in the EU, to rank the 34 countries according to the criteria of public finances and to show the causality between the candidate countries for membership of the EU and EU member states.

  8. NEW TRENDS IN R&D DISPARITIES AMONG EU COUNTRIES. A SIGMA CONVERGENCE APPROACH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Goschin Zizi

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The recent economic crisis brought about new challenges and disrupted the previous convergence process in R&D systems of EU member countries. The new developments in the configuration of the European Research Area require the use of adequate methods for measuring disparities between EU countries and monitoring of the convergence process. In this context, our paper aims to explore the new trends in R&D disparities among different groups of EU countries by means of a specific method for assessing the convergence/divergence process, namely the "sigma convergence" indicator introduced by Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995. Considering the sizeable heterogeneity that exists within the EU-28 and candidate countries, we performed separate analyses on two groups of countries that are likely to be more homogenous: old and new EU member countries. Our main finding is a convergence trend for both EU-28 and candidate countries and old EU members over 2006-2013, while the new EU countries seem to diverge in terms of the research and development activity as captured by the Summary Innovation Index. The existence of a systematic trend of convergence / divergence was further tested based on both Augmented Dickey - Fuller (ADF and DF- GLS stationarity tests.

  9. Colorectal cancer screening in countries of European Council outside of the EU-28.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altobelli, Emma; D'Aloisio, Francesco; Angeletti, Paolo Matteo

    2016-05-28

    To provide an update on colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programmes in non-European Union (EU)-28 Council of Europe member states as of December 2015. The mission of the Council of Europe is to protect and promote human rights in its 47 member countries. Its 19 non-EU member states are Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, FYR of Macedonia, Turkey, and Ukraine (EU-19). The main data source were GLOBOCAN, IARC, WHO, EUCAN, NORDCAN, ENCR, volume X of the CI5, the ministerial and Public Health Agency websites of the individual countries, PubMed, EMBASE, registries of some websites and the www.cochranelibrary.com, Scopus, www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu, Research gate, Google and data extracted from screening programme results. Our results show that epidemiological data quality varies broadly between EU-28 and EU-19 countries. In terms of incidence, only 30% of EU-19 countries rank high in data quality as opposed to 86% of EU-28 states. The same applies to mortality data, since 52% of EU-19 countries as against all EU-28 countries are found in the high ranks. Assessment of the method of collection of incidence data showed that only 32% of EU-19 countries are found in the top three quality classes as against 89% of EU-28 countries. For the mortality data, 63% of EU-19 countries are found in the highest ranks as opposed to all EU-28 member states. Interestingly, comparison of neighbouring countries offering regional screening shows, for instance, that incidence and mortality rates are respectively 38.9 and 13.0 in Norway and 29.2 and 10.9 in Sweden, whereas in Finland, where a national organised programme is available, they are respectively 23.5 and 9.3. Cancer screening should be viewed as a key health care tool, also because investing in screening protects the weakest in

  10. Impact of EU agricultural policy on developing countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boysen, Ole; Jensen, Hans Grinsted; Matthews, Alan

    2016-01-01

    Despite substantial reforms, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is still criticised for its detrimental effects on developing countries. This paper provides updated evidence on the impact of the CAP on one developing country, Uganda. It goes beyond estimating macro-level economic effects...... by analysing the impacts on poverty. The policy simulation results show that eliminating EU agricultural support would have marginal but nonetheless positive impacts on the Ugandan economy and its poverty indicators. From the perspective of the EU’s commitment to policy coherence for development, this supports...... the view that further reducing EU Agricultural support would be positive for development....

  11. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS IN THE EU COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonina Verhun

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The concept of national and regional development strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs are studied for a long time, as small and medium businesses are the foundation of the economy and the basis for effective country functioning. The business development program of the European Union countries is particularly interesting because there are several levels that correspond to each other and give full effect on the SMEs development. The EU standards are higher than in non-EU countries; therefore, it is worth considering legislative documents, as well as statistics showing the indicators of openness and access to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs. The complexity and comparative novelty of studying such a problem in Ukraine led to the need to explore sources of information in the original language due to the lack of information in Ukrainian or Russian. All these suggest that the problem of creating strategies at the national and regional level is more relevant and important to study in the West that demonstrates the current state. The subject of the study is to analyse the effectiveness of implementing strategies for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises as well as the impact of national and regional policies on their functioning and development in the European Union countries. Methodology. The authors highlighted the peculiarities and main features of the development strategies implementation for small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU countries through a comparative analysis of the legislative framework, statistical and other data that help assess the performance and effectiveness of the implemented strategies. The content analysis helps to identify peculiarities of the implemented strategies in quantitative and qualitative forms. The thorough analysis using the above-mentioned methods allowed doing a qualitative study of national and regional strategies in the context of the

  12. Turkey’s Population Dynamics As A Candidate Country For EU Membership

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harun Uçak

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Literally, it has been accepted that one of the major obstacles to Turkey’s EU membership is in population term. There has not been any enlargement process as large as Turkey’s population as a single state in EU history before. The enlargement in 2004 which includes 10 states involved 74 million people as whole member states while Turkey’s population is 72 million inhabitants in 2007 data which is only lower than Germany’s population in all EU member states. Thus, Turkey's accession would be different from previous enlargements because of the combined impact of high population. This study compares the population dynamics, working conditions, minimum wage rates and main macroeconomic indicators between Turkey and EU member states. Turkey has young generations compared to EU countries. In the comparison of age groups proportion in total population, 0-19 age group %21,9 in EU 27 and %36,5 in Turkey, 20-39 age group is %28 in EU 27 and %34,3 in Turkey, 40-59 age group is %27,9 in EU and %20,9 in Turkey, 60 and above age group is %22,1 in EU and %9,5 in Turkey. Thus, population dynamics of Turkey could make a contribution to offsetting the ageing of EU 27 societies if the membership would occur in the future. However, minimum wage rates in Turkey are lower than many EU member states but generally higher than EU member states located in Central and Eastern Europe. Thus, immigration possibilities from Turkey can be expected to Western European Countries, but not the same direction to Central and Eastern Europe Countries. Furthermore, the process in macroeconomic indicators will be a determinant in immigration expectations while Turkey’s GDP has been grown faster than EU level recently.

  13. Physical Education in Primary Education in EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Črtomir Matejek

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The main aim of this paper is to compare the representation of physical education in primary education in the countries of European Union and to explain the effects of sports activities in child's development. For at least twenty years experts have pointed to the lack of spontaneous movement in childhood. Therefore, sports activity is suitable for maintaining good health and proper physical fitness. Physical education represents a large proportion of children's sports activities and has positive effects on a child’s holistic development. EU countries allocate physical education of children in primary school different amounts of attention. To physical education about half of European countries devote 10% of the total time of school curriculum, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia to 15%, while Ireland only 4%. These findings suggest that among EU countries, there are very large differences in the number of hours devoted to physical education and that designers of primary education in Europe perceive physical education as less important than other subjects.

  14. Material Deprivation in Selected EU Countries According to EU-SILC Income Statistics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stávková Jana

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with issues of households at risk of poverty in relative conception. Income poverty means a situation when the threshold of 0.6 of median income is not achieved. The analysis of a broader definition of poverty is based on identification and assessment of material deprivation factors, including: financial stress, housing conditions, availability of consumer durables and basic needs. Data sources are based EU-SILC dataset. Presented analysis is focused on selected EU countries, namely Czech Republic, Finland, France, Spain and United Kingdom. The result identifies the problem areas that cause deprivation symptoms.

  15. The Structure and Financial Dimensions of Public Administration in EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martina HALÁSKOVÁ

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Various traditional trends and roles of pub-lic administration can be traced across the Eu-ropean Union member states. These countries, however, are obliged to abide by common ad-ministrative and legal principles of the European administrative area. This paper focuses on the structure and differentiation of public adminis-tration in EU (28 countries, levels of local gov-ernment and internal division of administrative structures, using the ESA methodology and a comparison of expenditures made by public ad-ministration in 2003, 2009 and 2013. The f scal aspect of public administration is evaluated also through f scal decentralization (revenues, expen-ditures. Cluster analysis is used for the com-parison of selected areas of public expenditures according to the levels of public administration, showing that EU (28 countries can be divided into three clusters.The most signif cant differences in public ex-penditures according to levels of public adminis-tration were observed in EU countries in the f rst and third cluster, where f scal decentralization of expenditures constitutes the most notable differ-ence. The smallest differences in all clusters are perceived in total general government expendi-tures as % of GDP.

  16. Management of waste electrical and electronic equipment in two EU countries: A comparison

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Torretta, Vincenzo; Ragazzi, Marco; Istrate, Irina Aura; Rada, Elena Cristina

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► Review on data regarding WEEE management in Italy and in Romania. ► Problems that countries that will enter in the EU will have to solve facing with the WEEE management. ► Pilot experiences useful for the awareness campaign of the population. - Abstract: The paper presents some data regarding waste electrical and electronic (WEEE) management in one of the founding countries of the EU, Italy, and in a recent entry into the EU, Romania. The aim of this research was to analyze some problems that countries entering the EU will have to solve with respect to WEEE management. The experiences of Italy and Romania could provide an interesting reference point. The strengths and weaknesses that the two EU countries have encountered can be used in order to give a more rational plan for other countries. In Italy the increase of WEEE collection was achieved in parallel with the increase of the efficiency of selective Municipal Solid Waste collection. In Romania, pilot experiences were useful to increase the awareness of the population. The different interests of the two populations towards recyclable waste led to a different scenario: in Romania all types of WEEE have been collected since its entrance into the EU; in Italy the “interest” in recycling is typically related to large household appliances, with a secondary role of lighting equipment.

  17. THE WORKFORCE AND ITS PRODUCTIVITY IN THE FOOD ECONOMY OF THE EU COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aldona Mrówczyńska-Kamińska

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The main aim of the article is a comparative analysis of the workforce and its productivity in the food economy of the EU countries in the years 1995 and 2009. The first part of the article analyses the internal structure of the workforce in the food economy and its share in the national economy. In the following part the workforce productivity was estimated, taking into consideration the value of global output and gross value added per employee. The basic source materials used in this study were input-output tables for individual EU countries. The results of the calculations indicate that the internal structure of the workforce in the food economy, its share in the national economy, and the level of the workforce productivity in the EU countries differ considerably. The level of the labour productivity is much higher in the countries of Western and Northern Europe than in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It is mainly caused by a structural defect which is due to an excessive workforce in the agricultural sector EU member states.

  18. The Determinants of European Union (EU Foreign Direct Investments in the EU Countries from Central and Eastern Europe During 1994–2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tang Donny

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This study examines whether the CEECs’ financial market development can explain the EU FDI in the CEECs during 1994–2012. The higher bank credit flows had a positive effect on the FDI in 2005–2012. This can be attributed to the major banking sector reforms undertaken before the CEECs’ EU accession. Second, the stock market size had a positive effect in 1997–2004. This is due to the fact that the EU membership announcement facilitated deeper stock market integration. Third, the higher country income, in interaction with a higher bank credit flow, had only a small positive effect in 2005–2012. The higher income CEECs have pursued much deeper bank liberalization through large-scale privatization of state-owned banks. Finally, the higher country income, in interaction with a larger stock market size, had a negative effect in 2005–2012. A possible reason for this is that the EU countries have started to divert their new FDI to the non-EU countries.

  19. COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES IN ECONOMIC CRISES GEOGRAPHY. ECONOMIC STRATEGIES IN EU COUNTRIES

    OpenAIRE

    Roxana Maria Grecu

    2011-01-01

    The strategies for structural-systemic crisis management have generated, to a geographical level, a number of differences between EU countries. These cleavages are the result of differential macroeconomic policies. In this context, this article has the aim of achieving a comparative approach between countries of the south, west and east of the EU space. Also our approach is focused on observing the nature of macroeconomic policies and also on identifying a "pattern" associated with a common i...

  20. Classification of EU Countries in Terms of the Level of Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stec Małgorzata

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article has classified the EU countries in terms of the level of sustainable development. The study was based on main sustainability indicators developed by Eurostat. In empirical research, one of the methods used was Cluster Analysis - Ward's method. Grouping methods make it possible to distinguish countries with a similar level of sustainability which is particularly useful for monitoring the progress of individual EU countries in implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy. For specific groups of countries, appropriate control instruments and strategies can be proposed. The research period is 2016. As a result of the research, 6 clusters of countries were obtained. For specific groups of countries, their characteristics were defined.

  1. The impact of terrorism on the FDI of the EU and EEA Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heri Bezić

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The key goal of this research is to empirically determine the effects of terrorism on FDI of the selected EU and EEA member countries. The methodology is based on a system-GMM estimator for dynamic panel data models on a sample covering up to 29 countries, and 13-year periods from 2000 to 2013. The main results confirm that terrorism incidents, economic and institutional variables are found to depress FDI of analysed EU and EEA countries. It can be concluded that terrorism and institutional stability are most influential on FDI inflows of the observed EU and EEA countries. The results indicate that terrorist activities reduce security and confidence of investors in countries exposed to terrorist activities, reducing the inflow of foreign direct investment. The recommendations and proposals are given based on the results of empirical analysis.

  2. SOME COORDINATES CONCERNING TAXATION IN THE EU CANDIDATE COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CARMEN COMANICIU

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available For accession to European Union, tax area is of particular importance, because it recognizes the impact of taxation on economic growth and development, and indirect taxation significantly contributes to the formation of the EU budget resources. Without prejudice to the fiscal sovereignty of Member States, EU tax policy strategy aims establishing a framework that eliminate the tax obstacles that may affect cross-border economic activity, identify the actions on preventing and combating tax evasion, improve collaboration between tax administrations. Without claiming an exhaustive approach, through issues highlighted in this article, we will identify both the similarities and the particularities of taxation from Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey, and also manner in which taxation of the 5 EU candidate countries meets the requirements on the fiscal coordination and fiscal harmonization from EU tax policy perspective.

  3. EU Aid Conditionality in ACP Countries: Explaining Inconsistency in EU Sanctions Practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen Del Biondo

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The EU is often criticised for using negative conditionality only in poor, strategically less important countries in the ACP region. However, whether and why there is inconsistency within the group of ACP countries has not been properly investigated. Therefore, this article investigates the reasons for the EU’s non-application of Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement in five countries that can be considered typical cases where negative conditionality is generally imposed, namely countries that experienced flawed elections over the last ten years: Ethiopia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and Chad. On the one hand, the study confirms previous findings that security interests tend to trump the EU’s efforts to promote democratisation. On the other hand, the article adds that democratisation might not only conflict with the EU’s interests, but also with its objective to promote development and poverty reduction.

  4. Comparative Price Levels of New EU Member Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taušer Josef

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes comparative price levels of 10 new EU member countries from Central, East, and South-East Europe and discusses their main determinants. A comparison of comparative price levels is logically followed by a comparison of relative GDP per capita in purchasing power parities. Further, the Balassa-Samuelson efect is theoretically explained and empirically tested using a sample of EU27 countries (excluding Luxemburg. The results of simple regression analysis confrm that diferences in comparative price levels can be explained by the diferences in relative GDP per capita in purchasing power parities. Besides the Balassa-Samuelson efect there are, however, many other factors that have an impact on comparative price levels. Tey are related to the lower competitiveness of domestic companies on international markets as the result of such factors as a lower quality of production, inefcient organizational structures and management styles, insufcient marketing and business skills, or a poor approach to international distribution channels.

  5. EU enlargement and new member countries' involvement in the exchange rates system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vlatka Bilas

    2005-08-01

    Full Text Available For each country, joining the union is a unique process, considering advantages and disadvantages which a country can thus obtain. In order to fulfill conditions for the EU accession, transition countries must achieve different convergence criteria. Expansion of the EU brings along many challenges including coordination of policies and conducting a common monetary policy. After joining the EU new members are expected to have a minimum of two years of participation in the Exchange Rate Mechanism 2 before accepting euro. ERM2 can be a flexible and efficient framework for the determination of a appropriate level of irrevocable exchange rate fixing according to euro, as well as for achieving macroeconomic stability. Even though, considering demands for complete abolition of capital controls and high capital mobility, fixed exchange rate with fluctuation margins of ±15% is to become sensitive to the capital movements and speculative attacks.

  6. Patterns of clinical mentorship in undergraduate nurse education: A comparative case analysis of eleven EU and non-EU countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dobrowolska, Beata; McGonagle, Ian; Kane, Roslyn; Jackson, Christine S; Kegl, Barbara; Bergin, Michael; Cabrera, Esther; Cooney-Miner, Dianne; Di Cara, Veronika; Dimoski, Zvonko; Kekus, Divna; Pajnkihar, Majda; Prlić, Nada; Sigurdardottir, Arun K; Wells, John; Palese, Alvisa

    2016-01-01

    In spite of the number of studies available in the field and policy documents developed both at the national and the international levels, there is no reliable data available regarding the variation of roles occupied by clinical mentors (CMs) across countries. To describe and compare the CM's role; responsibilities; qualifications; employment requirements and experience in undergraduate nurse education as enacted in 11 European Union (EU) and non- EU countries. A case study design. A panel of expert nurse educators from 11 countries within and outside of the EU (Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, and the USA). A questionnaire containing both quantitative and qualitative questions was developed and agreed by the panel using a Nominal Group Technique (NGT); four cycles of data collection and analysis were conducted involving key experts in nursing education in each country. In all countries, there are at least two types of clinical mentorship dedicated to undergraduate nursing students: the first is offered by higher education institutions, and the second is offered by health care providers. Variation was noted in terms of profile, responsibilities and professional requirements to act as a CM; however, the CM role is mainly carried out by registered nurses, and in most countries there are no special requirements in terms of education and experience. Those who act as CMs at the bedside continue to manage their usual caseload, thus the role adds to their work burden. Whilst it is imperative to have respect for the different national traditions in undergraduate nurse education, the globalisation of the nursing workforce and greater opportunities for student mobility during the course of their undergraduate education suggests that in areas such as clinical mentorship, jurisdictions, particularly within the EU, should work towards greater system harmonisation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Estimating future burned areas under changing climate in the EU-Mediterranean countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amatulli, Giuseppe; Camia, Andrea; San-Miguel-Ayanz, Jesús

    2013-04-15

    The impacts of climate change on forest fires have received increased attention in recent years at both continental and local scales. It is widely recognized that weather plays a key role in extreme fire situations. It is therefore of great interest to analyze projected changes in fire danger under climate change scenarios and to assess the consequent impacts of forest fires. In this study we estimated burned areas in the European Mediterranean (EU-Med) countries under past and future climate conditions. Historical (1985-2004) monthly burned areas in EU-Med countries were modeled by using the Canadian Fire Weather Index (CFWI). Monthly averages of the CFWI sub-indices were used as explanatory variables to estimate the monthly burned areas in each of the five most affected countries in Europe using three different modeling approaches (Multiple Linear Regression - MLR, Random Forest - RF, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines - MARS). MARS outperformed the other methods. Regression equations and significant coefficients of determination were obtained, although there were noticeable differences from country to country. Climatic conditions at the end of the 21st Century were simulated using results from the runs of the regional climate model HIRHAM in the European project PRUDENCE, considering two IPCC SRES scenarios (A2-B2). The MARS models were applied to both scenarios resulting in projected burned areas in each country and in the EU-Med region. Results showed that significant increases, 66% and 140% of the total burned area, can be expected in the EU-Med region under the A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Are there any top FDI performers among EU-15 and CEE countries? A comparative panel data analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miroslav Mateev

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the major determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI inflows in 26 European Union (EU countries using panel data. Our empirical study takes a different approach by separating European countries into two groups: Western (EU-15 countries and Central and Eastern European (CEE countries. The results from the panel data analysis of FDI inflows to 26 EU countries for the period 1994-2012 show that: (1 traditional location variables such as market size, trade openness, unemployment, infrastructure, tax rate and unit labour costs are able, to a large extent, to explain FDI flows to both groups of countries; (2 there are country-specific factors such as economic growth, unit labour costs and credit risk that contribute to the differences in FDI patterns across EU-15 and CEECs; and (3 policy and institutional quality factors are found to play an important role for both groups of countries. When analyzing host countries based on their relative level of performance, we find that the top ten FDI performers are able to attract a significant amount of FDI because of their macroeconomic stability and high level of institutional development, while for EU countries with low FDI dominance, policy and institutional risk factors play a more important role.

  9. Foreign Direct Investments and Tax Correlation: Some of EU Countries and Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali YAVUZ

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available In the globalizing world; individuals, markets and capital are more mobile than the past for that reason countries are in cutthroat competition for attract the direct and indirect investments. Especially, developing countries overview their own tax policy and perform incentive measures including tax incentives to attract the direct investments which have a positive effect of production and employment level. In this process, some countries achieve their goals and some are not. The purpose of this study evaluate the difference of tax policies in Turkey which in EU candidacy process and some old central, east Europe countries which are in EU and the main rival of Turkey to attracting direct investments. In this evaluation process, changing income tax, corporate tax, value added tax and performance of attracking the direct investments which was performed in selected countries, were evaluated by comparative

  10. Comparison of Operational Subsidies on Less Favoured Areas in EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jana Lososová

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This article is aimed at an analysis of operational subsidies on the Less Favoured Areas (LFA in the European Union countries. With the help of cluster analysis, the EU countries were divided into groups and, using correlation and regression analyses, the relations between defined indicators were evaluate. The indicators of FADN EU related to the cultivated land area were completed with relative indicators. Some differences were proved in subsidy effectiveness between particular groups of the countries. The amount of operational subsidies only has a positive impact on subsidised costs in the mountain LFAs. Worse productive and climate conditions increase the dependence of the output on subsidies related to cost effectiveness. No dependence of the output share of subsidies and the subsidised costs was proven in all groups.

  11. The Strategic Character of the Cooperation Relationship Between the EU and the BRIC Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iulia Monica Oehler-Şincai

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Brazil, the Russian Federation, India and China (coined under the acronym BRIC at the end of 2001 are alongside the United States of America (USA, Canada, Japan, Mexico and South Africa the strategic partners of the European Union (EU. Although the relationships between the EU and each of the four largest emerging economies in the world have a common backbone – the bilateral trade and investment flows – each one bears its own particularities. In this article, our purpose is to explore the strategic partnerships between the EU and the BRIC countries with emphasis on the economic pillar of the EU-BRIC cooperation framework. In our investigation, we will start with the analysis of the “BRIC mechanism”, continue with a short presentation of the particularities of the individual relationships between the EU and each BRIC country, and conclude with emphasising the EU role in the process of modernization of these economies.

  12. COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES IN ECONOMIC CRISES GEOGRAPHY. ECONOMIC STRATEGIES IN EU COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roxana Maria Grecu

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The strategies for structural-systemic crisis management have generated, to a geographical level, a number of differences between EU countries. These cleavages are the result of differentialmacroeconomic policies. In this context, this article has the aim of achieving a comparative approach between countries of the south, west and east of the EU space. Also our approach is focused on observing the nature of macroeconomic policies and also on identifying a "pattern" associated with a common ideal -type of "rational choice" in the efficient and effective management of systemic crises. This article aims to identify areas of growth and economic stability of a particular model of public policy and political-economic ideology, to set up a mechanism for "economic engineering”. From the methodological point of view, this article uses a quantitativemethodology, derived from mathematical analysis, statistics and stochastic, in order to explain, understand and predict the possible evolution of the systemic crises in the EU countries. The interest lies in the possibility of giving a model of macroeconomic policy for the adjustment of inflationist imbalances, labor market and pricepolicy, and also in regulating the equation of production-consumption.

  13. EU Banking Union: Lessons for non-eurozone transition countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Šoškić Dejan

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Eurozone has gone through turmoil of sovereign debt crisis just after the detrimental effect of global financial crises of 2007/2008. Sovereign debt crisis of the eurozone was caused by bank-sovereign interdependence and lack of fiscal union in the eurozone. Financial fragmentation in the eurozone financial markets was an immediate outcome. Banking union of the EU is a regulatory and institutional remedy for main financial problems of the eurozone post global financial crisis. It is clear signal that lessons have been learned from the two crises. Stricter regulation (single rule book aims to increase the quality of banks. Single Supervisory Mechanism (SRM, and Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM aim to unify and better the standards of supervision and resolution in the EU. With emphasis on bail-ins, and EU level backstops, bank-sovereign interdependence should be dismantled and chances of financial crisis reoccurrence with huge costs for taxpayers should be significantly lower. There are important elements of Banking Union that could be introduced in non-eurozone transition countries both members and nonmembers of the EU.

  14. THIRD-COUNTRY MIGRATION TO THE EU: BETWEEN NORMATIVE EUROPEAN FRAMEWORKS AND NON-EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS' PERSONAL EFFORTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Demir ABDULLAH

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available European leaders' rhetoric on third-country migration ranges from a discourse extolling the benefits of a United Europe, to one upholding Europe’s repute as a bastion of fundamental human rights, to yet another one out of which the continent emerges as a repressive fortress. Third-country migration not only engages the EU's efforts, but also those exerted by non-EU immigrantstowardsintegrating and becoming more open to their European host culture. This paper will be focusing both on the EU's commitment to honing its third-country migration policies, as well as on the non-EU immigrants' potential and limitations when it comes to their assimilation/integration into EU countries, in particular, Romania. Methodologically this paper uses the content analysis of European leaders’ discourses and also the qualitative analysis of data collected from 40 interviews carried out with non-EU immigrants into Romania. Another methodological tool will consist in an analysis of official EU documents. What will be pursued is the way in which the EU official documents reflect the shared interest proved by European leaders concerning the immigration processes. It will touch upon how the integration processes reclaims on the one hand permanent exchanges between the host European society and non European immigrant and on the other hand sustained efforts from these two parts in order to meet their needs and recognise their limits, in terms of economic, professional and social resources.

  15. Economic Partnership between the ACP countries and the EU

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Hoestenberghe, K.; Roelfsema, H.J.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we explore the nature and effects of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and groups of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. We argue that the direct economic effects from reciprocal trade liberalization - both positive and negative – may be rather

  16. Information-communication technology impact on labor productivity growth of EU developing countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ljiljana Lovrić

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the ICT impact on labor productivity growth of EU developing countries. Empirical studies of the role of ICT as one of the main determinants of productivity growth, for developing countries have produced disagreement. To help clear up the subject, this paper employs a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM through a dynamic panel data approach on the sample of 25 European developed and developing countries over the period of 2001-2010. The results indicate a positive and significant impact of ICT on labor productivity growth in developed and developing countries, but the terms of impact in developing countries rely on human capital, a contribution of a higher educational level, advanced research qualifications and development activity. Comparing to developed countries, the growth accounting approach indicate that developing countries have similar relative ICT contribution to labor productivity growth, but their average growth rate of labor productivity is 6.8 times higher. The main conclusion is that education, especially of higher levels, is the critical factor of productivity and growth of EU developing countries and that must be taken as development policy implication in these countries.

  17. Regulatory aspects of nanotechnology in the agri/feed/food sector in EU and non-EU countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amenta, Valeria; Aschberger, Karin; Arena, Maria; Bouwmeester, Hans; Botelho Moniz, Filipa; Brandhoff, Puck; Gottardo, Stefania; Marvin, Hans J P; Mech, Agnieszka; Quiros Pesudo, Laia; Rauscher, Hubert; Schoonjans, Reinhilde; Vettori, Maria Vittoria; Weigel, Stefan; Peters, Ruud J

    2015-10-01

    Nanotechnology has the potential to innovate the agricultural, feed and food sectors (hereinafter referred to as agri/feed/food). Applications that are marketed already include nano-encapsulated agrochemicals or nutrients, antimicrobial nanoparticles and active and intelligent food packaging. Many nano-enabled products are currently under research and development, and may enter the market in the near future. As for any other regulated product, applicants applying for market approval have to demonstrate the safe use of such new products without posing undue safety risks to the consumer and the environment. Several countries all over the world have been active in examining the appropriateness of their regulatory frameworks for dealing with nanotechnologies. As a consequence of this, different approaches have been taken in regulating nano-based products in agri/feed/food. The EU, along with Switzerland, were identified to be the only world region where nano-specific provisions have been incorporated in existing legislation, while in other regions nanomaterials are regulated more implicitly by mainly building on guidance for industry. This paper presents an overview and discusses the state of the art of different regulatory measures for nanomaterials in agri/feed/food, including legislation and guidance for safety assessment in EU and non-EU countries. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. An Analysis of Conditional Dependencies of Covariance Matrices for Economic Processes in Selected EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janiga-Ćmiel Anna

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper looks at the issues related to the research on and assessment of the contagion effect. Based on several examinations of two selected EU countries, Poland paired with one of the EU member states; it presents the interaction between their economic development. A DCC-GARCH model constructed for the purpose of the study was used to generate a covariance matrix Ht, which enabled the calculation of correlation matrices Rt. The resulting variance vectors were used to present a linear correlation model on which a further analysis of the contagion effect was based. The aim of the study was to test a contagion effect among selected EU countries in the years 2000–2014. The transmission channel under study was the GDP of a selected country. The empirical studies confirmed the existence of the contagion effect between the economic development of the Polish and selected EU economies.

  19. COMPETITIVENESS OF HUNGARIAN SHEEP SECTOR IN RELATION TO OTHER EU COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HAJNALKA MADAI

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Hungarian farmers became as entrepreneurs into the EU, where they foundthemselves in a competition, which has special conditions. Farmers foundthemselves within new land-, ownership-, and tax conditions, which requiredconscious entrepreneurial behavior and thinking. In this special situation sheepindustry and (at farm level sheep farmers also have to survive, develop, and face tonew possibilities, produce competitive products for the present and future markets.On the course of the examination the competitiveness parameters of Hungariansheep sector we analyzed the domestic and international statistics. The level ofmeasurement required an overall consideration of sheep production in EU-25countries and also the of the Easter-European countries. Period of time covered along term (from the year 1990 to base complex and reliable findings andconclusions.

  20. Technical efficiency of economic systems of EU-15 countries based on energy consumption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bampatsou, Christina; Papadopoulos, Savas; Zervas, Efthimios

    2013-01-01

    In the present study, Data Envelopment Analysis is used to determine the Technical Efficiency index of EU-15 countries from 1980 to 2008, using cross-country comparison. Technical Efficiency index represents the capacity of an economy to produce a higher level of Gross Domestic Product for a given level of total energy input. The level of the Technical Efficiency index is determined from the energy mix (fossil fuels, non-fossil fuels, nuclear energy) of each country and depends on the maximization level of the production of the Gross Domestic Product of the economic system, without waste of energy resources. The current study is applied in the case of the EU15 countries. Its scope is to highlight the differentiations of country classifications before and after the integration of nuclear energy in the energy mix of each country. The main result is that the integration of nuclear energy as an additional input in the energy mixture affects negatively the Technical Efficiency of countries. Also, when an economy achieves a decrease of the energy consumption produced from fossil fuels, and a better exploitation of renewable energy sources, clearly improves its capacity to produce more output with the given levels of inputs. - Highlights: ► Technical efficiency index of EU-15 countries is determined through the DEA method. ► Level of the TE index is determined from the energy mix used in each country. ► TE level depends on the maximization level of GDP without waste of energy resources. ► Capacity of an economy to produce more GDP for a given energy input is determined. ► TE differentiation before and after the integration of nuclear energy is performed

  1. Slovenian Experience as the EU Candidate Country in the Field of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grlicarev, I.

    2002-01-01

    Slovenia was the first EU acceding country which has managed to successfully reach consensus with the European Commission (EC) on the chapters Energy, which comprises nuclear energy, and Environment, which comprises nuclear safety and radiation protection. This practically meant that the EU adopted the position that these two chapters did not, at that stage, require further negotiation. The EC will continue to monitor the progress in adoption and implementation of the EU legislation throughout the negotiations. The activities in relation to the accession of Slovenia to the EU in the area of nuclear energy and nuclear safety are reflected in the transposition of the legislation and establishing the institutions capable of implementing the EU legislation. The importance of regular reporting to the EC on the status is vital for monitoring the progress. The EC issues progress reports for all candidate countries on annual basis and the action plan has been devised by the EC to put some extra pressure on the candidate countries. The position of the EU in the area of nuclear legislation is reflected in the so called Non-binding EU acquis. The actual position of the EU towards each Candidate Country and to these countries as a whole is contained in the document Report on Nuclear Safety in the Context of the Enlargement. The Act on Nuclear and Radiation Safety had been drafted and is planned to be passed by the Parliament in the first half of 2002. The EC is willing to provide support in implementation of projects to strengthen nuclear safety in Slovenia (assistance to the regulatory authority, review of seismic studies, support with the periodic safety review, review and application of PSA studies). The recent status in the preparation of the position of Slovenia in negotiations in to the EU in the field of nuclear energy, nuclear safety and radiation protection shows that Slovenia has still some tasks to be done, but there are no pending issues which might hinder the

  2. Classification of EU Countries in the Context of Corporate Income Tax

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alena Andrejovská

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Taxes are an integral part of human society, regardless of the economic, cultural and political disparities between the countries. Income taxes of legal entities represent significant part of the budget, what is the reason for their timeliness and public discussion. The aim of the paper is a classification of the EU countries into economic groups and an assessment of the grouping these EU member states based on common characteristics in the area of corporate income taxes. Common features are determined by the structure of selected macroeconomic indicators: public debt, government budget balance, the overall tax burden, economic performance, nominal and effective tax rate. The analysis compares a range of methodological approaches of hierarchical (Ward linkage and median linkage, and non‑hierarchical clustering (k-means clustering and fuzzy cluster analysis. The results of cluster analysis grouped the monitored countries into five clusters based on common characteristics as the corporate income tax rate, economics performance and the level of public debt. The result of the analysis shows that despite of ongoing there are still differences present, which are present in the ratios of countries’ development as well as in the economic policies of the particular countries.

  3. The future of FDI in south eastern European countries: Messages from new EU member states

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Penev Slavica

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper looks at the interlinking of inward FDI, EU accession, and transition-related structural reform processes, and identifies the largest lags of SEE-6 countries in EU accession and transition processes, whose removal would have a positive impact on inward FDI. The analysis is based on EBRD Transition Indicators, the World Bank Doing Business Index, and the World Bank Governance Index. We find an obvious correlation of inward FDI, transition, and EU accession processes of NMS-10 countries and claim that SEE-6 countries will broadly follow the same pattern: their relative position as FDI recipients will gradually improve along with the progress of EU accession and transition processes. The analysis identifies the following main gaps of the SEE-6 in these processes: (i in terms of economic system development - enterprise restructuring and governance, and sectoral reforms in energy, infrastructure, capital markets, and private equity; (ii in terms of the governance of economy and society at large - regulatory quality and rule of law; and (iii in terms of the business environment - dealing with construction permits, enforcing contracts, and registering property. Progress in narrowing down these gaps would mean a step forward in EU accession and transition, and consequently an improvement of SEE-6 countries’ positions as locations for inward FDI.

  4. The Basic Challenge in EU Countries Promotion Strategy in Exporting Commercial Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Octavian-Liviu Olaru

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The global financial and economic crisis which started in 2007 had a considerable impact onthe international exchange of goods and services and on the intensity of global financial flows andbusiness activity. Starting with 2010, the EU-27 economy returned to its previous trend of progressivelymore integration with the international economy in terms of its level of credits and debits relative togross domestic product (GDP, having experienced a reversal in 2009. The average value of EU-27 tradeflows of goods corresponded to 11.6 % of GDP in 2010, up from 9.8 % the previous year. The level oftrade integration of services rose to 4.0 % of GDP in 2010, up from 3.9 % in 2008 and 3.8 % in 2009.The basic challenge in EU countries promotion strategy in exporting a commercial service is to convincea foreigner to try a service that does not exist yet. The foreigners have to believe that the service will beof good quality and will meet their needs. Usually the foreigner forms that belief based onrecommendations, referrals, or somehow seeing the service provider in action. There are also severalroles that trade promotion activities can play in building that belief or credibility. A national TPO needsto find or reinforce some special quality that its country has so that when potential customers hear abouta service supplier from this country, their first response is, “Oh yes, I’ve heard good things aboutservices from your country.”

  5. FDIs and investment policy in some European countries after their EU accession. Challenges during the crisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena RADULESCU

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to find out to what extent the accession countries will be able to benefit from an increase in the quality of foreign direct investments (FDIs that they receive due to EU membership. Although there will be some investment in new affiliates resulting in greenfield subsidiaries, transnational companies (TNCs may divest their operations in response to better location advantages elsewhere in the EU (as Spain and Portugal are experiencing because their low-cost advantages are eroded. In many Central and Eastern European (CEE countries, the share of foreign ownership in total capital stock is already typically much higher than in older EU member states, but we can already observe a trend of relocating TNCs’ subsidiaries to other emerging countries in order to diminish the costs, in the context of the present crisis and we believe that this trend will continue in the future, especially in the crisis context when the inceptive burden is heavy for governments. The conclusion of this paper is that the CEE countries haven’t faced quite similar conditions as the Southern European countries that acceded to the EU in the ‘80s. So, their benefits have considerably diminished and the present crisis didn’t help them at all to reduce their economic gaps comparing to the developed European countries.

  6. The economic recovery in the Central and Eastern European EU countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena GURGU

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Following the recession in 2008-09, the economies of the eight EU countries in central and Eastern Europe outside the euro area (CEE are recovering gradually, albeit with significant differences across countries. The expansion in economic activity is currently being driven primarily by exports as domestic demand remains subdued. Those countries that accumulated relatively more substantial internal and external imbalances before the financial crisis suffered more severe contractions in output during the crisis, and most of them face a more sluggish economic recovery.

  7. EFFECTS OF THE ECONOMIC FREEDOMS ON THE ECONOMIC GROWTH: EVIDENCE FROM THE EU AND COMCEC COUNTRIES (1996-2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HALİL İBRAHİM AYDIN

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In this research, the effects of the economic freedoms on the economic growth for EU and COMCEC countries at different development/income level are econometrically analyzed via panel data analysis for the period of 1996- 2014 by being considered the improvement of economic growth theories for the key determinants of economic growth. From this aspect, it is aimed at this research that to evaluate the effects of the economic freedoms on the long termed economic growth performances and income level differences of EU and COMCEC countries which have different statuses in terms of economic freedoms and income level indicators. It is determined at the end of the study that the economic freedoms have a positive and statistically significant effect on the economic growth of EU countries in investigation period, on the other hand, these freedoms have not any effect on the economic growth of COMCEC countries. Moreover, the existence of a one-way causality relation operates from economic freedoms to the economic growth in EU countries is specified while there is any causality link found between these freedoms and the economic growth for the countries in COMCEC group. All these results indicate that also the economic freedoms besides the physical human capital accumulation, in other words, whether the EU and COMCEC countries have a market economy adopts outward-oriented liberal fiscal policies plays a major role in differentiating the income levels or the economic growth performances.

  8. Evidence of direct and indirect rebound effect in households in EU-27 countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freire-González, Jaume

    2017-01-01

    This research estimates the direct and indirect rebound effect of energy efficiency in households for the EU-27 countries (the first twenty-seven Member States of the European Union). A hybrid methodology that combines econometric estimates, environmental extended input-output analysis and re-spending models has been developed. Although most of the economies present values below 100%, there are seven countries situated above this critical threshold. By weighting individual estimates by GDP, an average value for the overall EU-27 economy has been found between 73.62% and 81.16%. These results suggest that the energy policy at the European level should be rethought if efficiency measures pursue reducing energy consumption and tackling climate change. - Highlights: • Empirical evidence of direct and indirect rebound effect is provided for EU-27. • Most economies have a rebound effect below the threshold of 100% (20 of them). • Additional energy efficiency measures are needed even with low direct rebounds.

  9. EU Enlargement: Migration flows from Central and Eastern Europe into the Nordic countries - exploiting a natural experiment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Peder J.; Pytlikova, Mariola

    In this paper we look at migration flows from 10 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) to 5 Nordic countries over the years 1985 - 2007. We exploit a natural experiment that arose from the fact that while Sweden opened its labour market from the day one of the 2004 EU enlargement......, and Finland and Iceland from year 2006, the other Nordic countries chose a transition period in relation to the "new" EU members. The results based on a differences-in-differences estimator show that the estimated effect of the opening of the Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic labour markets on migration from...... the CEECs that entered the EU in 2004 is not significantly different from zero. However, the effect of the opening of the Swedish and Finnish labour markets in 2007 on migration from the 2007 EU entrants, Bulgaria and Romania, is significantly positive. Further, we are interested in the overall effect...

  10. Changes in the age pattern of childbearing in Serbia and EU countries - comparative analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalenić Ivana

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Most European countries nowadays are characterized by a fertility level, which by earlier theoretical considerations was not even assumed as the lower limit for childbearing. The focus of this paper are the changes in reproductive behavior of women during the second half of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century as well as the changes in the age model of childbearing which resulted from that. The comparative analysis between Serbia and 28 EU member countries covers the period 1960-2012. The distribution of live births according to mother's age was analyzed, as well as the phenomena of postponing births and increasing the average age of mothers at childbirth, changes in the structure of female population according to the number of live births, and the decrease of higher birth orders. Demographic potentials of fertility through age structures of the fertile cohort were also pointed out. The similarities and differences in the fertility patterns in the Republic of Serbia and the EU countries were considered in order to determine the specificities of the reproductive model of women in Serbia and the widespread phenomena of postponing births. The fertility transition in Serbia in the second half of the 20th century had the same trend as in the EU countries evolving in the direction of constant lowering of the childbirth levels. Nevertheless, in relation to the sixties of the 20th century, Serbia shifted towards the lower part of the scale at which the EU countries are ranked according to total fertility rate. Almost all EU member countries (except for Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus and Portugal marked an increase in fertility in the 2000-2011 period, while the fertility level in Serbia, with some oscillations, continued to decrease. The turnabout in total fertility rate registered in most European countries is attributed to the effect of postponed childbirths, while it is assumed that its impact will be marked in Serbia during the next decade. Changes

  11. EU Enlargement: Migration flows from Central and Eastern Europe into the Nordic countries - exploiting a natural experiment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pytlikova, Mariola; Pedersen, Peder J.

    We look at migration flows from 8 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) to 5 Nordic countries over the years 1985 - 2005 and we can exploit a natural experiment that arose from the fact that while Sweden opened its labour market from the day one of the 2004 EU enlargement, the other Nordic...... countries chose a transition period in relation to the "new" EU members. We employ a differences-in-differences estimator in our analysis. The results show that the estimated effect of the opening of Swedish labour market in 2004 on migration is insignificantly different from zero. Further, we...... are interested in the overall effect of the "EU entry" on migration. Therefore we look at migration flows from CEECs during the first round EU enlargement towards CEECs in 2004 and compare them with migration flows from Bulgaria and Romania. We again used a DD estimator in our analysis. The estimated effect...

  12. Trends in Trade and Investment Flows between the EU and the BRIC Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iulia Monica OEHLER-ŞINCAI

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we intend to present an in-depth comparative analysis of the trade and investment flows between the EU member states and the four strongest emerging countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC, during 2004-2009(1 and beyond. In the EU-BRIC equation, we include for comparison countries like the USA and Japan, and their respective relations with BRIC.The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the discussion of the integrated issues related to trade and investments, since the EU-BRIC relations represent one of the most important „pieces” in this „global puzzle”.First, relying on the statistics published by Eurostat, the WTO, the UNCTAD and the national authorities, our study highlights the main trends of the trade and investment flows between the EU and BRIC, in comparison with those of the USA and BRIC or Japan and BRIC.Second, we emphasize the principal factors that contributed to these developments and their economical consequences. For example, the global economical situation, the political decisions, the resource scarcity or the (still existing fiscal paradises play a major role in the celerity and magnitude of the trade and investment flows.Third, on the basis of the actual data and information, our analysis outlines the perspectives of the EU-BRIC trade and investment relations in the long run.Following this rationale, the paper is structured around three main sections, followed by a summary of the conclusions of the author.

  13. Development of the rate of employment and unemployment of males and females in countries of EU15

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milan Palát

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper is focused on the evaluation the rates of employment and unemployment of women, men and as a whole in countries of EU15. Rates of employment were evaluated in the period 1993–2002. Rates of unemployment were evaluated in the period 1994–2003. Employment of males in fifteen countries of EU is higher then employment of females. Unemployment of females in fifteen countries of EU is higher than unemployment of males and in opposite unemployment of females in Sweden is lower than unemployment of males. Trends of rates of male, female and total employment and unemployment are evaluated. Methods of regression and correlation analysis, development trends and cluster analysis were applied for the mathematical-statistical analysis.

  14. Trade Union Practices in the EU and Latvia: Experience for Eastern Partnership Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stacenko Sergejs

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The article will show major dimensions in the experience of EU Member States that could be shared with the Eastern Partnership (EaP countries. The framework of the study is the EU concept of trade unions in social dialogue and social partnership in the public sector. This study outlines the concept of social dialogue as a core element of industrial relations and will focus on industrial relations specifically in the public sector.

  15. FY 2000 report on the survey on global warming prevention measures in main E.U. countries; 2000 nendo EU shuyokoku ni okeru ondanka boshi taisaku no gaiyo ni tsuite hokokusho

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2001-03-01

    This report dealt with the background of energy policies in E.U. countries and energy plans. At COP3, E.U. countries internationally gave a pledge that they will reduce the emission of greenhouse effect gas 8% from that as of 1990 during 2008-2012, which is stricter than those given by Japan and the U.S. Actually, the European Commission made public 'Toward the European Climate Change Programme' and 'Green Paper on Emissions Trading in the E.U.' These are correspondent to E.U.' global warming preventive strategy which is called the twin track approach by the European Commission. The former is a frame for coordinating individual reduction measures taken under the responsibility of member countries as the whole E.U. As to the latter, for the specified sectors from energy supply sectors to large energy consumption industries, it was planned to be started in 2005. And, the basic policy on the trade and concrete subjects/problems on the trading system were arranged. (NEDO)

  16. Evaluating Tobacco Control Policies in 28 Countries (including 9 EU countries: The ITC Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geoffrey Fong

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Since its start in 2002, the ITC Project has been conducting evaluation studies of tobacco control policies via prospective cohort surveys of tobacco users in 28 countries, including 9 EU countries. This presentation will focus on the design of the ITC Project and how it differs from and complements existing evidence-gathering systems (monitoring and surveillance systems in measuring and understanding the impact of FCTC policies. The presentation will also describe the ITC Project's most recent initiatives: (1 the EUREST-PLUS study focusing on measuring the impact of the Tobacco Products Directive, and (2 a large-scale international cohort study of e-cigarettes starting in the United States, Canada, England, and Australia.

  17. Interventions of state in favour of mining industry in EU countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jaroslav Dvoracek; Vladimir Slivka [VSB-Technical University of Ostrava (Czech Republic)

    2008-03-15

    This contribution is based on a study dealing with the limitation or withdrawal of ownership rights to real estates in favour of the mining industry. All EU countries are included as of the year 2006. The interventions of the state concern ensuring entry to other people's lands to carry out exploration activities and restraining the proprietary rights of landowners in favour of mining, including expropriation. The countries where mining legislation does not cover state interventions are also presented.

  18. The work environment in the twelve EU-countries: Differences and similarities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smulders, P.G.W.; Kompier, M.A.J.; Paoli, P.

    1996-01-01

    A survey on the work environment in Europe was carried out by the European Union in 1991. The sample of the study was 12,500 workers (about 1000 per country) and was representative for the workforce distribution in the EU according to occupation, gender, age, economic sectors, and company size. With

  19. Environmental Kuznets curve for EU agriculture: empirical evidence from new entrant EU countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zafeiriou, Eleni; Sofios, Spyros; Partalidou, Xanthi

    2017-06-01

    The present work examines the intertemporal causal relationship between environmental damage from carbon emissions released by agriculture per 1000 ha of utilized agriculture area and economic performance in the sector of agriculture as described by net value added per capita. The autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach is employed to examine this linkage, for three new entrant EU countries, namely, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Hungary. The environmental Kuznets hypothesis is confirmed in the long run for Bulgaria and Czech Republic while in the short run is validated only for the case of Czech Republic. The results indicate that the adoption of environment-friendly farming practices and crops' selection does not secure simultaneous high economic and environmental performance at least in the short run for our sample countries and also in the long run for Hungary necessitating the modification of the agro-environmental measures adopted to make those two targets complementary and not mutually exclusive for a farmer.

  20. Output Loss Severity across EU Countries. Evidence for the 2008 Financial Crisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iustina Alina Boitan

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Financial crises are complex phenomena, in terms of the triggering factors, duration and severity, impact on both financial system and macroeconomic fundamentals and the full range of costs arising from its occurrence. The paper aims at providing an updated picture on the magnitude the 2008 financial crisis had, in terms of economic costs incurred by EU member states. It has been briefly reviewed crises’ main monetary and economic effects and costs. Then it has been employed International Monetary Fund’s approach for measuring crisis severity, expressed as an output loss indicator. To check the stability of the results, the basic methodology relying on a 3-year GDP trend has been complemented with a 7-year GDP trend. The output losses recorded by each EU country, under both trend assumptions, showed that Baltic states and Greece had been the most affected as they cumulated the highest losses. The lowest output losses have been registered in Western Europe countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Poland. Most EU economies’ growth still hasn’t entered on a robust ascending path, as they haven’t reached the level of GDP trend computed for the period preceding the onset of the financial crisis.

  1. Harmonization of Legislation of a Candidate Country with EU Legislation: Insights from the Prism of the Citizens of Macedonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdula Azizi

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Since the majority of the Western Balkan countries remain although they have expressed a willingness to join the EU, it is considered necessary to examine the topic of harmonization of national legislation of these countries with the EU legislation. So while until now, to this problem is not devoted adequate attention in scientific circles, it is considered necessary to explain and analyze the theoretical aspect of the harmonization of the legislation of the candidate countries with EU legislation, while they also learned things fr survey was conducted with the citizens of Macedonia where they express their opinions on the harmonization of Macedonian legislation and government policies related to Euro hope that in the future this work will encourage research and other activities related to government policy on the harmonization of national legislation with EU legislation.

  2. EU Structural Funds in the Baltic Countries-Useful or Harmful. Euroopa Liidu struktuurifondid Balti riikides- kasulikud või kahjulikud?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urmas Varblane

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The current article is focused on the role of financial assistance from the European Union in the budgets of the three Baltic countries. They all have seriously benefitted from the support of EU structural funds, which have reached close to five per cent of their GDP. Based on the case of higher education research funding, the article argues that the Baltic countries overlook the additionality principle of the European Union cohesion policy. Structural funds are replacing the Baltic countries’ own funding. During the current EU programming period between 2014 and 2020 the exit strategies should be prepared by the governments of Baltic countries in order to be able to finance research with significantly lower support from EU cohesion funds. The precondition is that instead of a short-run view, in the coalition treaties of the Baltic governments, a long-term strategy for how to move toward knowledge intensive economies is also needed. The first and most urgent need is to improve the quality of use of the EU support funds by all three countries in order to support longrun productivity growth and increase the competitiveness of the Baltic countries.

  3. AN ANALYSIS OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE COUNTRIES OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE IN THE CONTEXT OF E.U. ADHERING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian\tLiviu\tSCUTARIU

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Unemployment is a negative phenomenon that manifests itself in any economy with varying degrees of intensity. In this paper we propose to analyze the evolution of unemployment in the EU. There are countries where economic recession was felt more intense and harder recovered from it, such as Greece or Spain. Within the European Union one notes some differences in unemployment between Member States but also in terms of age groups. In the EU youth unemployment rate is approximately double that the general unemployment rate, but the situation is worse in some countries where youth unemployment rate is even higher. Our analysis also focuses on trends recorded at regional level in Central and Eastern Europe countries in the context of their accession to the EU, highlighting positive developments, which were maintained in the coming years. The unemployment rate decrease is one of the objectives followed by the EU through its policies.

  4. Competition among Cohesion and Accession Countries: Comparative Analysis of Specialization Within the EU Market

    OpenAIRE

    Dora Borbély

    2004-01-01

    European integration brings about major impulses for structural change. Analyzing the new competitive structure of countries and industries within the enlarged European Union is a great challenge for economic research. Focusing on the four cohesion countries, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece, this paper presents the key shifts in sectoral developments and changing RCA indicators in exports to the EU15. Comparing the results with the according indicators for selected accession countries ind...

  5. Registry data for cross-country comparisons of migrants' healthcare utilization in the EU: a survey study of availability and content

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krasnik Allan

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cross-national comparable data on migrants' use of healthcare services are important to address problems in access to healthcare; to identify high risk groups for prevention efforts; and to evaluate healthcare systems comparatively. Some of the main obstacles limiting analyses of health care utilization are lack of sufficient coverage and availability of reliable and valid healthcare data which includes information allowing for identification of migrants. The objective of this paper was to reveal which registry data on healthcare utilization were available in the EU countries in which migrants can be identified; and to determine to what extent data were comparable between the EU countries. Methods A questionnaire survey on availability of healthcare utilization registries in which migrants can be identified was carried out among all national statistic agencies and other relevant national health authorities in the 27 EU countries in 2008-9 as part of the Migrant and Ethnic Minority Health Observatory-project (MEHO. The information received was compared with information from a general survey on availability of survey and registry data on migrants conducted by Agency of Public Health, Lazio Region, Italy within the MEHO-project; thus, the information on registries was double-checked to assure accuracy and verification. Results Available registry data on healthcare utilization which allow for identification on migrants on a national/regional basis were only reported in 11 EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, and Sweden. Data on hospital care, including surgical procedures, were most frequently available whereas only few countries had data on care outside the hospital. Regarding identification of migrants, five countries reported having information on both citizenship and country of birth, one reported availability of information on country of birth, and

  6. Participation of CASSIOPEE in the EU technical assistance programmes to Eastern countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beceiro, A.R.; Vico, E.; Deconinck, J.M.

    2000-01-01

    CASSIOPEE, established in 1993, is a European Economic Interest Group formed by ANDRA (France), COVRA (the Netherlands), DBE (Germany), ENRESA (Spain), NIREX (United Kingdom) and ONDRAF/NIRAS (Belgium). CASSIOPEE provides assistance to the Central and Eastern European countries and to the New Independent States through the EU Programmes in two different ways: developing radioactive waste management strategies and advising on the implementation of adequate engineering resources.The advisory role of CASSIOPEE in the EU assistance programmes and main projects defined and/or developed by CASSIOPEE are presented. The activities in the area of low and intermediate level waste related to safety assessment of existing repositories, site selection, waste acceptance criteria ect. are given

  7. Intra-EU Direct Investment and Enlargement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Festa Andrea

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the determinants of the intra-EU direct investment (IDI into the New Member States (NMS using a panel dataset of bilateral capital flows for the period 1993-2013. It is found out by using a simple gravity model that EU membership is the most important determinant. Unlike previous studies including non-EU countries, the distance is insignificant, which is caused by proximity of these countries to one another. A separate analysis focused on subgroups of accession countries gives some evidence that even when size of their economy, distance, institutional quality and EU accession are taken into account, Central European countries receive more IDI than the Baltic and the Balkan states. On the contrary to that, the analysis restricted to the Balkan countries which have joined the EU shows the inexistence of a negative Balkans effect in attracting foreign investment. This finding is relevant because previous studies demonstrate a persistent negative Balkans effect for non-EU Balkan countries and suggests a crucial impact of the EU accession in determining the intra-EU capital flows.

  8. Addiction treatment in deprived urban areas in EU countries: Accessibility of care for people from socially marginalized groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Welbel, Marta; Matanov, Aleksandra; Moskalewicz, Jacek; Barros, Henrique; Canavan, Reamonn; Gabor, Edina; Gaddini, Andrea; Greacen, Tim; Kluge, Ulrike; Lorant, Vincent; Esteban Pena, Mercedes; Schene, Aart H.; Soares, Joaquim J. F.; Strassmayr, Christa; Vondrackova, Petra; Priebe, Stefan

    2013-01-01

    Aim: This study examines the accessibility of addiction treatment within services providing mental health care and support for people from socially marginalized groups in deprived urban areas across EU countries. Methods: Services providing mental health care and support in deprived areas of 14 EU

  9. Chosen Aspects of Modernization Processes in EU Countries and in Poland - Classical Point of View

    OpenAIRE

    Dworak Edyta; Malarska Anna

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this paper is an evaluation of changes in a sectoral structure of the employment in EU-countries in time. Against this background there are exposed changes in Polish economy in the period 1997-2008. There were used classical tools of the statistical analysis to illustrate and initially verification the theory of three sectors by A. Fisher, C. Clark i J. Fourastiè, orientated to the evaluation of the modernization process of EU-economies.

  10. EU Enlargement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Peder J.; Pytlikova, Mariola

    We look at migration flows from 8 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) to 5 Nordic countries over the years 1985 - 2005 and we can exploit a natural experiment that arose from the fact that while Sweden opened its labour market from the day one of the 2004 EU enlargement, the other Nordic...... countries chose a transition period in relation to the "new" EU members. We employ a differences-in-differences estimator in our analysis. The results show that the estimated effect of the opening of Swedish labour market in 2004 on migration is insignificantly different from zero. Further, we...... are interested in the overall effect of the "EU entry" on migration. Therefore we look at migration flows from CEECs during the first round EU enlargement towards CEECs in 2004 and compare them with migration flows from Bulgaria and Romania. We again used a DD estimator in our analysis. The estimated effect...

  11. The EU-Turkey Deal and the Safe Third Country Concept before the Greek Asylum Appeals Committees

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gkliati, M.

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses the first case law issued on the EU-Turkey deal from April to June 2016, which authoritatively answers the question whether Turkey constitutes a safe third country for refugees. In 390 out of 393 decisions, the Greek Asylum Appeals Committees ruled that Safe Third Country

  12. Civil Justice: Lay Judges in the EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefan Machura

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Lay judges fulfill important functions for the justice system of a country. In the European Union member states, scholars have analysed the use of lay judges in criminal cases. However, little is known about lay participation in civil justice. The paper introduces commonly cited reasons to have lay judges as well as the principal forms of lay participation and then surveys the EU countries for its implementation in civil cases. Mixed tribunals, involving lay judges under the leadership of a professional judge, are relatively frequent. Several countries have special labour courts or commercial courts with lay members and others have single lay judges, or all-lay judge panels. Roughly a third of the 28 EU member states have no lay participation in civil justice but only three of those have no lay judges in any branch of the courts. Almost all the reasons for including lay decision makers are served somehow by the existing forms, including providing different experiences and perhaps expert knowledge. The article concludes, citing non-EU states and lay participation in criminal and administrative courts as further evidence, that lay judges in one form or another are an element of European legal systems. Los jueces legos cumplen funciones importantes para el sistema de justicia de un país. En los Estados miembro de la Unión Europea, académicos han analizado el uso de jueces legos en casos criminales. Sin embargo, se sabe poco acerca de la participación de los legos en la justicia civil. El artículo presenta las razones que habitualmente se citan para tener jueces legos, así como las formas principales de la participación de legos, para a continuación medir su implementación en casos civiles en los países de la Unión Europea. Son relativamente frecuentes los tribunales mixtos, en los que participan jueces legos, bajo la dirección de un juez profesional. Varios países tienen tribunales laborales especiales o tribunales comerciales con

  13. The CAP Mid Term Review and the WTO Doha Round; Analyses for the Netherlands, EU and accession countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lips, M.

    2004-01-01

    This report analyses the potential impact of the EU CAP reforms that follow the Mid Term Review and the Harbinson Proposal for negotiation modalities in the WTO Doha Round on the Netherlands, EU14 and the accession countries. In welfare terms, the MTR has a rela-tively small impact on the

  14. Current Account Balance and Export Performances: Evidence Based on New EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bogdan Željko

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we investigate whether the differences in the current account balance and export performances for a new EU countries are a result of exchange rate policies. The analysis shows that countries with a flexible exchange rate have better export performances and the current account balance in the pre-crisis period. The obtained results show that movements in the current account balance are mainly driven by domestic variables. In the countries with a flexible exchange rate, real and nominal depreciation affects export positively although the magnitude of these effects is tiny and limited to the crisis period. These results point to a higher significance of non-price competitiveness on export which should be a future research topic.

  15. Economic Freedom and Entrepreneurial Activity: Evidence from EU 11 Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mandić Dragan

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we will present the results of our survey on economic freedom and entrepreneurial activity. We have conducted our analysis on EU 11countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom for the time period 2000- 2014. To measure the entrepreneurial activity we have used data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, and to measure economic freedom, we have used data from Fraiser Institute. Our results suggest strong positive and statistically significant, long term impact of economic freedom on entrepreneurial activity.

  16. 2002 electricity statistics: EU and EU+

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    2003-01-01

    Electricity generation in the European Union (EU) decreased by 0,7% in the period of 2001 to 2002, reaching 2521,3 billion kWh. Developments varied in different countries. Conventional thermal power plants generated 1340,1 billion kWh, which corresponds to a 53.0% share in the total generation and an increase by 2.7% over the level in the previous year. Generation in nuclear power plants increased by 2.7% to 855.5 billion kWh, which corresponds to a 33,8% share in EU-wide generation. Hydroelectric plants and other plants supplied 15.2% less electricity. Eurostat statistics do not differentiate these data any further. The volume of 332.2 kWh is tantamount to a 13.1% share. In the new EU member countries and the candidate countries, electricity generation showed a moderate increase by 0.4% and 2.1%, respectively. While generation both in conventional power plants and in other plants decreased, a considerable increase is shown for nuclear power generation of +13.5% and +10.6%, respectively [de

  17. Renewable electricity consumption in the EU-27: Are cross-country differences diminishing?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maza, Adolfo; Hierro, Maria; Villaverde, Jose [University of Cantabria, Department of Economics, Avda. de los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander (Spain)

    2010-09-15

    The aim of this paper is to analyse cross-country differences for shares of renewable electricity in the EU-27 for the period 1996-2005. We carry out a standard convergence analysis and then examine the evolution of the entire distribution, namely the external shape, intra-distributional dynamics and ergodic distribution. Our main results are as follows. First, there has been a clear convergence pattern for renewable electricity shares across countries. Second, the shape of the distribution has varied significantly over time, with more countries positioned around the mean in 2005 than in 1996. Third, the analysis shows that intra-distributional mobility has been relatively high, especially in those countries with the highest share in the initial year of our sample. Fourth, in spite of this, large cross-country differences will likely persist for RES-E shares in the hypothetical long-term equilibrium, which implies that a major impulse to national RES-E support policies will be necessary in the coming years to shorten this gap. (author)

  18. Multilevel LMDI decomposition of changes in aggregate energy consumption. A cross country analysis in the EU-27

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernández González, P.; Landajo, M.; Presno, M.J.

    2014-01-01

    This paper aims at analysing the factors behind the change in aggregate energy consumption in the EU-27, also identifying differences between member states. The logarithmic-mean Divisia index method (LMDI) is applied to multiplicatively decompose, at the country level, the variation in aggregate energy consumption in the EU-27 member states for the 2001–2008 period. We also analyse the sensitivity of the results when several aggregation levels are considered, with energy intensity used as the criterion to aggregate countries. This allows us to check robustness of results, also enabling an improved understanding of both inter and intra-unit effects. Results indicate that improvements in energy efficiency in the EU-27 were not enough to overcome the pressure of European economic activity on aggregate energy consumption. Mediterranean countries, and especially former communist states, increased their energy consumptions, most of them favoured by structural change. The analysis also reveals that the impact of intra-group movements on aggregate energy consumption is partially offset when moving from higher to lower aggregation levels. - Highlights: • Increase in EU-27 aggregate energy consumption is decomposed through LMDI at 3 levels. • We present the subgroup activity effect and we demonstrate its nulls consequences. • Structural and intensity group effects lose influence when moving to a higher level. • R and D, quality energies, efficient technologies, are main tools to lower energy consumption. • Structural effect: “Green” attitudes and changes in consumer choices, also necessary

  19. The Impact of the Housing Quality on the Socio-Economic Standard of the EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Špirková

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the qualitative characteristics of the housing in the EU countries. On the one hand there is a problem with housing itself and on the other hand there is a problem with the housing quality with its significant impact on the quality of life. The housing quality is defined by the attributes mentioned in the EQLS survey. The examined characters are the dwelling stock, the space problem, the rot problem, the damp problem, the toilet problem, the bath problem, the garden problem, the rent problem, the utility problem and the heating problem. The housing quality is affected by the public expenses on the housing and the community amenities per capita. The relations between the qualitative characteristics mutually and the qualitative characteristics and the public expenditures on the housing and the community amenities are examined by the correlation and regression analysis. The aim of the article is to point out to the dependence between the expenses and the housing quality in the EU countries. The mentioned relation strongly implicates the socio-economic standard of these countries.

  20. Promoting renewable energy sources for heating and cooling in EU-27 countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cansino, Jose M.; Pablo-Romero, Maria del P.; Roman, Rocio; Yniguez, Rocio

    2011-01-01

    In addition to public policies aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings, EU authorities have also promoted the use of Renewable Energy Sources for heating and cooling uses (RES H and C). This paper analyses the main policy measures implemented in EU-27 countries up to 2009: i.e. subsidies, tax incentives, financial support and feed-in tariffs. Twenty-three Member States (MSs) have developed some of these policy measures. The most widespread measure is the subsidy (22 MSs have implemented these) because from a political point of view, subsidies provide a straightforward approach to promote the use of RES H and C. Secondly, tax incentives have been used for reducing investment costs and making renewable energy profitable. Thirdly, financial incentives and feed-in tariffs have been used sparingly. While financial incentives might be used more extensively for promoting RES H and C if they are accompanied by other policy measures, feed-in tariffs are not likely to be implemented significantly in the future because this measure is not designed for household heat producers. - Highlights: → Main EU policies to reduce energy consumption are focused on buildings' efficiency. → Alternative incentives to promote the use of RES H and C in EU-27 are now studied. → Subsidies are the most widespread measure. → Tax incentives are used for reducing investment costs and making RES profitable. → Financial incentives and feed-in tariffs have been used sparingly.

  1. FY 2000 report on the survey on global warming prevention measures in main E.U. countries; 2000 nendo EU shuyokoku ni okeru ondanka boshi taisaku no gaiyo ni tsuite hokokusho

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2001-03-01

    This report dealt with the background of energy policies in E.U. countries and energy plans. At COP3, E.U. countries internationally gave a pledge that they will reduce the emission of greenhouse effect gas 8% from that as of 1990 during 2008-2012, which is stricter than those given by Japan and the U.S. Actually, the European Commission made public 'Toward the European Climate Change Programme' and 'Green Paper on Emissions Trading in the E.U.' These are correspondent to E.U.' global warming preventive strategy which is called the twin track approach by the European Commission. The former is a frame for coordinating individual reduction measures taken under the responsibility of member countries as the whole E.U. As to the latter, for the specified sectors from energy supply sectors to large energy consumption industries, it was planned to be started in 2005. And, the basic policy on the trade and concrete subjects/problems on the trading system were arranged. (NEDO)

  2. Relatedness and diversification in the European Union (EU-27) and European Neighbourhood Policy countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boschma, Ron; Capone, Gianluca

    2016-01-01

    This paper analyzes the process of industrial diversification in the countries that were part of the European Union (EU-27) and those that were the target of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in the period 1995–2010 by means of world trade data derived from the BACI database (elaborated UN

  3. Determinants of Intra-Industry Trade in Agricultural and Food Products Between Poland and EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Łapinska Justyna

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The present study investigates the country-specific determinants of intra-industry trade between Poland and its European Union trading partners in agricultural and food products during the time period 2002-2011. An econometric model for panel data is applied for the analysis of the factors determining Polish bilateral intra-industry trade with European Union countries. The research leads to the formulation of a statement that the intensity of intra-industry trade in agricultural and food products is positively influenced by the intensity of trade with EU countries and the level of economic development of the member countries (as measured by the size of their GDP per capita. Increase in intra-trade turnover is also facilitated by EU membership and by the fact that Poland’s trade partners use similar Slavic-based languages. Relative differences in the size of the economies and relative differences in Poland’s and its trading partners’ levels of economic development have a negative impact. The degree of the imbalance of trade turnover between trading partners also negatively influences the intensity of intra-trade exchange. The research confirms that the impact of all of the identified factors determining intra-industry trade is consistent with the predictions of the theory.

  4. The European PV market evaluation for potential investors - actual information on the 15 EU member state countries and Switzerland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kurdziel, M.

    2004-01-01

    The EU has ambitious targets for the introduction of PV. According to the white book of the European Commission, the target for 2010 is to install 3000 MWp. In the following the European PV markets of the 15 EU member state countries and Switzerland are presented and evaluated for potential investors. (author)

  5. The EU anti-dumping policy towards Russia and China: product quality and the choice of an analogue country

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller; Rutkowski, Aleksander Jerzy

    2005-01-01

    This paper uses the theory of international trade in vertically differentiated products in order to assess whether the EU has calculated disproportionately high dumping margins in its anti-dumping policy towards the two non-market economies (NMEs) Russia and China since 1992. Specifically......, the investigation concerns cases in which the level of economic development in and the quality of the products from the chosen analogue country are higher than in the two NMEs. The conclusion drawn here is that, even when the EU chooses analogue countries at a higher level of economic development than Russia...... and China, the differences in product quality and in the levels of economic development between the dumpers and the analogue countries provide no systematic explanation of the size of dumping margins. Udgivelsesdato: JAN...

  6. Estimating broad-brush rebound effects for household energy consumption in the EU 28 countries and Norway: some policy implications of Odyssee data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galvin, Ray

    2014-01-01

    Currently there is a strong policy commitment in European Union (EU) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries to increase the energy efficiency of residential buildings, and it is widely assumed that this will naturally and automatically reduce domestic energy consumption. However, other factors such as fuel prices, wages, attitudes and lifestyles also influence energy consumption. This paper calculates broad-brush rebound effects based on changes in energy efficiency and energy consumption in each of the 28 EU countries plus Norway, for the years 2000–2011. In doing so, it tests how well the assumption of energy efficiency leading to energy reduction stands up to scrutiny in these lands. It uses the EU’s Odyssee database for efficiency and consumption figures and a commonly employed econometric definition of the rebound effect as an energy-efficiency elasticity. Most older EU lands show rebound effects in the expected range of 0–50%. However, the range for newer EU countries is 100–550%, suggesting that energy efficiency increases are not a good predictor of energy consumption. A more in-depth look at one country, Germany, suggests these results underestimate the rebound effect significantly. This also identifies research needs for specific energy consumption determinants in each country, to find more precisely what is driving consumption levels. - Highlights: • Policymakers frequently link energy efficiency gains with energy consumption falls. • Household energy rebound effects are calculated for EU lands using Odyssee data. • Most older EU lands show results in the range of 0–50% but newer lands show 100–552%. • Energy efficiency gains are not always a reliable predictor of energy consumption. • Targeted research could explore why consumption is often so unrelated to efficiency

  7. Survey of strategies for low-energy buildings in EU countries; Kortlaegning af strategier for lavenergibyggeri i EU lande

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2011-02-15

    The overall objective of this task is to identify and analyze several European countries' approaches to regulate energy efficiency in new buildings. In addition, the study maps the initiatives established in relation to introduce voluntary low energy mechanisms at national level. As part of this work it has been a major goal to explore how individual countries are preparing the introduction of a ''nearly zero'' energy framework. The introduction of a ''nearly zero'' framework has been invoked via the new revised Building Directive (2010/31/EU) which requires that all new buildings are ''Nearly Zero'' by 31 December 2020, however, new public buildings must meet ''nearly zero'' requirement already by 31. December 2018. Finally, the survey also includes an examination of national and political conditions and current legislation on energy consumption in buildings. The countries in the survey are: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Britain, France, Switzerland and to a limited extent Ireland and Poland. The comparative analysis of the countries' efforts is presented in the main part of the report, and the individual country reports are presented in appendices. (LN)

  8. Fossil and renewable energy consumption, GHGs (greenhouse gases) and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of EU (European Union) countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bölük, Gülden; Mert, Mehmet

    2014-01-01

    Recently a great number of empirical research studies have been conducted on the relationship between certain indicators of environmental degradation and income. The EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve) hypothesis has been tested for various types of environmental degradation. The EKC hypothesis states that the relationship between environmental degradation and income per capita takes the form of an inverted U shape. In this paper the EKC hypothesis was investigated with regards to the relationship between carbon emissions, income and energy consumption in 16 EU (European Union) countries. We conducted panel data analysis for the period of 1990–2008 by fixing the multicollinearity problem between the explanatory variables using their centered values. The main contribution of this paper is that the EKC hypothesis has been investigated by separating final energy consumption into renewable and fossil fuel energy consumption. Unfortunately, the inverted U-shape relationship (EKC) does not hold for carbon emissions in the 16 EU countries. The other important finding is that renewable energy consumption contributes around 1/2 less per unit of energy consumed than fossil energy consumption in terms of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in EU countries. This implies that a shift in energy consumption mix towards alternative renewable energy technologies might decrease the GHG emissions. - Highlights: • We investigate the EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve) hypothesis for 16 EU (European Union) countries. • We fix the multicollinearity problem between explanatory variables. • We found no evidence to support the EKC hypothesis in EU between 1990 and 2008 periods. • Renewable energy contributes less to GHGs (greenhouse gases) around ½ that of a unit of fossil energy

  9. Ombudsman institutions in the candidate countries on the road to EU membership: a comparative view

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vahap Atilla OĞUŞGİL

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The European Union has been attaching great importance to the values of democracy and human rights in its external policy, including to its relationship with candidate countries seeking membership in the Union. In accordance with the significance of the values stipulated by the Copenhagen political criteria, as well, it urges the countries in question, for example, to build or strengthen national oversight mechanisms that are tasked to promote the democratic governance of the state and protect human rights. This paper examines one of those oversight mechanisms – ombudsman institutions – in the candidate states conducting accession negotiations with the EU. It specifically scrutinises a fundamental characteristic for the effective functioning of these institutions – the jurisdiction and powers granted by their statutes. Relying on the findings to be noted, the paper also seeks an answer to the question of which ombudsman institution(s score(s better in terms of effectiveness and thus play(s a more significant role in the improvement and consolidation of democracy and protection of human rights in its or their countries, and as a result, contribute(s more to the fulfilment of Copenhagen political criteria during the EU accession processes.

  10. FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION DETERMINANTS AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN EU COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anca Florentina GAVRILUŢĂ (VATAMANU

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This work aims to assess the impact of fiscal decentralization on local (regional development in the EU Member States while controlling for macroeconomic and local autonomy specific factors. Using a panel data approach with dynamic effects, we examined the implications of fiscal decentralization on local development across European Union countries over the 1990-2004 period. The novelty of the study is emphasized by including in the analysis a variable which tests local fiscal discipline, more exactly, Fiscal Rule Strength Index for local level of government. Our findings suggest that prosperity of regions, measured in GDP growth depends on variables such as characteristics of decentralization undertaken by each country or local fiscal discipline, confirming our primary hypothesis. This supports the view that recently implemented reforms aiming to enforce fiscal discipline following-up the Fiscal Compact strengthened the local budgetary framework and restrained, therefore, the local discretionary power to act towards development.

  11. Testing the transport energy-environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in the EU27 countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pablo-Romero, M.P.; Cruz, L.; Barata, E.

    2017-01-01

    Transport activities are essential for economic and social development. Nevertheless, the transport sector has also shown the fastest growth in energy consumption in the European Union and its contribution to increasing greenhouse gas emissions merits the thorough attention of academics and policy makers. In this paper we analyze the relationship of economic growth and transport activities with transport final energy consumption. Energy Kuznets curves are estimated for a panel data set covering the EU27 countries in the period 1995–2009 for total transport energy use, household transport energy use, and productive transport energy use (all three in absolute and per capita energy use terms). The productive transport energy use and gross value added relationship are further considered as per hour worked. Finally, the control variables of energy prices and differences in the economic structures are tested. Empirical results show that the elasticity of transport energy use with respect to gross value added in per capita terms decreases from a threshold for the three transport energy consumption variables, but the turning point of improved environmental quality is not reached in any instance. - Highlights: • Transport EKCs are estimated for the EU countries in the 1995–2009 period. • Total, household and production activity transport energy uses are analyzed. • Data support a concave shape, but the turning point is not reached. • Richer countries have more limited potential for energy efficiency policies. • EKCs elasticity values are considered to support policy interpretations.

  12. Decomposition of useful work intensity: The EU (European Union)-15 countries from 1960 to 2009

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serrenho, André Cabrera; Sousa, Tânia; Warr, Benjamin; Ayres, Robert U.; Domingos, Tiago

    2014-01-01

    Energy intensity measures, defined as the ratio of energy use to gross domestic product of a country, are widely used to study the productivity of energy use in an economy. Unlike conventional primary and/or final energy intensities, useful work intensity (useful work/gross domestic product) addresses the problem of aggregating in a single measure the different energy forms used, and allows for a clear distinction between thermodynamic efficiencies and structural changes in the demand for energy end-uses. Here, our aim is twofold: (1) Disclose the factors that control the useful work intensities across the EU-15 countries over the deindustrialization process, performing a decomposition of the useful work intensities from 1960 to 2009. (2) Describe a methodology for the automatization of useful work accounting, based on a general mapping of energy end-uses from IEA (International Energy Agency) energy balances. We show that, in contrast to the other conventional energy intensity measures, useful work intensity depends only on the intensity of high temperature heat uses and the relative size of residential energy needs. Aggregate thermodynamic efficiencies slightly increased as a consequence of technological improvements, but were negatively affected by deindustrialization, as a consequence of a transition to less efficient and productive energy uses. - Highlights: • We provide an automated useful work accounting methodology from IEA energy balances. • We provide an estimation of 2nd law efficiencies for EU-15 countries since 1960. • This methodology is applied to EU-15 from 1960 to 2009. • Useful work intensity depends only on high temperature heat and residential uses. • Thermodynamic 2nd law efficiencies were negatively affected by deindustrialization

  13. Public Integrity, Economic Freedom and Governance Performance. A Comparative Study for the EU Member States and Acceding Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ani MATEI

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available The studies concerning the impact of corruption on the effectiveness of governance are numerous, valorising profound approaches, based on criteria and standards related to good governance, organizational behaviour. The concepts and mechanisms specific for econometrics and statistics provide the quantitative support for qualitative analyses, substantiating public policies, in view to assure effectiveness in performance measurement. For EU Member States and acceding countries, the level of development and social organization determines specific ethical behaviours. In this context, the current paper aims a comparative economic and social evaluation of the correlations between corruption, performance and economic freedom in the states mentioned, following the various significant stages of the EU enlargement. The working hypotheses turn into consideration the following issues:# Corruption holds national specific character and the statistic, econometric or sociologic analyses reveal that it is stable during time.# The climate of economic freedom and the intensity of corruption influence powerfully the economic performance.# The EU membership, “seniority” in EU, regional context determine different attitudes and perceptions on the corruption phenomena.# For the newer EU states or the acceding countries, the strategies of integrity have mimetic character and the National Integrity Systems have structured powerful connections aimed at determining an action focused on public integrity.In the analyses achieved, the EU is approached globally, at least from statistic point of view, and the conclusions aim situations specific to the groups of states that have been or will be the beneficiaries of the EU enlargement. The quantitative analyses use both own results of the researches carried out by the authors and public results of World Bank or Heritage Foundation, as well as results of authorities responsible for national statistics. The paper uses the

  14. A portrait of trading firms in the services sectors: Comparable evidence from four EU countries

    OpenAIRE

    Haller, Stefanie A.; Damijan, Jože; Kaitila, Ville; Kostevc, Črt; Maliranta, Mika; Milet, Emmanuel; Mirza, Daniel; Rojec, Matija

    2012-01-01

    We establish a set of stylised facts for trade and trading firms in five market services sectors using comparable firm-level and services data from four EU countries. Our analysis shows that exports account for much lower shares of overall sales in the services sectors than in manufacturing. In line with this there are also fewer firms engaged in trade in the services sectors than in manufacturing; trade intensities, in turn, vary by services sector and country. Trade by services firms is som...

  15. The Limits of Conditionality: Turkey – EU Taxation Negotiations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hakan Cavlak

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Conditionality is mostly defined as the EU policy engendered for candidate countries. However, the mere use of conditionality by the EU does not essentially explain transferring of policies and EU rules towards the candidate countries. EU conditionality may be considered as a comprising approach but in certain policy areas or countries it might not be as successful as it was on other ones. The EU conditionality basically defined as a bargaining policy of affecting through reward, under which the EU provides inducements to candidate or neighbor countries to aligning with the conditions of the EU. In this study the explanatory power of conditionality would be questioned; so the main question will be “to what extent does the EU have influence on policy convergence in a candidate country that does not have a clear membership perspective? Taxation chapter in accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU has been chosen as the case of this research as providing to have an answer on this question. The main objective of this paper is ‘analyzing the extent of EU conditionality on Turkish taxation policy.’ Furthermore, it is argued in this study that “without a concrete incentive, European Union’s impact on a candidate country would be limited.”  

  16. PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY TROUGH EQUAL LIFE STANDARD IN EU COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandar Dashtevski

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available After the World War II, especially in the early fifties there is an expansion of gender rights. Women are massively employed all over the world in all sectors of social life, contributing to an increase in both their own standard of living and the standard in their own countries. As the importance and role of women grows, this is achieved with increasing respect for its rights. Gender means elimination of inequality and promote equality between women and men in all areas of social life. If we want to achieve gender equality as a whole, it is inevitable to achieve an economic consolidation of the two sexes. Economic strengthening is possible trough equal pay. Experience shows that payments are not equal when it comes to wages for men and women. Therefore, the EU is constantly working to regulate this area, with special regulations, which are mandatory for the member states, but should also be respected by countries that would like to join the union. This led to the promotion of gender equality through an equal life.

  17. Building a System of Comparative-Spatial Assessment of the Level of Development of Ukraine and the EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bril Mykhailo S.

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The article proposes an approach to the formation of a system of comparative-spatial assessment of the level of socio-economic development of the State, on the basis of which the multidimensional statistical analysis of Ukraine and the EU countries was accomplished. On the basis of the hierarchical agglomerative and iterative methods of the spatial cluster analysis, groups of countries are allocated by homogeneous characteristics of the socio-economic development. A comparison of the results of spatial and dynamic clustering confirms the stability of the composition of the allocated groups and their quality characteristics. The proposed complex of economic and mathematical models for determining the level of socio-economic development of the State and the EU countries on the basis of assessment and analysis of the main macro-indicators and their relationship in the perspective will improve the quality of managerial decisions as to ensuring the socio-economic development of the State.

  18. Trade in Value Added (TiVA in EU New Member States (EU NMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ines Kersan-Škabić

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary trade analysis indicates the necessity of calculating trade in value added (TiVA which is created through global value chains (GVCs. This paper aims to determine the characteristics and importance of GVC trade in the EU new member states (EU NMS with special emphasis placed on the industry level. The results demonstrate different levels of GVC participation of the EU NMS, where Hungary is the most integrated country and Croatia the least integrated. Regional GVCs exist because a huge part of value added (VA comes from EU member states, as in gross export as well as in final demand (Europe as a hub. The most important source countries are Germany and Italy and there is also evidence of geographical and historical relations between the countries. The domination of backward participation has been found in the analysis made on the industrial level, i.e. the EU NMS are highly dependent on the import of intermediates for the production and export of final products. Strong interconnections between imports of intermediate products and exports of final products have been found in the manufacture of computers, electronics and optical products; manufacture of wood, paper, printing and reproduction. This research has contributed to the scarce literature concerning GVC (TiVA in EU NMS and has opened up new possibilities for further research and analysis.

  19. Development of the rate of employment and unemployment of males and females in ten associated countries of EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Klíma

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper is focused on the evaluation the rates of employment and unemployment of women, men and as a whole in ten associated countries of EU. Rates of employment were evaluated in the period 1996-2002. Rates of unemployment were evaluated in the period 1996-2003. Employment of males in all ten associated countries of EU is higher then employment of females. Unemployment of females in the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia is higher than unemployment of males and in opposite unemployment of females in Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania and Latvia is lower than unemployment of males. Trends of rates of male, female and total employment and unemployment are evaluated. Methods of regression and correlation analysis, development trends and cluster analysis were applied for the mathematical-statistical analysis.

  20. Explaining Cross-Country Differences in Attitudes Towards Immigration in the EU-15

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Munch, Jakob Roland; Schroll, Sanne

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, we use data from the first two rounds of the European Social Survey to analyze the extent to which differences in average attitudes towards immigration across the EU-15 countries may be explained by differences in socioeconomic characteristics and individually perceived consequences...... of immigration, using an extension of a decomposition technique developed by Fairlie (2005). We find that despite the significant effects of socioeconomic characteristics on attitudes, differences in the distributions of these characteristics can only explain a modest share of the cross-country variation...... in average attitudes. A larger part can be explained by differences in perceived consequences of immigration, but the main part is still left unexplained. Apart from providing useful input for policy makers working in the area of immigration policy, this raises a number of questions for further research...

  1. Explaining Cross-Country Differences in Attitudes towards Immigration in the EU-15

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Munch, Jakob Roland; Schroll, Sanne

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, we use data from the first two rounds of the European Social Survey to analyze the extent to which differences in average attitudes towards immigration across the EU-15 countries may be explained by differences in socioeconomic characteristics and individually perceived consequences...... of immigration, using an extension of a decomposition technique developed by Fairlie (2005). We find that despite the significant effects of socioeconomic characteristics on attitudes, differences in the distributions of these characteristics can only explain a modest share of the cross-country variation...... in average attitudes. A larger part can be explained by differences in perceived consequences of immigration, but the main part is still left unexplained. Apart from providing useful input for policy makers working in the area of immigration policy, this raises a number of questions for further research...

  2. Explaining Cross-Country Differences in Attitudes Towards Immigration in the EU-15

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Munch, Jakob Roland; Skaksen, Jan Rose

    In this paper, we use data from the first two rounds of the European Social Survey to analyse the extent to which differences in average attitudes towards immigration across the EU-15 countries may be explained by differences in socioeconomic characteristics and individually perceived consequences...... of immigration, using an extension of a decomposition technique developed by Fairlie (2005). We find that despite the significant effects of socioeconomic characteristics on attitudes, differences in the distributions of these characteristics can only explain a modest share of the cross-country variation...... in average attitudes. A larger part can be explained by differences in perceived consequences of immigration, but the main part is still left unexplained. Apart from providing useful input for policy makers working in the area of immigration policy, this raises a number of questions for further research...

  3. Revisiting Ricardo: Can productivity differences explain the pattern of trade between EU countries?

    OpenAIRE

    Beine, Michel

    2009-01-01

    In this paper we revise the empirical tests of the Ricardian model by testing properly the Ricardian hypotheses on bilateral trade flows. Our tests are based on NACE 2-digit industry aggregation of productivity and of bilateral trade flows between 21 EU member states for the period 1994-2004. We compare the matchings between relative bilateral sectoral productivity rankings and bilateral sectoral exports-to-imports ratio rankings for each of 21 x 20 country pairs. We find that the Ricardian h...

  4. Exchange of information in the EU and counteraction of tax avoiding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Draba

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an assessment of selected European Union legislation of the exchange of information between EU countries in context of preventing tax avoiding. The primary tool to prevent tax avoidance within the EU is information exchanging between EU countries and between EU countires and other countries.

  5. Solar Energy: Incentives to Promote PV in EU27

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María del P. Pablo-Romero

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The growth in the use of renewable energies in the EU has been remarkable. Among these energies is PV. The average annual growth rate for the EU-27 countries in installed PV capacity in the period 2005-2012 was 41.2%. While the installed capacity of PV has reached almost 82 % of National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP targets for the EU-27 countries for 2020, it is still far from being used at its full potential. Over recent years, several measures have been adopted in the EU to enhance and promote PV. This paper undertakes a complete review of the state of PV power in Europe and the measures taken to date to promote it in EU-27. 25 countries have adopted measures to promote PV. The most widespread measure to promote PV use is Feed- in Tariffs. Tariffs are normally adjusted, in a decreasing manner, annually. Nevertheless, currently, seven countries have decided to accelerate this decrease rate in view of cost reduction of the installations and of higher efficiencies. The second instrument used to promote PV in the EU-27 countries is the concession of subsidies. Nevertheless, subsidies have the disadvantage of being closely linked to budgetary resources and therefore to budgetary constraints. In most EU countries, subsidies for renewable energy for PV are being lowered. Twelve EU-27 countries adopted tax measures. Low-interest loans and green certificate systems were only sparingly used.

  6. Cost evaluation of energy crops at farm gate in different EU countries and related agricultural issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Calliope, P.; Dalianis, C.

    1996-01-01

    Interest on energy crops varies greatly among EU regions. Certain climatic conditions prevailing in the areas, determine the coice of the energy crop which is going to be used as raw material for energy production. Furthermore, energy markets, farm structure and set aside regulations as well as national policy play a critical role to biomass exploitation for energy purposes. A common methodology was developed (Moore, 1996) for comparing costs of different options for ''biomass-to-energy systems'' across six EU countries (figure 1). This methodology was developed in the framework of an AIR Concerted Action financed by DGXII of EU and entitled ''Development of a Standard Methodology for Integrating Non-Food Crops in Rural Areas with Niche Energy Markets''. Cost estimations were done form the first stage of raw material production till the final energy product (kWh of heat and electricity or lt of liquid biofuel. In this paper, only the raw material production cost estimation phase will be presented. (Author)

  7. Women, men and creativity in higher education sector – comparative studies of leading EU and ECE countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Zachorowska-Mazurkiewicz

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The focus in the article is on creativity in the higher education sector in terms of gender perspective. The question posed concerns the relation between women’s and men’s patent activities and R&D expenditures. The paper is based on the data from the European Patent Office, 1999-2013 concerning creative activities performed by women and men in the higher education sector. The paper looks into the dynamics of changes in terms of the number of women and men researchers, R&D personnel and inventors, and combines them with the changes in R&D expenditures in the higher education sector. The analysis is conducted for the two groups of leading EU countries in the light of their patent activities. The objective of this exercise is to present the correlation between R&D expenditures and women and men in the R&D sectors, comparing these two groups of the EU countries.

  8. The relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty. Empirical evidence for the newest EU countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viorica, Daniela; Jemna, Danut; Pintilescu, Carmen; Asandului, Mircea

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to verify the hypotheses presented in the literature on the causal relationship between inflation and its uncertainty, for the newest EU countries. To ensure the robustness of the results, in the study four models for inflation uncertainty are estimated in parallel: ARCH (1), GARCH (1,1), EGARCH (1,1,1) and PARCH (1,1,1). The Granger method is used to test the causality between two variables. The working hypothesis is that groups of countries with a similar political and economic background in 1990 and are likely to be characterized by the same causal relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty. Empirical results partially confirm this hypothesis. C22, E31, E37.

  9. The Impact of EU Financial Crisis and the EU Member States Measures taken to Leave Recession

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona Moagăr-Poladian

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper is focussed on the financial packages and fiscal stimuli measures taken by EU as a group and by each EU country for supporting hard-hit sectors like automotive industry, tourism and construction. The economic crisis from 2008-2009 has led to a sharp decrease of investment climate and a massive contraction of economic activity. This means a sharp decrease of capacity utilisation that had led in time to an excessive unemployment especially in the most hit sectors. The financial rescue measures of EU are comprised in European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP. Measures approved are different from country to country, depending by the political support and the strategy chosen by the government. The EU's response to support the real economy during the economic crisis has been taken very fast and well-organized in certain countries and industries. By contrary, some Member States' recovery measures has been approved late and the rescue strategy wasn’t enough achieved. This has led to a deepening of financial instability and unemployment.

  10. Trade-facilitated technology spillovers in energy productivity convergence processes across EU countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wan, Jun; Baylis, Kathy; Mulder, Peter

    2015-01-01

    This empirical paper tests for trade-facilitated spillovers in the convergence of energy productivity across 16 European Union (EU) countries from 1995 to 2005. One might anticipate that by inducing specialization, trade limits the potential for convergence in energy productivity. Conversely, by inducing competition and knowledge diffusion, trade may spur sectors to greater energy productivity. Unlike most previous work on convergence, we explain productivity dynamics from cross-country interactions at a detailed sector level and apply a spatial panel data approach to explicitly account for trade-flow related spatial effects in the convergence analysis. Our study confirms the existence of convergence in manufacturing energy productivity, caused by efficiency improvements in lagging countries, while undermined by increasing international differences in sector structure. Further, we find that trade flows explain 30 to 40% of the unobserved variation in energy productivity. Trade continues to explain the unobserved variation in energy productivity even after accounting for geographic proximity. Last, we find that those countries and sectors with higher dependence on trade both have higher energy productivity growth and a higher rate of convergence, further implying that trade can enhance energy productivity. Thus, unlike concerns that trade may spur a ‘race to the bottom’, we find that promoting trade may help stimulate energy efficiency improvements across countries. - Highlights: • We test for trade-facilitated spillovers in cross-country energy productivity convergence. • We use a spatial panel-data approach and data for 16 European Union countries. • Efficiency improvements in lagging countries cause energy productivity convergence. • Trade flows explain 30 to 40% of unobserved variation in energy productivity. • Higher dependence on trade means higher rates of energy productivity growth

  11. Present developmental conditions petroleum substituting energies in the EU; Sekiyu daitai energy kaihatsu no genjo (EU)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-03-01

    This report outlines the policy of development and introduction of petroleum substituting energies, and its diffusion situation in the EU. On the policy, development, introduction and diffusion of petroleum substituting energies in the EU, based on the new EU energy white paper issued in fiscal 1996, the policy of energy and environment in every EU country is first outlined. The policy of and practical approach to petroleum substituting energies in every EU country are next described. In particular, since ALTENER which has been continuously promoted by the EU for 3 years as main control measures against CO2 is newly moving toward the second plan, the trend of ALTENER and the new SAVE2 plan are presented. The content of JOULE-THERMIE is also precisely presented which is the new energy program of the 4th framework R & D program. In relation to the developmental trend of alternative energies to oil in the EU until 2020, its prediction result is presented on the basis of the latest study promoted by EC committee in the ALTENER plan. 10 tabs.

  12. Does economic, financial and institutional developments matter for environmental quality? A comparative analysis of EU and MEA countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abid, Mehdi

    2017-03-01

    The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) with a sample of 58 MEA (Middle East & African) and 41 EU (European Union) countries for the period 1990 to 2011. The empirical analysis is carried out using the GMM-system method to solve the problem of endogenous variables. We focused on direct and indirect effects of institutional quality (through the efficiency of public expenditure, financial development, trade openness and foreign direct investment) and the income-emission relationship. We found a monotonically increasing relationship between CO 2 emissions and GDP in both MEA and EU regions. The policy implication is clear: in order to have sustainable positive economic performance and to reduce carbon dioxide emission in the country at the same time, policy makers should regulate and enhance the role and efficiency of domestic institutions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Tobacco taxation policy in three Baltic countries after the EU accession

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Konstantin Krasovsky

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined the EU in 2004 and had to increase tobacco excise rates. The aim of the paper is to explore the impact of tax policies on tobacco consumption, revenue and tobacco market in the Baltic countries.METHODS: Data on tobacco sales, tax rates, prices, revenues, and smoking prevalence were taken from databases and reports. Tobacco affordability index was calculated using data on prices and GDP. RESULTS: Tobacco taxation policy had three similar stages in Baltic countries: (1 In 2004-2007, tax rates increased slowly and cigarettes became more affordable in years of economic boom. Tobacco consumption and smuggling out of Baltic countries was on the rise, which caused increase of sales and revenues. (2 In 2008-2009, Baltic countries had to hike excise and VAT rates in years of economic recession, which caused sharp decline of cigarette affordability and resulted in large decline of consumption and sales and some excise revenue downfall in 2009-2010; however, all countries had higher revenues in 2010 than in 2007. (3 In 2011, economic situation improved and tobacco sales and revenue increased. The tobacco taxation policy in Baltic countries in 2004-2011 resulted in: (1 decline of total (licit + illicit annual cigarette consumption by 30% both in Latvia and Lithuania, and by 10% in Estonia; (2 decline of daily smoking prevalence by 10-20%; (3 decline of the out-of-country smuggling; (4 almost no changes in volumes of smuggling into Lithuania and Estonia; (5 three-fold increase of the annual tobacco revenues in three countries combined.CONCLUSIONS: Decrease of tobacco affordability caused by tax hikes and economic recession was the key factor of tobacco consumption decline. Tobacco tax hike is a win-win policy, while in years of economic boom it has more fiscal benefits and in years of economic recession it has more public health benefits.

  14. The pursuit of a remedy for gender inequality in wider Europe: Comparison of policies and indices in the EU, Nordic countries, and south east Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kovačević Jasna

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores the differences between gender regimes in Europe, with an emphasis on EU policies, the Nordic women-friendly welfare states, and the former socialist policies of South Eastern European (SEE countries. The main premise is that culture and differing institutionalization of gender equality contribute to different perceptions of women’s role in society and to a different perception of gender equality in general. The paper examines the theoretical standpoints and historical background of different gender regimes in Europe. Gender equality indices are analyzed in order to investigate if any patterns exist among European countries with distinct cultural, political, and social backgrounds. Nordic countries are overachievers in gender equality in Europe, mainly due to the prevailing egalitarianism and institutionalization of women-friendly welfare policies, which can serve as a good benchmark for wider Europe, especially for countries from South East Europe. However, cultural differences exist between Scandinavian and other European countries, which cannot be considered homogeneous. The paper raises important issues of gender equality such as multiculturalism and immigration, questioning to what extent future EU enlargements will increase the risk of greater gender inequality in the EU.

  15. Bringing Europe and Third countries closer together through renewable Energies (BETTER). D2.1. EU RES cooperation initiatives with third Countries. North Africa, West Balkans and Turkey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Uslu, A.; Dalla Longa, F.; Veum, K.C.; Straver, K. [ECN Policy Studies, Petten (Netherlands); Karakosta, C [National Technical University of Athens, Athens (Greece)

    2013-03-15

    One major element of EU's external energy policy is expanding its energy norms and regulations to neighbourhood countries and beyond to achieve its energy policy priorities - safe, secure, affordable and sustainable energy supply. The importance of external energy policy has been acknowledged in the European Union's 2007 'energy package', and Second Strategic Energy Review and the European Commission's Communication on security of energy supply and international cooperation. The EU Renewable Energy Directive provides another element to crossborder cooperation by allowing Member States to fulfil their 2020 renewable energy (RES) targets by implementing joint projects in third countries. Even though the Member States' national renewable energy action plans (NREAPs) to reach their RES targets do not indicate any significant use of this mechanism, the RES Directive acknowledges the importance of renewable energy as part of external energy policy. This report aims at presenting the political framework between the EU and the BETTER project target regions (North Africa, Western Balkans and Turkey) with regards to (renewable) energy and the relevant initiatives and the projects to set the scene for RES joint projects as defined in Article 9 of the RES Directive. The main objectives of this study report are (1) to review energy treaties, agreements, and partnerships to assess their relevance to cooperation mechanism with Third countries; and (2) to analyse the relevance of the recent projects and initiatives to BETTER project and improve and trigger the communication and synergies between BETTER project partners and the relevant projects.

  16. Competitiveness analysis of Czech agrarian foreign trade in the context of world agrarian market and agrarian trade of EU-27 countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miroslav Svatoš

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyses the commodity structure of Czech (CR agrarian trade in relation to the EU countries. An emphasis is put on comparative advantages of particular aggregations from the view-point of their application on the EU internal market. This analysis is based on an evaluation of comparative advantages by means of a modified Balassa index. It is studied in two stages, for the internal EU market and the world market. The analysis results are then shown in a graph. Subsequently, the authors implement an idea arising from a BCG matrix on the results of the graphic presentation. The aim is to identify those aggregations (SITC, rev. 3 which are or have a potential to be a pillar of agri-business (ie, the “cash cows” and “stars”, and vice versa to show the aggregation which are non-prospective in the long term or problematic (ie, the “dogs” and “problem children”. As start are identified as those aggregations which are characterised by the highest growth rate of comparative advantage value. From the analysis results, changes are apparent if we compare the CR trade commodity structure in relation to the EU countries. Findings also concern the development of comparative advantages and following CR specialisation on trade with certain aggregations.

  17. Has accession to the EU affected business cycles?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Panagiotis EVANGELOPOULOS

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper undertakes to explain the relationship between EU accession and the length of business cycles, focusing specifically on whether participation in a multinational organization has, or has not, altered the length of the cycle. Employing a sample of nine EU countries (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK we focused initially on annual data for per capita growth in GDP over a period of 59 years (1950-2008. For each country the sample was divided into two parts, one covering the period preceding accession to the EU and one is covering the accession year and succeeding years. Then, eliminating the background noise with the use of a periodogram, we proceeded to examine their spectral density plots. The results indicated that in the first years following accession, the countries tended to experience shorter cycles than they had previously. In the second phase the cycles were of the same duration as previous cycles. Finally, after a period of some years, the length of the cycles increased, as suggested by the J-shaped curve. This J-shaped growth curve applies for the countries that have joined the EU, strongly suggesting a causal relationship between accession to the EU and these specific characterristics of the curve. We cross-checked with a set of four non-EU member countries (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey and found no change in the length of the business cycle in these countries.

  18. Fighting windmills? EU industrial interest and global climate negotiations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steiner Brand, U.; Tinggaard Svendsen, G.

    2003-01-01

    Why has the EU been so eager to continue the climate negotiations? Can it be solely attributed to the EU feeling morally obliged to be the main initiator of continued progress on the climate change negotiations, or can industrial interests in the EU, at least partly, explain the behaviour of the EU? We suggest that the EU has a rational economic interest in forcing the technological development of renewable energy sources to get a fast-mover advantage, which will only pay if a sufficient number of countries implement sufficiently stringent GHG reductions. The Kyoto Protocol, which imposes binding reductions on 38 OECD countries, implies that, as a first-mover, the EU will be to sell the necessary new renewable technologies, most prominently wind mills, to other countries, when they ratify and implement the Kyoto target levels. In the latest EU proposal made in Johannesburg, the EU pushed for setting a target of 15% of all energy to come from sources such as windmills, solar panels and waves by 2015. Such a target would further the EU's interests globally, and could explain, in economic terms, why the EU eagerly promotes GHG trade at a global level whereas the US has left the Kyoto agreement to save the import costs of buying the EU's renewable systems. (au)

  19. The EU's Convergence Dilemma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Notermans Ton

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available As economic stagnation continues to mark the EU in the fifth year of the euro zone crisis, political support for integration is waning. The European Parliament elections of 2014 returned a hitherto unparalleled number of Eurosceptic MEPs, with EU-critical parties becoming the largest ones in several Member States. Much of this Euroscepticism is driven by economic polarisation between core and peripheral countries. While an increasing number of voters in the northwestern creditor countries resent having to foot the bill for what they consider economic mismanagement in the periphery, voters in peripheral countries increasingly rebel against what they deem to be an economically catastrophic Diktat from Germany and its allies. Continued political support for European integration will hinge on successful income convergence in the EU but the current dilemma is that such policies might not be politically feasible. Periods of rapid convergence would seem to suggest that success depends on two main policy strategies. First, a monetary policy that promotes credit for productive purposes, leaves inflation control to other instruments, and employs selective credit rationing to prevent asset booms. Second, a vertical industrial policy prioritising selected industrial sectors. The first policy conflicts with the present framework of euro zone monetary policy, but that framework was only installed in the first place because many peripheral countries were desperately in search of an external constraint on domestic distributional conflict. Industrial policies, in turn, require a sufficient degree of state autonomy from business elites in order to be effective, but it is highly questionable whether most states in the EU possess such autonomy. Though there are, as yet hesitant, signs of a reorientation of both monetary and cohesion policy in the EU, the question of the institutional and political preconditions for their successful implementation has been largely

  20. Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: Differences among Selected EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vukic Nikolina Markota

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Greater transparency has become a relevant topic for companies around the world. Information and communication technologies revolution (ICT revolution has forced companies to become more transparent. With the intention of increasing companies’ transparency, the European Union (hereinafter: the EU has presented a new Accounting Directive 2013/34/EU which makes Corporate Social Reporting (hereinafter: CSR reporting mandatory for certain companies.

  1. The expanding EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zank, Wolfgang

    In this paper I try to explore whether the EU can go on expanding and thereby become culturally ever more diversified, and at the same retain its stability. The answer is, in principle, affirmative. Europe has always been much diversified, and therefore it is not possible to define a European...... identity in terms of particular cultural traditions. However, in spite of their diversity, the EU-member countries are united by their adherence to the principles of democracy, rule by law and human rights. Countries which do not share this basic consensus would not be accepted as members, nor is it likely...... that they would apply for it. An essential part is the willingness of member states to accept a reduction of national sovereignty on some important policy fields. The EU project is basically about lifting the principles of democracy and rule by law on the international level, most and foremost among the member...

  2. Public Debt, Economic Growth and the Real Interest Rate : A Panel VAR Approach to EU and OECD Countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sterken, Elmer; Ogawa, Kazuo; Tokutsu, Ichiro

    2016-01-01

    We investigate the causal relationship between the public debt to GDP ratio and economic growth for 31 EU and OECD countries from 1995 to 2013. A number of studies have tackled this problem, but very few make the transmission mechanism explicit in their analysis. We estimate a panel VAR model that

  3. EU Lobbying and Anti-Dumping Policy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller; Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

    2012-01-01

    of petitioning firms and Council voting in the case of anti-dumping policy. If the political position of countries in anti-dumping cases is influenced by domestic lobbying efforts, we expect that the empirical pattern of country distribution of petitioning firms in EU anti-dumping cases corresponds closely...... to the empirical pattern of EU country distribution in Council voting. Our results show a low petitioning intensity for anti-dumping investigations and a high voting intensity against anti-dumping measures in Northern Europe. Thus, it seems likely that domestic lobbying efforts have influenced the political...

  4. DEVELOPING MARKETING STRATEGY OF POULTRY MEAT SUPPLY IN EU- 28 COUNTRIES: MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS APPROACH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miro Simonič

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available To create a concept of the marketing strategy, it is necessary to analyse the factors affecting the purchasing decisions of consumers. For the variables: production, import, export, and manufacturer's price we examine their impact on the marketing of poultry meat in the EU-28 in 2009 and 2011. Countries are grouped into clusters, their properties are analysed in relation to the mentioned variables. With multiple regression analysis, we find that there is a statistical correlation between high production and de-pending on the variable, and between the imports and exports as the independent vari-ables. Based on the analysed data in the researched countries, we conclude that the qualitative development of the production of poultry meat required implementing sophis-ticated agricultural policy with low inputs prices and exploit all available spare re-sources.

  5. State of Diabetes Self-Management Education in the European Union Member States and Non-EU Countries: The Diabetes Literacy Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henna Riemenschneider

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Diabetes self-management education (DSME is considered essential for improving the prevention and care of diabetes through empowering patients to increase agency in their own health and care processes. However, existing evidence regarding DSME in the EU Member States (EU MS is insufficient to develop an EU-wide strategy. Objectives. This study presents the state of DSME in the 28 EU MS and contrasts it with 3 non-EU countries with comparable Human Development Index score: Israel, Taiwan, and the USA (ITU. Because type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM disproportionately affects minority and low-income groups, we paid particular attention to health literacy aspects of DSME for vulnerable populations. Methods. Data from multiple stakeholders involved in diabetes care were collected from Feb 2014 to Jan 2015 using an online Diabetes Literacy Survey (DLS. Of the 379 respondents (249 from EU MS and 130 from ITU, most were people with diabetes (33% in the EU MS, 15% in ITU and care providers (47% and 72%. These data were supplemented by an expert survey (ES administered to 30 key informants. Results. Access to DSME varies greatly in the EU MS: an average of 29% (range 21% to 50% of respondents report DSME programs are tailored for people with limited literacy, educational attainment, and language skills versus 63% in ITU. More than half of adult T2DM patients and children/adolescents participate in DSME in EU MS; in ITU, participation of T1DM patients and older people is lower. Prioritization of DSME (6.1 ± 2.8 out of 10 and the level of satisfaction with the current state of DSME (5.0 ± 2.4 out of 10 in the EU MS were comparable with ITU. Conclusion. Variation in availability and organization of DSME in the EU MS presents a clear rationale for developing an EU-wide diabetes strategy to improve treatment and care for people with diabetes.

  6. Instruments and options for environmental policy during the accession process of EU associated countries in the area of environment and energy. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cames, M.; Matthes, F.C.; Baer, S.; Oberthuer, S.; Krug, M.; Mez, L.; Tempel, S.

    2001-07-01

    With regard to the leading role of the EU in climate protection policies, it is important to consider the impact of the accession process on EU climate policy. This study includes the analysis of the most important issues related to environment and energy within the accession process, namely: 1) status quo and development of the energy sector and structural CO{sub 2} mitigation options; 2) legal gap assessment and analysis of performance in the accession process; 3) identification of implementation patterns through detailed policy analysis; 4) evaluation of co-operation projects in the field of environment and energy in order to develop new projects that promote the accession process. This volume includes comparative analysis of the five Accession Countries. The detailed analysis of each country is documented in five country reports, each in a separate volume available only on the attached CD. (orig.)

  7. STATE REGULATION OF FRANCHISING IN THE EU MEMBER COUNTRIES

    OpenAIRE

    Solomiya Ohinok

    2015-01-01

    In despite of extensive research of franchising in the scientific community, there are a lot of unresolved issues relating to franchising, in particular its regulation at the national level and at the level of the European Union that is why the purpose of the paper is to summarise and present the difference between state regulation of franchising in the EU member states and to research the basic principles of state regulation of franchising in the EU also to analyze legislation of the franchi...

  8. 25 years of European Union (EU) quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs across EU Member States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albuquerque, Tânia G; Oliveira, M Beatriz Pp; Costa, Helena S

    2018-05-01

    Consumers are increasingly turning their attention to the quality and origin of products that they consume. European Union (EU) quality schemes are associated with a label, which was introduced to allow consumers to perform an informed choice and to protect producers from unfair practices. This present study provides an overview of the last 25 years of EU quality schemes [Protected Designations of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG)] on agricultural products and foodstuffs across the 28 EU Member States. According to the results, it was possible to conclude that Southern European countries have the highest number of registered products. The most used EU quality scheme is PGI, followed by PDO. Concerning the analysis of the evolution in the last 25 years, the number of registered products among EU Member States has increased significantly. The fruit, vegetables and cereals (fresh or processed) category is the one that accounts for the highest percentage (26.8%) of registered products, followed by cheeses and meat products (cooked, salted, smoked) categories, with 17.2% and 13.5%, respectively. Further investigations should address consumer preferences, knowledge and attitudes, especially Northern European countries with a lower number of registered products. Moreover, the investigation and registration of products should be encouraged among all EU Member States to allow the maintenance of important elements of the history, culture and heritage of the local areas, regions and countries. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

  9. Evaluation of Trends in Foreign Trade Development in the Post-Communist Countries of Europe in the Years 2000–2012 Following their Accession to the EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cieślik Ewa

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper seeks to analyse directions in foreign trade in the post-communist countries of Europe over the years 2000-2012 in the context of changes observed in other EU states. It was assumed that changes in the directions of foreign trade in post-communist states would be similar to those noted in Western Europe. On the basis of data derived from the OECD, EUROSTAT and OECD-WTO we show that the trading rules used by the old EU-15 adopted by those countries have brought them measurable benefits. As a result, the post-communist economies have become similar to those of the EU-15. Considering the structure of their trade and links with the EU-15, it is apparent that they have become the main trading and investment partners for the European Union. Hence, their integration with the EU structures made their development faster, but also made them more sensitive to industrial and demand shocks coming from the eurozone. It is predicted that the present model is not going to change, especially in the context of the participation in production networks.

  10. Burden of injury of serious road injuries in six EU countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weijermars, Wendy; Bos, Niels; Filtness, Ashleigh; Brown, Laurie; Bauer, Robert; Dupont, Emmanuelle; Martin, Jean Louis; Perez, Katherine; Thomas, Pete

    2018-02-01

    Information about the burden of (non-fatal) road traffic injury is very useful to further improve road safety policy. Previous studies calculated the burden of injury in individual countries. This paper estimates and compares the burden of non-fatal serious road traffic injuries in six EU countries/regions: Austria, Belgium, England, The Netherlands, the Rhône region in France and Spain. It is a cross-sectional study based on hospital discharge databases. of study are patients hospitalized with MAIS3+ due to road traffic injuries. The burden of injury (expressed in years lived with disability (YLD)) is calculated applying a method that is developed within the INTEGRIS study. The method assigns estimated disability information to the casualties using the EUROCOST injury classification. The average burden per MAIS3+ casualty varies between 2.4 YLD and 3.2 YLD per casualty. About 90% of the total burden of injury of MAIS3+ casualties is due to lifelong consequences that are experienced by 19% to 33% of the MAIS3+ casualties. Head injuries, spinal cord injuries and injuries to the lower extremities are responsible for more than 90% of the total burden of MAIS3+ road traffic injuries. Results per transport mode differ between the countries. Differences between countries are mainly due to differences in age distribution and in the distribution over EUROCOST injury groups of the casualties. The analyses presented in this paper can support further improvement of road safety policy. Countermeasures could for example be focused at reducing skull and brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and injuries to the lower extremities, as these injuries are responsible for more than 90% of the total burden of injury of MAIS3+ casualties. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Eu Enlargement and Migration: Scenarios of Croatian Accession

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wadim Strielkowski

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes possible incidence of pending Croatian EU accession that is to take place on the 1st of July 2013, on the labour migration from Croatia to the European Union. We apply panel data estimators using the data on emigration from 18 EU countries into Germany (which is the EU country with the largest share of ex-Yugoslav and Croatian migrants in order to construct possible scenarios of Croatian migration to the EU.Three scenarios of migration - pessimistic, realistic and optimistic - are drawn and the sensitivity of estimated coefficients on migration from Croatia into Germany during next 25 years is further discussed in detail. We conclude that, similarly to hypothetical Turkish accession, Croatian EU accession is not going to cause massive migration inflows.

  12. Prevalence of nickel allergy in Europe following the EU Nickel Directive - a review

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ahlström, Malin G; Thyssen, Jacob P; Menné, Torkil

    2017-01-01

    .4% versus 19.8%) (p = 0.02), in female dermatitis patients aged ≤17 years (14.3% versus 29.2%) (p women: 20.2% versus 36.6%) (p men: 4.9% versus 6.6%) (p ..., and generally remained high, affecting 8-18% of the general population. A consistent pattern of decreasing prevalence of nickel allergy in some EU countries was observed, although the prevalence among young women remains high. Steps should be taken for better prevention of nickel allergy in EU countries.......Nickel contact allergy remains a problem in EU countries, despite the EU Nickel Directive. To study the prevalence of nickel allergy in EU countries following the implementation of the EU Nickel Directive, we performed a systematic search in PubMed for studies that examined the prevalence of nickel...

  13. Monitoring VET Systems of Major EU Competitor Countries - The Cases of China, India, Russia and Korea

    OpenAIRE

    Ruth, Klaus

    2009-01-01

    The study on VET systems of major EU competitor countries is based on the objective of the (revised) Lisbon agenda to become the most competitive region of the world based on a knowledge driven production and social cohesion. Building on experts opinion and literature research this study aims at monitoring VET policies in China, India, Russia and Korea. The study analyses five themes which are assumed to be of outstanding importance for understanding the current performance and the developing...

  14. Assessing gas transit risks: Russia vs. the EU

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Le Coq, Chloé; Paltseva, Elena

    2012-01-01

    This paper proposes a Transit Risk Index (TRI) designed to assess the riskiness of pipeline gas imports and to study the effect of introducing new gas routes. TRI controls for gas dependency, transit route diversification, political risks of transit, pipeline rupture probability, and the balance of power between supplying and consuming countries along the transit route. Evaluating TRI for the EU-Russia gas trade, we show that the introduction of the Nord Stream pipeline would further widen already large disparities in gas risk exposure across the EU Member States. The gas risk exposure of the Member States served by Nord Stream would decline. In contrast, EU countries not connected to Nord Stream, but sharing other Russian gas transit routes with the Nord Stream countries, would face greater gas risk exposure. We discuss the implications of our analysis for the design of the common energy policy in the EU.

  15. Acquisition of the ownership of agricultural lands in Hungary, taking the EU's and other countries' law into consideration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szilágyi János E.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The present article concentrates on the acquisition of ownership (and in some respects: use of agricultural and forestry lands, especially as to the cross-border aspects. One of the hypotheses of the article is that the above mentioned issue is a topical question almost all around the world. Nevertheless, the article focuses on a European aspect of the cross-border acquisition, namely the new land law rules of the EU's Member States having joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007. In 2014 and 2015, the European Commission had assessed the land law of these Member States (i.e. Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and initiated infringement procedures against these countries at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Besides the regulation of these new Member States of the EU, the present article deals with the legislation of other Member States as well as the provisions of non-EU states. The article gives substantial consideration to phenomena such as sovereignty, land-hunger or soil degradation which may exercise significant influence on the land law of a state.

  16. Peer Country Comments Paper - Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bredgaard, Thomas

    Bidrag til EU-kommissionens peer-review on "Strategies for Employment policy Reform. Implementation Challenges in Decentralised Countries"......Bidrag til EU-kommissionens peer-review on "Strategies for Employment policy Reform. Implementation Challenges in Decentralised Countries"...

  17. Sizable variations in circulatory disease mortality by region and country of birth in six European countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rafnsson, Snorri B; Bhopal, Raj S; Agyemang, Charles

    2013-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Circulatory disease mortality inequalities by country of birth (COB) have been demonstrated for some EU countries but pan-European analyses are lacking. We examine inequalities in circulatory mortality by geographical region/COB for six EU countries. METHODS: We obtained national deat...

  18. Exchange of researchers of oil substituting energies in EU countries; EU shokoku no sekiyu daitai energy kenkyusha koryu jigyo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-03-01

    In order to further promote smoother introduction of oil substituting energies and development of new energies and energy saving technologies, it was intended to exchange and acquire items of information effective to learn the current state and policy trends on research and development of new energies and energy conservation in the EU countries who are the industrialized countries like Japan and enthusiastic in developing oil substituting energies. Therefore, exchange of researchers was carried out with an objective to contribute to research and development of oil substituting energies by deepening mutual understanding on the development efforts and forming efficient cooperative relationship. The researchers who visited Japan are Dr. Robert Durand (France) and Prof. and Dr. Bruno Scrosati (Italy). Dr. Durand has a great knowledge about fuel cells and storage batteries, and Dr. Scrosati about electrolytes and lithium batteries. Both gentlemen have visited the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology and the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, NEDO, Toshiba, Sony, Sanyo Electric, Japan Storage Battery, Matsushita Battery Industry, the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Osaka, and Kansai Electric Power Company. Views and information were exchanged and a number of good results were rewarded.

  19. The EU electricity production structure requires a differentiated energy policy; Die Stromerzeugungsstruktur der EU erfordert eine differenzierte Energiepolitik

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anon.

    2016-04-15

    For the electricity production of the EU there are differentiated structures which are based on different natural conditions, political decisions and investments of past decades. It has long been struggled committed to the ''one and correct'' energy policy. But precisely because of the differences in the individual countries, a unified energy and climate policy for the EU is not the right way. Diversity is a strength, which quite the EU Commission considered. Increased understanding of the specifics in other countries should just apply the German politics and the public that all too often judges from their own perspective. [German] Bei der Stromerzeugung in der EU bestehen differenzierte Strukturen, die auf unterschiedlichen natuerlichen Gegebenheiten, politischen Entscheidungen und Investitionen vergangener Jahrzehnte beruhen. Seit langem wird engagiert um die ''eine und richtige'' Energiepolitik gerungen. Doch gerade wegen der Unterschiede in den einzelnen Laendern kann eine vereinheitlichte Energie- und Klimapolitik fuer die EU nicht der richtige Weg sein. Vielfalt ist eine Staerke, was die EU-Kommission durchaus beruecksichtigt. Mehr Verstaendnis fuer die Spezifika in anderen Laendern sollte daher gerade die deutsche Politik und Oeffentlichkeit aufbringen, die allzu oft aus eigener Perspektive heraus urteilt.

  20. Considerations on Cattle Stock and Cow Fresh Milk Production in the EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agatha Popescu

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper aimed to analyze the evolution of cattle stock and cow milk production in order to point out the main trends and differences between the EU-27 member states in the period 2004-2008. The data collected from FAO Stat, 2010 have been processed calculating the fixed basis index, average annual rhythm index and also the share of each EU state in cow milk production at the EU and world level.The main trends in the EU concerning cow milk sector are the continuous decrease in cattle stock, the increase of cow milk yield under the conditions of keeping a constant milk production and also milk production per capita. In 2008, the EU-27 was raising 90,478 thou cattle, and produced 149,388 thou tons cow fresh milk. The EU -27 is placed on the 5th position for number of cattle and on the 1st position for cow milk production, producing 25.8 % of world production. The largest milk producers in the EU-27 are Germany, France, United Kingdom, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Romania and Denmark, whose contribution to the EU productions is 82.82 %.

  1. EU GHG Emission Targets: 'Mind the gap'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lojodice, Ilaria

    2012-06-01

    In Durban, the European Union has been able to overcome the traditional dividing lines between developed and developing countries, setting a 'road-map' for a post-Kyoto framework. This would see countries conclude an 'agreed outcome with legal force' on emissions targets by 2015. Was this a key goal or a partial success for EU climate diplomacy? The main concerns are that the second commitment period would only come into force by 2021, and that necessary carbon cuts are not be increased before 2020. The direct by-product for the EU victory has been the awakening of the debate about raising emissions reductions to 30%. In fact, as stated in the Low Carbon Road-map, the EU has adopted a target of cutting emissions by 20% to by 2020, and of moving to a 30% reduction target if the conditions are right. Is this finally the time for Europe to improve its performance, even if it means going it alone? The EU has always been a strong defender of the Kyoto Protocol under certain constraints, such as developing and emerging countries entering into the deal. But does the EU have all the right assets to fight for this? Where is Europe in achieving its 2020 goal? In essence, this paper provides an estimate of what EU emissions could be in 2020, and how they stand compared to Kyoto and 20% objective of the 2020 strategy. (author)

  2. Gender and educational level modify the relationship between workplace mistreatment and health problems: a comparison between South Korea and EU countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo, Minsang; Lee, Saerom; Kang, Mo-Yeol

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated effects of workers' cultural and personal characteristics on the relationship between workplace mistreatment and health problems in both South Korea and EU Countries. Data were obtained from nationally representative interview surveys: the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) in 2011 (50,032 participants) and fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) in 2010 (41,302 participants). The Pressure-State-Response model was adapted to explore differences in the relationship between mistreatment and health problems according to country, and logistic regression analysis was used after stratification of moderating factors. Workplace mistreatment, such as discrimination, violence, harassment, and self-reported health problems, were assessed by gender and educational level. Among KWCS participants, there were 4,321 victims (14.70%) of workplace mistreatment; among EWCS participants, there were 5,927 victims (17.89%). There was a significant positive association between workplace mistreatment and self-reported health problems. A stronger association was found among workers with higher educational levels in Korea (2- to 4-fold higher odds for mental and physical health problems), but there was no significant difference by education level in workers of EU Countries. Female Koreans who worked alone had a higher risk of health problems related to workplace mistreatment than other gender compositions in the workplace (the OR for psychological symptoms reached 6.631). In contrast, the gender composition of the work place did not significantly affect EU workers. Workplace mistreatment is significantly associated with physical and mental health problems, especially among workers with higher educational levels and females who work alone in Korea.

  3. Decoupling Economic Growth From Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariola Piłatowska

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to look at the long-run equilibrium relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth (the EKC hypothesis in an asymmetric framework using the non-linear threshold cointegration. In order to avoid the problem of omitted variables bias, the dynamic relationship between pollutant emissions, economic development and energy consumption are also examined (the extended EKC model. The research hypothesis is that the economic growth decouples from CO2 emissions growth, i.e. the EKC hypothesis holds. The empirical study is carried out for the European Union countries (EU-14 divided into three groups depending on a category of knowledge-advanced economies in order to explain the differences in the dynamic linkage between CO2 emissions and economic growth, as well as in the energy consumption impact on this cointegrating relationship. We have found that the EKC hypothesis is valid for the most high-level and some middle-level knowledge advanced economies. The addition of energy consumption to the standard EKC model has improved the results in terms of the presence of linear or threshold cointegration for all low-level knowledge based economies. Moreover, the causality pattern between CO2 emissions and income has changed after energy consumption adding to the EKC model and some similarities are found in the countries belonging to the same category of knowledge-advanced economies

  4. Energy efficiency policies for space heating in EU countries: A panel data analysis for the period 1990–2010

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ó Broin, Eoin; Nässén, Jonas; Johnsson, Filip

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Space heating demand between 1990 and 2010 modelled using a panel of 14 EU countries. • The impacts of 260 efficiency polices affecting space heating demand are examined. • Regulatory policies found to have had a greater success than financial or informative. • High priority should be given to regulatory policies for space heating energy goals. - Abstract: We present an empirical analysis of the more than 250 space heating-focused energy efficiency policies that have been in force at the EU and national levels in the period 1990–2010. This analysis looks at the EU-14 residential sector (Pre-2004 EU-15, excluding Luxembourg) using a panel data regression analysis on unit consumption of energy for space heating (kWh/m 2 /year). The policies are represented as a regression variable using a semi-quantitative impact estimation obtained from the MURE Policy Database. The impacts of the policies as a whole, and subdivided into financial, regulatory, and informative policies, are examined. The correlation between the actual reductions in demand and the estimated impact of regulatory policies is found to be stronger than the corresponding correlations with the respective impacts of financial policies and informative polices. Together with the well-known market barriers to energy efficiency that exist in the residential sector, these findings suggest that regulatory policy measures be given a high priority in the design of an effective pathway towards the EU-wide goals for space heating energy

  5. Calling the EU's bluff. Who are the real champions of biodiversity and traditional knowledge in the EU-Central American and EU-Community of Andean Nations Association Agreements?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hall, R.

    2009-12-01

    Global Europe and the EU's Raw Materials Initiative are designed to bolster the EU's economic position - whatever the cost - in the face of fierce global competition for both markets and resources, especially from emerging economies such as China and India. The EU also fears losing trade to the US, which has already secured trade and investment concessions from countries in the Western hemisphere, through the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) and other bilateral trade agreements.

  6. EU Agro Biogas Project

    OpenAIRE

    Amon, T.; Mayr, H.; Eder, M.; Hobbs, P.; Rao Ravella, S.; Roth, U.; Niebaum, A.; Doehler, H.; Weiland, P.; Abdoun, E.; Moser, A.; Lyson, M.; Heiermann, M.; Plöchl, M.; Budde, J.

    2009-01-01

    EU-AGRO-BIOGAS is a European Biogas initiative to improve the yield of agricultural biogas plants in Europe, to optimise biogas technology and processes and to improve the efficiency in all parts of the production chain from feedstock to biogas utilisation. Leading European research institutions and universities are cooperating with key industry partners in order to work towards sustainable biogas production in Europe. Fourteen partners from eight European countries are involved in the EU-AGR...

  7. The Determinants Factors of the Capital Cost � Evidence from 5 EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Georgiana Sterea

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to highlight the importance and complexity of the company�s capital and its components and the extent to which its cost is influenced by several factors. In order to achieve this goal we have made a study on a sample of 15 companies from Romania and other 4 EU countries: Italy, Spain, France and Finland. All are SME�s and micro-enterprises that acting in the sector of "Growing of spices, aromatic, drug and pharmaceutical crops". For the study of capital cost determinants were selected five variables: return on equity, return on assets, general indebtedness, taxation and firm�s size in order to determine their influence on the cost of capital.

  8. Research on the National Culture–Intellectual Capital Inter-Relationship in EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioan-Franc Valeriu

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available the paper aims at identifying the type and the intensity of the relationship between the national culture dimension and the intellectual capital dimension. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the correlations of the national culture dimensions, based on the Geert Hofstede approach, with the three dimensions of the intellectual capital within the EU countries. The research procedures were: content analysis of the most representative models and methodologies for evaluating the intellectual capital and the national culture dimensions, and correlation analysis. The main outcome of our research reveals the influence of the national culture on the intellectual capital performance. It also shows that some dimensions of the national culture, such as Individualism versus Collectivism and Indulgence versus Restraint, correlate positively with the intellectual capital, while other dimensions, such as Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance correlate with it negatively.

  9. EU, Eastern Europe and Values Imperialism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen White

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes an idea of'values imperialism'as a helpful way of conceptualising the relationship between the EU and the states that came within its sphere of influence after the end of the Cold War, particularly its 'neighbours' in Eastern Europe. Values imperialism places its emphasis on the 'superstructure', including norms, laws and social practices. EU larger objective was that the assumptions about government and ownership that were favoured by the dominant powers (EU and the West in the broad term should be absorbed and recapitulated by those countries that were subordinate. The broad framework ofsubordination was established by the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements that began to be concluded from 1994 onwards. Patterns of'values imperialism'could also be discovered in the EU Common Strategies on Russia and Ukraine that were adopted in 1999. Article also points out several cases when the EU intervened directly in the domestic affairs of the Eastern Europe countries in a manner that was not always compatible with the provisions on state sovereignty: a 'European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights', launched in 2006, interventions ofEU representatives in the work of local courts and organisation of exit polls, which could be used to discredit the official election results and in this way to undermine the position of local governments. Finally, the author concludes that the EU used 'values imperialism'practices in order to extend its influence, particularly in the Eastern Europe.

  10. Relocating a Company within the EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Werlauff, Erik

    2008-01-01

    This article analyses how a public or private limited company can be relocated in another EU country via establishment of a subsidiary in the second country, followed by a reverse vertical merger (the parent ceases to exist and the subsidiary is the continuing company). The consideration for the ...... for the merger is shares in the subsidiary, which can be effected by giving the parent company's shares in the subsidiary to the parent company's shareholders, but after the shares have taken a brief respite in the subsidiary as own shares......This article analyses how a public or private limited company can be relocated in another EU country via establishment of a subsidiary in the second country, followed by a reverse vertical merger (the parent ceases to exist and the subsidiary is the continuing company). The consideration...

  11. Ireland or the Netherlands: Which country is more entrepreneurial?

    OpenAIRE

    O'Gorman, Colm; Diaz-Moriana, Vanessa

    2013-01-01

    What country was ranked the most entrepreneurial of the EU-15 countries in 2005? Ireland. In 2005, Ireland ranked 1st of the EU-15 countries in terms of the rate of entrepreneurship. The Dutch ranked jointed 9th. Which of the EU-15 countries was the most entrepreneurial in 2012? The Netherlands. Since 2005, the rate of entrepreneurship in the Netherlands has increased. They now rank 1stof the EU-15 countries. Ireland’s rate of entrepreneurship has decreased. By 2012, Ireland ranked 9th of the...

  12. The Gender Wage Gap as a Function of Educational Degree Choices in an Occupationally Segregated EU Country

    OpenAIRE

    Livanos, Ilias; Pouliakas, Konstantinos

    2009-01-01

    This study investigates the extent to which differences in the subject of degree studied by male and female university graduates contributes to the gender pay gap, and the reasons underlying their distinct educational choices. The case of Greece is examined due to the fact that it is an EU country with historically large gender discrepancies in earnings and occupational segregation. Using micro-data from the Greek Labour Force Survey (LFS), the returns to academic disciplines are firstly esti...

  13. The effects of a rise in cigarette price on cigarette consumption, tobacco taxation revenues, and of smoking-related deaths in 28 EU countries-- applying threshold regression modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeh, Chun-Yuan; Schafferer, Christian; Lee, Jie-Min; Ho, Li-Ming; Hsieh, Chi-Jung

    2017-09-21

    European Union public healthcare expenditure on treating smoking and attributable diseases is estimated at over €25bn annually. The reduction of tobacco consumption has thus become one of the major social policies of the EU. This study investigates the effects of price hikes on cigarette consumption, tobacco tax revenues and smoking-caused deaths in 28 EU countries. Employing panel data for the years 2005 to 2014 from Euromonitor International, the World Bank and the World Health Organization, we used income as a threshold variable and applied threshold regression modelling to estimate the elasticity of cigarette prices and to simulate the effect of price fluctuations. The results showed that there was an income threshold effect on cigarette prices in the 28 EU countries that had a gross national income (GNI) per capita lower than US$5418, with a maximum cigarette price elasticity of -1.227. The results of the simulated analysis showed that a rise of 10% in cigarette price would significantly reduce cigarette consumption as well the total death toll caused by smoking in all the observed countries, but would be most effective in Bulgaria and Romania, followed by Latvia and Poland. Additionally, an increase in the number of MPOWER tobacco control policies at the highest level of achievment would help reduce cigarette consumption. It is recommended that all EU countries levy higher tobacco taxes to increase cigarette prices, and thus in effect reduce cigarette consumption. The subsequent increase in tobacco tax revenues would be instrumental in covering expenditures related to tobacco prevention and control programs.

  14. EU ENLARGEMENT AT A CROSSROADS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreea Cătălina Paul

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The present article aims to explore the general theme of the EU enlargement strategy in the new 2012 European context. Until now, the EU’s enlargement strategy has yielded impressive results. It succeeded in transforming ten central and eastern European countries from post-communism confusion into open-market, mature and effective systems of democratic governments, and even on the economic front, they have also made astonishing progress. It is no doubt that people in the new EU countries live better then before. In this context, the EU must continue the enlargement process to help stabilize the Balkan region that lie beyond its expanded eastern border. No one can deny that major issues concerning western Balkan countries’ accession are still on the table, and they even exert a geopolitical influence of sorts. This makes it all the more important to see stability and regional co-operation there are strategically vital. An all-out effort must now be made to complete the enlargement process and ensure there is no strategic vacuum. This article provides the framework of analyses for the EU problems and the challenges for the Balkans governments as for Brussels.

  15. The Relationship between Property Rights and Economic Growth: an Analysis of OECD and EU Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haydaroğlu Ceyhun

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, institutions and institutional structure have become some of the most popular concepts analyzed by economics theory. New growth theories have especially focused on the effects of institutions and institutional structure on a macro level. Property rights are one of the most important elements of this institutional structure. The relationship between property rights and economic growth have drawn the attention of many researchers and policymakers in recent years. The aim of this study, covering the period 2007–2014, is to examine the relationship between property rights and economic growth with the help of PARDL in OECD and EU countries. According to the result of a bounds test, there is cointegration between the variables. The long- and short-term relationships between series were determined and the results taken from the analysis show that there is a positive effect on economic growth in those countries.

  16. Nordic working group on x-ray diagnostics - Practical implementation of the directive on medical exposures in the Nordic EU countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Waltenburg, H.N.; Groen, P. [National Institute of Radiation Hygiene, Herlev (Denmark); Leitz, W. [Swedish Radiation Protection Authority, Stockholm (Sweden); Servomaa, A. [Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, Helsinki (Finland); Einarsson, G. [Icelandic Radiation Protection Institute, Reykjavik (Iceland); Olerud, H. [Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Oslo (Norway)

    2003-06-01

    The EU directive on medical exposure, 97/43/EURATOM (referred to in the following as MED) imposes new requirements on hospital departments using ionising radiation for either diagnostics or treatment of illnesses. The directive was approved on 30 June 1997, and the member states were obliged to implement the requirements into national legislation before 13 May 2000. The implementation of a directive of this kind is a complicated process requiring time as well as other resources. The Nordic EU countries (Sweden, Finland and Denmark) must comply with the rules in MED, while this is not the case for Norway and Iceland as EFTA (European Free Trade Association) members, since the agreements between EFTA and EU does not cover the EURATOM treaty. The issues that have to be addressed in the national legislation are justification, optimisation, responsibilities, procedures, training, equipment, special protection during pregnancy and breast-feeding, and potential exposure. A central aspect in MED is the requirement for quality assurance programmes to be established in radiological departments (and in other departments employing ionising radiation). A change of this magnitude in legislation requires adjustments in the routines of the individual departments. The staff in each department needs to prepare and follow procedures and instructions for daily work and also participate in day-to-day quality assurance. A considerable burden has also been laid on the radiation protection authorities in the member states, first in the process of transposing MED into national law or regulations, and secondly in guiding the process of practical implementation. Here we will describe how the individual Nordic EU countries have chosen to implement MED in national legislation and how far the process of complying with the requirements has come so far. Although Norway and Iceland are not required to follow MED, it is still interesting for comparison to include the situation in these countries

  17. Nordic working group on x-ray diagnostics - Practical implementation of the directive on medical exposures in the Nordic EU countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waltenburg, H.N.; Groen, P.; Leitz, W.; Servomaa, A.; Einarsson, G.; Olerud, H.

    2003-01-01

    The EU directive on medical exposure, 97/43/EURATOM (referred to in the following as MED) imposes new requirements on hospital departments using ionising radiation for either diagnostics or treatment of illnesses. The directive was approved on 30 June 1997, and the member states were obliged to implement the requirements into national legislation before 13 May 2000. The implementation of a directive of this kind is a complicated process requiring time as well as other resources. The Nordic EU countries (Sweden, Finland and Denmark) must comply with the rules in MED, while this is not the case for Norway and Iceland as EFTA (European Free Trade Association) members, since the agreements between EFTA and EU does not cover the EURATOM treaty. The issues that have to be addressed in the national legislation are justification, optimisation, responsibilities, procedures, training, equipment, special protection during pregnancy and breast-feeding, and potential exposure. A central aspect in MED is the requirement for quality assurance programmes to be established in radiological departments (and in other departments employing ionising radiation). A change of this magnitude in legislation requires adjustments in the routines of the individual departments. The staff in each department needs to prepare and follow procedures and instructions for daily work and also participate in day-to-day quality assurance. A considerable burden has also been laid on the radiation protection authorities in the member states, first in the process of transposing MED into national law or regulations, and secondly in guiding the process of practical implementation. Here we will describe how the individual Nordic EU countries have chosen to implement MED in national legislation and how far the process of complying with the requirements has come so far. Although Norway and Iceland are not required to follow MED, it is still interesting for comparison to include the situation in these countries

  18. Labour Market Integration of young EU Migrant Citizens in Germany and the UK

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Spreckelsen, Thees; Leschke, Janine; Seeleib-Kaiser, Martin

    This papers examines the quantitative and qualitative labour market integration of recent young EU migrant citizens in Germany and the UK, separately for citizens from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Romania and Bulgaria, and Southern European countries. It estimates weighted-proportions from...... market outcomes of all migrants, ignoring a potential double-labour market disadvantage of migrant youth. Routinely, EU migrants’ labour market outcomes are compared for EU-15 and CEE countries, rather than separately and against third country nationals. This paper finds two things:  a high labour force...... participation of young EU migrants  a labour market segmentation for young EU migrant citizen from CEE and Bulgaria, who experience more precarious work in both Germany and the UK....

  19. Analysis of Purchasing Power Parities in Romania in the context of EU integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roxana Cristina Vîlcu

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Purchasing power parity (PPP is a useful tool for international comparison of prices between countries, in order to analyze the degree of economic development. On this line, purchasing power parities are indicators that express the main macroeconomic aggregates, in a common currency for all the countries subject to international comparisons. This material analyzes the evolution of PPP in Romania for a time interval of 10 years (2004-2013. The purpose of research is to analyze the purchasing power at national level, in the context of integration in European Union (EU. The period before and after Romania’s integration in the EU, has an important role to establish the positioning of our country in terms of purchasing power, compared to the other EU countries. The main conclusion of the paper is that Romania is the country with one of the lowest purchasing power parities compared to other EU countries, along with Bulgaria, which joined the EU in the same year (2007. Given that PPP cannot establish a hierarchy of countries, the research takes into account other important indicators such as: Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices, GDP and inflation rate.

  20. Monitoring Energy Efficiency in the EU-27 the ODYSSEE - MURE Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bosseboeuf, D.; Bozic, H.; Vuk, B.; Novosel, D.; Keco, M.; Karan, M.; Vukman, S.; Krstulovic, V.

    2008-01-01

    Since more than a decade, the European Commission through the Intelligent Energy for Europe programme and 29 partners, mainly European national energy efficiency agencies, have developed common methodologies on energy efficiency monitoring. This relies on two complementary tools: 1) ODYSSEE, an internet database on energy efficiency indicators. Around 200 indicators comparable and harmonised across countries are developed at sectoral or end uses levels, over the period 1980-2006 for the EU-15 countries and from 1990 for EU-10 countries + Croatia and Norway. 2) MURE, an interactive internet data base on energy efficiency policies. More than 1300 policies descriptions are stored. When available, ex-post evaluations are reported. Based on this material provided by each of partners representing all the EU-Members and Croatia, a cross countries analysis is carried by sector on the recent trends for the EU as a whole and by countries. This diagnosis of benchmark shows that countries which have performed the best differ according to the end uses. The contribution of the manufacturing sector in the energy savings seems slowing down compared to the late nineties. Inversely, results in transport seem now encouraging. The building sector has performed disappointingly despite numerous policies. Analysis of the policy mix across countries and its dynamic shows divergences between the EU-15 countries and the EU 10. Innovative measures can be found everywhere and are discussed extensively. These results become more and more widely used by member state to assess and interpret the target and the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan of the plan of the Energy Service directive recently launched. This report presents an analysis of energy efficiency trends in Croatian on the basis of energy efficiency indicators based on the ODYSSEE methodology. This analysis focuses on the period 1992-20041, in the energy consumption and energy efficiency in total and in sectors (industry

  1. EU Cooperation in the Energy Sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goumas, T.

    1998-01-01

    The European Union with 15 Member States at the end of the century and with 6 more countries in the accession phase has set up certain instruments which enhance energy cooperation among them and with third countries. The major dimensions of EU energy policy presented in the White Paper are the external dimension - globalization of markets, the increasing environmental concern, the technology developments and the EU institutional responsibilities. To contribute to these, certain EU initiatives and supporting actions are undertaken through the energy and the broader co-operation programmes like THERMIE, SYNERGY, SAVE, ALTENER, PHARE, etc. The THERMIE programme supports the demonstration application and dissemination of innovative and successful energy technologies. SYNERGY is a programme for energy co-operation with third countries in energy policy and strategy implementation issues. SAVE and ALTENER concentrate on the promotion and enhancement of energy efficiency practices and use of renewable respectively. PHARE is a technical assistance programme addressed to Eastern European Countries which are in the phase of transition to market economy. There are also other initiatives like the Transeuropean Energy Network (TEN) and the activities managed by the financial institutions namely the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). All this context of programmes and initiatives is modified from period to period in order to serve the EU energy policies and the developments in the energy markets. The recent agreement which came up from the Kyoto conference has actually influenced the direction of actions towards more intensive amelioration of environmental pollution. (author)

  2. The effects of a rise in cigarette price on cigarette consumption, tobacco taxation revenues, and of smoking-related deaths in 28 EU countries-- applying threshold regression modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun-Yuan Yeh

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background European Union public healthcare expenditure on treating smoking and attributable diseases is estimated at over €25bn annually. The reduction of tobacco consumption has thus become one of the major social policies of the EU. This study investigates the effects of price hikes on cigarette consumption, tobacco tax revenues and smoking-caused deaths in 28 EU countries. Methods Employing panel data for the years 2005 to 2014 from Euromonitor International, the World Bank and the World Health Organization, we used income as a threshold variable and applied threshold regression modelling to estimate the elasticity of cigarette prices and to simulate the effect of price fluctuations. Results The results showed that there was an income threshold effect on cigarette prices in the 28 EU countries that had a gross national income (GNI per capita lower than US$5418, with a maximum cigarette price elasticity of −1.227. The results of the simulated analysis showed that a rise of 10% in cigarette price would significantly reduce cigarette consumption as well the total death toll caused by smoking in all the observed countries, but would be most effective in Bulgaria and Romania, followed by Latvia and Poland. Additionally, an increase in the number of MPOWER tobacco control policies at the highest level of achievment would help reduce cigarette consumption. Conclusions It is recommended that all EU countries levy higher tobacco taxes to increase cigarette prices, and thus in effect reduce cigarette consumption. The subsequent increase in tobacco tax revenues would be instrumental in covering expenditures related to tobacco prevention and control programs.

  3. EU cooperation with third countries: rethinking concepts and investments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Collett

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite ‘externalising’ its immigration agenda, the EU has largely failed to develop a coherent and effective overall strategy, to the detriment of migrants and would-be asylum seekers.

  4. Import substitution and food safety provision in EU countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valeriya A. Aleshina

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective to describe methods of forming the mechanism of agriculturalindustrial complex protection and smoothing the social threats caused by the reduced stability in the food market and the population solvency due to the global crisis. Methods in this work we have applied statistical analytical economicmathematical methods including those based on the analysis of statistical indicators of agriculturalindustrial complex AIC. Results basing on analytical data and expert estimates the technique of risk assessment is grounded which is related to food security and reduced solvency and the situational behavior of the state is described in the context of the food crisis depending on the depth of the crisis and market instability sources. Scientific novelty economicmathematical methods were applied for risk assessment in the sphere of providing the population with food products budget expenditures on agriculture support and social protection are compared among the EU countries the methodology is proposed to coordinate efforts to stabilize the situation in the food market. Practical significance the methodology of analysis of state bodies and business communitiesrsquo efficiency in the area of food security and developing unified policies to promote agriculturalindustrial complex and social protection and recommendations in the sphere of pricing in the AIC products market for the protection of domestic market and entering the foreign commodity markets. nbsp

  5. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT OF COMPETITIVENESS OF REGIONS ON EXAMPLE OF COUNTRIES EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ladislav ROLÍNEK

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to outline the substance of strategic management in relation to regional development with focus on the basic indicators that evaluate regional competitive advantage. Strategic management presents the collection of methods and approaches that are applicable to the regulation of regional development. The basic requirement of this process is to increase competitive advantage of the regions. It is possible to define regional competitive advantage as the ability of regions to generate revenues and keep employment rate at a level corresponding to national and international competition. The level of regional competitiveness is, for example, measurable by GDP per capita index. Besides this indicator, we can also use the evaluation of labour productivity expressed as GDP per employee as well as the ratio of employable population to the total of economically active inhabitants. For these monitored indicators, the Czech Republic doesn’t belong to the best countries. It is on the 19th place among the countries of EU in GDP per capita and it is also not very good in productivity evaluation, expressed by GDP per employee (20th place. On the other hand, the Czech Republic belongs among the countries with quite high employment rate (12th place. An application of the point method shows that the Czech Republic is on 18th place according to an average of selected indicators resulting from the GDP description per resident. It reaches only 70.2% of the level of the leading country, Luxemburg. The results of the article were obtained in the frame of the project MSM 6007665806 a MPSV 1J 016/04-DP2.

  6. The Gender Wage Gap as a Function of Educational Degree Choices in an Occupationally Segregated EU Country (Greece)

    OpenAIRE

    Pouliakas, Konstantinos; Livanos, Ilias

    2008-01-01

    This study investigates the extent to which differences in the subject of degree studied by male and female university graduates contributes to the gender pay gap, and the reasons underlying their distinct educational choices. The case of Greece is examined due to the fact that it is an EU country with historically large gender discrepancies in earnings and occupational segregation. Using micro-data from the Greek Labour Force Survey (LFS), the returns to academic disciplines are firstly es...

  7. Approximated EU GHG inventory: Early estimates for 2011

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herold, A. [Oeko-Institut (Oeko), Freiburg (Germany); Fernandez, R. [European Environment Agency (EEA), Copenhagen (Denmark)

    2012-10-15

    The objective of this report is to provide an early estimate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU-15 and EU-27 for the year 2011. The official submission of 2011 data to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will occur in 2013. In recent years, the EEA and its European Topic Centre on Air Pollution and Climate Change Mitigation have developed a methodology to estimate GHG emissions using a bottom up approach - based on data or estimates for individual countries, sectors and gases - to derive EU GHG estimates in the preceding year (t-1). For transparency, this report shows the country-level GHG estimates from which the EU estimates have been derived. The 2011 estimates are based on the latest activity data available at country level and assume no change in emission factors or methodologies as compared to the official 2012 submissions to UNFCCC (which relate to emissions in 2010). Some Member States estimate and publish their own early estimates of GHG emissions for the preceding year. Where such estimates exist they are clearly referenced in this report in order to ensure complete transparency regarding the different GHG estimates available. Member State early estimates were also used for quality assurance and quality control of the EEA's GHG early estimates for 2011. Finally, the EEA has also used the early estimates of 2011 GHG emissions produced by EEA member countries to assess progress towards the Kyoto targets in its annual trends and projections report (due to be published alongside the present report). In that report, the EEA's early estimates for 2011 were only used for countries that lack their own early estimates to track progress towards national and EU targets. (LN)

  8. Approximated EU GHG inventory: Early estimates for 2010

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herold, A.; Busche, J.; Hermann, H.; Joerss, W.; Scheffler, M. (OEko-Institut, Freiburg (Germany))

    2011-10-15

    The objective of this report is to provide an early estimate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU-15 and EU-27 for the year 2010. The official submission of 2010 data to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will occur in 2012. In recent years, the EEA and its European Topic Centre on Air Pollution and Climate Change Mitigation have developed a methodology to estimate GHG emissions using a bottom up approach - based on data or estimates for individual countries, sectors and gases - to derive EU GHG estimates in the preceding year (t-1). For transparency, this report shows the country-level GHG estimates from which the EU estimates have been derived. The 2010 estimates are based on the latest activity data available at country level and assume no change in emission factors or methodologies as compared to the official 2011 submissions to UNFCCC (which re-late to emissions in 2009). Some Member States estimate and publish their own early estimates of GHG emissions for the preceding year. Where such estimates exist they are clearly referenced in this report in order to ensure complete transparency regarding the different GHG estimates available. Member State early estimates were also used for quality assurance and quality control of the EEA's GHG early estimates for 2010. Finally, EEA has also used the early estimates of 2010 GHG emissions produced by EEA member countries to assess progress towards the Kyoto targets in its annual trends and projections report (due to be published alongside the present report). In that report, the EEA's early estimates for 2010 were only used for countries that lack their own early estimates to track progress towards national and EU targets. (Author)

  9. MANAGING RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THE EU10 REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    BUCUREAN Mirela

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The problems of renewable energy and regional development have gained a global dimension, as well as the concerns about the economic growth. Therefore, this study investigates the issue of managing renewable energy in the EU10 region, within the context of recovery and anticipated growth of the region. The findings of this study disclose that an important source of economic growth in the EU10 region's countries may be to start some new investments in renewable energy. In order to develop the field of renewable energy may be used EU funds, and may be envisaged different public-private partnership models, that may contribute to lower societal costs and increased deployment rates. The study was conducted by combining a wide variety of sources, such as statistics, reports and articles. The results reported in this study could be used for further research in the area of implementing green energy projects in the EU10 region. Another direction for further research could be to identify the most attractive countries for different renewable energy investment projects in the EU10 region.

  10. Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in South East European Countries and New Member States of European Union Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bardhyl Dauti

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper accounts for the main determinants of Foreign Direct Investment flows to 5-SEEC and the 10-New Member States of the EU countries by using an augmented Gravity Model. The study takes into account country specific institutional factors that determine foreign investors’ decisions from 14 core European Union countries to invest into SEE-5 and EU-NMS-10 countries. From the results of the study we find that gravity factors and institutional related determinants like control of corruption, political stability, bilateral FDI agreement, WTO membership and transition progress appear to significantly determine inward FDI flows from core EU countries to host economies of South East European region and new European Union member states.

  11. EU Science Diplomacy and Framework Programs as Instruments of STI Cooperation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    К. А. Ibragimova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the tools that the EU in interactions with third countries in the field of STI uses. The EU is a pioneer in the use of science and technology in the international arena, the creation of strategic bilateral agreements on science and technology and the conduct of political dialogues at the highest political level (at the country and regional levels. The EU actively uses its foreign policy instruments of influence, including the provision of access to its framework programs to researchers from third countries, as well as scientific diplomacy. The success of these programs and scientific diplomacy shows the effectiveness of the EU as a global actor. In its foreign policy global innovation strategy, the EU proceeds from the premise that no state in the world today can cope independently with modern global challenges such as climate change, migration, terrorism, etc. Therefore, the solution of these issues requires both an expert evaluation from an independent world scientific community, and the perseverance of diplomats and officials of branch ministries of national states capable of conveying the views of their government in international negotiations and defending national interests of the country to find a solution that suits everyone. The EU has the resources to create a "cumulative effect" by developing and applying common norms on the territory of theUnion, analyzing the innovation policies of member states and the possibility of sharing best practices. At the same time, the EU shares its vision of problems, values and priorities with partners and uses the tools of "soft power" (including its smart and normative force and scientific diplomacy in the field of STI. The soft power of the EU in the field of STI lies in the attractiveness of the EU as a research area in which it is possible to conduct modern high-quality international research with the involvement of scientific teams from different countries in both physical

  12. Zipf rank approach and cross-country convergence of incomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Jia; Ivanov, Plamen Ch.; Urošević, Branko; Stanley, H. Eugene; Podobnik, Boris

    2011-05-01

    We employ a concept popular in physics —the Zipf rank approach— in order to estimate the number of years that EU members would need in order to achieve "convergence" of their per capita incomes. Assuming that trends in the past twenty years continue to hold in the future, we find that after t≈30 years both developing and developed EU countries indexed by i will have comparable values of their per capita gross domestic product {\\cal G}_{i,t} . Besides the traditional Zipf rank approach we also propose a weighted Zipf rank method. In contrast to the EU block, on the world level the Zipf rank approach shows that, between 1960 and 2009, cross-country income differences increased over time. For a brief period during the 2007-2008 global economic crisis, at world level the {\\cal G}_{i,t} of richer countries declined more rapidly than the {\\cal G}_{i,t} of poorer countries, in contrast to EU where the {\\cal G}_{i,t} of developing EU countries declined faster than the {\\cal G}_{i,t} of developed EU countries, indicating that the recession interrupted the convergence between EU members. We propose a simple model of GDP evolution that accounts for the scaling we observe in the data.

  13. Barriers to the EU Single Services Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ol'ga V. Biryukova

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The EU has the most developed liberalization mechanism in services trade within the framework of an economic bloc. The system of supranational institutions, which decisions are binding upon member states, contributes to a high level of liberalization of trade in services in the EU. However, the creation of a single market for services hasn't completed at all. The reasons are following: not all basic principles for single market are fully applied, and a service is a very specific object for international trade. Financial-economic crisis caused a new wave of protectionism in different countries, which has reflected in the preservation of old and the emergence of new barriers to trade in services within the EU. Integration of services in the Union is accompanied by important trade initiatives at the multilateral level. In the World Trade Organization EU countries negotiate a new agreement on trade in services, and offer provisions which providing transparency, deepening liberalization and investor protection for foreign investors in the market, will also complement and foster the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP EU - USA. Russia is only the fourth among most important partners of the EU in trade in services. At the same time the European Union remains a key Russian partner in trade in services and in goods. There is a considerable potential for growth in this sphere for both partners.

  14. Climate Change Adaptation Practices in Various Countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanik, A.; Tekten, D.

    2017-08-01

    The paper will be a review work on the recent strategies of EU in general, and will underline the inspected sectoral based adaptation practices and action plans of 7 countries; namely Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, USA and Kenya from Africa continent. Although every countries’ action plan have some similarities on sectoral analysis, each country in accordance with the specific nature of the problem seems to create its own sectoral analysis. Within this context, green and white documents of EU adaptation to climate change, EU strategy on climate change, EU targets of 2020 on climate change and EU adaptation support tools are investigated.

  15. Certain requirements to surface water quality and monitoring of water bodies in the EU

    OpenAIRE

    Storchak T. V.; Pogonysheva I. A.; Ryabukha A. V.; Arishev A. I.

    2018-01-01

    Water pollution has become a pressing issues in the European Union. EU Water protection legislature plays major role in the development of national policies in many of the EU countries. EU is currently implementing Water Framework Directive. The Directive demonstrates an innovative approach to water resources management based on river basins. According to the Directive, EU countries take a responsibility to prevent further deterioration and make effort to restore and improve the state of wate...

  16. The Investment Capacities of the Ukrainian Economy the EU countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. S.

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with selected aspects of investment in the context of the enhanced competition at investment markets and the need to increase the investment performance. A review of literary sources shows that investment capacities essentially refer to the economy’s capability to fund processes or phases related with generation of innovation, formation and modernization of fixed assets or intangible assets; development of education, research and information sectors; reproduction, support and creation of national wealth. It is emphasized that formation and realization of investment capacities in the economy can be attributed to processes that have significant effects for economic performance in the long run, especially when the capacities are innovative. The author’s definition of investment capacities of the economy is given, as the capacity to support financially the upward investment trend through accumulating fixed capital and increasing the profit rate from its generation in current and medium-term periods. The existing methodology for assessment of investment capacities at country level is analyzed; recommendations to improve the system of aggregated investment statistics, taking into account the Eurostat methodology, are given. Statistical indicators measuring the investment capacities in EU countries and Ukraine are analyzed. The analysis shows that the investment rate in Ukrainian industrial enterprises was 21.8% in 2014 and 19.6% in 2015, giving an indication of downward investment trend and the shrinking investment capacities of the national economy. Growth in the share of profit in the value added in 2015 by 6.7 percentage points (to 47.3% compared with 2014 is evidence that instead of investing internal resources, enterprises use them to cover financial loses or tend to take them off the national boundaries. Upward investment trend can be recovered by the increased supply of investment projects with low level of investment risk

  17. Finland, Sweden and Austria doubled the share of hydroelectric power in EU

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kangas, H.

    1996-01-01

    New EU countries Finland, Sweden and Austria increased the amount of hydroelectric power produced in EU in 1995 by more than 50 % compared to the year 1994. Especially Sweden and Austria are very dependent on hydroelectric power; the share of hydroelectric power is in Austria more than 70 % and even in Sweden it was nearly 50 %. The share of hydroelectric power in 1995 the EU region was 14 % of the total power demand. Due to the new EU countries the share of hydroelectric power of the total electric power demand, which would have decreased, increased by over 3 %. The increase of the electric power demand in Finland was lowest in the EU region, about 1.0 %, while it was in Greece 5.0 % and in Spain about 4.6 %. The share of nuclear power in the EU region was about 35 % in 1995. The most nuclear power dependent country in the EU was France there the share of nuclear power of the total electric power demand was 89 %. Both Finland and Sweden increased the production of back-pressure power generation in 1995. The share of back-pressure power generation in EU in 1995 was about 50 TWh which corresponds to some 1.5 % of the total electric power demand. About 50 % of the total electric power generation in EU was produced by condensing power generation. This production increased by 10 % compared to 1994. The netimport of electric power of EU increased by 80 % in Finland and Sweden, which are large importers of electric power outside the EU region

  18. Monitoring VET Systems of Major EU Competitor Countries - The Cases of Australia, Canada, U.S.A. and Japan

    OpenAIRE

    Ruth, Klaus

    2009-01-01

    The study on VET systems of major EU competitor countries is based on the objective of the (revised) Lisbon agenda to become the most competitive region of the world based on a knowledge driven production and social cohesion. Building on experts opinion and literature research this study aims at monitoring VET policies in Australia, Canada, the U.S. and Japan. The study analyses five themes which are assumed to be of outstanding importance for understanding the current performance and the dev...

  19. The Growth Effects of R&D Spending in the EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kokko, Ari; Tingvall, Patrik Gustavsson; Videnord, Josefin

    private sector investment in R&D and stronger public-private sector linkages than in the EU. Hence, to reduce the “innovation gap” vis-à-vis the US, it may not be enough for the EU to raise the share of R&D expenditures in GDP: continuous improvements in the European innovation system will also be needed......, with focus on areas like private sector R&D and public-private sector linkages.......In this paper we conduct a meta-analysis to examine the link between R&D spending and economic growth in the EU and other regions. The results suggest that the growth-enhancing effect of R&D in the EU15 countries does not differ from that in other countries in general, but it is less significant...

  20. The Growth Effects of R&D Spending in the EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kokko, Ari; Tingvall, Patrik Gustavsson; Videnord, Josefin

    2015-01-01

    private sector investment in R&D and stronger public-private sector linkages than in the EU. Hence, to reduce the “innovation gap” vis-à-vis the US, it may not be enough for the EU to raise the share of R&D expenditures in GDP: continuous improvements in the European innovation system will also be needed......, with focus on areas like private sector R&D and public-private sector linkages.......In this paper we conduct a meta-analysis to examine the link between R&D spending and economic growth in the EU and other regions. The results suggest that the growth-enhancing effect of R&D in the EU15 countries does not differ from that in other countries in general, but it is less significant...

  1. Financial Integration into EU: The Romanian Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ibrahim Bozkurt

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to investigate the determinants of integration between stock market of Romania and other stock markets of European Union (EU countries. Correlations between the stock returns represent the level of integration between the stock markets. Empirical analysis are performed with daily stock returns of 24 EU members including Romania for 2002-2012 period using panel data gravity models and correlations are investigated. Findings reveal that the following factors have significant and robust effects on the financial integration process of Romania with other 23 EU members; (i EU membership, (ii bilateral trade, (iii GDP per capita, (iv 2012 sovereign debt crisis and (v East European location. The results emphasize that intensifying economic relations with EU members can contribute the integration of Romanian stock market with other EU members. designed & hoste

  2. The Economic Integration Of The EU13 Regions Into EU Economy During The 2004–2013 Period

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kabát Libor

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to study and to highlight the applicative and interpretive limits of the GDP per capita indicators, when regional economics of the new member countries (EU13, particularly the process of integration of their regions into EU economy is examined in terms of the beta and sigma convergence. The growth of gross domestic product has long been pursued as the main objective of the economic activities of countries and regions. Its growth is seen as almost a guarantee of the proper functioning of the economy. The governments of individual countries, in the event of a decline in GDP, take measures for its recovery. Small attention, however, is given to the fact, whether such an economic development copes with the parameters of sustainable economic growth. Also, little attention is paid to the study of how the previous growth is reflected in the standard of living of the population and households in respective countries and regions.

  3. The EU’s CAP, the Doha Round and Developing Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Halderman, Michael; Nelson, Michael

    2004-01-01

    This study analyzes the political economy of European Union policy-making in regard to EU trade in beef and dairy with developing countries. The way the EU makes its agriculture and trade policies involves three levels: the EU member state, the EU itself, and the international trading system. The study also considers a fourth "level," developing countries, that is affected by EU policy-making. We present criticism from various sources concerning negative international effects of EU agricultur...

  4. INTEGRATION OF ROMANIAN INSURANCES MARKET IN EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gheorghe MOROŞAN

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available One of the most important phenomena of the last decade has been the convergence of the financial services industry, especially the capital and insurance markets. The convergence in the insurance industry was determined by the increased frequency and the severity of catastrophic risks, market inefficiency in the past, and the new technologies in IT and communications. These globally developments can be observed much better at EU level, one of the most integrated areas of the world, which aimed the convergence of financial market, including an important component such as insurance market. As part of the EU, Romania also aims to financial market convergence with the EU countries. The article offers an overview and an analysis of the insurance market in the EU and Romania. Through a wide series of indicators such as: the amount of insurance premiums, degree of penetration, number of employees or number of insurance companies, it will analyze the evolution of this market convergence, as per all EU countries and Romania. It will identify the stage in which the insurance market in Romania is, regarding the requirements of full integration. Finally, there will be identified factors encouraging and particularly those who are impediments to insurance market convergence in Romania.

  5. EU-Korea Conference on Science and Technology

    CERN Document Server

    Lee, Jehyun

    2011-01-01

    Current research fields in science and technology were presented and discussed at the EKC2009, informing about the interests and directions of the scientists and engineers in EU countries and Korea. The Conference has emerged from the idea of bringing together EU and Korea to get to know each other better, especially in fields of science and technology.

  6. INSTITUTIONS IN TRANSITION: IS THE EU INTEGRATION PROCESS RELEVANT FOR INWARD FDI IN TRANSITION EUROPEAN ECONOMIES?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Uros Delevic

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This research challenges the contemporary view of economic policy makers in transition European economies that the EU integration process will lead to a greater inflow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI, thereby increasing living standards. With the Brexit referendum, the integration of the EU has been threatened by a distressing existential question: is EU membership valuable for transition countries if even developed countries (like the UK vote to leave or decided not to align like Switzerland and Norway in the past? Our analysis considers the success of several countries in Eastern Europe in attracting and benefiting from FDI on their way to EU membership. Analyzing a 13-year panel data of 16 transition countries, we found no statistically significant positive association between FDI inflow and EU accession. We argue, that it is also important to consider the welfare for domestic economies that can emerge from those investments. We illustrate this through the case study of a successful combination of institutional development and local content policies implementation accompanied by sufficient FDI inflows in a non-EU country - Kazakhstan.

  7. Green taxes in EU and Denmark; Groenne skatter og afgifter i EU og Danmark

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dyck-Madsen, S.

    2000-12-01

    One of the most essential means to reach an increased sustainability in the world is to increase the use of economical means and hereby extend the polluter-pay-principle. The EU-commission, OECD and other governments in the EU-countries recommend an increased use of green taxes. This book takes as its starting point the implementation of a green tax reform, where the taxation is moved from tax on manpower to tax on resource consumption and pollution. Hereby both the environmental effort and the economic development are strengthened. The book briefly examines the different definitions of sustainability and outlines the principles for a green tax reform. The elaboration of green taxes, the reversing entry to environmental aims or to the Exchequer, the relation to the social distribution, the financing of the welfare state, the development of the green taxes in the EU countries, removal of environmentally damaging subsidies and the positive effect of the existing green taxes are subjects treated in the book. Finally the book presents a proposal for some Danish possibilities to increase existing green taxes or to introduce new Danish green taxes. (EHS)

  8. Housing of old age households in 10 EU countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skak, Morten

    2008-01-01

    The paper is an extract of a study under the DEMHOW (Demographic Change and Housing Wealth) project financed by the under the EU Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, which investigates the ways in which, across member states, demographic change and housing wealth...

  9. CLASSIFICATION OF EU COUNTRIES IN TERMS OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE GHG INDICATOR USING CLUSTER ANALYSIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MARINOIU CRISTIAN

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Greenhouse gases are one of the main factors that influence the Earth's global temperature variation. As the result of both the beginning of the industrial revolution (the 1750’s and the intensificication and diversification of human activities, the volume of greenhouse gasses increases significantly. The risk of an accelerated global warming can be decreased by reducing the volume of greenhouse gasses emissions resulting from human activities. The annual volume of these emissions is reflected by the Greenhouse gas (GHG indicator. This work carries out a classification of EU countries on the basis of the evolution of the GHG indicator using Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM method.

  10. Membership of Eastern European countries of the European Union -environmental perspectives. Main report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-06-01

    Ten central and eastern European countries have made association agreements with the EU and submitted applications for EU membership. The countries are: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria. Accession to the EU by the central and eastern European countries requires that the countries accept the acquis communautaire (the rules of the EU) as well as the acquis politique (the political aims of the EU), including environmental issues. Accession to the EU is expected to result in substantial environmental improvements both in the central and eastern European countries and in the countries which are exposed to pollution originating from these countries. The extent of the environmental improvements when the 10 countries implement and use the rules laid down by the EU is an important issue. Another important approximation related problem is how the countries will secure the human and financial resources to meet the EU requirements. The purpose of this publication is to provide a first analysis of the tasks ahead in the environmental field during the current approximation process, including the environmental consequences/gains and the costs of accession of the 10 associated countries to the EU. This analysis deals both with general and sectoral problems, focusing on sectors with special adaptation problems which thus need targeted assistance. The analysed sectors are: air pollution, ozone depleting substances, waste, water pollution, agriculture, chemical substances, biodiversity, energy - including nuclear energy. (LN) 119 refs

  11. EU's CO2 trade a high risk project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wellander, Dag

    2003-01-01

    The uncertainty about the planned CO 2 trade of the European Union (EU) is very great. For the possible buyers in this politically created market the risks may be great and difficult to assess. The most effective way of forcing a reduction of emissions is trading emission licences. But this requires taking a stand on issues of very unpleasant nature. And the Kyoto protocol evades these questions, it is a thin document right from the beginning. Trade in emission licences is one of the three so-called flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto agreement. The second mechanism is joint implementation in which one industrialized country carries out emission reduction actions in another industrialized country. The third is the mechanism of clean development, in which one industrialized country takes remedial actions in a developing country. It is unclear how these mechanisms are to act in accordance with each other, both in the Kyoto Protocol and on the level of the EU. The biggest and most fundamental uncertainty, both on the EU and global levels, relates to the fact that the partners have not decided how to define the right of ownership of emissions of a certain size

  12. Report on current status of petroleum substituting energy development in the EU in FY 1997; 1997 nendo chosa hokokusho (sekiyu daitai energy kaihatsu no genjo (EU))

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-03-01

    The EU is one of the most advanced places of petroleum substituting energy development. The EU is highly aware of environmental issues. For the COP3 held at Kyoto in December 1997, The EU gave more severe regulation of CO2 emission than the other advanced countries. The EU takes efforts in the development and introduction of energy effective for global environmental protection. In addition, research and development of geothermal, biomass and wave force energy are actively promoted in this place. Energy situations in this place are significant for predicting and analyzing the future trends of energy development and consumption in the other countries. Firstly, this report looks back toward energy demand held in check to a head at the beginning of the 1990`s. Secondly, supply of energy and cover of energy trend are described for recent years from the point of view. Thirdly, competitiveness of energy in EU countries are discussed from a position of energy density. Fourthly, circumstances about environmental issues are considered. Fifthly, the world market of energy is also considered. Finally, development of new energy and a trend of introduction with a sample of Sweden are introduced. 13 refs., 15 figs., 28 tabs.

  13. Renewable energies in the EU-Accession States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reiche, Danyel

    2006-01-01

    The aim of this article is to discuss obstacles and success conditions for renewable energy sources in the EU-Accession States and to compare them with the framework in the EU-15. Besides the ten states which will join the EU in 2004, Bulgaria and Romania which will probably join in 2007 as well as Turkey are analysed. Most of these countries have had a century-long tradition in the utilisation of RES, primarily in biomass and hydropower. However, the communist regimes were convinced of the superiority of large-scale systems and converted the energy sectors into centralised units. Due to this dominating belief system more decentralised applications such as installations using renewable energies had to close. One crucial driving force for future renewable energy development in the Accession States comes from the stipulations set by the EU. The EU-Directive on the promotion of electricity produced from RES gives the new EU-members targets for their RES-development until 2010. Due to the Directive many Accession States have already begun to pay more attention to the topic and to introduce more systematic policies. Six of the Accession States have introduced minimum tariffs which were one of the main success conditions (besides a stable and sound investment programme as well as favourable background conditions) in the leading wind energy countries Germany and Spain. Beside the external pressure by the EU and other international obligations other driving forces such as the path dependencies in the national energy policies (degree of coal, oil and gas exploitation, nuclear power use, import dependency), the political support schemes for renewable energies, possibilities of obtaining external financial support and the cognitive environment are discussed. Finally similarities and differences between EU-15 and Accession States are worked out

  14. The Changing Patterns of Foreign Direct Investment in EU Accession Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meyer, Klaus E.; Ionascu, Delia Simona; Kulawczuk, Przemyslaw

    2005-01-01

    Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has been maturing as the region prepared to join the European Union (EU). Since the beginning of transition the pattern of FDI has evolved, reflecting new business strategies pursued in anticipation of EU membership. Based on first...... results from a questionnaire survey conducted in 2003 in Hungary, Lithuania and Poland, we portray the recent patterns and developments in foreign investment, the motives for investment, and managers' assessment of the local business environment. Some questions have been replicated from a study conducted...

  15. EU Contribution to Global CBRN Security

    OpenAIRE

    GOULART DE MEDEIROS MARGARIDA; ABOUSAHL SAID; MAIER EDDIE; SIMONART TRISTAN; DUPRE BRUNO

    2016-01-01

    The EU promotes a culture of CBRN safety and security within the EU and internationally. Accordingly, the Instrument Contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) contributes to international efforts to mitigate CBRN risks, whether of natural (e.g. pandemics, volcanic eruptions), accidental (Fukushima) or criminal (trafficking, terrorism) origin, following a consistent ‘all hazards’ approach. The aim is twofold: to prevent CBRN incidents and to build partner countries' capacities for emergency r...

  16. School version of ESTE EU

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carny, P.; Suchon, D.; Chyly, M.; Smejkalova, E.; Fabova, V.

    2008-01-01

    ESTE EU is information system and software for radiological impacts assessment to the territory of the country in case of radiation accident inside/outside of the country .The program enables to model dispersion of radioactive clouds in small-scale and meso-scale. The system enables the user to estimate prediction of the source term (release to the atmosphere ) for any point of radiation/nuclear accident in Europe (for any point of the release, but especially for the sites of European power reactors ). The system enables to utilize results of real radiological monitoring in the process of source term estimation. Radiological impacts of release to the atmosphere are modelled and calculated across the Europe and displayed in the geographical information system (GIS). The school version of ESTE EU is intended for students of the universities which are interested in or could work in the field of emergency response, radiological and nuclear accidents, dispersion modelling, radiological impacts calculation and urgent or preventive protective measures implementation. The school version of ESTE EU is planned to be donated to specialized departments of faculties in Slovakia, Czech Republic, etc. System can be fully operated in Slovak, Czech or English language. (authors)

  17. School version of ESTE EU

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carny, P.; Suchon, D.; Chyly, M.; Smejkalova, E.; Fabova, V.

    2009-01-01

    ESTE EU is information system and software for radiological impacts assessment to the territory of the country in case of radiation accident inside/outside of the country .The program enables to model dispersion of radioactive clouds in small-scale and meso-scale. The system enables the user to estimate prediction of the source term (release to the atmosphere ) for any point of radiation/nuclear accident in Europe (for any point of the release, but especially for the sites of European power reactors ). The system enables to utilize results of real radiological monitoring in the process of source term estimation. Radiological impacts of release to the atmosphere are modelled and calculated across the Europe and displayed in the geographical information system (GIS). The school version of ESTE EU is intended for students of the universities which are interested in or could work in the field of emergency response, radiological and nuclear accidents, dispersion modelling, radiological impacts calculation and urgent or preventive protective measures implementation. The school version of ESTE EU is planned to be donated to specialized departments of faculties in Slovakia, Czech Republic, etc. System can be fully operated in Slovak, Czech or English language. (authors)

  18. EU FP7 project 'CAMbrella' to build European research network for complementary and alternative medicine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Weidenhammer, Wolfgang; Lewith, George; Falkenberg, Torkel

    2011-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The status of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) within the EU needs clarification. The definition and terminology of CAM is heterogeneous. The therapies, legal status, regulations and approaches used vary from country to country but there is widespread use by EU citizens...... governing CAM provision, and to explore the needs and attitudes of EU citizens with respect to CAM. Based on this information a roadmap will be created that will enable sustainable and prioritised future European research in CAM. CAMbrella encompasses 16 academic research groups from 12 European countries...... review open access publications and a final conference, with emphasis on current and future EU policies, addressing different target audiences....

  19. Comparative assessment of national bioenergy strategies and biomass action plans in 12 EU countries. European Best Practice Report. Extended version

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    This report is a key output of the EU project 'BAP Driver', an initiative of energy agencies from 8 European key bioenergy nations and the European Biomass Association (AEBIOM). The BAP Driver project aims at identifying ways for improvement of current national policy frameworks for bioenergy in Europe, and at leveraging the process of developing country-specific Biomass Action Plans (BAP). From a strategic perspective, the general approach of this report focuses on four stages, required for setting up national biomass strategies and action plans: Assessment of national biomass resources; Formulation of national bioenergy strategies and biomass action plans; Implementation of national bioenergy policies; Monitoring of national bioenergy markets and policies. Overall the analysis is split into three chapters corresponding to the following logical steps: Chapter B: Country analysis (12 individual country profiles); Chapter C: Benchmark analysis (comparative assessment of 12 countries); Chapter D: Best practice analysis (transnational conclusions across national boundaries)

  20. Comparative assessment of national bioenergy strategies and biomass action plans in 12 EU countries. European Best Practice Report. Executive Summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    This report is a key output of the EU project 'BAP Driver', an initiative of energy agencies from 8 European key bioenergy nations and the European Biomass Association (AEBIOM). The BAP Driver project aims at identifying ways for improvement of current national policy frameworks for bioenergy in Europe, and at leveraging the process of developing country-specific Biomass Action Plans (BAP). From a strategic perspective, the general approach of this report focuses on four stages, required for setting up national biomass strategies and action plans: Assessment of national biomass resources; Formulation of national bioenergy strategies and biomass action plans; Implementation of national bioenergy policies; Monitoring of national bioenergy markets and policies. Overall the analysis is split into three chapters corresponding to the following logical steps: Chapter B: Country analysis (12 individual country profiles); Chapter C: Benchmark analysis (comparative assessment of 12 countries); Chapter D: Best practice analysis (transnational conclusions across national boundaries)

  1. REFLECTIONS ON ROMANIA'S TRADE WITH EU DURING THE PERIOD 2007-2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PAUL BOGDAN ZAMFIR

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the author intends to highlight the overall evolution of Romania's bilateral trade relations with EU in the period 2007-2015. On this background it is important to mention that the European Union (EU has been the main trade partner of Romania both the export and import throughout this period of post-accession. So, during the analyzed period, as can be observed from statistical data provided by INSSE it is obvious a general tendency of enhancing Romania's trade with EU. Furthermore, since 2007 EU has held a share of over 70% in total imports and exports of Romania. Also, relative to the evolution of Romania's trade balance in relation with EU, from statistical data presented in the paper, can be noticed that in the reference period it has known a general negative trend. There are also presented some positive progress of our country in issue of adjusting the trade balance deficit with EU. In these circumstances, can be proposed a range of macroeconomic measures formulated in direction of reducing the trade deficit, registered by our country in relation with EU. Another element of maximum visibility in this analyzed issues is represented by geographical orientation of Romanian exports and imports with EU countries. Starting from statistical data provided by INSSE through the prestigious official publication Romanian International Trade Yearbook, results clearly that in the whole of this reference period, Germany had the most significant share of over 20%, both export and import. Also during this period of post-accession, the attention of policy makers should focus on measures that will can lead to increase of Romania 's trade not only with Germany, Italy, France, Hungary etc. but also with other community partners whose share in Romania's total trade with EU was a insignificant along analysed period. Thus, in the current context and in perspective for Romania is imperative necessary the proliferation, intensification and

  2. THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP AS PART OF THE EU FOREIGN POLICY: A REVIEW OF THEORETICAL APPROACHES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrei SCRINIC

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The Eastern Partnership (2009 as a component part of the European Neighbourhood Policy is a tool that aims at the economic integration and political cooperation of the countries that are included in this project by signing association and free trade agreements with the European Union (EU. The recent events in Ukraine have revealed the possibility of these countries to become EU member states depending on the progress made, which is confirmed by many European experts. However, there are big differences among the Eastern Partnership countries on their way to EU integration on the background of the strong pressure from Russia, aimed to suppress any pro-European manifestations of such countries. Despite the sharpening of geopolitical challenges, the EU continues to use the traditional ways of enlargement and deepening of cooperation processes with the Eastern Neighbourhood. This paper aims at reviewing the theoretical approaches through which the EU, as a normative power, exerts major influence on the Eastern Partnership (EaP countries by extending the neofunctional practices, intergovernmental cooperation and the constructivist model. However, in view of reaching the soft power objectives, we aim at transforming and strengthening the EU positions in the context of amplified economic and political-ideological problems at regional level.

  3. Importance of intrastat in EU intra-Community trade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radmila Presová

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the importance of Intrastat and Eurostat for mutual trade with goods between EU countries and third countries. It informs about the importance of statistical data for all legal forms of trade companies, multinational companies, public administration institutions and service businesses. It points out that accepting the Czech Republic as a member of EU changed the use of terminology in foreign trade. For goods transactions between EU member states the terms sending and receiving are used, whereas the traditional terminology export – import is used for foreign trade with the third countries.Paper describes legal regulations including the instructions for statistical data records, specifically the Directive of the European parliament and Council No. 638/2004, appended by the Commission directive No. 1980/2004 and Public notice of the Czech statistical office from 18th May, 2005. Based on the retrospective view it shows the development of legal regulation and the importance of quo­ted directive for determining and recording statistical data. It notifies that statistical data are necessary for recognition of the course of integration of the internal market, formation of agricultural policy and adopting anti-dumping measures. Paper acquaints with organisation of statistics within the Euro­pean Union. It also notifies that statistical system includes also the countries of Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein.Results of foreign trade in 2007 show the involvement of the Czech Republic in mutual trade with the EU countries, to which 85.22 % of the total value of exported goods was sent, which represents the amount of CZK 194 056 per inhabitant of the Czech Republic. In the same year, goods of the total share of 69.90 % was received from the EU countries, which represents the amount of CZK 162 021 per inhabitant. Our most important trade partner is Germany, with which we have reached the turnover of CZK 1 429 986. According to

  4. Comparative analysis of Fiber-to-the-Home market liberalization in the EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Williams, Idongesit

    2017-01-01

    The penetration of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) in the EU is low. This is because deploying FTTH is capital intensive. The liberalization of the FTTH market in three EU countries is studied in this paper. The aim is to identify the challenges that affect the growth of FTTH in the EU. This is a qualit......The penetration of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) in the EU is low. This is because deploying FTTH is capital intensive. The liberalization of the FTTH market in three EU countries is studied in this paper. The aim is to identify the challenges that affect the growth of FTTH in the EU......, this paper concludes that competition at the wholesale market aspect of the FTTH market should be given more priority than competition at the retail section of the Fiber-to-the-Home market. This prioritization in regulating competition will enable greater market penetration of Fiber...

  5. Exporting EU Liberalism Eastwards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lynn M. Tesser

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available There is much more to liberalism in the post communist context than has been acknowledged. A sizeable effort has indeed emerged to transplant a relatively coherent liberal ideology to the region, one exported not merely through the conditionality of international financial institutions, but also through the conditionality and socialization of organizations like the NATO, OSCE, EU, and the Council of Europe. ‘EU liberalism’ includes the ‘standard’ liberal emphasis on individual rights, the rule of law, constitutional democracy, freedom, and market economics as well as support for minority rights, and a seemingly schizophrenic emphasis on economic integration that involves, first bringing down borders for the free movement of people, goods, capital, and services between member states, and second, market regulation to diminish the social downsides of capitalism. This paper outlines EU liberalism’s emergence and its application to Central and East European countries.

  6. EU FP7 project 'CAMbrella' to build European research network for complementary and alternative medicine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Weidenhammer, Wolfgang; Lewith, George; Falkenberg, Torkel

    2011-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The status of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) within the EU needs clarification. The definition and terminology of CAM is heterogeneous. The therapies, legal status, regulations and approaches used vary from country to country but there is widespread use by EU citizens. A...... review open access publications and a final conference, with emphasis on current and future EU policies, addressing different target audiences....

  7. EU-China Trade Partnership: Strategic Importance of Central and Eastern European Members

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Loredana Jitaru

    2016-01-01

    the increase of Chinese investment in Europe. This paper aims to analyze trade flows betweenChina and the EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe in the framework of the EU-Chinatrade partnership and how these countries can be considered a strategic partner in EU-Chinatrade relations.

  8. The Hierarchical Clustering of Tax Burden in the EU27

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simkova Nikola

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The issue of taxation has become more important due to a significant share of the government revenue. There are several ways of expressing the tax burden of countries. This paper describes the traditional approach as a share of tax revenue to GDP which is applied to the total taxation and the capital taxation as a part of tax systems affecting investment decisions. The implicit tax rate on capital created by Eurostat also offers a possible explanation of the tax burden on capital, so its components are analysed in detail. This study uses one of the econometric methods called the hierarchical clustering. The data on which the clustering is based comprises countries in the EU27 for the period of 1995 – 2012. The aim of this paper is to reveal clusters of countries in the EU27 with similar tax burden or tax changes. The findings suggest that mainly newly acceding countries (2004 and 2007 are in a group of countries with a low tax burden which tried to encourage investors by favourable tax rates. On the other hand, there are mostly countries from the original EU15. Some clusters may be explained by similar historical development, geographic and demographic characteristics.

  9. A project to establish a skills competency matrix for EU nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowan, David T; Norman, Ian J; Coopamah, Vinoda P

    Enhanced nurse workforce mobility in the European Union (EU) is seen as a remedy to shortages of nurses in some EU countries and a surplus in others. However, knowledge of differences in competence, culture, skill levels and working practices of nursing staff throughout EU countries is not fully documented because currently no tangible method exists to enable comparison. The European Healthcare Training and Accreditation Network (EHTAN) project intends to address this problem by establishing an assessment and evaluation methodology through the compilation of a skills competency matrix. To this end, subsequent to a review of documentation and literature on nursing competence definition and assessment, two versions of a nursing competence self-assessment questionnaire tool have been developed. The final competence matrix will be translated and disseminated for transnational use and it is hoped that this will inform EU and national policies on the training requirements of nurses and nursing mobility and facilitate the promotion of EU-wide recognition of nursing qualifications.

  10. Environmental Tax Policy in Romania in the Context of the EU: Double Dividend Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena Radulescu

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In the last decade, environment protection gained much more significance in designing the economic policies in the European Union (EU countries. There are many economic and policy differences between the European countries, despite of the harmonization process inside the EU area. The path of implementation of the environmental tax reforms in the EU countries differs greatly from one country to another and the effects of such taxation in the economic and environmental areas are manifold. The authors of this paper have agreed to undertake the task of testing the double dividend hypothesis of the environmental taxation in Romania (an energy-intensive country versus the EU area as a whole, using Vector Error Correction Model (VECM techniques and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS estimations. Our findings show that this hypothesis is validated neither in Romania (in the economic growth area nor in the EU area as a whole (in the unemployment area. Therefore, Romania cannot increase the level of the environmental tax for supporting economic growth, but it can grant environmental subsidies for decreasing the emissions and supporting the economic growth. This could be achieved by expanding the tax labor base and by collecting higher budgetary revenues to sustain such environmental subsidies. As far as the EU area is concerned, it is a necessary measure to continue the descending trend for the labor taxation to achieve the goal of improving the employment rate.

  11. The EU’s CAP, the Doha Round and Developing Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Halderman, Michael; Nelson, Michael

    2004-01-01

    This study analyzes the political economy of European Union policy-making in regard to EU trade in beef and dairy with developing countries. The way the EU makes its agriculture and trade policies involves three levels: the EU member state, the EU itself, and the international trading system. The study also considers a fourth "level," developing countries, that is affected by EU policy-making. We present criticism from various sources concerning negative international effects of EU agricultur...

  12. ECONOMIC GROWTH IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE: AN INVESTIGATION FOR SIX EU CANDIDATE AND POTENTIAL CANDIDATE COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ileana Tache

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The South Eastern European region (SEE has seen major beneficial transformation in the recent years. Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 and Croatia in 2013 became members of the European Union and registered significant economic growth rates. This paper investigates some important factors that influence economic growth in 6 EU candidate and potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia and offers to policy makers in those countries key insights for stimulating the economy. The paper proposes a dynamic growth model which will be developed using the Quasi-maximum likelihood (QML estimation. This model is suited for this type of analysis because of the small T sample and also to cope with missingness. The results indicate that nine out of the fourteen variables were statistically significant. The number of non-resident tourists, the number of passenger cars, the number of children in pre-primary and primary-education are positive factors for economic growth. In contrast, government debt, inflation, all energy imports, railway transportation and primary production of coal and lignite are hindering development.

  13. ANALYSIS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ROMANIA COMPARATIVE WITH THE EU COUNTRIES -27

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tudor Pendiuc

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Entrepreneurship is a socio-economic phenomenon of great complexity, defining the market economy system. As the business environment becomes more complex and competitive, the entrepreneurs must become more creative and receptive to what is new and innovative. For Romania the promotion and development of entrepreneurship were a central objective in the last decade for job creation, competitiveness growth and sustainable economic development. Regardless of the method chosen to develop a business, the entrepreneur must operate with criteria of rationality in terms of choices, decisions and performance evaluation. This work aims a comparative analysis of the main issues concerning the development of entrepreneurship in Romania compared to other EU countries. It emphasizes the following aspects: a option on the status of employee/contractor; b the important factors in the decision on starting/taking over a business; c difficulties to start/taking over a business. Based on the analysis were resulted conclusions on the main economic and social features of entrepreneurship in Romania compared to other European Union member states. It was stressed the importance of entrepreneurship development on the Romanian economy, by analyzing the factors that encourage or discourage the entrepreneurship. The research was conducted using a variety of bibliographic sources such as statistics, analysis, reports, professional articles.

  14. Epistemic Dependence and the EU Seal Ban Debate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lars Christian Blichner

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available On September 2009 the European Union (EU adopted a regulation banning the import of seal products into the EU or placing seal products on the EU market. The European Parliament was the main driving force behind the regulation and the EU has been criticised by affected countries outside the EU for not basing this decision on the available expert knowledge. The questions asked are how, given epistemic dependence, non-experts may challenge an expert based policy proposal. Can non-experts hold experts accountable, and if so in what way? Three main tests and ten subtests of expert knowledge are proposed and these tests are then used to assess whether the European Parliament did in fact argue in a way consistent with available expert knowledge in amending the Commission proposal for a regulation.

  15. Country of residence, gender equality and victim blaming attitudes about partner violence: a multilevel analysis in EU.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivert, Anna-Karin; Merlo, Juan; Gracia, Enrique

    2017-09-27

    Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a global and preventable public health problem. Public attitudes, such as victim-blaming, are important for our understanding of differences in the occurrence of IPVAW, as they contribute to its justification. In this paper, we focus on victim-blaming attitudes regarding IPVAW within the EU and we apply multilevel analyses to identify contextual determinants of victim-blaming attitudes. We investigate both the general contextual effect of the country and the specific association between country level of gender equality and individual victim-blaming attitudes, as well as to what extend a possible general contextual effect was explained by county level gender equality. We analyzed data from 26 800 respondents from 27 member states of the European Union who responded to a survey on public perceptions of domestic violence. We applied multilevel logistic regression analysis and measures of variance (intra-class correlation (ICC)) were calculated, as well as the discriminatory accuracy by calculating the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve. Over and above individual characteristics, about 15% of the individual variance in the propensity for having victim-blaming attitudes was found at the country level, and country level of gender equality did not affect the general contextual effect (i.e. ICC) of the country on individual victim-blaming attitudes. The present study shows that there are important between-country differences in victim-blaming attitudes that cannot be explained by differences in individual-level demographics or in gender equality at the country level. More research on attitudes towards IPVAW is needed. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

  16. Should EU Citizens Living in other Member States Vote there in National Elections?

    OpenAIRE

    CAYALA, Philippe; SETH, Catriona; BAUBÖCK, Rainer

    2012-01-01

    The core right of EU citizenship is freedom of movement within the territory of the Union. But EU citizens who live in a member state other than their homeland cannot vote in the national elections of that country unless they first acquire its citizenship through naturalisation. In several member states they also lose their right to vote in national elections of their country of origin when they have lived abroad for too long. A group of EU citizens has started a European Citizens' Initiative...

  17. Regulatory landscape for cell therapy--EU view.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McBlane, James W

    2015-09-01

    This article addresses regulation of cell therapies in the European Union (EU), covering cell sourcing and applications for clinical trials and marketing authorisation applications. Regulatory oversight of cell sourcing and review of applications for clinical trials with cell therapies are handled at national level, that is, separately with each country making its own decisions. For clinical trials, this can lead to different decisions in different countries for the same trial. A regulation is soon to come into force that will address this and introduce a more efficient clinical trial application process. However, at the marketing authorisation stage, the process is pan-national: the Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) is responsible for giving the final scientific opinion on all EU marketing authorisation applications for cell therapies: favourable scientific opinions are passed to the European Commission (EC) for further consultation and, if successful, grant of a marketing authorisation valid in all 28 EU countries. In its review of applications for marketing authorisations (MAAs) for cell therapies, the CHMP is obliged to consult the Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT), who conduct detailed scientific assessments of these applications, with assessment by staff from national regulatory authorities and specialist advisors to the regulators. Copyright © 2015.

  18. Impact assessment of the European Clinical Trials Directive: a longitudinal, prospective, observational study analyzing patterns and trends in clinical drug trial applications submitted since 2001 to regulatory agencies in six EU countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hartmann Markus

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Shifts in clinical trial application rates over time indicate if the attractiveness of a country or region for the conduct of clinical trials is growing or decreasing. The purpose of this observational study was to track changes in drug trial application patterns across several EU countries in order to analyze the medium-term impact of the EU Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC on the conduct of drug trials. Methods Rates of Clinical Trial Applications (CTA for studies with medicinal products in those six countries in the EU, which authorize on average more than 500 trials per year, were analyzed. Publicly available figures on the number of annually submitted CTA, the distribution of trials per phase and the type of sponsorship were tracked; missing data were provided by national drug agencies. Results Since 2001, the number of CTA in Italy and Spain increased significantly (5.0 and 2.5% average annual growth. For Italy, the gain was driven by a strong increase of applications from academic trial sponsors; Spain's growth was due to a rise in trials run by commercial sponsors. The Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK saw a decline (1.9, 2.3, 3.0 and 5.3% average annual diminution; significant (P Conclusions The EU Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC did not achieve the harmonization of clinical trial requirements across Europe. Rather, it resulted in the leveling of clinical trial activities caused by a continuing decrease in CTA rates in the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK. Southern European countries, Italy and Spain, benefited to some extent from policy changes introduced by the Directive. In Italy's case, national funding measures helped to considerably promote the conduct of non-commercial trials. On the other hand, the EU Directive-driven transition from liberal policy environments, based on non-explicit trial approval through notifications, towards red-taped processes of trial authorization, contributed to

  19. Can EU conditionality remedy soft budget constraints in transition countries?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp J.H.; Brücker, Herbert; Weise, Christian

    2005-01-01

    Soft budget constraints (SBCs) are a persistent feature of transition economies and have been blamed for a lack of fiscal consolidation and sluggish growth. EU eastward enlargement has been conditioned on tackling SBCs. This paper analyzes such outside conditionality theoretically and empirically...

  20. Vulnerabilities of regular labour migration in the EU : Guest editorial

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Houwerzijl, Mijke; de Lange, Tesseltje

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this special issue is to present an interdisciplinary overview of migrant workers vulnerabilities. The contributions all deal with the vulnerabilities of EU and third-country national (TCN) migrant workers with legal residence in a receiving state within the EU. Four of the seven articles

  1. Can EU Conditionality Remedy Soft Budget Constraints in Transition Countries?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brücker, Herbert; Schröder, Philipp; Weise, Christian

    2003-01-01

    Soft budget constraints (SBCs) are a persistent feature of transition economies and have been blamed for i.a. a lack of fiscal consolidation and sluggish growth. EU eastward enlargement has - among other things - been conditioned on tackling SBCs. This paper analyses such outside conditionality...

  2. Distinct and yet not Separate: Revisiting the Welfare Models in the EU New Member States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helena Tendera-Właszczuk

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The objective of this paper is to evaluate the welfare state models in the EU countries and to start the discussion if the new member states (NMS, i.e. those EU member states that joined the EU in 2004/2007, fit the Sapir typology (Nordic model, Continental model, Anglo-Saxon model, Mediterranean model. The second objective is to examine the labour market situation, reduction of poverty and social inequalities in the EU countries. The third one is to open the issue if the public spending can be managed both justly and effectively. Research Design & Methods: The linear regression function and correlation has been used to present effectiveness of social expenditures to reduce poverty, as well as evidence that public spending can be managed both justly and effectively. Findings: This paper demonstrates more similarities can be drawn across the NMS and the EU-15 than within the NMS and EU-15, respectively. The typology of welfare state models is applied to the NMS and their effectiveness is tested. Accordingly, we classify the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Cyprus as countries of the Nordic model; Hungary, Slovakia and Malta as the Continental model; Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as the Anglo-Saxon model and, finally, Poland, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria as the Mediterranean model. Implications & Recommendations: Recent data suggest that the global crisis has caused an increase in the level of poverty and social spending in the EU countries. However, this is just a temporary situation and it does reflect the solutions of models. Contribution & Value Added: The NMS tend to be examined as a separate group of countries that – as the literature suggests – depict different qualities of the welfare models than those pursued in the EU-15.

  3. The Influence of Migration Crisis in Europe on EU-Turkey Relations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavel P. Timofeyev

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper examines the impact of the migration crisis in the EU on the European Union's relations with Turkey. It is shown that for a number of reasons, including a result of EU actions taken from 2011 to 2015, EU has experienced an influx of migrants on a number of routes from the Western to the Eastern Mediterranean. The largest of them fell on Turkey, which has tried to use this factor to exert pressure on the EU in order to obtain economic and political preferences. The author examines the development of the EU migration policy in the context of the crisis, its trying to bring Turkey to cooperate and difficult negotiations, which took place at the summits of the EU-Turkey at the end of 2015. There have been disagreements among the EU countries, and the time factor, which Turkey took advantage of, advancing conditions for the closure of borders to Europe for migrants. Facing the influx of migrants the EU had to agree with a number of conditions, though not with all. The author shows that the agreement reached by the country in March 2016 is not universal, and a number of issues important to the resolution of the crisis, are waiting to be decided upon. However, according to the author, the development of the current crisis can lead both to the reform of the migration and border policy within the EU, and to restarting relations with Turkey. Though guessing on possibilities on Turkey's entry to the EU in the near future is still premature.

  4. INNOVATION POTENTIAL: IMPACT ON THE NATIONAL ECONOMY’S COMPETITIVENESS OF THE EU DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iryna Lomachynska

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The success of the economy of each country is determined by its innovation development. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the essence of innovation potential and its role in providing the national economy’s competitiveness under the conditions of technological changes on the example of the European Union developed countries. The subject of research is the innovation potential of Austria and Germany. Methodology. The study is based on a comparative analysis of approaches to determination and evaluation of innovation potential in specialized economic literature. Analysis and synthesis and the system approach were used to outline the entity of innovation potential, to explore and structure its elements in the context of providing the national economy’s competitiveness. The quality and quantity analysis were used to discover general characteristics of the EU countries’ innovation development, special aspects of the national innovation systems of Austria and Germany, the role of innovation potential in the national economies competitiveness of these countries. The method of mathematical modelling in economics, in particular, regression analysis based on annual data for the period from 1995 to 2015, was applied to assess the impact of innovation potential on the Austria and Germany competitiveness. The absolute value of GDP and the share of export of goods and services in GDP are used as a dependent variable. Elements that characterize the country’s innovation potential were used as independent variables: the share of researchers in R&D of total population, the share of labour force with advanced education of total working-age population with advanced education, expenditure on tertiary education as a percentage of GDP, R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, patent applications as a percentage of total population. Results of the survey of theoretical works showed that the most multifaceted and comprehensive approach to determining the

  5. Empirical Study towards the Drivers of Sustainable Economic Growth in EU-28 Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Ştefan Armeanu

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims at empirically investigating the drivers of sustainable economic growth in EU-28 countries. By means of panel data regression models, in the form of fixed and random effects models, alongside system generalized method of moments, we examine several drivers of real gross domestic product (GDP growth rate, as follows: higher education, business environment, infrastructure, technology, communications, and media, population lifestyle, and demographic changes. As regards higher education, the empirical results show that expenditure per student in higher education and traditional 18–22 year-old students are positively linked with sustainable economic growth, whereas science and technology graduates negatively influence real GDP growth. In terms of business environment, total expenditure on research and development and employment rates of recent graduates contributes to sustainable development, but corruption perceptions index revealed a negative association with economic growth. As well, the results provide support for a negative influence of infrastructure abreast technological measures on economic growth. Besides, we found a negative connection between old-age dependency ratio and sustainable economic growth.

  6. GAUGING THE VERTICAL SPECIALIZATION IN EU TRADE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    IULIA MONICA OEHLER-SINCAI

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we review the mechanisms and determinants of vertical specialization (VS, as this has gradually become the dominant characteristic of international trade. Second, we underline that there is a rich literature regarding VS in EU trade, at aggregate and individual levels and research is advancing together with the instruments used to measure trade in value added. Third, our investigation brings to the forefront a classification of EU countries according to their GVC participation index, taking into consideration both upstream and downstream links. As a conclusion, the VS analyses help us better understand the interconnectedness among countries and industries by means of foreign direct investment, trade, labour migration and technology transfer.

  7. Unequal pay or unequal employment?: a cross-country analysis of gender gaps

    OpenAIRE

    Claudia Olivetti; Barbara Petrongolo

    2005-01-01

    There is substantial international variation in gender pay gaps, from 25-30% in the US and the UK, to 10-20% in a number of central and northern EU countries, down to an average of 10% in southern EU. We argue that non-random selection of women into work across countries may explain part of such variation. This ides is supported by the observed variation in employment gaps, from 10% in the US, UK and Scandinavian countries, to 15-25% in northern and central EU, up to 30-40% in southern EU and...

  8. ROMANIA'S EU ACCESSION. GAINS AND LOSSES (I

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caba Stefan

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available EU accession has brought, as expected, many changes in economic, social and cultural domains. An important chapter is the trade dynamics and how this dynamic has been modified over time by changes in the legal status of Romania's relations with certain trading partners. In this paper we present data on trade with countries with which Romania has concluded trade agreements before accession. Data presentation and analysis continues in "Romania's EU accession. Gains and losses (II".

  9. The geopolitics of future tourism development in an expanding EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Antony Singleton

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assert the link between the process of EU accession, the consolidation of democratic processes and the improvement of economic and tourism infrastructure to incoming tourism flows. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology of this paper involves explanation of an analysis exploring links between governmental systems and the order necessary for economic development and tourism. The argument is supported by the recent history of tourism development in three countries, two within the EU and one outside. Findings – Accession to the EU (especially in the case of Eastern European countries constitutes a way to emulate the democratic freedoms and greater economic prosperity of existing EU member states. Tourism is one of the areas of economy that benefits from the stability and growth EU membership can bring. Accession to the EU has had beneficial effects for acceding in terms of political stability and tourism growth. Originality/value – The opportunities that EU membership can bring to tourism development for example (also strategies to exploit these opportunities depend to a large degree on the international relations between the EU and its rivals. The extent to which tourism demands ebb and flow is governed by a range of factors, but the issues of conflict and security are game breakers. Understanding the factors and trends involved in the peaceful resolution of conflict (democratic model or use of force to resolve conflict (military model is key in the analysis of future tourism opportunities.

  10. Marketing Standards for Enterprises and Higher Educational Institutions: the EU and Ukraine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhaldak Hanna P

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the marketing standards for enterprises and higher educational institutions in the EU and Ukraine. The basic components of the formation of the marketing standards in our country and the European Union member countries are identified, some legislative restrictions on advertising in certain EU countries are systematized. The features of the EU standards are determined. The main idea of the article is to examine the European marketing standards, determine the level of their adaptation to the national ones, as well as collect data on the effectiveness of the application of marketing standards to higher educational institutions, provide quality education and establish collaboration with the European partner universities. The general understanding of the quality of education, use of harmonized approaches and evaluation criteria is important for the European integration. The majority of national organizations have a number of difficulties associated with the undeveloped system of indicators oriented towards the client and other interested parties. The application of the EU marketing standards sets an appropriate vector of development for the domestic economy and opens up new competitive opportunities

  11. Registry data for cross-country comparisons of migrants' healthcare utilization in the EU: a survey study of availability and content

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Signe Smith; Krasnik, Allan; Rosano, Aldo

    2009-01-01

    care utilization are lack of sufficient coverage and availability of reliable and valid healthcare data which includes information allowing for identification of migrants. The objective of this paper was to reveal which registry data on healthcare utilization were available in the EU countries in which...... utilization, and the diversity in the definition of migrant status hampers cross-national comparisons and calls for an urgent establishment of registries, expansion of the existing registry information, and adoption of a common, generally acceptable definition and identification method of migrants across...

  12. An evaluation of energy-environment-economic efficiency for EU, APEC and ASEAN countries: Design of a Target-Oriented DFM model with fixed factors in Data Envelopment Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Soushi; Nijkamp, Peter

    2016-01-01

    This paper aims to offer an advanced assessment methodology for sustainable national energy-environment-economic efficiency strategies, based on an extended Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The use of novel efficiency-improving approaches based on DEA originates from the so-called Distance Friction Minimisation (DFM) method. To design a feasible improvement strategy for low-efficiency DMUs, we develop here a Target-Oriented (TO) DFM model. However, in many real-world cases input factors may not be flexibly adjusted in the short run. In this study, we integrate the TO-DFM model with a fixed (inflexible) factor (FF) approach to cope with such more realistic circumstances. Super-efficiency DEA is next used in our comparative study on the efficiency assessment of energy-environment-economic targets for the EU, APEC and ASEAN (A&A) countries, employing appropriate data sets from the years 2003 to 2012. We consider two inputs (primary energy consumption and population) and two outputs (CO 2 and GDP), including a fixed input factor (viz. population). On the basis of our DEA analysis results, EU countries appear to exhibit generally a higher efficiency than A&A countries. The above-mentioned TO-DFM-FF projection model is able to address realistic circumstances and requirements in an operational sustainability strategy for efficiency improvement in inefficient countries in the A&A region. - Highlights: • We examine energy-environment-economic efficiency in European and A&A countries. • We present an operational efficiency improvement strategy using DEA. • European countries tend to have higher energy efficiency than A&A countries. • The study provides efficiency-enhancing strategic paths for inefficient countries.

  13. Multidimensional Welfare Comparisons of EU Member States Before, During, and After the Financial Crisis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hussain, M. Azhar; Siersbæk, Nikolaj; Østerdal, Lars Peter

    How did the financial crisis affect population welfare in EU member states in key dimensions such as income, health, and education? Using EU-SILC data, we seek to answer this question by way of first order dominance comparisons between countries and over time. The novel feature of our study...... is that we perform welfare comparisons on the basis of multi-level multidimensional ordinal data. We find that the countries most often dominated are southern and eastern European member states, and the dominant countries are mostly northern and western European member states. However, for most country...

  14. EU nuclear policy towards countries in Central and Eastern Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gunter, L.

    1998-01-01

    The European Union has undergone many changes over the last decade as a result of both internal and external pressures. Two successive enlargements have raised the number of Member States to fifteen. Two major Treaty reforms the Single Act and the Treaty on European Union have radically modified the EU's institutional and political framework.(author)

  15. EU pharmaceutical expenditure forecast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urbinati, Duccio; Rémuzat, Cécile; Kornfeld, Åsa; Vataire, Anne-Lise; Cetinsoy, Laurent; Aballéa, Samuel; Mzoughi, Olfa; Toumi, Mondher

    2014-01-01

    With constant incentives for healthcare payers to contain their pharmaceutical budgets, forecasting has become critically important. Some countries have, for instance, developed pharmaceutical horizon scanning units. The objective of this project was to build a model to assess the net effect of the entrance of new patented medicinal products versus medicinal products going off-patent, with a defined forecast horizon, on selected European Union (EU) Member States' pharmaceutical budgets. This model took into account population ageing, as well as current and future country-specific pricing, reimbursement, and market access policies (the project was performed for the European Commission; see http://ec.europa.eu/health/healthcare/key_documents/index_en.htm). In order to have a representative heterogeneity of EU Member States, the following countries were selected for the analysis: France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. A forecasting period of 5 years (2012-2016) was chosen to assess the net pharmaceutical budget impact. A model for generics and biosimilars was developed for each country. The model estimated a separate and combined effect of the direct and indirect impacts of the patent cliff. A second model, estimating the sales development and the risk of development failure, was developed for new drugs. New drugs were reviewed individually to assess their clinical potential and translate it into commercial potential. The forecast was carried out according to three perspectives (healthcare public payer, society, and manufacturer), and several types of distribution chains (retail, hospital, and combined retail and hospital). Probabilistic and deterministic sensitivity analyses were carried out. According to the model, all countries experienced drug budget reductions except Poland (+€41 million). Savings were expected to be the highest in the United Kingdom (-€9,367 million), France (-€5,589 million), and, far behind them

  16. Prospects of Renewable Energies Evolution in the Context of EU Energy Policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    - Amel Ghediri

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Generally, EU countries are not provided with sufficient amount of energy resources to satisfy an internal energy demand. According to this, such issues as country's energy security, usage of new energy sources, its economy and environmental consequences of irrational use of energy resources are becoming more acute. The article is devoted to various kinds of alternative energy sources, in particular, "green energy" and the issue of increasing use of renewable energy sources. The main goal of the publication is to analyze the energy policy of the EU countries, the expansion of renewable energy potential as the most energy-efficient sources.

  17. Food irradiation in EU and in Poland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Migdal, W.

    2007-01-01

    Lecture shows comparison of food radiosterilization in Poland with selected countries in EU. The most popular commercial electron radiation sources are presented. Plant for Food Radiation Sterilization operating in the INCT is discussed in details

  18. Agriculture of central and eastern European countries in the European Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Redžepagić Srđan

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Agriculture posed considerable tensions for the processes of enlargement of the European Union, because of its continuing importance both in the economies of the applicant countries of Central and Eastern European countries which have joined EU on the 1st may 2004., and in the EU budget and acquits communautaire. The preparation of agriculture in the candidate countries to join the EU was rendered more complex by the fact that the Community's Common Agricultural Policy was a moving target. The aim of this paper is to show the bases elements of the Common Agricultural Policy, but also to provide a survey of recent developments relating to agriculture in the EU and new member states of the EU before their accession to EU and their preparation to access on the enlarged market, in order to indicate the main challenges and difficulties posed by enlargement. It seems likely that agricultural policy in the enlarged EU will attach increased priority to objectives such as rural development and the environment. However, these new priorities may be expensive to realize, and may impose a growing burden on the national budgets of EU member states.

  19. Is EU/EEA population protected from polio?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nijsten, Dre; Carrillo-Santisteve, P; Miglietta, A; Ruitenberg, J; Lopalco, P L

    2015-01-01

    The WHO European Region has been declared polio-free since 2002. By 2010, inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was the only polio vaccine in use in the EU/EEA for the primary vaccination of children. A systematic review of the literature on polio seroprevalence studies, complemented by the analysis of available vaccine coverage data, has been carried out with the aim of assessing the level of protection against polio in the European population. A total of 52 studies, with data from 14 out of the 31 EU/EEA countries, were included in the analysis. This systematic review shows that, overall, seroprevalence for PV1 and PV3 is high in most countries, although seroimmunity gaps have been detected in several birth cohorts. In particular, relatively low immunity status was found in some countries for individuals born in the 60's and 70's. Discrepancies between reported vaccination coverage and immunity levels have been also highlighted. Countries should make sure that their population is being vaccinated for polio to reduce the risk of local poliovirus transmission in case of importation. Moreover, assessing immunity status should be priority for those traveling to areas where wild polioviruses are still circulating.

  20. Labour productivity and economic growth in the EU in post-crisis period

    OpenAIRE

    Auzina-Emsina, Astra

    2014-01-01

    Labour productivity and economic growth are the major factors to sustain and improve the performance and competitiveness of countries. The paper is devoted to the analysis of recent trends of labour productivity and economic growth in the European Union (EU) countries in post-crisis period in comparison with the trends in pre-crisis and crisis periods. The paper analyses the impact of changes in labour productivity and the effect on the macroeconomic indicators. The research focuses on the Eu...

  1. Tuberculosis treatment outcome monitoring in European Union countries: systematic review

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Hest, Rob; Ködmön, Csaba; Verver, Suzanne; Erkens, Connie G.M.; Straetemans, Masja; Manissero, Davide; de Vries, Gerard

    2013-01-01

    Treatment success measured by treatment outcome monitoring (TOM) is a key programmatic output of tuberculosis (TB) control programmes. We performed a systematic literature review on national-level TOM in the 30 European Union (EU)/European Economic Areas (EEA) countries to summarise methods used to collect and report data on TOM. Online reference bibliographic databases PubMed/MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched to identify relevant indexed and non-indexed literature published between January 2000 and August 2010. The search strategy resulted in 615 potentially relevant indexed citations, of which 27 full-text national studies (79 data sets) were included for final analysis. The selected studies were performed in 10 EU/EEA countries and gave a fragmented impression of TOM in the EU/EEA. Publication year, study period, sample size, databases, definitions, variables, patient and outcome categories, and population subgroups varied widely, portraying a very heterogeneous picture. This review confirmed previous reports of considerable heterogeneity in publications of TOM results across EU/EEA countries. PubMed/MEDLINE and EMBASE indexed studies are not a suitable instrument to measure representative TOM results for the 30 EU/EEA countries. Uniform and complete reporting to the centralised European Surveillance System will produce the most timely and reliable results of TB treatment outcomes in the EU/EEA. PMID:22790913

  2. Export competitiveness of dairy products on global markets: the case of the European Union countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bojnec, Š; Fertő, I

    2014-10-01

    This paper analyzed the export competitiveness of dairy products of the European Union (EU) countries (EU-27) on intra-EU, extra-EU, and global markets, using the revealed comparative advantage index over the 2000-2011 period. The results indicated that about half of the EU-27 countries have had competitive exports in a certain segment of dairy products. The results differed by level of milk processing and for intra-EU and extra-EU markets, and did so over the analyzed years. Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands are old EU-15 countries with competitive dairy exports (from the lowest to the highest according to the level of milk processing). The majority of the new EU-12 countries have faced difficulties in maintaining their level of export competitiveness, at least for some dairy products and market segments. The more competitive EU-12 countries in dairy exports were the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) and Poland. The duration of export competitiveness differed across the dairy groups of products according to the level of milk processing, indicating the importance of dairy chain product differentiation for export competitiveness and specialization. The export competitiveness of the higher level of processed milk products for final consumption can be significant for export dairy chain competitiveness on global markets. Copyright © 2014 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. EU MEMBER STATES AND FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION– EMPIRICAL COMPARISON

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Žan Oplotnik

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of an article is to compare systems of fiscal decentralization in EU member states according to selected quantitative criteria and European Charter of Local Self-Government principles. The results show that a higher number of lower levels of government usually indicate a greater share of local finance within the total public finance, however, this finding does not confirm the inverse link. Even though the structure of expenditures in EU countries is similar, the shares of funds for the implementation of individual tasks differ significantly. On average, the countries allocate most funds to education, social security, healthcare, administration and political systems, with only a quarter of the countries recording the same or higher amounts of revenues than expenditures. Most of the countries still cover the existing deficit either through transfers from the central to lower levels of government or through equalization schemes or borrowing, which otherwise represents a departure from one of the basic principles of the Charter, which stipulates that financial resources must be commensurate with the responsibilities of local self-government.

  4. European economic area in the system of the EU foreign policy: norwegian perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bohdan Y. Barna

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available European Economic Area was one of the first examples of developing the relations between the EU and other partner countries on the continent that rejected a full membership in this organization. This form of cooperation for over twenty years provides stability, predictability and constructive development of relations with the three European partners, including Norway. Currently, the EEA is seen as a model of deeper integration without getting a full-fledged membership in the EU. It should also be noted that this arrangement has proven its resistance to external shocks as reduction of members of EFTA, EU enlargement and adoption of new EU treaties. Therefore, Brussels supports the existence of the EEA and never officially put on the agenda of the termination of the agreement or revision of its provisions. For their part, most Norwegian political parties also defend the status quo. However, there are voices on the need to modernize the EEA, especially after the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty. It is also necessary to point out that the Norwegian model of cooperation with the EU has lost its original exceptionality, especially after the entry into force of the Association Agreement with Ukraine. Oslo has also to compete with a number of other countries, NGOs and other lobby groups for attention from the EU. Relations between Norway and the EU are characterized by the asymmetry of obligations under the EEA, as Oslo is obliged to unilaterally implement acquis communautaire, while having no effective leverage over decision-making in the EU. Another challenge is the weakness of the EFTA pillars in the EEA, as it is necessary to interact with an organization, which has 28 European member-countries. There are other negative aspects that gradually reduce the role of Norway in relations with the EU. Given the current challenges, different scenarios have been prepared focusing on for the further development of relations between the EU and Norway. According to

  5. Constitutional provisions on judicial independence and EU standards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kolaković-Bojović Milica

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Implementation of the 'Checks and balances' principle as one of the milestones in modern democracies, demonstrates its full complexity when it comes to balancing guaranties of judicial independence and the need to prevent misinterpretation or abuse of the rights. Additional issue in that process is determination of the border line between constitutional and guaranties of judicial independence prescribed by law. Raising that issue opens various questions which go beyond the legal framework itself. It actually tackles the historical, political and cultural country background. Furthermore, if analyzed from the prospective of the requirements defined in the accession negotiation process with the EU, constitutional guaranties of (nonapplication of the EU standards might demotivate candidate countries in their efforts to achieve substantial reform results.

  6. State aid in the EU law and national law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Divljak Drago

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to emphasized negative implications, state aid in contemporary law is more and more the subject of legal rules of supra-national and international law, and consequently it is more and more frequently the subject of national laws. The systems of state aid are based on the principle of general non-allowedness of state aid, which is relativised with wide exceptions and the form of allowed and conditionally allowed forms of state aid. In the EU law, a complex and differentiated system of legal regime on state aid is created aimed at preventing the Member States to protect or promote their companies at the expense or harm of competition within the EU. Compared to the regulations that refer to subsidies and that are created at the international level, within the WTO, these regulations are much more detailed and they cover a wide spectrum of different forms of state aid. National laws are accepting the EU concept as a novelty, which is valid in particular for countries in the process of the EU integrations. This has been done in our law as well by enacting of the Law on state aid control. This Law regulates general conditions for granting, granting control, and utilization of state assistance, with the essential objective to establish and provide for competitive market conditions and introduction of order in the field that has not been regulated previously. At the same time, this means a successful fulfillment of the obligations related to pre-accession harmonization of this field, which is a necessary pre-condition for accession of our country into this group of countries since the EU standards and requirements have been fully observed with the above-mentioned Law.

  7. Strategic partitioning of emissions allowances in the EU ETS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boehringer, Christoph (Carl von Ossietzky Univ. Oldenburg (Germany)); Rosendahl, Knut Einar (Research Dept., Statistics Norway, Oslo (Norway))

    2008-07-01

    The EU ETS opens up for strategic partitioning of emissions allowances by the Member States. In this paper we examine the potential effects of such strategic behavior on quota prices and abatement costs. We show that although marginal abatement costs in the sectors outside the EU ETS become quite differentiated, the effects on the quota price and total abatement costs are small. More abatement, however, takes place in the old Member States that are importers of allowances, compared to the cost-effective outcome. Single countries can nevertheless significantly affect the outcome of the EU ETS by exploiting their market power

  8. Economic Impacts of the 1997 EU Energy Tax: Simulations with Three EU-Wide Models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jansen, H.; Klaassen, G.

    2000-01-01

    In March 1997 the European Commission adopted a proposal that increases existing minimum levels of taxation on mineral oils by around 10 to 25% and introduces excises for other energy products. This paper analyses the macroeconomic impacts of the proposal. It employs three models: HERMES, GEM-E3, and E3ME. All models confirm that the proposal will have positive macroeconomic impacts when the tax revenues are used to reduce social security contributions paid by employers. For the EU as a whole, both GDP and employment are expected to be higher and CO2 emissions are 0.9 to 1.6 percent lower. The positive EU-wide effects can be observed in practically all member states. The sector impacts are modest, with the energy sector expected to face the most negative impacts. Differences between model results are due to the model type (general equilibrium or macro-econometric), the EU countries covered and the way tax exemptions were handled. Crucial assumptions to obtain the 'double dividend' are the modelling of the labour market and the impacts on EU external trade. The sensitivity of the results for the use of tax revenues, tax exemptions and tax rate increases is assessed. 21 refs

  9. EU import restrictions on genetically modified feeds: impacts on Spanish, EU and global livestock sectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Philippidis, G.

    2010-07-01

    Over the last decade, much controversy has surrounded the usage of genetically modified organism (GMO) technology in commercial agriculture. More specifically, it is feared that GMOs may introduce new allergens into the food chain or contribute to antibiotic resistance. At the current time, the European Union (EU) adopts a zero tolerance policy toward non-approved GMO imports, whilst the approval process has not kept pace with the proliferation of new GMO varieties. In the EU livestock sectors, this apparent mis-match threatens to interrupt supplies of high protein feed inputs (e.g., soy meal) from countries with more relaxed regulations regarding GMOs. Employing a well known multi-region computable general equilibrium framework, this study quantitatively assesses the impact of a hypothetical EU import ban on unapproved GMO varieties of soybean and maize imports on livestock, meat and dairy sectors. The model code is heavily modified to improve the characterisation of the agricultural sectors and land usage, whilst a realistic baseline is employed to update the global database to 2008, the year the hypothetical ban is implemented. In the worst case scenario, there are significant competitive losses in EU livestock, meat and dairy sectors. In Spain, the negative impacts are particularly pronounced given the importance of pig production in agriculture. In contrast, all non-EU regions trade balances improve, with notable trade gains in the USA and Brazil. To conclude, the EU must urgently find a long term strategy for GMOs if it is to reconcile political expediency with pragmatic economic concerns. (Author) 21 refs.

  10. EU MEMBER STATES AND FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION– EMPIRICAL COMPARISON

    OpenAIRE

    Žan Oplotnik; Mateja Finžgar

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of an article is to compare systems of fiscal decentralization in EU member states according to selected quantitative criteria and European Charter of Local Self-Government principles. The results show that a higher number of lower levels of government usually indicate a greater share of local finance within the total public finance, however, this finding does not confirm the inverse link. Even though the structure of expenditures in EU countries is similar, the shares of funds fo...

  11. EU environmental policy and competitiveness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stojanović Boban

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Protection of the environment was not a specific importance to the Community although the Treaty of Rome expressly specified that "health, safety environmental protection" shall be based on "a high level of protection". In deciding upon a framework for a European environmental policy, the Community was also responding to increased public awareness of the problem and concerns about the state of the natural and man-made environment. During the past years, competitiveness concerns have dominated the EU policy debate, in the course of which a growing consensus is being developed on the importance of eco-innovations and resource efficiency for EU competitiveness and on the market opportunities they offer. There is an increasing evidence that environmental policy and eco-innovations can promote economic growth, as well as maintain and create jobs, contributing both to competitiveness and employment. Environmental constraints to rapid economic growth are increasingly recognized by countries, leading to a rising awareness of the need for sustainable development. Implementation of an environmental policy however, generates significant implications for competition among countries.

  12. Tax incentives to promote green electricity. An overview of EU-27 countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cansino, Jose M.; Pablo-Romero, Maria del P.; Roman, Rocio; Yniguez, Rocio

    2010-01-01

    This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the main tax incentives used in the EU-27 member states (MSs) to promote green electricity. Sixteen MSs use tax incentives to promote green electricity simultaneously with other promotion measures, especially quota obligations and price regulation. However, not all available technologies are promoted. For example, six MSs (Germany, Romania, Slovak Republic, Denmark, Sweden and Poland) have included an exemption on the payments of excise duties for electricity when the electricity is generated from renewable energy sources (RES). This tax incentive is the most widely used. Limited tax incentives in personal income tax are available in Belgium, France, Czech Republic and Luxembourg. In corporate tax, tax incentives consist mainly of a deduction in the taxable profit (Belgium, Greece, Czech Republic and Spain). Lower tax rates in VAT are applied in three MSs, France, Italy and Portugal. Only Spain and Italy use effective tax incentives in property tax. As a great diversity of tax incentives has been used to promote green electricity, this adds another difficulty to the EU objective of providing a renewable energy policy framework, but also it offers a useful set of case studies which can be used to inform EU policy development. (author)

  13. India-EU relations in health services: prospects and challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background India and the EU are currently negotiating a Trade and Investment Agreement which also covers services. This paper examines the opportunities for and constraints to India-EU relations in health services in the context of this agreement, focusing on the EU as a market for India's health services exports and collaboration. The paper provides an overview of key features of health services in the EU and India and their bearing on bilateral relations in this sector. Methods Twenty six semi-structured, in-person, and telephonic interviews were conducted in 2007-2008 in four Indian cities. The respondents included management and practitioners in a variety of healthcare establishments, health sector representatives in Indian industry associations, health sector officials in the Indian government, and official representatives of selected EU countries and the European Commission based in New Delhi. Secondary sources were used to supplement and corroborate these findings. Results The interviews revealed that India-EU relations in health services are currently very limited. However, several opportunity segments exist, namely: (i) Telemedicine; (ii) Clinical trials and research in India for EU-based pharmaceutical companies; (iii) Medical transcriptions and back office support; (iv) Medical value travel; and (v) Collaborative ventures in medical education, research, training, staff deployment, and product development. However, various factors constrain India's exports to the EU. These include data protection regulations; recognition requirements; insurance portability restrictions; discriminatory conditions; and cultural, social, and perception-related barriers. The interviews also revealed several constraints in the Indian health care sector, including disparity in domestic standards and training, absence of clear guidelines and procedures, and inadequate infrastructure. Conclusions The paper concludes that although there are several promising areas for India-EU

  14. India-EU relations in health services: prospects and challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chanda Rupa

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background India and the EU are currently negotiating a Trade and Investment Agreement which also covers services. This paper examines the opportunities for and constraints to India-EU relations in health services in the context of this agreement, focusing on the EU as a market for India's health services exports and collaboration. The paper provides an overview of key features of health services in the EU and India and their bearing on bilateral relations in this sector. Methods Twenty six semi-structured, in-person, and telephonic interviews were conducted in 2007-2008 in four Indian cities. The respondents included management and practitioners in a variety of healthcare establishments, health sector representatives in Indian industry associations, health sector officials in the Indian government, and official representatives of selected EU countries and the European Commission based in New Delhi. Secondary sources were used to supplement and corroborate these findings. Results The interviews revealed that India-EU relations in health services are currently very limited. However, several opportunity segments exist, namely: (i Telemedicine; (ii Clinical trials and research in India for EU-based pharmaceutical companies; (iii Medical transcriptions and back office support; (iv Medical value travel; and (v Collaborative ventures in medical education, research, training, staff deployment, and product development. However, various factors constrain India's exports to the EU. These include data protection regulations; recognition requirements; insurance portability restrictions; discriminatory conditions; and cultural, social, and perception-related barriers. The interviews also revealed several constraints in the Indian health care sector, including disparity in domestic standards and training, absence of clear guidelines and procedures, and inadequate infrastructure. Conclusions The paper concludes that although there are several

  15. A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON THE LABOUR VALUING IN EDUCATION AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN EU COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina-Raluca Mazilescu

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The evolution of the world economy over the last decades has demonstrated that knowledge is the major source of wealth and can also play an important role in fighting poverty. In a knowledge economy, education, research and development represent the “new currency” by which nations achieve and maintain economic competitiveness. These sectors offer important enabling effects that can contribute to sustainable development of the respective economies. Nevertheless, reaching these broader objectives requires first of all certain corresponding measures such as ensuring optimum labour conditions and stimulating levels of wage earnings, both contributing to the increase of the motivation degree for education, research and development staff and to the attractiveness degree of the respective professions. The purpose of this study is to assess the place of education and research in the wage hierarchy in EU Member States and their relationship with the wages achieved in other fields. The results of our analysis indicate the existence of significant gaps between wages in European countries.

  16. Environmental Management and Education and Training Provision in Selected EU Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ulhøi, John Parm; Madsen, Henning

    Particular attention has been given at the UN level and in the EU environmental policy to the importance of the educational requirements which follow from the implementation of cleaner and less harmful practices. Therefore, training and education have long been recognised as essential ingredients...

  17. 'Not everything that counts can be counted' : Assessing ‘success’ of EU external migration policy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reslow, Natasja

    2017-01-01

    In the context of the ongoing “migration crisis” the externalization of EU migration policy has continued. EU policy documents argue that cooperation with non-EU countries is essential in order to manage migration flows. But how successful is this policy? The public policy literature teaches us that

  18. EU COHESION POLICY NEEDS DIFFERENTIATED POLICY MIX ADEQUATE TO SPECIFICS OF ECONOMIC REGIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gheorghe ZAMAN

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available The 2007-2013 programming period of the EU focuses on economic and social cohesion via three fundamental objectives: convergence – competitiveness and employment – European territorial co-operation. The horizontal dimension of cohesion policy refers to diminishing the regional disparities and solidarity with the lagging regions’ population. Considering the big regional disparities in the New Member States (NMS as well as the gap between their GDP per capita at national level and the EU average, these countries are the main beneficiary of the EU financial allocations, especially via convergence objective. However, two interrelated questions are entailed by this issue. One of them refers to the capacity of these countries to absorb effectively the EU funds. The other one concentrates on the impact of the absorbed EU funds, in other words to the qualitative aspects of the absorption capacity. Our paper discusses these aspects mainly from the viewpoint of regional disparities in the NMS, proposing a typology of their regions based on the main regional growth characteristics. The implications of the structural assistance on regional disparities are also addressed, taking into consideration economic and social criteria and requirements at EU, national, regional and local levels.

  19. CONSIDERATIONS ON ROMANIA’S AGRO-FOOD EXPORT AND IMPORT BY EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRY GROUP AND AGRO-FOOD PRODUCT GROUP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agatha POPESCU

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available The goal of the paper was the analysis of Romania’s the agro-food export, import and trade balance by the EU country group and agro-food product group based on the statistical data in the year 2010 in order to identify the commercial relationships with a positive and respectively a negative impact of the trade balance. The EU trade partners were divided into 4 groups: Central Eastern (CE, Western (W, Northern (N and Southern (S EU countries and the agro-food product groups were: Live animals and preparations of animal origin, Vegetal products, Fats and oils of vegetal and animal origin, Food, beverages and tobacco. The data were processed using the share and comparison methods. In 2010, Romania registered a negative agro-food trade balance with a deficit of Euro thousand 903,148.This was due to the unefficient commerce with the CE and W EU countries, which together recorded Euro Thousand 1,400,298 deficit. The balance was positively influenced by the Southern EU trade partners whose contribution accounted for Euro thousand 513,953. Therefore, the agro-food trade has to be intensified with the Southern EU countries and to become more relaxed with the CE and W EU countries, especially regarding imports. Live animals are mainly required in the CE and W EU countries, vegetal products in the W and S EU countries, fats and oils in the CE and S EU countries, and finally, food, beverages and tobacco in the S and the CE EU countries. Agro-food imports have to be substantially diminished as long as Romania’ s agriculture is able to produce for the internal market and export has to be intensified especially with the countries with a positive impact on the trade balance.

  20. Competitiveness of the EU egg industry. International comparison base year 2013

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Horne, van P.L.M.

    2014-01-01

    In this report the impact of reducing or removing import tariffs on the competitiveness of the EU egg sector is studied. The results show that the offer price of whole egg powder in 2013 of some third countries is close to the average EU price. Despite the current import tariffs on whole egg powder,

  1. EU pharmaceutical expenditure forecast

    OpenAIRE

    Urbinati, Duccio; Rémuzat, Cécile; Kornfeld, Åsa; Vataire, Anne-Lise; Cetinsoy, Laurent; Aballéa, Samuel; Mzoughi, Olfa; Toumi, Mondher

    2014-01-01

    Background and Objectives: With constant incentives for healthcare payers to contain their pharmaceutical budgets, forecasting has become critically important. Some countries have, for instance, developed pharmaceutical horizon scanning units. The objective of this project was to build a model to assess the net effect of the entrance of new patented medicinal products versus medicinal products going off-patent, with a defined forecast horizon, on selected European Union (EU) Member States’ ph...

  2. EU COMPARISON OF VAT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MARIA ZENOVIA GRIGORE

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available VAT is one of the newest tools of the global economy and is widely adopted in most of the countries. For EU Member States is required not only the existence of VAT, but also that its main characteristics to be uniformly implemented. This should facilitate intra-Community transactions, but in practice does not as there are many local variations which can lead to costly errors and penalties. The objective of this paper is to collate data about the main characteristics of VAT in EU Member States and to highlight the key differences between them. This survey shows that there continue to be opportunities and risks for businesses trading cross border, as a result of differences in application of Community legislation on VAT. This led to the necessity of VAT reform. On this basis, the Commission adopted on the end of the last year a Communication on the future of VAT. This sets out the fundamental characteristics that must underlie the new VAT regime, and priority actions needed to create a simpler, more efficient and more robust VAT system in the EU.

  3. Potential for Introduction of Bat-Borne Zoonotic Viruses into the EU: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robin R. L. Simons

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Bat-borne viruses can pose a serious threat to human health, with examples including Nipah virus (NiV in Bangladesh and Malaysia, and Marburg virus (MARV in Africa. To date, significant human outbreaks of such viruses have not been reported in the European Union (EU. However, EU countries have strong historical links with many of the countries where NiV and MARV are present and a corresponding high volume of commercial trade and human travel, which poses a potential risk of introduction of these viruses into the EU. In assessing the risks of introduction of these bat-borne zoonotic viruses to the EU, it is important to consider the location and range of bat species known to be susceptible to infection, together with the virus prevalence, seasonality of viral pulses, duration of infection and titre of virus in different bat tissues. In this paper, we review the current scientific knowledge of all these factors, in relation to the introduction of NiV and MARV into the EU.

  4. EU Foreign Energy Policy. From Intergovernmentalism to Supranationalism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahner, N.

    2012-01-01

    The European Union's increasing reliance on imports from third countries is reason for unsettling concern. It is anticipated that by 2030, assuming a continuation of the recent trend, more than 70 per cent of the EU's energy consumption has to be imported. Notwithstanding such anticipation, European regulation addressing the external dimension of energy policy remained far and few between. In practise it is the individual countries being leading actors on the foreign energy relations stage exercising their own respective foreign policies. To cope with these threats to the EU foreign energy policy, the European Commission issued its long anticipated Communication on security of energy supply and international cooperation proposing concrete instruments on how energy foreign relations should be addressed in the future. But - does the Union have the power to bring about the crucial rebound?.

  5. The Geopolitics of Shale Gas : The Implications of the US' Shale Gas Revolution on Intrastate Stability within Traditional Oil- and Natural Gas-Exporting Countries in the EU Neighborhood

    OpenAIRE

    Jong, S. de; Auping, W.; Govers, J.; Peters, M.C.A.M.; Widdershoven, C.J.C.G.; Weterings, R.A.P.M.

    2014-01-01

    The US’ shale gas revolution could in the long term destabilize traditional oil- and gas exporters in the European Union (EU) neighborhood: A combination of substitution effects and greater energy efficiency, could put pressure on the price of oil, leading to fiscal difficulties in traditional hydrocarbon exporting countries.

  6. Nuclear safety in EU candidate countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-10-01

    Nuclear safety in the candidate countries to the European Union is a major issue that needs to be addressed in the framework of the enlargement process. Therefore WENRA members considered it was their duty to offer their technical assistance to their Governments and the European Union Institutions. They decided to express their collective opinion on nuclear safety in those candidate countries having at least one nuclear power plant: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The report is structured as follows: A foreword including background information, structure of the report and the methodology used, General conclusions of WENRA members reflecting their collective opinion, For each candidate country, an executive summary, a chapter on the status of the regulatory regime and regulatory body, and a chapter on the nuclear power plant safety status. Two annexes are added to address the generic safety characteristics and safety issues for RBMK and VVER plants. The report does not cover radiation protection and decommissioning issues, while safety aspects of spent fuel and radioactive waste management are only covered as regards on-site provisions. In order to produce this report, WENRA used different means: For the chapters on the regulatory regimes and regulatory bodies, experts from WENRA did the work. For the chapters on nuclear power plant safety status, experts from WENRA and from French and German technical support organisations did the work. Taking into account the contents of these chapters, WENRA has formulated its general conclusions in this report.

  7. Nuclear safety in EU candidate countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-10-01

    Nuclear safety in the candidate countries to the European Union is a major issue that needs to be addressed in the framework of the enlargement process. Therefore WENRA members considered it was their duty to offer their technical assistance to their Governments and the European Union Institutions. They decided to express their collective opinion on nuclear safety in those candidate countries having at least one nuclear power plant: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The report is structured as follows: A foreword including background information, structure of the report and the methodology used, General conclusions of WENRA members reflecting their collective opinion, For each candidate country, an executive summary, a chapter on the status of the regulatory regime and regulatory body, and a chapter on the nuclear power plant safety status. Two annexes are added to address the generic safety characteristics and safety issues for RBMK and VVER plants. The report does not cover radiation protection and decommissioning issues, while safety aspects of spent fuel and radioactive waste management are only covered as regards on-site provisions. In order to produce this report, WENRA used different means: For the chapters on the regulatory regimes and regulatory bodies, experts from WENRA did the work. For the chapters on nuclear power plant safety status, experts from WENRA and from French and German technical support organisations did the work. Taking into account the contents of these chapters, WENRA has formulated its general conclusions in this report

  8. EU-Korea Conference on Science and Technology Closer to Humanity-Greenness

    CERN Document Server

    Lee, Joung Hwan; Kim, Jung-Sik; EU- Korea Conference on Science and Technology

    2010-01-01

    Current research fields in science and technology were presented and discussed at the EKC2008, informing about the interests and directions of the scientists and engineers in EU countries and Korea. The Conference has emerged from the idea of bringing together EU and Korea to get to know each other better, especially in fields of science and technology.

  9. Competitiveness of Dairy Farms In Northern Europe: A Cross-Country analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Csaba Jansik

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The milk sector has received much attention in Europe due to the abolition of milk quotas in 2015 and its potential effect on the geographical distribution of milk production across countries. As a way of assessing the competitive advantage of Nordic EU countries, we investigated the productivity level and productivity growth of milk farms across eight countries of the Baltic Sea region from 1995 to 2010. We found considerable discrepancy in the productivity performance of dairy farms across countries. TFP growth rates indicate that, at farm level, the competitive positions of the older EU members are stable, and that there is no catching up from the newer EU entrants. We offer explanations for this evolution based on the different patterns of structural change followed by the studied countries.

  10. Income inequality in the EU: How do member states contribute?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Papatheodorou, C.; Pavlopoulos, D.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the structure of overall inequality in the EU-15 by investigating the extent to which total inequality is attributed to inequality between or within the individual countries. Also, the paper examines whether the contribution of between-country and

  11. Research report of fiscal 1997. Invitation project of specialists on petroleum substituting energy between Japan and the EU; 1997 nendo chosa hokokusho. Nichi EU sekiyu daitai energy kanren senmonka shohei jigyo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-03-01

    Specialists were invited from EU countries for information exchange to promote R and D of petroleum substituting energy in Japan. In the seminar on the present and future trend of R and D of fuel cells in EU countries, the present R and D state of fuel cells in Italy, the present state and future R and D plan of fuel cells in ANSALDO group, the state of SOFC R and D in Germany and by international cooperation, and R and D of polymer electrolyte fuel cell in Fraunhofer institute for Solar Energy Systems were reported contributing to mutual understanding between Japan and the EU. Exchange of opinions and information was also made between 4 fuel cell specialists of EU countries and Japanese specialists. The report on such an exchange includes the outline of Japanese fuel cell technologies, and the present R and D states of phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC), molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), and polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The specialists visited some government organizations, semi-government organizations, institutes and private enterprises related to promotion, support and verification of R and D of fuel cells. 2 tabs.

  12. Intra-EU agricultural trade, virtual water flows and policy implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antonelli, M; Tamea, S; Yang, H

    2017-06-01

    The development of approaches to tackle the European Union (EU) water-related challenges and shift towards sustainable water management and use is one of the main objectives of Horizon 2020, the EU strategy to lead a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The EU is an increasingly water challenged area and is a major agricultural trader. As agricultural trade entails an exchange of water embodied in goods as a factor of production, this study investigates the region's water-food-trade nexus by analysing intra-regional virtual water trade (VWT) in agricultural products. The analysed period (1993-2011) comprises the enactment of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the year 2000. Aspects of the VWT that are relevant for the WFD are explored. The EU is a net importer of virtual water (VW) from the rest of the world, but intra-regional VWT represents 46% of total imports and 75% of total exports. Five countries account for 60% of total VW imports (Germany, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium) and 65% of total VW exports (The Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and Spain). Intra-EU VWT more than doubled over the period considered, while trade with extra-EU countries did not show such a marked trend. In the same period, blue VWT increased significantly within the region and net import from the rest of the world slightly decreased. Water scarce countries, such as Spain and Italy, are major exporters of blue water in the region. The traded volumes of VW have been increasing almost monotonically over the years, and with a substantial increase after 2000. The overall trend in changes in VWT does not seem to be in accordance with the WFD goals. This study demonstrated that VWT analyses can help evaluate intertwining effects of water, agriculture and trade policies which are often made separately in respective sectors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. EU Emission Allowances and the stock market Evidence from the electricity industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oberndorfer, Ulrich

    2009-01-01

    This paper constitutes - to our best knowledge - the first econometric analysis on stock market effects of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Our results suggest that EU Emission Allowance (EUA) price developments matter to the stock performance of electricity firms: EUA price changes and stock returns of the most important European electricity corporations are shown to be positively related. This effect does not work asymmetrically, so that stock markets do not seem to react differently to EUA appreciations in comparison to depreciations. The carbon market effect is shown to be both time- and country-specific: It is particularly strong for the period of EUA market shock in early 2006, and differs with respect to the countries where the electricity corporations analysed are headquartered. Stock market reactions to EUA volatility could not be shown. (author)

  14. THE EUROPEAN UNION AND PARTNERSHIPS WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES – THE CASE OF ACP REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Viera Dobošová

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available The EU has developed a wide cooperation network with developing countries based on trade, cooperation, aid and other aspects. These bilateral and regional agreements serve various and specific interests of the EU and the concerned countries and cover not only trade, but also other broad issues. However, above those remain the main goals of the EU in the area of the common commercial policy, development policy and external relations policy. The trend of regional integration and regional trade agreements proliferation has influenced these relations as well. The article will examine this trend in the network of EU trade agreements with developing countries, specifically with the African, Caribbean and Pacific region. Some critical issues of the EU – ACP cooperation will be identified.

  15. Data Resource Profile: The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arora, Vishal S; Karanikolos, Marina; Clair, Amy; Reeves, Aaron; Stuckler, David; McKee, Martin

    2015-04-01

    Social and economic policies are inextricably linked with population health outcomes in Europe, yet few datasets are able to fully explore and compare this relationship across European countries. The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey aims to address this gap using microdata on income, living conditions and health. EU-SILC contains both cross-sectional and longitudinal elements, with nationally representative samples of individuals 16 years and older in 28 European Union member states as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Data collection began in 2003 in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg and Austria, with subsequent expansion across Europe. By 2011, all 28 EU member states, plus three others, were included in the dataset. Although EU-SILC is administered by Eurostat, the data are output-harmonized so that countries are required to collect specified data items but are free to determine sampling strategies for data collection purposes. EU-SILC covers approximately 500,000 European residents for its cross-sectional survey annually. Whereas aggregated data from EU-SILC are publicly available [http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/income-and-living-conditions/data/main-tables], microdata are only available to research organizations subject to approval by Eurostat. Please refer to [http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/microdata/eu_silc] for further information regarding microdata access. © The Author 2015; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

  16. Greenhouse gas emission accounting for EU member states from 1991 to 2012

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su, Meirong; Pauleit, Stephan; Yin, Xuemei; Zheng, Ying; Chen, Shaoqing; Xu, Chao

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • GHG emissions for the EU28 during 1991–2012 are accounted. • The EU28 are classified into four groups based on GHG emission structure. • It can facilitate classified management of GHG emissions. • The EU case shows the common but differentiated principle in emission reduction. - Abstract: Collectively, the EU is among the world’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, though remarkable decreases in GHG emissions have been observed in recent years. In this work the GHG emissions for the 28 EU member states between 1991 and 2012 are accounted for and compared according to the inventory method of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The structure of GHG emissions at a national level, their distribution between countries, and trends across the period are then analyzed. National emission sources and sinks are decomposed for each country to elucidate the contribution of each sector (energy, industrial processes, solvents and other product use, agriculture, land use/land-use change and forestry, and waste) to the national totals. Germany was the largest emitter, with net emissions totaling 939 Tg CO_2 equivalent in 2012, 60% more than the UK and 89% more than France, the second and third biggest emitters, respectively. The energy sector and agriculture were found to be the largest sources of emissions in most countries. Four quadrants were established to compare countries’ performance in emission intensity, carbon removal rate, and net reduction rate of GHG emissions. Slovenia, Portugal, Sweden, and Finland were located in Quadrant II as they displayed relatively low emission intensities and high carbon removal rates. Conversely, Hungary, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Poland were located in Quadrant IV because of their relatively high emission intensities and low carbon removal rates. Some suggestions for integrating the annual results and the trends both within and among countries into national and regional emissions

  17. THE ADVERTISING MARKET OF EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES – THE EVOLUTION IN RECENT YEARS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Catalina Timiras

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper seeks to highlight how the EU advertising market has evolved in recent years, as well as the link between the macroeconomic outcomes of the analyzed countries and the size of this market. According to the analyzed statistical data provided by Eurostat in recent years for which we have data, the advertising market (assessed by the Turnover or gross premiums written indicator registered an upward trend in the EU, with the old EU members accounting about 90% of the total market, and the new member states just over 10%. The number of market operators also increased, with about 75% of them operating at the level of the old EU members. The size of the advertising markets at the level of the analyzed countries is closely linked to the recorded macroeconomic outcomes, with a direct and strong link between the gross premiums written and the Gross domestic product. The link has been studied both across EU countries and separately for the two categories of old states (EU - 15 and new EU members.

  18. The European Parliament in the EU-Ukraine relations - from independence to Orange revolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleksandr MOSKALENKO

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The article provides insight into the involvement of the European Parliament in the EU-Ukraine relations for the 1991-2004 period. The article argues that the European Parliament proved to be capable of developing and actively promoting its specific “European values” agenda. It demonstrated the ability to maintain the multi-level influence on the relations with the target country by both direct and indirect means. Its involvement into the EU-Ukraine relations was one of the factors which led to the change of Ukraine’s development paradigm, marked by the increasing influence of the civil society on the political system. However, the limited number of EU incentives as well as the rigidity of the conditionality patterns application decreased the potential benefits for the bilateral relations. Moreover, the fallacious assumption that the conditionality patterns which were successful for the CEE countries would also be successful for post-Soviet countries became one of the factors that facilitated the split of the Ukrainian society.

  19. FP 6 EU - COVERS. Coordination action - VVER safety research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vasa, I.

    2008-01-01

    In this work research program of the European Union FP 6 - COVERS coordinated by the NRI Rez is presented. COVERS is designed to improve professional and communication environment in the specific area covering all aspects of safe and reliable operation of nuclear power plants with VVER-440 and VVER-1000 reactors. Project Consortium is composed of 26 research and development, engineering and technical support organisations of European VVER-operating and other EU and non-EU countries.

  20. EU-APR Design in compliance with EUR Grid Requirement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Dong-Hwan; Lee, Keun-Sung [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    European Utility Requirements (EUR) provides technical requirements for the generation III nuclear power plant in the European countries. EUR grid requirements present the plant requirements to satisfy the needs of the grid network. The grid requirements are the precondition for the operation of a generating plant on the network. This paper describes EU-APR design which has taken account of EUR grid requirements. In this paper, EU-APR designs according to the EUR grid requirements were described. EU-APR was designed in compliance with the voltage and frequency operation field and also designed to have the capability of load following such as primary control, secondary control, and daily load following. Consequently, the EU-APR design according to the EUR grid requirements is expected to get competitiveness and enhance the license feasibility in the European nuclear market.

  1. EU 2030 targets 'unachievable' without long-term nuclear operation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mitev, Lubomir [NucNet, Brussels (Belgium)

    2015-01-15

    Nuclear energy will continue to support greenhouse gas emission reduction targets until 2020, but without decisions on long-term operation of ageing reactors, it will be difficult for the EU to meet its 2030 targets, International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Maria van der Hoeven, tells NucNet in an interview. The IEA has quite a few remarks and questions related to the EU goals of competitiveness, security of supply and sustainability. It is good to have these targets, but up until now the EU is missing the direct connection between the three goals. What is mostly needed to achieve the goals is to finalise the EU's internal energy market. Secondly cost-effective climate and energy policies are needed because it is not only about climate and energy, but also about economic development and competitiveness. The ageing EU reactor fleet requires country-level and owner/operator-level decisions in the short term regarding plant safety regulations, plant upgrades, uprates, lifetime extensions and licence renewals. Upgrading and uprating existing nuclear plants is one of the cheapest ways of producing carbon-free electricity in the EU. Without long-term operation, the IEA expects nuclear capacity in the EU could fall by a factor of six by 2030 and that will make it more difficult to achieve the EU's 2030 climate targets. Public opinion is an important topic for the acceptance of all energy sources and it is different in all IEA member countries. Europe is very sensitive to almost all forms of energy, including wind turbines and solar panels. This is linked to a lack of information, so we need more and better transparency on information for people.

  2. Recent energy situation in the U.S. and Europe. Trend of discussions on energy safety security and energy policies in the E.U. and CIS (commonwealth of independent states) countries; Obei ni okeru saikin no energy jijo. Energy anzen hosho ni kansuru giron no doko to EU oyobi CIS shokoku no energy seisaku

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-03-01

    The E.U. intends to establish the stabilized new partnership and economic area, based on free trades and tighter economic cooperation with Mediterranean countries. For the purpose of establishing the effective cooperative relationship in the energy field, the E.U. committee taking the short- and medium-term initiative prepares as follows: The establishment of the European/Mediterranean Energy Forum is thought of. This is for the joint management of cooperation in the energy field and the organization of the conferences and meetings of information exchanges between partners. The discussion is started for the final joining in the organization of partners of Mediterranean countries who do not participate in the Pan-European Energy Charter conference. They study options adoptable for easing investments. They cooperate with the related countries for carrying out the project having common interest in the TENs (Trans-European energy networks) field. The working-out of plans and projects is promoted for coordinating energy projects according to the purposes and procedures of MEDA. 59 refs.

  3. An assessment of the EU-Chinese bilateral relationship under the current economic and geostrategic context. Romania's position

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iulia Monica Oehler-Şincai

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available China stands out as a rising economic power. Its leap in international hierarchies is remarkable both in terms of GDP, international trade and investment flows and qualitative indicators. Based on these developments, China is increasingly assertive, both regionally and internationally. At the global level, China's assertiveness is revealed by the largest project ever launched by a single country: One Belt, One Road (OBOR. It represents "a strategic priority" of the Chinese leaders, motivated by economic and geopolitical factors, internal and external determinants. This initiative includes cooperation with over 70 countries and international organizations from Asia to Europe and Africa. At the same time, it involves growing coordination among the countries in terms of policies, increasing financial integration, promoting trade and investment, fostering connectivity through infrastructure projects, and encouraging the movement of people and cultural exchanges. This initiative, as well as the platform for cooperation with 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe (16+1 have opened on the one hand new ways of enhancing the bilateral EU-China, but on the other hand an unjustified competition between EU countries for financial resources Chinese, although the EU-China strategic partnership, OBOR and 16+1 can benefit all countries involved, given their competitive advantages. Romania, as a member country of the EU and participant at the platform 16+1 should take into account both such new opportunities and the need for an active cooperation with all countries.

  4. EU Foreign Energy Policy. From Intergovernmentalism to Supranationalism

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahner, N. [European University Institute, Florence (Italy)

    2012-01-15

    The European Union's increasing reliance on imports from third countries is reason for unsettling concern. It is anticipated that by 2030, assuming a continuation of the recent trend, more than 70 per cent of the EU's energy consumption has to be imported. Notwithstanding such anticipation, European regulation addressing the external dimension of energy policy remained far and few between. In practise it is the individual countries being leading actors on the foreign energy relations stage exercising their own respective foreign policies. To cope with these threats to the EU foreign energy policy, the European Commission issued its long anticipated Communication on security of energy supply and international cooperation proposing concrete instruments on how energy foreign relations should be addressed in the future. But - does the Union have the power to bring about the crucial rebound?.

  5. Scenarios for EU citizenship in 2030 – Repertoires for action in thinkable futures

    OpenAIRE

    Bakker, W.E.; van der Kolk, M.

    2017-01-01

    European Union (EU) citizenship is both about a legal status – a set of civil, social, economic and political rights complementing one’s national citizenship – and about being an active participating member of the EU political community. EU citizenship includes therefore influencing decisionmaking on rules, policies and practices that effect one’s own national and local societies. The opportunities and capacities to exercise these rights and to participate differ between countries, between gr...

  6. THE PURSUIT OF A REMEDY FOR GENDER INEQUALITY IN WIDER EUROPE: COMPARISON OF POLICIES AND INDICES IN THE EU, NORDIC COUNTRIES, AND SOUTH EAST EUROPE

    OpenAIRE

    Jasna Kovačević; Dževad Šehić

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores the differences between gender regimes in Europe, with an emphasis on EU policies, the Nordic women-friendly welfare states, and the former socialist policies of South Eastern European (SEE) countries. The main premise is that culture and differing institutionalization of gender equality contribute to different perceptions of women’s role in society and to a different perception of gender equality in general. The paper examines the theor...

  7. Developing 2050 decarbonization strategies in the EU: Insights on good practice from national experiences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sartor, Oliver; Donat, Lena; Duwe, Matthias; Umpfenbach, Katharina

    2017-01-01

    There is increasing recognition that achieving deep cuts to GHG emissions requires a close link between long term strategic planning and short term policy action. Long term decarbonization strategies are important at a technical level, because they can help countries to identify concrete and feasible pathways to decarbonization, based on their national particularities, and then to determine their implications for immediate policies and measures. They can also serve an important social and political function, by facilitating a concrete and analytically based discussion between national stakeholders about what long-term decarbonization implies. Article 4.19 called on Parties to the Paris Agreement to develop long term low emissions development strategies, and decision 1/CP21 invites Parties to present them ahead of 2020. To implement this requirement across all 28 EU countries, the EU is in the process of agreeing minimum requirements and guidelines under a draft new governance regulation for the EU's Energy Union project. Unfortunately, early drafts of this document contain too little detail on what these strategies should include, or how member states should go about developing them. This is a concern, not only for the quality of climate governance in the EU, but also in terms of the potentially negative signal the EU may send under the Paris process, if many of its member states are incapable of producing robust and credible 2050 decarbonization strategies. A small number of EU member states have already developed their own 2050 decarbonization strategies and plans. This study - which was jointly undertaken by IDDRI in France and Ecologic in Germany - highlights some important lessons that can be learned from recent experiences with 2050 decarbonization strategies in selected EU countries. It builds on experiences in a small group of EU member states to highlight some examples of good practice when it comes to long term decarbonization strategy development. If the

  8. The structure of the EU mediasphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flaounas, Ilias; Turchi, Marco; Ali, Omar; Fyson, Nick; De Bie, Tijl; Mosdell, Nick; Lewis, Justin; Cristianini, Nello

    2010-12-08

    A trend towards automation of scientific research has recently resulted in what has been termed "data-driven inquiry" in various disciplines, including physics and biology. The automation of many tasks has been identified as a possible future also for the humanities and the social sciences, particularly in those disciplines concerned with the analysis of text, due to the recent availability of millions of books and news articles in digital format. In the social sciences, the analysis of news media is done largely by hand and in a hypothesis-driven fashion: the scholar needs to formulate a very specific assumption about the patterns that might be in the data, and then set out to verify if they are present or not. In this study, we report what we think is the first large scale content-analysis of cross-linguistic text in the social sciences, by using various artificial intelligence techniques. We analyse 1.3 M news articles in 22 languages detecting a clear structure in the choice of stories covered by the various outlets. This is significantly affected by objective national, geographic, economic and cultural relations among outlets and countries, e.g., outlets from countries sharing strong economic ties are more likely to cover the same stories. We also show that the deviation from average content is significantly correlated with membership to the eurozone, as well as with the year of accession to the EU. While independently making a multitude of small editorial decisions, the leading media of the 27 EU countries, over a period of six months, shaped the contents of the EU mediasphere in a way that reflects its deep geographic, economic and cultural relations. Detecting these subtle signals in a statistically rigorous way would be out of the reach of traditional methods. This analysis demonstrates the power of the available methods for significant automation of media content analysis.

  9. E-commerce Analysis in selected European Union Countries: Position of Croatia

    OpenAIRE

    Kurnoga, Nataša; Slišković, Ana

    2017-01-01

    Computer and mobile technology, Internet use and e-commerce have grown enormously in recent years. The main aim of this paper was to analyse the e-commerce of Croatia, the European Union (EU) countries and the post-transition EU countries. Due to technological progress, the paper among other things, analyses the trend of online purchase at the Croatian and the EU level. The analysis revealed the presence of a linear trend. Furthermore, hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analyses were u...

  10. Luminescence properties of different Eu sites in LiMgPO4:Eu2+, Eu3+

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baran, A; Mahlik, S; Grinberg, M; Cai, P; Kim, S I; Seo, H J

    2014-01-01

    The effect of temperature on the luminescence properties of LiMgPO 4 doped with Eu 3+ and Eu 2+ are presented. Depending on the excitation wavelength, luminescence spectra consist of two distinct broad emission bands peaking at 380 nm and 490 nm related to 4f 6 5d 1  → 4f 7 ( 8 S 7/2 ) luminescence of Eu 2+ and to europium-trapped exciton, respectively, and/or several sharp lines between the 580 nm and 710 nm region, ascribed to the 5 D 0  →  7 F J (J = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4) transitions in Eu 3+ . To explain all the features of the Eu 2+ and Eu 3+ luminescence we discussed the existence of two different Eu sites substituting for Li + , with short and long distance compensation. The evident effect of increasing the intensity of the Eu 2+ luminescence with increasing temperature was observed. It was considered that the charge compensation mechanism for Eu 3+ and Li + as well as Eu 2+ replacing Li + in the LiMgPO 4 is a long distance compensation that allows for the existence of some of the europium ions either as Eu 3+ at low temperature or as Eu 2+ at high temperature. We concluded that Eu 2+ in the Li + site with long distance compensation yields only 4f 6 5d 1  → 4f 7 luminescence, whereas Eu 2+ in the Li + site with short distance compensation yields 4f 6 5d 1  → 4f 7 luminescence and europium-trapped exciton emission. (paper)

  11. Multidimensional Welfare Comparisons of EU Member States Before, During, and After the Financial Crisis: A Dominance Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hussain, M. Azhar; Siersbæk, Nikolaj; Østerdal, Lars Peter

    How did the financial crisis affect population welfare in EU member states in key dimensions such as income, health, and education? Using EU-SILC data, we seek to answer this question by way of first order dominance comparisons between countries and over time. The novel feature of our study...... is that we perform welfare comparisons on the basis of multi-level multidimensional ordinal data. We nd that the countries most often dominated are southern and eastern European member states, and the dominant countries are mostly northern and western European member states. However, for most country...

  12. EU Climate Policy Tracker 2011. Main report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoehne, N.; Geurts, F.; Teckenburg, E.; Blok, K.; Becker, D. [Ecofys, Utrecht (Netherlands)

    2011-11-15

    Limiting the rise in the average global temperature to 2C has been the EU goal since 1996, and in December 2010 the UN recognised the need to consider a 1.5C limit. Avoiding overshooting these levels will require massive emissions reductions - in the order of 80-95% for industrialised countries, like those in the EU. The next ten years are crucial in establishing whether society will be able to make this transition, or whether temperature increase limits will be irreversibly missed. Last year, the European Union Climate Policy Tracker (EU CPT) investigated each member state's implementation of policy and legislation, and rated their progress towards a 2050 vision of deep decarbonisation using renewable energy. The uniquely developed rating scheme, modelled on appliance efficiency labels (A-G), gave an indication of how member states were doing compared to a 'low-carbon policy package'. The average score was an 'E', indicating that the level of effort needed to treble, to be on a pace to reach the 2050 vision. However, aggregating best practices across sectors and countries doubled the score - meaning that the tools are already at hand for major improvements across Europe. This report builds on last year's EU CPT by giving an update on action in member states, and an indicative trend in the rating, as well as adding a new section on EU policy. The addition of an EU section is appropriate, with the Commission having produced a roadmap on a low-carbon economy by 2050, a transport white paper, and with another roadmap for 2050 focused on energy anticipated by the end of 2011. This report seeks to answer the question of whether these and other related initiatives are sufficient to help Europe reach its low-carbon goals. When interpreting the results of this report, it is important to understand that the goal underlying the vision here is not the same as the one in the European Commission's 'low-carbon economy' roadmap

  13. IAEA to implement Safeguards Additional Protocols in the EU

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    Full text: IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei welcomed the entry into force today of the Additional Protocols for 15 States of the European Union - France, the United Kingdom and the 13 non-nuclear weapon States of the EU - and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). The Protocols, which provide the Agency with better tools to verify compliance with nuclear non-proliferation commitments, entered into force when the European Commission informed the Agency that EURATOM's own requirements for entry into force had been met. The 15 States had provided similar notifications over the past years since signing the Protocols in 1998. The simultaneous entry into force of Additional Protocols for the 15 EU States is 'a very positive development and a milestone in our efforts to strengthen the verification regime', said Dr. ElBaradei. 'In my view, the Additional Protocol should become the standard for verification under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).' He added that the Agency had been preparing for the entry into force of the EU protocols and was confident that, in co-operation with the 15 States and EURATOM, it would be able to ensure effective and efficient implementation in the EU States. The Model Additional Protocol was developed following the discovery of Iraq's clandestine nuclear weapons programme to ensure that the IAEA is given the information and access it needs for timely discovery of any similar activities in States that have pledged not to use nuclear material and activities for weapons purposes. In the past year, Additional Protocols entered into force for 22 countries, and the Agency will now implement Additional Protocols in 58 States, which includes the 15 EU States. The 10 countries joining the EU on 1 May 2004 - seven of which already have brought into force Additional Protocols to their respective safeguards agreements - are expected to gradually accede to the Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol covering

  14. Will MyBank lead to more cross-border e-commerce in the EU?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weltevreden, Jesse

    2013-01-01

    The launch of MyBank – the EU wide online payment system that provides consumers the possibility to make payments for goods and services in other EU countries via their own online banking environment – may give a boost to cross-border e-commerce within the European Union.

  15. Energy and transport in comparison: Immaterialisation, dematerialisation and decarbonisation in the EU15 between 1970 and 2000

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tapio, P.; Luukkanen, J.; Vehmas, J.; Banister, D.; Willamo, R.

    2007-01-01

    This article compares the development of transport and energy use with a focus on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in the EU15 countries between 1960 and 2000, and separately by each individual EU country between 1970 and 2000. Based on a review on the literature, immaterialisation can be defined as the reduction of energy intensity and transport intensity; dematerialisation can be defined as the reduction in carbon intensity of energy production and the carbon intensity of transport; decarbonisation can be defined as the reduction in (total and transport) carbon intensity of the whole economy. Although there is a clear pattern of reduction in energy intensity of the economy and carbon intensity of energy production, a similar patter cannot be found in transport. Neither the transport intensity of the economy nor the carbon intensity of transport has been reduced. In particular, freight transport intensity has grown between 1985 and 2000. Data presented by country have shown even more variation. The EU15 countries were aggregated into six groups by cluster analysis to establish the different patterns on each of the three measures. It is concluded that the EU15 countries will have problems in achieving the EU White Paper target of decoupling transport growth from economic growth and the Kyoto target of reducing total CO 2 emissions by 8% from the 1990 level between 2008 and 2012. However, there are some weak signals suggesting a more sustainable passenger transport system. (author)

  16. Energy and transport in comparison: Immaterialisation, dematerialisation and decarbonisation in the EU15 between 1970 and 2000

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tapio, Petri; Banister, David; Luukkanen, Jyrki; Vehmas, Jarmo; Willamo, Risto

    2007-01-01

    This article compares the development of transport and energy use with a focus on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in the EU15 countries between 1960 and 2000, and separately by each individual EU country between 1970 and 2000. Based on a review on the literature, immaterialisation can be defined as the reduction of energy intensity and transport intensity; dematerialisation can be defined as the reduction in carbon intensity of energy production and the carbon intensity of transport; decarbonisation can be defined as the reduction in (total and transport) carbon intensity of the whole economy. Although there is a clear pattern of reduction in energy intensity of the economy and carbon intensity of energy production, a similar pattern cannot be found in transport. Neither the transport intensity of the economy nor the carbon intensity of transport has been reduced. In particular, freight transport intensity has grown between 1985 and 2000. Data presented by country have shown even more variation. The EU15 countries were aggregated into six groups by cluster analysis to establish the different patterns on each of the three measures. It is concluded that the EU15 countries will have problems in achieving the EU White Paper target of decoupling transport growth from economic growth and the Kyoto target of reducing total CO 2 emissions by 8% from the 1990 level between 2008 and 2012. However, there are some weak signals suggesting a more sustainable passenger transport system

  17. Managing intra-EU mobility-do WHO principles of ethical recruitment have relevance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovács, Réka; Girasek, Edmond; Kovács, Eszter; Aszalós, Zoltán; Eke, Edit; Ragány, Károly; Cserháti, Zoltán; Szócska, Miklós

    2017-11-09

    The WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel provides for guidance in health workforce management and cooperation in the international context. This article aims to examine whether the principles of the voluntary WHO Global Code of Practice can be applied to trigger health policy decisions within the EU zone of free movement of persons. In the framework of the Joint Action on European Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting project (Grant Agreement: JA EUHWF 20122201 (see healthworkforce.eu)), focus group discussions were organised with over 30 experts representing ministries, universities and professional and international organisations. Ideas were collected about the applicability of the principles and with the aim to find EU law compatible, relevant solutions using a qualitative approach based on a standardised, semi-structured interview guide and pre-defined statements. Based on implementation practices summarised, focus group experts concluded that positive effects of adhering to the Code can be identified and useful ideas-compatible with EU law-exist to manage intra-EU mobility. The most relevant areas for intervention include bilateral cooperations, better use of EU financial resources, improved retention and integration policies and better data flow and monitoring. Improving retention is of key importance; however, ethical considerations should also apply within the EU. Compensation of source countries can be a solution to further elaborate on when developing EU financial mechanisms. Intra-EU circular mobility might be feasible and made more transparent if directed by tailor-made, institutional-level bilateral cooperations adjusted to different groups and profiles of health professionals. Integration policies should be improved as discrimination still exists when offering jobs despite the legal environment facilitating the recognition of professional qualifications. A system of feedback on registration

  18. Exploring the link between environmental pollution and economic growth in EU-28 countries: Is there an environmental Kuznets curve?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armeanu, Daniel; Vintilă, Georgeta; Andrei, Jean Vasile; Gherghina, Ştefan Cristian; Drăgoi, Mihaela Cristina; Teodor, Cristian

    2018-01-01

    This study examines the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (EKC), considering the primary energy consumption among other country-specific variables, for a panel of the EU-28 countries during the period 1990-2014. By estimating pooled OLS regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors in order to account for cross-sectional dependence, the results confirm the EKC hypothesis in the case of emissions of sulfur oxides and emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds. In addition to pooled estimations, the output of fixed-effects regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors support the EKC hypothesis for greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas emissions intensity of energy consumption, emissions of nitrogen oxides, emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds and emissions of ammonia. Additionally, the empirical findings from panel vector error correction model reveal a short-run unidirectional causality from GDP per capita growth to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a bidirectional causal link between primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, since there occurred no causal link between economic growth and primary energy consumption, the neo-classical view was confirmed, namely the neutrality hypothesis.

  19. Economic, environmental and international trade effects of the EU Directive on energy tax harmonization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kohlhaas, Michael; Schumacher, Katja; Diekmann, Jochen; Schumacher, Dieter; Carmes, Martin

    2005-01-01

    In October 2003, the European Union introduced a Directive, which widens the scope of the EU's minimum taxation system from mineral oils to all energy products including coal, natural gas and electricity. It aims at reducing distortions that currently exist between Member States as well as between energy products. In addition, it increases previous minimum tax rates and thus the incentive to use energy more efficiently. The Directive will lead to changes in the energy tax schemes in a number of countries, in particular some southern Member Countries (Greece, Spain, Portugal) and most of the new Member States. In this paper, we analyze the effects of the EU energy tax harmonization with GTAP-E, a computable general equilibrium model. Particular focus is placed on the Eastern European countries, which became new members of the EU in May 2004. We investigate the effects of the tax harmonization on overall economic growth and sectoral development. Special attention is paid to international trade in order to analyze if competitiveness concerns, which have been forwarded in the context of energy taxation are valid. Furthermore, the effect on energy consumption and emissions and thus the contribution to the EU's climate change targets is analyzed

  20. The Politics of Global Value Chains: Import-dependent Firms and EU-Asia Trade Agreements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckhardt, Jappe; Poletti, Arlo

    2016-01-01

    In 2006, the European Commission released its Global Europe Communication, in which it announced a shift from a multilateral to a bilateral trade strategy. One of the key pillars of this new strategy was to strengthen the bilateral trade relations with key Asian countries. In contrast to existing analyses that focus on European Union (EU) decision makers' agency, we propose an explanation for this notable shift in the EU's trade policy that stresses the political role of import-dependent firms. In light of the increasing integration of such firms into global value chains, the article argues that a plausible case can be made, both theoretically and empirically, that import-dependent firms had a clear stake in the signing of preferential trade agreements between the EU and Asian countries and that their lobbying efforts significantly affected the EU's decision to start negotiations with South Korea, India and Vietnam.

  1. Trade tensions between EU and Russia: Possible effects on trade in agricultural commodities for Visegrad countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Erokhin, V.; Heijman, W.J.M.; Ivolga, A.

    2014-01-01

    The paper includes overview of the current state of the EU-CIS and the EU-Russia trade flows with particular attention to trade in agricultural commodities, as well as contemporary tendencies in agricultural production and foreign trade in agricultural commodities and food in Russia. The paper

  2. External governance and the EU policy for sustainable biofuels, the case of Mozambique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Lucia, Lorenzo

    2010-01-01

    Growing demand for transport biofuels in the EU is driving an expansion of the industry in developing countries. Large-scale production of energy crops for biofuel, if mismanaged, could cause detrimental environmental and social impacts. The aim of this study is to examine whether the newly adopted EU Directive 2009/28/EC and its sustainability certification system can effectively ensure sustainable production of biofuels outside the EU. Mozambique, a least developed country with biofuels ambitions, is selected as empirical case. The effectiveness of the EU policy in analysed employing ideal models of external governance (hierarchical, market and network governance) as analytical framework. The findings show that the EU attempts to impose its rules and values on sustainable biofuels using its leverage through trade. The market approach adopted by the EU is expected to produce only unstable (subject to abrupt changes of market prices and demand) and thin (limited to climate and biodiversity issues) policy results. Stronger emphasis on a network oriented approach based on substantial involvement of foreign actors, and on international policy legitimacy is suggested as a way forward. - Research highlights: →The EU attempts to impose its rules and values on sustainable biofuels using its leverage through trade. →The market approach adopted by the EU is expected to produce only unstable (subject to abrupt changes of market prices and demand) and thin (limited to climate and biodiversity issues) policy results.→In order to promote simultaneously stable and substantial impacts, the EU governance approach based on market access should be integrated with a network mode of governance based on policy legitimacy.

  3. Comparison of Country Risk, Sustainability and Economic Safety Indices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jelena Stankeviciene

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Country risk, sustainability an economic safety are becoming more important in the contemporary economic world. The aim of this paper is to present the importance of comparison formalisation of country risk, sustainability, and economic safety indices for strategic alignment. The work provides an analysis on the relationship between country risk, sustainability an economic safety in EU countries, based on statistical data. Investigations and calculations of rankings provided by Euromoney Country Risk Index, European Economic Sustainability Index as well as for Economic Security Index were made and the results of EU country ranking based on three criteria were provided. Furthermore, the data for the Baltic States was summarised and the corresponding index of consistency for random judgments was evaluated.

  4. HORIZONTAL OBJECTIVES OF EU PROGRAMMES AND THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT FOR EAP MEMBERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina Teodora MANOLESCU

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available As the Eastern Partnership (EaP was founded in 2009, between European Union (EU and six countries from Eastern Europe, its main goal was to create adequate conditions for economic integration, social and regional development of the EaP country members. Based on the same principles as the EU was built, international law and fundamental values (e.g. human rights, freedom, democracy, rule of law, sustainable development and also good governance, the EaP was regularly analysed and renewed (once every two years in order to better respond to the needs of Eastern European countries. Even so, while the economic context was especially considered, there are still some actions to be undertaken with regards to socio-cultural factors. Therefore the aim of the paper is to analyse the socio-cultural context of the six Eastern European EaP members (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in order to make recommendations regarding their absorption capacity when integrating the horizontal EU objectives into the funding neighbourhood instruments. Our main research question is: what is the right approach for developing operational funding programmes (individual/bilateral or partnership/multilateral participations for EaP members: is it by maintaining the EU horizontal objective or by adapting these objectives from the beginning considering the socio-cultural context?

  5. EU Emission Trading - better job second time around?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schleich, Joachim |; Betz, Regina; Rogge, Karoline |

    2007-01-01

    The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for CO 2 -emissions from energy and industry installations reflects a paradigm shift towards market-based instruments for environmental policy in the EU. The centerpieces of the EU ETS are National Allocation Plans (NAPs), which individual Member States (MS) design for each phase. NAPs state the total quantity of allowances available in each period (ET-budget) and determine how MS allocate allowances to individual installations. The NAPs thus govern investments and innovation in energy efficient technologies and the energy sector. In terms of distribution, they predetermine winners and losers. In this paper we analyze and evaluate 25 NAPs submitted to the European Commission (EC) for phase 2 (2008-2012) of the EU ETS. At the macro level, we assess whether the submitted ET-budgets are stringent, and whether they imply a cost-efficient split of the required emission reductions between the EU ETS sectors (energy and industry) and the remaining sectors (transportation, tertiary and households). Comparing the submitted ET-budgets with those already approved by the EC suggests that the EC's decisions significantly improved the effectiveness and economic efficiency of the EU ETS. But given the high share of Kyoto Mechanisms companies are allowed to use, the EU ETS is unlikely to require substantial emission reductions within the EU. At the micro level, we assess (across countries and phases) the allocation methods for existing and new installations, for closures and for clean technologies. A comparison of the NAPs for the second phase and the first phase (2005-2007) provides insights into the (limited) adaptability and flexibility of the scheme. The findings provide guidance for the future design of the EU ETS and applications to other sectors and regions

  6. Eastern Partnership Integration with the EU and Inclusive Growth of National Economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eka SEPASHVILI

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The paper aims at analyzing the circumstances and objectives of the regional integration in the context of global development. The EU is one of the most influential and important actors of the global world, which represents one of the most developed examples of the regional integration. During the development, the EU went through the several stages on enlargement. Even nowadays, without having targeted to the reactive new member in foreseen future, the EU continues the process of integration of adjacent regions by setting goals and priorities through different forms such as the European Neighborhood, the Eastern Partnership, Association Agreements, various types of Trade agreements. The Eastern Partnership which represents the EU’s eastern neighborhood consisting by former soviet republics has steadily gone up with integration: 1. Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have already signed the Association Agreement (AA including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs with the EU and now these countries work on further progress in terms of the Implementation of AA/DCFTA; 2. Armenia and Azerbaijan are seeking new framework to up-grade their relationship with the EU, Belarus created EU Belarus Co-ordination Group and acts within the Single Support Framework program for 2017-2020. The evolution of EaP countries’ trade data evidently show the changes and growing dynamics in the region. The obvious increasing tendency of trade volumes predicts for further success in the future after the DC FTAs are enacted fully for some countries and/or other trade facilitation measures are utilized fully for others. A new approach to the economic growth also suggests that benefit from economic growth supports poverty reduction, widely spreads across sectors and affects the majority of the labor force and hence, rise the welfare of the population. In this context, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR appears to be a useful tool to achieve this overwhelming goal

  7. From EuCARD to EuCARD-2

    CERN Multimedia

    Chaudron, M

    2013-01-01

    The one word that best describes the spirit of the EuCARD ’13 event (see here) that took place from 10 to 14 June at CERN is "collaboration". The event brought together more than 180 accelerator specialists from all over the world to celebrate the conclusion of the EuCARD project and to kick off its successor, EuCARD-2.   EuCARD-2 brings a global view to particle accelerator research in order to address challenges for future generations of accelerators. The project officially began on 1 May 2013 and will run for four years. With a total budget of €23.4 million, including an €8 million EU contribution, it will build upon the success of EuCARD and push it into an even more innovative regime. EuCARD-2 aims to significantly enhance multidisciplinary R&D for European accelerators and will actively contribute to the development of a European Research Area in accelerator science. This will be accomplished by promoting complementary expertise, cross-d...

  8. Impact of EU on the internationalization of Czech SMEs in ICT industry

    OpenAIRE

    Žalman, Jakub

    2015-01-01

    ŽALMAN, Jakub. Impact of EU on the internationalization of Czech SMEs in ICT in-dustry. Diploma thesis. Mendel University in Brno, 2015. The topic of this diploma thesis is how is the fact that Czech Republic is member of the EU influencing internationalization of Czech SMEs operating in ICT industry. EU has opened and unified the internal market a lot which gave new possibilities of internationalization for member countries. Importance of the topic is also given by the facts that small and m...

  9. Trends In Funding Higher Education In Romania And EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raluca Mariana Dragoescu

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Education is one of the determinants of the economic growth in any state, education funding representing thus a very important aspect in public policies. In this article we present the general principles of funding higher education in Romania and how it evolved over the last decade, stressing that the public higher education has been consistently underfunded. We also present an overview of the evolution of the main statistical indicators that characterize higher education in Romania, the number of universities and faculties, the number of students, number of teachers, revealing discrepancies between their evolution and the evolution of funding. We compared the funding of higher education in Romania and EU countries highlighting the fact that Romania should pay a special attention to higher education to achieve the performancen of other EU member countries.

  10. Screening for Infectious Diseases among Newly Arrived Migrants in EU/EEA Countries—Varying Practices but Consensus on the Utility of Screening

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tommi Kärki

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Screening is one possible tool for monitoring infectious diseases among migrants. However, there is limited information on screening programmes targeted for newly arrived migrants in EU/EEA countries. Our aim was to investigate the implementation, practices and usefulness of these programmes. We conducted a survey among country experts from EU/EEA countries and Switzerland, asking whether their countries had implemented screening programmes. We also estimated the association between the implementation of these programmes and the rate of asylum-seekers in the population. Of the countries, 16 (59% had implemented screening programmes and 15 (56% had national guidelines. The rate of asylum-seekers was associated with implementation of screening programmes (p = 0.014. Screening was performed most often for tuberculosis; most commonly on holding level, and was targeted to specific migrant groups in over half of the countries performing screening. Twenty-five of all the country experts (96% considered screening among migrants useful, and 24 (92% would welcome EU level guidelines for screening. The implementation of screening programmes varied, and the practices were different among countries. Our survey suggests, that establishing EU level guidelines for screening would be useful, although they would have to take into account differences between individual countries.

  11. EU Udbudsretten

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulsen, Sune Troels; Jakobsen, Peter Stig; Kalsmose-Hjelmborg, Simon Evers

    I bogen, som er en 2. udgave, analyseres EU udbudsdirektiv for offentlige myndigheder og EU's forsyningsvirksomhedsdirektiv. I analyserne inddrages EU-domstolens domme, afgørelser fra Kalgenævnet for Udbud, domme fra danske domstole samt litteratur på dansk og engelsk.......I bogen, som er en 2. udgave, analyseres EU udbudsdirektiv for offentlige myndigheder og EU's forsyningsvirksomhedsdirektiv. I analyserne inddrages EU-domstolens domme, afgørelser fra Kalgenævnet for Udbud, domme fra danske domstole samt litteratur på dansk og engelsk....

  12. Knowledge economy readiness, innovativeness and competitiveness of the Western Balkan countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cvetanović Slobodan

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The Western Balkan countries have set themselves the goal to join the European Union as soon as possible. Accordingly, they must adjust the key components of their development policies to the Europe 2020 strategy, focusing on key priorities such as smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This paper explores the relationship among knowledge economy readiness, innovativeness, and competitiveness of six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro and the group of six selected neighboring EU countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Romania, and Slovenia. The paper relies on the data obtained from the Knowledge Economy Index of the World Bank Institute, INSEAD's Global Innovation Index and the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum for 2013. Obtained data from all three sources indicated significantly lower readiness for the development of economy based on knowledge, innovation and competitiveness in the Western Balkans countries in comparison to the selected EU countries. The analysis of the interdependence of the aforementioned variables points to: a statistically significant correlation between the indicator knowledge economy index and the global innovation index for both groups of countries; b statistically significant linear correlation between innovativeness and innovation efficiency ratio for the Western Balkan countries. Conversely, no respective correlation has been registered for the group of selected EU countries; c no statistically significant correlation between the global innovation index and the global competitiveness index in the Western Balkan countries, while in respect of the group of selected EU countries, the existence of significant linear correlation between these variables has been revealed.

  13. High Out-of-Pocket Health Spending in Countries With a Mediterranean Connection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon Grima

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we analyzed healthcare provision and health expenditure across six Mediterranean countries that adopt the National Health System (Beveridge model and that form part of the European Union (EU with the main aim being that of analyzing and comparing out-of-pocket health spending in countries with a European Mediterranean connection. To this end, we considered various economic indicators and statistics to derive commonalities and differences across these countries and also compared trends in these indicators to those observed across the rest of the EU. We then analyzed these findings in light of other data related to the quality of healthcare delivery and the infrastructure of the health system and discussed recent developments in healthcare within each country and the main challenges faced by the respective health systems. The results show that on average, Mediterranean countries spend less on total healthcare expenditure (THE than the EU average, both as a proportion of GDP, as well as in per capita terms. This is primarily driven by lower-than-EU-average public funding of healthcare. The 2008/2009 macro-economic and financial crisis had a significant impact on the countries under review, and explains the persistent reductions in public health spending as part of the austerity measures put in force across sectors. On the flipside, Mediterranean countries have a higher presence of private health providers in total funding, thereby explaining the higher Out-of-Pocket (OOPs health expenditures in these countries relative to the EU-average. With regard to the overall health infrastructure in these countries, we observed that although the supply of physicians is largely in line with the rest of the EU, there is under-supply when it comes to hospital beds. This may be symptomatic of lower government funding. Nonetheless, all countries score highly in the evaluation of the quality of health services, as recorded by international rankings

  14. Energy corridors European Union and Neighbouring countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Oostvoorn, F.; Hafner, Manfred; Vailati, Ricardo; Wietschel, Martin

    2007-08-01

    The ENCOURAGED (Energy corridor optimisation for European markets of gas, electricity and hydrogen) project has been launched in beginning 2005 to identify and assess the economically optimal energy corridors between European Union (EU) and neighbouring countries. The objectives of the project are to: Assess the economic optimal energy (electricity, gas and hydrogen) corridors and related network infrastructure for connecting the EU with its neighbouring countries and regions; Identify, quantify and evaluate the barriers to and potential benefits of building optimal energy corridors connecting the EU with its neighbours; Propose necessary policy measures to implement the recommended energy corridors with a focus on investment and the geopolitical framework; Organise stakeholder workshops and seminars to discuss the results and findings and reach consensus among scientists, stakeholders and non-governmental organizations and validate project results

  15. The mechanisms of integration in conditions of asymmetry of innovative development of the EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oksana OKHRIMENKO

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article concerns to methodological and applied aspects of integration mechanisms functioning in the field of innovation activity of the EU countries. Evolution of models of innovative processes and the detailed forms of integration in their section were investigated. The innovative strategies of EU member states in the context of integration and their effectiveness were analysed. The attention is focused on the transfer of knowledge as the main resource of international cooperation. The advantages of a common innovation environment for participants were considered. The experience of innovative development of the leaders of the countries was highlighted. Requirements for companies planning to innovate or implement innovative projects were disclosed. Preliminary recommendations for eliminating asymmetry in EU innovation development were formulated.

  16. Main Trends and Features of Social Protection in Countries of EU

    OpenAIRE

    Bondar Nataliya A.

    2012-01-01

    In the article it was identified the main areas of realization of social protection of disabled persons and it was considered the experience of states that are part of the EU, concerning conditions for various types of assistance within these areas. Identified deficiencies in the system of social protection in the Member States of the EU.В статье определены основные направления реализации социальной защиты инвалидов и рассмотрен опыт государств, которые входят в состав ЕС, относительно услови...

  17. A COMPARATIVE ANALISYS ON THE TRADITIONAL FOOD PRODUCTS IN EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teodora Mihaela Tarcza

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper is intent on highlighting the differences between traditional food products registered in every member state of the EU. The legislative system protecting the 'peculiar, endemic', food products was first introduced in the EU in 1992 and it was implemented in the then - member states.The countries that adhered to the EU in the following years underwent a preparation phase in terms of legislation in order to educate the producers and consumers regarding these regulations.Therefore, some countries have a history of over twenty years in recognizing and registering traditional food products(TFP, whereas newly - entered EU member states have an experience of less than ten years.This can be one of the many reasons underlying the significant discrepancy in the number of traditional food products registered in every EU member state.Throughout the paper we intend to analyse and highlight the number of traditional food products registered in the European Union’ s database– DOORdatabase– by every EU member state, and also provide an overview of their status in the EU.Moreover, throughout the paper we will answer questions such as„ Why does France have 255 traditional food products registered, whereas countries like Romania and Bulgaria only 4 ? “aiming to justify these differences but also present the evolution of the supply of traditional food products over time.To achieve the objectives of our research, we have covered vast literature and we have processed a series of secondary data that were put at our disposal by the databases of the European Commission, the agricultural sector.The results of our research are interesting, and the graphs will help better visualize and understand the status of the supply of traditional food products from a quantitative point of view countrywide.The identified elements as influencing factors in the quantitative supply of traditional food products and their grouping in a series of criteria tantamount to

  18. The influences of the cultural models on agricultural production structures in Romania and some EU-28 countries: A perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrei Jean Vasile

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The evolution of the Common Agricultural Policy and the changing of its paradigm was a subject of extensive consideration in the literature, but never the implications of specific cultural aspects on agricultural performance and production structures were ever taken into consideration. The main aim of the paper is the analysis of the some aspects regarding the influences of the cultural models on agricultural production structures in Romania and some EU-28 countries, form a larger perspective, starting with the CAP transformations over the time and the European agricultural model, analysing the role of the multifunctional agriculture in shaping the holding's structure and performances, and in the last it is considered the role of agriculture and rural communities in promoting renewable including bio-fuels.

  19. Growing Significance of EU Institutions in Promotion of Inter-regional policies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ella V. Ermakova

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article explores the variety of tools and vehicles applied within the EU to expand the prerogative of the regions of the EU member states. The author uses as an example the inter-regional policies in Belgium in respect of the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region. The author analyzes the mechanisms of promotion of external regional relations in Belgium as a means of addressing different problems both on national and all-European level, supporting the arguments and conclusions by examples of relevant EU initiatives. The article details the activities of the EU Regional Committee (RC, the EU advisory body with the powers of political initiative, upholding the principle ofsubsidarity in the implementation of the EU member states' regional policies. The involvement of the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region in the activities of EU RC is described and summarized. As a case study, the article deals with Belgium's rotating six months presidency in the EUin 2010 when the country, which was going through a severe political crisis with no federal government in place, was represented by the two regions. The special focus of the article is on the strategic EU program "Europe2020" and its implementation by the regions of Belgium. There is an account of the initiatives undertaken by the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region within the framework of this program outlining the interaction of the two regions. The author provides a comprehensive analysis of the involvement of the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region with various EU institutions describing how each party achieves the promotion of its regional interests. Within this context, it is a noteworthy development that the Flemish Region is participating in the international program "Pact 2020" on energy all by its own. The article features quotations by Flemish and Walloon political figures which serve as an illustration of the prevailing attitudes in the Belgian society to the process of

  20. INTRAW, the EU Observatory for raw materials: fostering international cooperation and developing new opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Correia, Victor; Allington, Ruth; Keane, Christopher

    2016-04-01

    A secure supply of raw materials is a European priority that extends beyond country borders and national policies. Recent European initiatives have pioneered the development of an EU strategy on raw materials emphasizing the concept of the "added value chain", which continues to pursue the three pillar strategy to: (1) ensure the fair and sustainable supply of raw materials from international markets, promoting international cooperation with developed and developing countries; (2) foster sustainable supply of raw materials from European sources, and (3) reduce consumption of primary raw materials by increasing resource efficiency and promoting recycling. This contribution presents the Horizon 2020 funded project INTRAW, the objective of which is to establish the European Union's International Observatory for Raw Materials. The creation and maintenance of the European Union's International Observatory for Raw Materials is designed to have a strong impact in two dimensions: 1. To narrow the existing gap in aspects of the raw materials knowledge infrastructure in the EU by providing a link with the same knowledge infrastructure in technologically advanced reference countries. This should contribute to the harmonization of mineral policies all over the EU, by providing data that enables evidence-based policies and appropriate, cost-effective management, planning and adaptation decisions by the public sector. This will benefit businesses, industry and society. The Observatory will also provide to policy makers in the EU and its Member States the data they need to facilitate discussion in multilateral forums. 2. To enable a better alignment of the R&I activities among the individual EU members and international cooperation countries AND between the European Union and international cooperation countries by boosting synergies with international research and innovation programmes. This way the EU's role and scientific capabilities in the raw materials area will be

  1. E-invoicing in EU public procurement as a tool for cross border trade barriers elimination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oleksandr TSARUK

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Public Procurement of goods and services always was one of the principal element of e-procurements because it effects economic growth, describes governments' public services and national competitiveness, level of human capital growth in a long run. Furthermore, researching EU policy on e-procurements demands to observe legislature essence and technological models of e-procurement solutions because none of which has not been developed as the universal one yet. Basic European agreements on public procurements and trade, combining with the currently used public procurement models, force to develop a commonly used framework for all EU countries. Monitoring of EU e-procurement system as model for implementation at Eastern partnerships countries was also suggested.

  2. Overview of Botanical Status in EU, USA, and Thailand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weena Jiratchariyakul

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The botanical status in EU, USA, and Thailand is different owing to the regulatory status, the progress of science, and the influence of culture and society. In the EU, botanicals are positioned as herbal medicinal products and food supplements, in the US they are regulated as dietary supplements but often used as traditional medicines, and in Thailand, they are regulated and used as traditional medicines. Information for some of the most popular botanicals from each country is included in this review.

  3. Energy independence of the EU and the role of France

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-03-01

    After having outlined that the Ukrainian crisis has revealed the challenge of the EU energy independence and the issue of its dependence, and also indicated the evolutions of gas imports for some European countries between 1995 and 2011, this publication discusses the level of this energy dependence as it appears through the evolution of energy resources, and through the evolution of the final energy mix. It also briefly comments the position of member states. Then, it analyses the influence of French choices on this dependence level (contribution of France to a lower dependence, evolution of energy dependence rates of European countries), and defines the potential role France could play and actions France could implement for a positive evolution of EU energy independence

  4. Recasting of the Brussels I regulation and its impact upon third countries, in particular Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanivuković Maja

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The recasting of the Brussels I regulation has been announced by the European Commission in December 2010. The author argues that its impact will be felt in third countries, too. If the Commission proposal is adopted, defendants domiciled in non-EU countries will be amenable to suit in the courts of the Union in civil and commercial matters under the heads of special jurisdiction defined in the EU Regulation. National rules of jurisdiction will no more be applicable. Two new heads of general jurisdiction applicable in case there is no jurisdiction under the Regulation (i.e. when the defendant is domiciled outside the EU and there is no ground of special jurisdiction for EU courts will be the forum of property and the forum necessitates. A court within the EU will have discretion to stay the proceedings in case of lis pendens before the court of a third country. Judgments from third countries will continue to be recognized pursuant to national rules, including the national rules on indirect jurisdiction. Finally, forum selection clauses in favor of third country courts will most likely be unenforceable in the EU unless the court within the EU would anyway lack jurisdiction (even without the forum selection clause. These rules are only a proposal and they may still be changed. The Commission could make a significant improvement by small interventions in the proposed text, e.g. by giving the rules on exclusive jurisdiction reflexive effect and introducing a specific provision affording effect to prorogation clauses in favor of third country courts.

  5. Impact of standard rate of VAT on tax mix in EU 27

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tereza Šinkyříková

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The Value Added Tax (VAT is one of the key resources within tax collection and therefore VAT effectiveness and VAT complexity represent one of the current world topics. Standard rates of VAT may and may not be the simple key to define whether VAT is important in the tax mix or not. This paper focuses on the question whether the amount of the VAT rate has an impact on the share of VAT in the tax mix. The VAT share on total taxes is studied in connection of average and median standard rates applied so as to answer the question: “Do the countries with higher share of VAT in the tax mix set its standard rates of VAT beyond the average of EU 27?” The paper examines this issue using data EU member countries, especially EU 27, in years 1995–2010.

  6. Convergence of per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the EU: Legend or reality?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jobert, Thomas; Karanfil, Fatih; Tykhonenko, Anna

    2010-01-01

    Designing appropriate environmental and energy policies, in order to meet the Kyoto protocol's carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) reduction targets in the European Union (EU), requires a detailed examination and thorough understanding of CO 2 emission trends across the EU member states. This paper investigates whether CO 2 emissions have converged across 22 European countries over the 1971 to 2006 period. The Bayesian shrinkage estimation method is employed to do this work and the results reveal the following: first, the hypothesis of absolute convergence in per capita CO 2 emissions is supported and a slight upward convergence is observed; second, the fact that countries differ considerably in both their speed of convergence and volatility in emissions makes it possible to identify different groups of countries; third, the results with respect to convergence do not vary much once the share of industry in GDP is accounted for in a conditional convergence analysis. However, a decreasing share of industry in GDP seems to contribute to a decline in per capita emissions. These findings may carry important implications for both national and EU environmental policies.

  7. The EU in 2040: Envisioning an Inclusive Powerhouse for Innovation and Economic Growth

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foray, Dominique; Romme, Georges; Andersen, Per Dannemand

    2016-01-01

    The EU and its leadership is often criticized as lacking a coherent long-term vision on Europe’s future. Thus far, EU policy in the area of innovation and economic growth has been primarily framed as an effort to close the so-called innovation gap with USA, South-Korea, and other countries. In th...

  8. Osobennosti jenergeticheskoj strategii ES v Baltijskom regione [The features of EU energy strategy in the Baltic region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kretinin Gannady

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the issues of EU energy policy in the 1990s-the beginning of the 2000s in order to identify the features of energy supply and energy safety of the Baltic region countries. The research and practical significance of the work lies in the stepwise description of actions taken by EU leaders and EU member states in order to formulate a common European energy policy. The 2004 EU enlargement posed the problem of taking into account the features of energy supply of Eastern European countries and, especially, the Baltic States. The energy industries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as other Eastern European and CIS countries, are closely related to the energy industry of the Russian Federation. Trying to allow for this circumstance, EU leaders and energy structures took a number of organizational measures aimed, on the one hand, at an increase in energy independence of new members of the EU and, on the other hand, at taking into account the recent trends in the energy market development. The research shows that most of the initiatives do not take into account the perspective and interests of Russia, which has a strong presence in the energy market. The analysis conducted will help the assessment of prospects of further development of the Baltic States' energy industry and its interaction with that of the Russian Federation.

  9. The development of environmental management system in Serbia and Montenegro as part of the EU accession

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zdravković Dušan S.

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Environmental protection is one of the top priorities of the EU. The EU regulates this area both within the Union and internationally. Also, the regulations concerning environmental protection in the EU to a certain extent exceed the national level. The EU environmental legislation imposes a number of challenges to membership candidates. Legal heritage of the EU is very extensive, complex and costly, and environmental problems are much more important in the EU membership candidates than in the member states. Therefore, it is of great importance for transitional countries such as Serbia and Montenegro to participate in the EU Stabilization and Association Process as well as in the WTO accession process.

  10. The EU system for emissions trading after year 2012; EU:s system foer handel med utslaeppsraetter efter 2012

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Normand, Mathias; Mjureke, David (eds.)

    2007-01-15

    The Government has instructed the Swedish Energy Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to put forward a proposal for how the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) should be developed after 2012, subject to the overall objective of continuing to reduce emissions with the aim of achieving the long-term objectives of the Convention on Climate Change. In its Council Conclusions (7619/1/05) the EU has interpreted the long-term objectives of the Convention on Climate Change as aiming to achieve emission reductions of 15-30 % in the industrialised countries by 2020. According to Council Conclusions (13435/05), the EU has also decided that the Emissions Trading Scheme should continue after 2012. The starting point for this report is that, after 2012, the Scheme will be a key instrument in achieving cost-efficient emission reductions, not only within the EU but also globally, and regardless of whether, with effect from 2013, the Scheme has become a part of an international climate regime, or is serving as a transition to some future new international climate regime. The purpose of this report is to provide a proposal for how the Emissions Trading Scheme should be developed after 2012. The aim is to construct a system that helps to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases (maintaining climate integrity), that assists measures being taken where they are cheapest (cost efficiency), that is accepted by parties concerned and by the general public (confidence inspiring), and which does not adversely affect the competitiveness of business or industry (competition-neutral). The Agencies recommend that Sweden should adopt the following standpoints concerning development of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme after 2012. (Recommended changes to the system presuppose a harmonised implementation throughout the EU.): In connection with international negotiations, Sweden should press for the Emissions Trading Scheme to be developed in such a way as to make it possible to

  11. [Accidents and injuries in the EU. Results of the EuroSafe Reports].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, R; Steiner, M; Kisser, R; Macey, S M; Thayer, D

    2014-06-01

    Accidents and injuries are a relevant although largely preventable public health problem. Information on the causes of accidents is the basis for accident prevention and product safety. The current report "Injuries in the European Union", edited by EuroSafe, the European Association for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, is a summary of key statistics on accidents and injuries at the EU level. In addition to international data on cause of death, the data of the European Injury Data Base (IDB) in particular are presented. The IDB is a unique data source for the EU based on an internationally standardized dataset of external causes and circumstances of injuries, which is collected in the emergency department of hospitals. Thus, the IDB covers the entire spectrum of accidents and injuries in sufficient detail as is necessary for the derivation of preventive measures and the knowledge of involved products. The currently available IDB data are collected by the participating Member States (2012: Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden) in self-interest (i.e., without legal obligation) with the support of the EU health programs. The central database for the IDB is run by the European Commission and provides public access to the aggregated data of the participating countries. Currently, over 100 IDB hospitals in the EU upload around 300,000 cases per year into the EU database. The IDB contains information on all accident sectors (transport, workplace, school etc.) with a focus on leisure and sports accidents. Depending on the accident sector, up to 25 variables (activities, products involved, means of transport etc.) and often also short narratives are recorded for each case. The report shows that 40 million people are treated in a hospital annually in the EU after accidents and violence, and that about 233,000 people die as a consequence of injury. There are large differences between countries

  12. THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURES IN THE ROMANIAN REGIONS AND COUNTIES AND THE EU MEMBER STATES. COMPARATIVE ANALYSES.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marioara, IORDAN

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Bridging the gap between countries, and thus decresing poverty, is the greatest challenge of European countries in the context of the European social cohesion. The risk of future economic difficulties caused by the size of budget deficits is beared by the funds to be allocated to social inclusion in the EU and the EU member countries. They will be concerned in the post-crisis period with aligning the requirements of progress, of poverty reduction, but also of ensuring the sustainability of public finances. For Romania, cohesion is particularly important as most regions show significant differences as compared to the EU average and the national average. This group also includes the South Muntenia Region, which has many advantages for faster progress and to be able to exploit the opportunities offered by the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy.

  13. EU Contribution to Strengthening Regional Development and Cooperation in the Black Sea Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Voicu-Dorobanțu Roxana

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available EU's agenda had for some time a topic (at least at an idea level about the “strengthening ofcooperation in the Black Sea Region.” It faced an interesting paradox: the lack of (or, in the caseof existence, sub-optimal economic relations between countries in this area, regardless of theirgeographical proximity. The paradoxical situation considered to be mostly due to their differenthistorical and political backgrounds. Therefore, a form of support of regional development in thearea was necessary, as it has been considered in EU's Black Sea Synergy, which encouragescooperation between countries in the Basin while offering a forum for solving common issues andpromoting political and economic reform. Regional cooperation in various areas stems from a highpolitical involvement as the main initiator but requires a strong involvement and participation ofboth civil society and private sector as main drivers of cross-border cooperation. Our paperfocuses, apart from its conceptual research background, on mapping the effective outcomes of theEU initiatives in the area and on providing future perspectives for EU contribution tostrengthening regional development and cooperation in the Black Sea Basin.

  14. Conceptual and Institutional Aspects of EU Energy Policy (1990-2014

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yury V. Borovskiy

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Ideological and institutional framework of the European energy policy, which is still work in progress, is crucial to the EU as it faces new political and economic challenges related to the recent Ukrainian crisis. Even if key energy policy issues are still decided by member states as the EU only seeks to speak with one voice in energy matters externally, much progress has been made over the last two decades in terms of the EU's energy policy formulation and institutional development. The Lisbon Treaty made the energy policy a sphere of "shared competence" of EU institutions and member states. The European Commission's numerous policy documents ("White" and "Green books" 1995, 2000 and 2006 provided a basis for the development of an integrated energy market. Substantial progress has been achieved in the area of energy policy harmonization between the EU and neighboring countries (Energy Charter Treaty, European Energy Community. The Union's key energy policy areas also included supply diversification (trans-European energy networks, development of unconventional energy production, climate change and energy efficiency. Over the last decade climate changes has become a cornerstone of EU energy policy and is regarded by the EU as key to moderating energy demand and reducing import dependency.

  15. Determinants of State Intervention: Evidence for the EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona-Gabriela MAŞCA

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the paper is to analyze the determinants of State intervention upon the social and economic life, and to grasp their implications in terms of public policy. The problem of State interventionism is a current one, and over time it has been under the influence of certain factors such as interstate differences, economic and social crises, political governance of the country, regional policy and globalization. The challenges that the current economic crisis brings in terms of State interventionism, are also presented. Some indicators that quantify the extent of State intervention through public expenditures are analyzed for the EU member countries (1995- 2010 in order to capture the general trends in their evolution and the peculiarities of their structure. The empirical analysis, based on a panel econometric model, aims to establish the relevance held by the main determinants for the degree of State intervention in budgetary expenditure, for the EU countries. The possibilities for an increasing State interference during the crisis, related with the withdrawal of the State once the crisis would be overcome, are valued with reference to the significant determinants of the interference policy derived from empirical analysis.

  16. Trade and foreign direct investment: Evidence from South East European countries and new European Union member states

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bardhyl Dauti

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this research is to provide an empirical assessment of the complementarity or substituting relationship between Trade and FDI in a link to country characteristics, using bilateral level data between FDI and trade for the period 1994 – 2010. In the research, an augmented gravity model has been used to test the relationship between Trade (both export and import, FDI stock and country characteristics between OECD-20 countries and SEE-5 and EU-NMS-10 countries. The empirical model considers how the relationship between FDI and Trade determine whether type of FDI into SEE-5 and EU-NMS-10 from core OECD-20 countries, is vertical or horizontal. With regard to the relationship between exports and FDI, the findings of the research showed mixed evidence, thus supporting vertical FDI for EU-NMS-10 countries, and horizontal FDI for SEE-5 countries. On the other hand, based on the relationship between imports and FDI, the results of the research supported vertical FDI for both EU-NMS-10 and SEE-5 group of countries. The basic conclusion is that the research provides an empirical evidence on the mixed nature of FDI into the host SEE-5 and EU-NMS-10 countries, supporting both complementary and substituting relationship between trade and FDI in the host countries.

  17. CONCEPTIONS OF THE EU AND ATTITUDES TO TURKEY'S ACCESSION IN FRENCH AND BRITISH DISCOURSE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine MACMILLAN

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, France has oppose d full EU membership for Turkey while Britain has been one of the staunchest supporters of Turkey's EU accession bid. This paper argues that this can be explained by fundamentally different conceptions of the EU in the two countries, based in turn on differences in national concep tions of state and nation. The paper thus analyses recent French and Britis h discourse on the EU and, particularly, on Turkey's accession bid, according to Sjursen's (20 07 framework of three idealised visions of the EU. These are firstly, the EU as a problem-solving entity, secundly as a values-based community based on a common cultural identity and finally as a post-national union underscored by 'universal' rights such as democracy and human rights

  18. EU ETS Allocation. Evaluation of present system and options beyond 2012

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sijm, J.P.M. (ed.) [ECN Policy Studies, Petten (Netherlands); Berk, M.M.; Den Elzen, M.G.J.; Van den Wijngaart, R.A. [Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency NMP, Bilthoven (Netherlands)

    2007-03-15

    This study assesses various options for EU (European Union) burden sharing and EU ETS (Emissions Trading System) allocation beyond 2012, based on a sample of policy evaluation criteria and a review of the literature on (1) international and EU burden sharing of future GHG mitigation commitments, and (2) allocation of GHG emission allowances among countries, sectors and emitting installations. It shows that these options score differently with regard to a variety of individual evaluation criteria (such as environmental effectiveness, economic efficiency, social equity or political acceptability), while the overall performance of these options depends on both the selection, interpretation, weighing and adding of these criteria.

  19. Exploring the link between environmental pollution and economic growth in EU-28 countries: Is there an environmental Kuznets curve?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Armeanu

    Full Text Available This study examines the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (EKC, considering the primary energy consumption among other country-specific variables, for a panel of the EU-28 countries during the period 1990-2014. By estimating pooled OLS regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors in order to account for cross-sectional dependence, the results confirm the EKC hypothesis in the case of emissions of sulfur oxides and emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds. In addition to pooled estimations, the output of fixed-effects regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors support the EKC hypothesis for greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas emissions intensity of energy consumption, emissions of nitrogen oxides, emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds and emissions of ammonia. Additionally, the empirical findings from panel vector error correction model reveal a short-run unidirectional causality from GDP per capita growth to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a bidirectional causal link between primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, since there occurred no causal link between economic growth and primary energy consumption, the neo-classical view was confirmed, namely the neutrality hypothesis.

  20. Exploring the link between environmental pollution and economic growth in EU-28 countries: Is there an environmental Kuznets curve?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armeanu, Daniel; Vintilă, Georgeta; Gherghina, Ştefan Cristian; Drăgoi, Mihaela Cristina; Teodor, Cristian

    2018-01-01

    This study examines the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (EKC), considering the primary energy consumption among other country-specific variables, for a panel of the EU-28 countries during the period 1990–2014. By estimating pooled OLS regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors in order to account for cross-sectional dependence, the results confirm the EKC hypothesis in the case of emissions of sulfur oxides and emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds. In addition to pooled estimations, the output of fixed-effects regressions with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors support the EKC hypothesis for greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas emissions intensity of energy consumption, emissions of nitrogen oxides, emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds and emissions of ammonia. Additionally, the empirical findings from panel vector error correction model reveal a short-run unidirectional causality from GDP per capita growth to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a bidirectional causal link between primary energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, since there occurred no causal link between economic growth and primary energy consumption, the neo-classical view was confirmed, namely the neutrality hypothesis. PMID:29742169

  1. Development of Reference Source Terms for EU-APR1400

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, ByungIl; Lee, Chonghui; Lee, Dongsu; Ko, Heejin; Kang, Sangho [KEPCO Engineering and Construction Co. Inc., Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-05-15

    These source terms are developed for the typical U. S. NPP and do not reflect the design characteristics of EU-APR1400 (1,400 MWe PWR) which will be applied for the EUR certification in European countries. The process of developing the RST for EU-APR1400 is to undergo a similar process that NUREG-1465 had gone through when it came out with its proposed source terms. The purpose of this study is to develop the EU-APR1400 design-specific RST complied with the EUR. The Large LOCA is the reference equence used in the NUREG-1465 evaluation, whereas the EUAPR1400 risk-significant sequences are dominated by small LOCA and non-LOCA sequences. Moreover, when considering the EU-APR1400 has many design features to mitigate the consequences of severe accident phenomena, it is not surprising that the aspects of both release fractions and durations are distinctly different from NUREG-1465. This RST will be continuously updated to reflect to the design features of EU-APR1400, and then, be used as the reference for design purposes such as criteria satisfaction of radioactivity releases, equipment survivability, control room habitability for severe accident, and so on.

  2. Operational Implications of the NATO Strategic Concept 2010 for European Countries in NATO and the EU

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-01

    tnis von NATO und EU- Eine Analyse unter Beriicksichtigung des Lissabonner Reformvertrages (Munich: AVM-Verlag, 2009), 4. Martin Reichard, The EU-NATO...Lockheed Martin Corp., Moorestown, USA. The consortium developed the first multifunctional counter battery radar in the world with a fu lly active phased...significant forces in expeditionary missions. Gustav Lindstrom , Caaudia Major and Christian Mt>lling provide a good review of the historic background, the

  3. THE IMPACT OF EU ENLARGEMENT ON THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfred E. Kellermann

    2004-10-01

    Full Text Available EU Enlargement is a consequence of the success story of the creation of the European Communities, as many applicant countries were attracted to the new legal order based on the rule of law, rather than to an order or disorder based on the rule of politics. As from May 1st 2004, the EU enlargement, unprecedented in its size, marks a historic milestone for the European Union and its Member States, and also for the whole continent. Given this new context, the EU has to find and define new cooperation partnerships with its neighbours. A major partner, not to be neglected in this new policy is by all means Russia. The first Summit between the enlarged EU and Russia held in Moscow on 21 May 2004 was the first high-level meeting of the 25 EU and Russia following the successful conclusion of negotiations between the European Commission and Russia on the extension of the EU-Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA to the ten new EU Member States. The Summit calls for the reinforcement of EU-Russia relations via the creation of Four Common Spaces: a common economic space (with specific reference to environment and energy; a common space of Freedom, Security and Justice; a field of external security; as well as a space of research and education including culture. The next step will be to define shared priorities and concrete measures for each of the Four Common Spaces in a mutually agreed Action Plan.

  4. EU “Mobility” Partnerships: An Initial Assessment of Implementation Dynamics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natasja Reslow

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Cooperation with non-EU countries is a central migration policy priority for the EU, and since 2008 eight Mobility Partnerships have been signed. Given the importance attached to this policy area, it is essential that policy-makers understand how EU external migration policy works in practice. However, the literature on the implementation of EU external migration policy is very limited. This article addresses this deficit, by conducting a conceptual assessment of implementation dynamics in the Mobility Partnerships. At this stage in the implementation process, it is not yet possible to assess whether the Mobility Partnerships have contributed to mobility, which is their stated aim. Instead, the literature on implementation is applied in a “backward” fashion, starting with the implementation dynamics at play. The article concludes that standard analytical frameworks for assessing implementation processes will need to be adapted for “new” policy tools featuring elements of flexibility or voluntary participation, in order to accurately capture implementation processes. Future research should adopt a critical, human rights-centred approach to the issue of implementation of EU external migration policy.

  5. Development and trade competitiveness of the European wine sector: A gravity analysis of intra-EU flows

    OpenAIRE

    Pasquale Lombardi; Andrea Dal Bianco; Roberto Freda; Francesco Caracciolo; Luigi Cembalo

    2016-01-01

    This study analyses the intra-EU trade of the world׳s chief wine exporters, namely Italy, France and Spain. Using an augmented version of the gravity model we empirically assess which of the three countries have experienced growth in intra-EU market trade. Effects of transportation costs, as well as demand and supply gaps between origin and destination countries, on the size of bilateral trade flows were specifically taken into account. Estimation results highlight the differences between bul...

  6. Impact of Euro Adoption on Emerging European Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irena Vodenska

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the impact of the euro on emerging European countriesby investigating three country groups: (1 seventeen Eurozonecountries, (2 seven EU Eastern and Central European (ECEmembers using local currencies, and (3 six EU Candidates. Weanalyze macroeconomic indicators and propose models to investigatewhether similar or different indicators influence sovereigndebt for each group. We find that exports and unemployment arepositively related to sovereign debt while market capitalizationshows negative relation with sovereign debt. We argue that the recentEuropean sovereign debt crisis has raised serious challengesfor the Eurozone, and propose that EU ECE members and eu candidatesdelay the adoption of the euro.

  7. Scenarios for EU citizenship in 2030 - Repertoires for action in thinkable futures (Deliverable 11.5)

    OpenAIRE

    Bakker, Wieger; van der Kolk, Marlot

    2017-01-01

    European Union (EU) citizenship is both about a legal status - a set of civil, social, economic and political rights complementing one’s national citizenship - and about being an active participating member of the EU political community. EU citizenship includes therefore influencing decisionmaking on rules, policies and practices that effect one’s own national and local societies. The opportunities and capacities to exercise these rights and to participate differ between countries, between gr...

  8. Testing for Environmental Kuznets Curve in the EU Agricultural Sector through an Eco-(inEfficiency Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Vlontzos

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Studies on agricultural production practices advance within international literature and new methods are proposed in order to assess the agricultural sustainability, either at farm or macro level. The present paper builds on these advancements and develops a synthetic Eco-(inefficiency index by employing a directional distance function—data envelopment analysis (DEA model. This index is used in order to assess the sustainability of the EU agricultural sector for the period 1999–2012 on a country level. Furthermore, Eco-(inefficiency, together with the energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG emissions are regressed on the gross domestic product (GDP of EU countries, in order to check for any environmental Kuznets curve relationship existence. Results signify that efficiency improvements are possible, both towards output development and GHG emissions reduction. In addition, the potential of each country in adopting more sustainable production practices is not totally connected with its economic development, as Eco-(inefficiency and GDP levels of EU countries seem to be linked with an N-Shaped curve.

  9. The structure of the EU mediasphere.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilias Flaounas

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A trend towards automation of scientific research has recently resulted in what has been termed "data-driven inquiry" in various disciplines, including physics and biology. The automation of many tasks has been identified as a possible future also for the humanities and the social sciences, particularly in those disciplines concerned with the analysis of text, due to the recent availability of millions of books and news articles in digital format. In the social sciences, the analysis of news media is done largely by hand and in a hypothesis-driven fashion: the scholar needs to formulate a very specific assumption about the patterns that might be in the data, and then set out to verify if they are present or not. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we report what we think is the first large scale content-analysis of cross-linguistic text in the social sciences, by using various artificial intelligence techniques. We analyse 1.3 M news articles in 22 languages detecting a clear structure in the choice of stories covered by the various outlets. This is significantly affected by objective national, geographic, economic and cultural relations among outlets and countries, e.g., outlets from countries sharing strong economic ties are more likely to cover the same stories. We also show that the deviation from average content is significantly correlated with membership to the eurozone, as well as with the year of accession to the EU. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: While independently making a multitude of small editorial decisions, the leading media of the 27 EU countries, over a period of six months, shaped the contents of the EU mediasphere in a way that reflects its deep geographic, economic and cultural relations. Detecting these subtle signals in a statistically rigorous way would be out of the reach of traditional methods. This analysis demonstrates the power of the available methods for significant automation of media content

  10. The Structure of the EU Mediasphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flaounas, Ilias; Turchi, Marco; Ali, Omar; Fyson, Nick; De Bie, Tijl; Mosdell, Nick; Lewis, Justin; Cristianini, Nello

    2010-01-01

    Background A trend towards automation of scientific research has recently resulted in what has been termed “data-driven inquiry” in various disciplines, including physics and biology. The automation of many tasks has been identified as a possible future also for the humanities and the social sciences, particularly in those disciplines concerned with the analysis of text, due to the recent availability of millions of books and news articles in digital format. In the social sciences, the analysis of news media is done largely by hand and in a hypothesis-driven fashion: the scholar needs to formulate a very specific assumption about the patterns that might be in the data, and then set out to verify if they are present or not. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we report what we think is the first large scale content-analysis of cross-linguistic text in the social sciences, by using various artificial intelligence techniques. We analyse 1.3 M news articles in 22 languages detecting a clear structure in the choice of stories covered by the various outlets. This is significantly affected by objective national, geographic, economic and cultural relations among outlets and countries, e.g., outlets from countries sharing strong economic ties are more likely to cover the same stories. We also show that the deviation from average content is significantly correlated with membership to the eurozone, as well as with the year of accession to the EU. Conclusions/Significance While independently making a multitude of small editorial decisions, the leading media of the 27 EU countries, over a period of six months, shaped the contents of the EU mediasphere in a way that reflects its deep geographic, economic and cultural relations. Detecting these subtle signals in a statistically rigorous way would be out of the reach of traditional methods. This analysis demonstrates the power of the available methods for significant automation of media content analysis. PMID

  11. Legal aspects of the EU policy on irregular immigration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Voinikov Vadim

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This article addresses the issues pertaining to the adoption and development of legislation on irregular migration in the context of uncontrolled growth in the number of immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East to the EU. The article attempts at studying the EU legislation on irregular migration, classifying it, and analysing the prospects of EU migration legislation in the light of an increase in irregular immigration into the EU. The author systematises, classifies the current EU legislation on irregular immigration, and analyses the conditions, in which this legislation was developed. Using the legislation analysis method, the author proposes the following system of EU legislation on irregular immigration: rules preventing assistance to irregular immigration, rules preventing employment of irregular immigrants, rules on the return of irregular migrants and readmission, rules on border control, and rules on collaboration with third countries. The author pays special attention to analysing the current state of irregular immigration to the EU, which was dubbed the ‘greatest migration crisis in Europe’. The conclusion is that the European Union succeeded in the development of pioneering legislation on irregular immigration, which can serve as the basis for reception by other states. However, changes in the political and economic situation in the EU’s southern borderlands made the current legal mechanisms incapable of withstanding new threats. It necessitates a radical reform of the legislation on irregular immigration.

  12. The EU agencies’ role in policy diffusion beyond the EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chatzopoulou, Sevasti

    and health quality within the risk assessment. This paper shows that the EU agencies develop various entrepreneurial methods and that they actively promote policy diffusion beyond the EU through socialisation and learning within international arrangements and collaborations. However, variations......The extensive literature on the EU agencies has mainly focused on their role in the harmonisation and expansion of regulatory standards within the EU. This paper joins this literature and investigates the role of EU agencies in policy diffusion beyond the EU borders. To operationalise this...

  13. Municipal solid waste development phases: Evidence from EU27.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vujić, Goran; Gonzalez-Roof, Alvaro; Stanisavljević, Nemanja; Ragossnig, Arne M

    2015-12-01

    Many countries in the European Union (EU) have very developed waste management systems. Some of its members have managed to reduce their landfilled waste to values close to zero during the last decade. Thus, European Union legislation is very stringent regarding waste management for their members and candidate countries, too. This raises the following questions: Is it possible for developing and developed countries to comply with the European Union waste legislation, and under what conditions? How did waste management develop in relation to the economic development in the countries of the European Union? The correlation between waste management practices and economic development was analysed for 27 of the European Union Member States for the time period between 1995 and 2007. In addition, a regression analysis was performed to estimate landfilling of waste in relation to gross domestic product for every country. The results showed a strong correlation between the waste management variables and the gross domestic product of the EU27 members. The definition of the municipal solid waste management development phases followed a closer analysis of the relation between gross domestic product and landfilled waste. The municipal solid waste management phases are characterised by high landfilling rates at low gross domestic product levels, and landfilling rates near zero at high gross domestic product levels. Hence the results emphasize the importance of wider understanding of what is required for developing countries to comply with the European Union initiatives, and highlight the importance of allowing developing countries to make their own paths of waste management development. © The Author(s) 2015.

  14. The Internet and the Global Reach of EU law

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kuner, Christopher Barth

    and learning; international negotiation; coercion and conditionality; and blocking recognition of third country legal measures. The EU’s actions in exercising its global reach implicate important normative issues, such as distinguishing between the furtherance of core EU legal values and the advancement...

  15. The V4: a Decade after the EU Entry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduard NEŽINSKÝ

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective of the paper is to give a picture of the sources of economic growth in the V4 countries during the decade following their EU entry and to crosscheck  the  results  obtained  by  parametric  and  non-parametric  approaches.  Growth accounting technique is used to depict dynamics of the V4 countries evolution since 1995 up to 2013. The poor post-crisis performance reflected in TFP indicator is in line with  the  result  of  the  absence  of  technological  progress  obtained  by  data envelopment analysis. Sources  of  the  economic  growth  are  identified  by growth  accounting  based  on  Solow-Swan  model.  Non-parametrical  part  employs  an SBM  measure  of  efficiency  in  Data  envelopment  analysis as  an application  of  linear programming optimization. Main findings include determining faster-than-average economic growth of the  V4  followed  by  a  considerable  decline  both  in  total  factor  productivity  and  in catching-up rate in the after-crisis period. DEA approach reveals excessive use of labor in all of the V4 countries and finds almost negligibletechnological change. The main concern for economic policy in the V4 as well as the entire EU continues to be tackling unemployment and facilitating factors´ productivity by structural reforms. The paper makes use of parametric and non-parametric approaches  with  a  view  to  cross-checking  the  results  obtained  on  the  technological change within the EU at large and across the V4 countries in particular.

  16. Financial effects of pharmaceutical price regulation on R&D spending by EU versus US firms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golec, Joseph; Vernon, John A

    2010-01-01

    EU countries closely regulate pharmaceutical prices, whereas the US does not. This paper shows how price constraints affect the profitability, stock returns and R&D spending of EU and US firms. Compared with EU firms, US firms are more profitable, earn higher stock returns and spend more on R&D. We tested the relationship between price regulation and R&D spending, and estimated the costs of tight EU price regulation. Although results show that EU consumers enjoyed much lower pharmaceutical price inflation, we estimated that price controls cost EU firms 46 fewer new medicines and 1680 fewer research jobs during our 19-year sample period. Had the US used controls similar to those used in the EU, we estimate it would have led to 117 fewer new medicines and 4368 fewer research jobs in the US.

  17. Ukraine Between The EU And The CES In Global Instability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svitlana Radzievska

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The article reviews functioning and development of the European Union (EU and the Common Economic Space (CES in the global instability and substantiates the equal significance of Ukraine’s integration with these regional associations in today’s environment. This conclusion is based upon the current state of Ukraine’s trade and economic relations with the countries taking part in these integration associations, and the probability of: 1 the EU’s abstaining from admitting new members until the EU structure improves, or admitting new members while changing the mechanism of interaction within the EU and setting more stringent admission criteria, 2 changes in the terms of trade of Ukraine with the CES member states due to its transformation into the Eurasian Economic Community (EEC.

  18. EU Anti-Circumvention Rules: Do They Beat the Alternative?

    OpenAIRE

    Edwin Vermulst

    2015-01-01

    This article discusses EU law and practice with regard to tackling circumvention of trade defence instruments, notably anti-dumping measures. The author considers that, while strong legal arguments can be made that anti-circumvention rules are WTO-illegal, as a practical matter transparent and predictable anti-circumvention rules are to be preferred over vague and multi-interpretable non-preferential origin rules that vary from country to country. Furthermore, the many findings of transhipmen...

  19. The Quality of Governance and EU Regional Policy as a key determinant in the process of the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Demush Bajrami

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the quality of governance and financial assistance as key determinants for successful functioning of the process of integration within the European Union (EU. Moreover, the paper develops a comparison of the Western Balkans with current EU members and the forthcoming, on the basis of the selected indicators of governance (rule of law, democracy, corruption, political stability, and effectiveness of state with the experience of the implementation of the reforms of public administration. Various surveys show that the Western Balkans, by all quality of governance indicators, especially in the rule of law, lags behind 28 (twenty eight of the current EU countries (without taking in account the Great Britain. The low level of the functioning of rule of law, combined with inadequate and unreformed public administration is potentially the biggest obstacle in the association agreement of the Western Balkans with EU, but also as challenge in achieving sustainable social and economic development. Whereas in the case of the Western Balkan countries, there is an obvious difference between proclaiming and internal reality, which is further compounded by a difficult political and economic transition, as well as in social domain - where poverty and corruption are the most worrying. The research data obtained from independent bodies - academic and research institutions, civil society and international organizations - confirm this controversial picture of the Western Balkans. Negative attitudes still prevail in Western Balkans political elites and if given the chance to political manipulation, may behave unpredictably. All this makes it obligatory to make a comparative overview, for depicting in particular the quality of governance as sine qua non for the Western Balkans countries‘ integration in EU.

  20. THE EFFECT OF STRUCTURAL FUNDS ON REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS IN THE NEW EU COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF ROMANIA AND BULGARIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    GLIGOR DELIA ANCA GABRIELA

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In the context of internationalization and globalization of the world economy, regional competitiveness is thoroughly debated by politicians and policy makers, emphasizing measurable differences between development regions, without any clear political or conceptual framework. The process of European Union integration is a main driving force of change, aiming to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of the fragmented European economy in the face of increasing internationalization. This often exposes countries and regions with unequal resources and technology and different economic structures to international competition. Such is the case of Romania and Bulgaria, countries that after joining the European Union in 2007 were given an opportunity to recover in terms of regional competitiveness and economic growth, namely structural funds as a form of nonrefundable European financial help to disadvantaged regions of member states. This research is thus focused on underlining and analyzing the relation between structural funds’ absorption and the degree of regional competitiveness for the development regions of Romania and Bulgaria, during their first programming period, through identifying and analyzing the factors that influence regional competitiveness and the amount of structural funds absorbed. First, two competitiveness country profiles are created based on data provided by relevant international organisms and second, an impact analysis is developed using six regional competitiveness indicators, grouped into three categories (economic, social and technological. Results show that EU funds critically influence the competitiveness of Romanian and Bulgarian regions, providing reliable data for policy decision makers

  1. Exchange Rate Regime and External Adjustment in CEE Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacek Pietrucha

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The paper reviews effects of exchange rate regime's choice for adjustments processes in current accounts (CA in the Central and Eastern Europe countries between 2008-2012. During the period of global financial crisis, Poland may be treated as a handbook example of the reaction of floating exchange rate to shock and adjustments in the form of expenditure switching. However, the Polish experience is not typical among the Central and Eastern Europe countries. There is no evidence for the positive role of floating exchange rate in macroeconomic adjustments after the crisis in Central and Eastern Europe countries which belong to EU. The adjustments in the countries with fixed regimes were fast and deep. The real exchange rate decreased and export, CA and goods and services balance improved, development distance against EU countries was reduced. However, the experience of Baltic countries, which have internal devaluation, should be very carefully conveyed to other countries.

  2. The Impact of Financial and Economic Crisis on EU-27 Member States’ Balance of Payments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona Moagăr-Poladian

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The object of the present article is to analyze the impact of 2008 financial and economic crisis on the evolution of balance of payment of EU-27 member states. Specifically, the analyzed period is between the years 2006-2011. The article is structured in the following parts: (1 the analysis of the evolution of the current account and capital account balance in the EU27 with non-EU states, (2 the identification of the main factors of disparities and asymmetries between the Euro area member states concerning current account balance and international investment position; (3 the role of TARGET2 system in financing of current account deficits of the peripheral countries of Euro area, and capital flight from these states to other Euro area countries perceived as less risky by investors.

  3. Lost in Implementation: EU Law Application in Albanian Legal System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hajdini Bojana

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Considering the growing importance of the researchers in the area of Europeanization in the candidate countries, the purpose of this paper is to analyse whether, and to what extent EU as a legal normative power has influenced Albania to approximate existing and future legislation and to ensure proper implementation. The paper argues that the Europeanization process is pushing Albania toward greater convergence with EU acquis by developing a modern legal framework. However, the paper points out that weak implementation has hampered the application of EU law in Albania due to: a weak bureaucracy or uneven distribution of human capacities; b the lack of an established practice of consultation with interest groups on specific draft legislation, and c the inability to put in sound planning mechanisms and to carry out a realistic assessment. The paper concludes that effective adjustment of Albanian legal system with EU norms requires cooperation between different actors involved in the approximation and implementation process.

  4. Evaluation of occupational disease surveillance in six EU countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Spreeuwers, D.; de Boer, A. G. E. M.; Verbeek, J. H. A. M.; van Dijk, F. J. H.

    2010-01-01

    Registries of occupational diseases in various European countries differ considerably in criteria for notification and recognition, statistical data provided and the legal and social security context. Therefore, figures on occupational diseases are not comparable between countries and are often

  5. Franchise and Electoral Participation of Third Country Citizens Residing in the European Union and of European Union Citizens Residing in Third Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Arrighi, Jean-Thomas; Bauböck, Rainer; Collyer, Michael; Hutecheson, Derek; Moraru, Madalina; Khadar, Lamin; Shaw, Jo

    2013-01-01

    This Study analyses some key trans-border situations in which citizens may finddifficulties in exercising their electoral rights – both to vote in elections, and to stand as candidates. It focuses on the electoral rights of EU citizens when resident outside the state where they are citizens, and on the electoral rights of third country citizens resident in the EU Member States. It also covers several complementary issues by examining the consular representation of EU citizensoutside the terri...

  6. EU-UNAWE Project: Inspiring every child with our wonderful cosmos

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arisa, E.; Fabregat, J.; Ros, R. M.

    2013-05-01

    The Project UNAWE was born in 2005 with the intention that children, of every country and every economical and social condition, can be in touch with astronomy. This is the first large-scale attempt to use astronomy as a tool to inspire and educate very young children. Project resources are open to everyone, but are mainly tailored to boys and girls aged 4 to 10. The Project is implemented in countries from all over the world, supporting the activities that are performed there. The European project EU-UNAWE funded by the European Union, includes six countries: Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, South Africa and Spain. EU-UNAWE Spain bases its activity in conducting training courses for teachers: in Barcelona in November 2011, in Granada and Madrid in February 2012 and in Pamplona in May 2012. Just as in the publication of educational materials: practical activities, experiences, books made by teachers... available in the entire Spanish-speaking world. All this can be accessed through the website of the program (http://es.unawe.org).

  7. CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE E.U. ROLE IN THE WORLD GRAPE PRODUCTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agatha POPESCU

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper aimed to analyze the EU-27 position in the world grape production based on the data collected from FAO Stat data base for the period 2000-2008, using the index and share methods. The EU-27 is the most important vine cultivator and grape producer in the world. With its 3.5 million ha planted with vine, it accounts for 90.21 % of Europe’s area of vineyards and 48.14 % of the world vine area. In 2008, the EU-27 produced 25.1 million tones grapes placing it on the top position and contributing by 41.56 % to the world production. The top European countries: Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Romania achieved 21.8 million tones grapes, representing 86.98 % of the EU-27 and 32.96 % of the world grape production. Italy, Spain and France are among the top 10 grape producers in the world. As a conclusion, even thou the EU-27 planted area decreased by 8.24 % and its grape production declined by 16.16 %, the EU-27 continues to remain the main grape producer in the world.

  8. Economic impacts of hydrogen as an energy carrier in European countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wietschel, Martin; Seydel, Philipp

    2007-01-01

    The two objectives of this paper are to identify possible sectoral shifts and employment effects due to the application of hydrogen in the energy system for selected European countries till 2030. This is based on assumptions about the market penetration of hydrogen as an energy carrier, an analysis of the competitiveness of EU countries in this technology field and input-output model calculations. The analysis showed that the introduction of hydrogen leads to significant shifts between economic sectors and, as a policy recommendation, it is concluded that the required workforce skills in hydrogen technologies should be available in time in order to be properly prepared for this. Some employment gains are possible for the EU Member States analysed if the introduction of hydrogen does not result in significant changes in export/import flows. However, the lead market analysis also showed that the competitiveness of EU countries varies significantly and that, viewed as a whole, Europe is in danger of falling behind its main competitors. This may lead to job losses because the industry branches affected - automotive and plant manufacturers - represent key sectors for the EU. One policy goal, therefore, especially for countries with a large share of automobile and plant manufacturing, is to aim to be a lead market for hydrogen and fuel cells. (author)

  9. THE REFUGEES AND THE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE EU STATES: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura DIACONU (MAXIM

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, one of the major concerns of the EU leaders is how to cope with the large inflows of refugees that are coming from the Arab region, because of the prolonged conflicts and civil wars. While some EU leaders consider that this is a humanitarian crisis and the member states should act accordingly, others consider that these people are migrants and not refugees. From the economic perspective, the opinions are also divided. Some analysts see this large influx of refugees as an opportunity for the economic and social environment, while others consider that the refugees can negatively influence the well-being of the host countries. In the present paper we investigate the impact of the refugees’ inflows on the economic growth and development of the EU countries. In order to reach this purpose, our arguments are based on a multidisciplinary analysis of the specialised literature and of the empirical investigations.

  10. Energy Policies of IEA Countries: European Union 2008 Review

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2008-07-01

    For the first time, the IEA has reviewed the energy policies of the European Union which shape the energy use of almost 500 million citizens in 27 EU member countries. A unique entity governed under complex and almost constantly evolving structures, the EU constitutes a challenge for energy policy makers. Its energy policy has a global impact, not only because of its 16% share of world energy demand, but also because of the EU leadership in addressing climate change. Strong policy drives are underway in the EU to achieve the completion of the internal energy market, increase renewable energy supply, reduce CO2 emissions and make the EU more energy-efficient. Concerns about security of supply have also led to a greater focus on improved energy relations with supplier countries, and new institutional structures are being put in place. How much progress has been made in the field of security, internal market and external energy policies? And in which of these areas has the EU already implemented a fully integrated policy? IEA Energy Policies Review: The European Union - 2008 addresses these questions and also analyses the impact of the most recent major EU policy measures, in particular the Energy & Climate Package of January 2008 and the 3rd Liberalisation Package of September 2007. This book finds that both of these proposals are highly ambitious. But implementing them and reviewing both volume and allocation of energy R&D will be necessary to achieve a sustainable energy future in a fully competitive integrated EU energy market.

  11. Optically active centers in Eu implanted, Eu in situ doped GaN, and Eu doped GaN quantum dots

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bodiou, L.; Braud, A.; Doualan, J.-L.; Moncorge, R.; Park, J. H.; Munasinghe, C.; Steckl, A. J.; Lorenz, K.; Alves, E.; Daudin, B.

    2009-01-01

    A comparison is presented between Eu implanted and Eu in situ doped GaN thin films showing that two predominant Eu sites are optically active around 620 nm in both types of samples with below and above bandgap excitation. One of these sites, identified as a Ga substitutional site, is common to both types of Eu doped GaN samples despite the difference in the GaN film growth method and in the doping technique. High-resolution photoluminescence (PL) spectra under resonant excitation reveal that in all samples these two host-sensitized sites are in small amount compared to the majority of Eu ions which occupy isolated Ga substitutional sites and thus cannot be excited through the GaN host. The relative concentrations of the two predominant host-sensitized Eu sites are strongly affected by the annealing temperature for Eu implanted samples and by the group III element time opening in the molecular beam epitaxy growth. Red luminescence decay characteristics for the two Eu sites reveal different excitation paths. PL dynamics under above bandgap excitation indicate that Eu ions occupying a Ga substitutional site are either excited directly into the 5 D 0 level or into higher excited levels such as 5 D 1 , while Eu ions sitting in the other site are only directly excited into the 5 D 0 level. These differences are discussed in terms of the spectral overlap between the emission band of a nearby bound exciton and the absorption bands of Eu ions. The study of Eu doped GaN quantum dots reveals the existence of only one type of Eu site under above bandgap excitation, with Eu PL dynamics features similar to Eu ions in Ga substitutional sites

  12. A Probability Analysis of the Generating Cost for EU-APR1400 Single Unit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ha, Gak Hyeon; Kim, Sung Hwan

    2014-01-01

    The nuclear power plant market is expected to grow rapidly in order to address issues of global warming, reducing CO 2 emissions and securing stable electricity supplies. Under these circumstances, the main primary goal of the EU-APR100 development is to ensure export competitiveness in the European countries. To this end, EU-APR1400 have been developed based one te APR1400 (Advanced Power Reactor, GEN Type) The EU-APR1400 adds many advanced design features to its predecessor, as outlined below in Table 1. In this simulation, the results of the generating cost of the EU-APR1400 single unit were determined using the probability cost analysis technique, the generating cost range was shown to be 56.16 ∼ 70.92 won/kWh.

  13. A Probability Analysis of the Generating Cost for EU-APR1400 Single Unit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ha, Gak Hyeon; Kim, Sung Hwan [KHNP CRI, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-10-15

    The nuclear power plant market is expected to grow rapidly in order to address issues of global warming, reducing CO{sub 2} emissions and securing stable electricity supplies. Under these circumstances, the main primary goal of the EU-APR100 development is to ensure export competitiveness in the European countries. To this end, EU-APR1400 have been developed based one te APR1400 (Advanced Power Reactor, GEN Type) The EU-APR1400 adds many advanced design features to its predecessor, as outlined below in Table 1. In this simulation, the results of the generating cost of the EU-APR1400 single unit were determined using the probability cost analysis technique, the generating cost range was shown to be 56.16 ∼ 70.92 won/kWh.

  14. Language, copyright and geographic segmentation in the EU Digital Single Market for music and film

    OpenAIRE

    Estrella Gomez Herrera; Bertin Martens

    2015-01-01

    The EU seeks to create a seamless online Digital Single Market for media products such as digital music and film. The territoriality of the copyright regime is often perceived as an obstacle that induces geographical segmentation. This paper provides empirical evidence on the extent of market segmentation in the EU on the supply and demand side and measures the contribution of several drivers of this market segmentation. We use data from the Apple iTunes country stores in 27 EU Member States ...

  15. Transportforskning i EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leleur, Steen

    1996-01-01

    Artiklen giver en gennemgang af aktuelle EU transportforskningsemner samt nogle synspunkter og erfaringer baseret på deltagelse i EU forskningsprojekter.......Artiklen giver en gennemgang af aktuelle EU transportforskningsemner samt nogle synspunkter og erfaringer baseret på deltagelse i EU forskningsprojekter....

  16. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme and Biomass. Final Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schwaiger, H.; Tuerk, A.; Arasto, A.; Vehlow, J.; Kautto, N.; Sijm, J.; Hunder, M.; Brammer, J.

    2009-02-01

    Within its Energy and Climate Package, adopted by the European Parliament in December 2008, the European commission set a 10% minimum for the market share of renewables in the transport sector in 2020. To find the appropriate instruments to reach this target and the instrument mix with which biomass use in general could be best stimulated are the main questions of this project. An important instrument of the European Climate Policy is the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS), which started operation in 2005. Previous work done within Bioenergy NoE showed that only a high share of auctioning of allowances and a high CO2 price provide necessary incentives for a higher biomass use. According to the Energy and Climate Package, all allowances will be auctioned in the energy sector from 2013 on, with exceptions for a few CEE countries. Based on work done within the project, a model has been developed to analyse at which CO2 price biomass becomes competitive in case of 100 per cent auctioning or at a lower level. The European Commission furthermore decided not to include the road transport sector into the EU-ETS until 2020. Whether the inclusion of the road transport sector in the EU-ETS, could help introducing biofuels, a separate trading scheme for biofuels should be set up, or biofuels should be addressed with other policy instruments, was another main question of this project. The first result shows that an integrated scheme would hardly have any effects on the use of liquid biofuels in the transportation sector, but might cause higher CO2 prices for the energy and industry sector. A separate trading scheme has been implemented in the UK in 2008, California is planning such as scheme in addition to include the road transport sector into the future ETS. Within this project the design of such as system has been elaborated based on the comparison of several policy instruments to increase the use of liquid biofuels in the transportation sector. Policy interaction

  17. Innovations in the Baltic Sea Region and Network Cooperation between Russia and the EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fedorov Gennady

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Transnational (involving countries and cross-border (involving adjacent regions of different countries cooperation and integration are rapidly developing in the Baltic Sea region. Russia lags behind the Nordic countries and Germany as far as innovative development is concerned; yet our national pace here is comparable to that of Poland and the three Baltic States. At the same time, the features of innovative cooperation vary a great deal depending on the group of countries involved in cooperation processes. Independent of its type, however, international cooperation is beneficial for all parties concerned and should therefore be more actively encouraged. Northwestern Federal District traditionally plays a special role in the development of EU-Russia cooperation, since a number of its regions border on the EU countries. The district participates in the development of network innovative structures within the Baltic Sea region. It takes an active part in cross-border cooperation — activities that involve the formation of transborder innovative clusters. There are high expectations associated with the formation of such territorially localised innovative networks, as the Helsinki — Saint Petersburg — Tallinn and Tricity (Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot — Kaliningrad — Klaipeda transborder innovative clusters. The city of Saint Petersburg and the adjacent Leningrad region, as well as the Kaliningrad region can become innovative development corridors between Russia and the EU and, eventually, develop into the ‘economic growth poles’ of the Russian Federation.

  18. DRIVERS OF KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY IN THE EU’S DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burja Vasile

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The new EU Member States have made important efforts to achieve an economic growth based on accumulation of knowledge according with principles and realities of developed countries. After accession, Romania has initiated an extensive restructuring process in entire society. The main purpose of this study is to appreciate the knowledge based economy’s features in Romania, comparative to other countries which joined later the EU. In this respect, the study aimed to evaluate the state of knowledge economy depending by a group of elements which refer to the following areas: innovation system, education and ICT. The research methodology was based on the econometric analysis of a representative panel data for the twelve new member states of the EU. Results highlight that for the analyzed countries, education system and the R&D activity had positively affected the economic growth, but the education factors had a stronger impact on the knowledge economy dynamics

  19. Visegrad Four countries: evaluation in R&D sectors of performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Bočková

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Competitiveness is currently being studied by many economic analyses. Generalization of the countries’ competitiveness definition as a measure of understanding of the performance evaluation economies is important. Visegrad Four countries: Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland were admitted to the European Union in May 2004. EU Member States must respect the common EU objectives. The European Union, as expressed in the strategy Europe 2020, is obliged to increase competitiveness, innovation, by introduction of modern technology and especially the growth R&D investment. Limited data to evaluate R&D expenditure: inconsistencies in the R&D support, the absence of data concerning the other means of financing in the sector BERD, limitations of statistical data on the number of innovations only to firms with R&D activities. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the development of R&D expenditures by sector of funding in the Visegrad Four countries in comparison with the values of the EU-27 and countries of Visegrad Four together.

  20. The Integration of Immigrants Into the Labour Markets of the EU. IAB Labour Market Research Topics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werner, Heinz

    Integration of foreign workers into European Union (EU) labor markets was evaluated. Three indicators of labor market integration were analyzed: unemployment rate, employment rate, and self- employment rate. Results were drawn from the Labor Force Survey data compiled by Eurostat. Findings indicated that, in all EU countries, the unemployment rate…

  1. Retrenched Welfare Regimes Still Lessen Social Class Inequalities in Health: A Longitudinal Analysis of the 2003-2010 EU-SILC in 23 European Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muntaner, C; Davis, O; McIsaack, K; Kokkinen, L; Shankardass, K; O'Campo, P

    2017-07-01

    This article builds on recent work that has explored how welfare regimes moderate social class inequalities in health. It extends research to date by using longitudinal data from the EU-SILC (2003-2010) and examines how the relationship between social class and self-reported health and chronic conditions varies across 23 countries, which are split into five welfare regimes (Nordic, Anglo-Saxon, Eastern, Southern, and Continental). Our analysis finds that health across all classes was only worse in Eastern Europe (compared with the Nordic countries). In contrast, we find evidence that the social class gradient in both measures of health was significantly wider in the Anglo-Saxon and Southern regimes. We suggest that this evidence supports the notion that welfare regimes continue to explain differences in health according to social class location. We therefore argue that although downward pressures from globalization and neoliberalism have blurred welfare regime typologies, the Nordic model may continue to have an important mediating effect on class-based inequalities in health.

  2. Report on surveys in fiscal 1998 on the project to invite petroleum substituting energy related experts in Japan and EU; Nichi EU sekiyu daitai energy kanren senmonka shohei jigyo 1998 nendo chosa hokokusho

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-03-01

    In relation with coping with global environmental problems in recent years, needs are increasing more than ever for enhancing fossil energy utilization rates, developing and expanding utilization of petroleum substituting energies that can substitute fossil energies. Since Japan is particularly a large energy consuming country, and cannot escape from depending on import for the majority of its energy resources, it is an urgent issue to enhance the energy utilization efficiency and further promote development and utilization of new energies. To do this, it is indispensable to exchange such item of information as identification of actual status in other countries of handling the petroleum substituting energies. Taking up geothermal energy, fiscal 1998 invited four experts from EU countries. Visits were made for about two weeks on Japanese research institutes and business enterprises related to geothermal energy, and opinions and information were exchanged. A seminar was held on the final day, where the EU experts have made presentations on the current status and future prospects on geothermal research and development in EU. Greatly valuable suggestions were given for the Japan's future geothermal research and development. (NEDO)

  3. Fighting climate change in the air: lessons from the EU directive on global aviation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicole de Paula Domingos

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The European Union's (EU decision to include aviation into the Emissions Trade Scheme was heatedly contested. Countries around the world, but mainly the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa group (BRICS and the US, denounced the EU's initiate as illegal and unilateral. Following a decade of frustrated negotiations at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, this paper interrogates why such measure, in principle climate-friendly, inspired so much global resentment. I argue that concerns with competitiveness and risks of legal inconsistency are important, but insufficient elements to explain the core of the conflict. The paper suggests that the EU was strongly criticized because third countries perceived this action as an imposed solution, which fostered an environment of distrust. Therefore, I claim that the problem has more to do with a normative divide than with a substantive divergence on what should be done regarding aviation emissions. My analysis is informed by the present literature on the links between trade and climate change, but gives particular weight to first-hand information through interviews with key stakeholders. The paper is divided in three parts. First, it presents the scope of the EU directive in historical perspective. Second, it explores the EU's measure through three different angles: legal, economical and political. The final part explores some possible solutions to overcome these divergences.

  4. 151Eu nuclear resonant inelastic scattering of Eu3Pd20Ge6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsutsui, S.; Yoda, Y.; Kobayashi, Y.; Higashitaniguchi, S.; Seto, M.; Kitagawa, J.; Takabatake, T.

    2010-01-01

    151 Eu nuclear resonant inelastic scattering of Eu 3 Pd 20 Ge 6 . The Eu partial phonon density of states (DOS) in Eu 3 Pd 20 Ge 6 are investigated using 151 Eu nuclear resonance inelastic scattering (NRIS). 151 Eu NRIS was carried out at BL09XU of SPring-8. Significant temperature dependence was found in the partial phonon DOS. Judging from the valence change at the Eu 4a site and the comparison with the ab initio calculation of Eu 3 Pd 20 Ge 6 , the change of the Eu DOS is caused by the electronic states. On the other hand, significant acoustic contribution was found even at the guest site of the Eu ones. In addition, slower average velocity than transverse sound velocity was obtained by Eu partial phonon DOS. Considering that heat is carried by the acoustic phonon in materials, the present results demonstrate that the moderate thermal insulation in Eu 3 Pd 20 Ge 6 is connected with the observation of slow average sound velocity at the Eu sites. (K.F.)

  5. The Fundamentals of Innovativeness - a Comparative Analysis of European Union Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena Tusińska

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Innovativeness is one of the key determinants of total output and welfare used by contemporary economists to measure economic performance. The aim of the article is to assess the position of European Union (EU countries in terms of selected indicators characterizing their potential for innovativeness. This paper proposes the application of taxonomic tools for the study of the differentiation within the level of fundamentals of innovativeness in EU countries on the basis of the chosen model

  6. RIO Country Report 2015

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimpe, Christoph; Mitchell, Jessica

    The 2015 series of RIO Country Reports analyse and assess the policy and the national research and innovation system developments in relation to national policy priorities and the EU policy agenda with special focus on ERA and Innovation Union. The executive summaries of these reports put forward...

  7. The EU Decarbonisation Roadmap 2050—What way to walk?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hübler, Michael; Löschel, Andreas

    2013-01-01

    We carry out a detailed computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis of the EU Decarbonisation Roadmap 2050 on a macroeconomic and on a sectoral level. Herein, we study a Reference scenario that implements existing EU policies as well as 3 unilateral and 3 global climate action scenarios. We identify global climate action with international emissions trading and the full equalisation of CO 2 prices across all (EU) sectors as an economically reasonable policy option to avoid additional costs of the Decarbonisation Roadmap to a large extent. This policy option may include CDM (Clean Development Mechanism in the sense of ‘where’-flexibility) in an extended form if there are countries without emissions caps. Moreover, we identify diverse sectoral effects in terms of output, investment, emissions and international competitiveness. We conclude that the successful realisation of the EU Decarbonisation Roadmap probably requires a wise and joint consideration of technology, policy design and sectoral aspects. - Highlights: ► We extend the CGE model PACE until 2050 and include energy technologies. ► We assess the newest EU Decarbonisation Roadmap in six policy scenarios. ► Global action with ETS and CDM credits from non-participants create low(est) costs. ► Mitigation costs can strongly increase at CO 2 reductions around 80%. ► The policy effects vary strongly across EU sectors

  8. Report on modelling the macroeconomic competitiveness impacts of EU climate change policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-01-01

    This report details the results of a study carried out by Oxford Economics on the macroeconomic impacts of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) on competitiveness in different sectors and different Member States. An economic model was used to assess the impacts of carbon pricing, building on previous work that looked at the effects on the UK economy. The model was used to estimate the impact on competitiveness and output associated with various carbon prices and assumptions for the proposed third EU ETS trading period (2013-2023) by sector for all countries. The model covered 30 sectors for each of the 27 EU Member states plus the USA, Japan and China. The report describes the EU model methodology (direct cost effects, second-round cost effects, cost effects without substitution, cost effects after substitution, pass through to prices, and output effects) and the key results in terms of: impacts of carbon-reduction policies unilateral EU action, sectoral impacts, electricity generation sector only; the non-power sector in the ETS; global action; developed world action; and a summary across all scenarios. The three annexes set out the UK Energy Industry Model (UKEIM), model equations for the EU-wide model and modelling assumptions for electricity generation

  9. THE ROLE OF INNOVATION POLICIES IN ECONOMIC SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodica CRUDU

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Innovation is one of the key-elements providing increased competitiveness to countries which is defining in building effective economies. In modern conditions, great attention is paid to economic sustainability which besides effectiveness takes into account the impact of human activities over the environment. Europe has always been one of leading forces of innovation in the world. However, its importance has constantly decreased due to rise of the US, Japan and newly of China. The European Union has oriented much effort towards fostering innovation through various policies and instruments in order to keep up with the growing pace of economic and technologic development in the modern world. By these policies, the EU aims at creating favourable conditions for countries to promote innovation taking into account the national peculiarities as to allow improved flexibility and adaptability. The main goal of the present paper is to assess the impact of the EU innovation policies upon sustainable development of the member countries. There are to be analysed the main paradigms,concepts, initiatives and strategies frame-working innovation in the EU and, consequently, their impact upon economic development and the consistence in facing new challenges. In the end,on the base on identified correlations, concrete actions and measures to foster performance of innovation policies in general are identified.

  10. Participation, public policy-making, and legitimacy in the EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement process

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wodschow, Astrid; Nathan, Iben; Cerutti, Paolo

    2016-01-01

    This paper discusses how participatory policy-making processes such as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) negotiations are and should be organised to foster political legitimacy and support. The VPAs are bilateral agreements between the European Union (EU) and timber producing countries....... VPAs constitute a cornerstone in EU's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) programme, the most important tool for the EU to address illegal logging problems. The EU requires that national VPA negotiations include participation by the relevant stakeholders. Based on primary data, we...... compare the VPA negotiations in Cameroon (2006–2009) with three different ‘ideal’ models of participatory policy-making: the rationalist, the communicative incremental and the mixed model, which we expect have different implications for legitimacy. We conclude that the Cameroonian process is closest...

  11. The total neutron cross-sections of 151Eu, 153Eu and Eu below 1 eV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adib, M.; Maayouf, R.M.A.; Abdel-Kawy, A.; Ashry, A.; Hamouda, I.

    1980-12-01

    Total neutron cross-section measurements have been carried out for natural Eu and its stable isotopes in the energy range from 3 meV-1 eV. The measurements were performed using two time-of-flight spectrometers installed in front of two of the horizontal channels of the ET-RR-1 reactor. The following results have been obtained: sigmasub(α)( 151 Eu) = 9180+-150 b at 0.0253 eV; sigmasub(α)( 153 Eu) = 375+-20 b at 0.0253 eV; sigmasub(α)(Eu) = 4600+-120 b at 0.0253 eV

  12. Contested Norms in the Process of EU Enlargement: Non-Discrimination and Minority Rights

    OpenAIRE

    Antje Wiener; Guido Schwellnus

    2004-01-01

    This paper analyses the adoption of EU conditions regarding non-discrimination and minority protection in three applicant countries: Romania, Hungary and Poland. While non-discrimination is a well established EU norm, minority rights are a contested norm and not enshrined in the acquis communautaire. It is argued that contestation over norm meaning highlights the importance of norm resonance and domestic norm construction in processes of norm diffusion, and that the conceptual tension between...

  13. Policy harmonized approach for the EU agricultural sector modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. SALPUTRA

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Policy harmonized (PH approach allows for the quantitative assessment of the impact of various elements of EU CAP direct support schemes, where the production effects of direct payments are accounted through reaction prices formed by producer price and policy price add-ons. Using the AGMEMOD model the impacts of two possible EU agricultural policy scenarios upon beef production have been analysed – full decoupling with a switch from historical to regional Single Payment scheme or alternatively with re-distribution of country direct payment envelopes via introduction of EU-wide flat area payment. The PH approach, by systematizing and harmonizing the management and use of policy data, ensures that projected differential policy impacts arising from changes in common EU policies reflect the likely actual differential impact as opposed to differences in how “common” policies are implemented within analytical models. In the second section of the paper the AGMEMOD model’s structure is explained. The policy harmonized evaluation method is presented in the third section. Results from an application of the PH approach are presented and discussed in the paper’s penultimate section, while section 5 concludes.;

  14. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR OFFICIAL STATISTICS FROM E.U. COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The European Union, through the Europe 2020 program, adopted by European Council in June 2010, aims at exploiting in the next decade the globalization potential in order to stimulate the economic growth and employment. At EU level it was defined the integrated industrial policy for globalization era, being pointed out the competitiveness and sustainability.The strategy of Europe 2020 launches a new vision for Europe economy in the next decade (based on an extended coordination of economic policies to generate an economic growth and an enhanced employment helping the Union economic and financial re-launch. The new strategy is focused on some key fields: knowledge and innovation, a more viable economy, a high level of employment and social inclusion.

  15. Comparative study of the methods used for treatment and final disposal of sewage sludge in European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelessidis, Alexandros; Stasinakis, Athanasios S

    2012-06-01

    Municipal wastewater treatment results to the production of large quantities of sewage sludge, which requires proper and environmentally accepted management before final disposal. In European Union, sludge management remains an open and challenging issue for the Member States as the relative European legislation is fragmentary and quite old, while the published data concerning sludge treatment and disposal in different European countries are often incomplete and inhomogeneous. The main objective of the current study was to outline the current situation and discuss future perspectives for sludge treatment and disposal in EU countries. According to the results, specific sludge production is differentiated significantly between European countries, ranging from 0.1 kg per population equivalent (p.e.) and year (Malta) to 30.8 kg per p.e. and year (Austria). More stringent legislations comparing to European Directive 86/278/EC have been adopted for sludge disposal in soil by several European countries, setting lower limit values for heavy metals as well as limit values for pathogens and organic micropollutants. A great variety of sludge treatment technologies are used in EU countries, while differences are observed between Member States. Anaerobic and aerobic digestion seems to be the most popular stabilization methods, applying in 24 and 20 countries, respectively. Mechanical sludge dewatering is preferred comparing to the use of drying beds, while thermal drying is mainly applied in EU-15 countries (old Member States) and especially in Germany, Italy, France and UK. Regarding sludge final disposal, sludge reuse (including direct agricultural application and composting) seems to be the predominant choice for sludge management in EU-15 (53% of produced sludge), following by incineration (21% of produced sludge). On the other hand, the most common disposal method in EU-12 countries (new Member States that joined EU after 2004) is still landfilling. Due to the obligations

  16. Opportunities and Threats of Ukrainian Membership in WTO for Engineering under Conditions of Co-operation with EU Countries and Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyzym Mykola O.

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The article considers consequences of the membership of Ukraine in the World Trade Organisation (WTO for the engineering industry when co-operating with the EU and CU (Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia countries. It shows that, after Ukraine joined WTO, tariff rates for Ukrainian products reduced in general and liberalisation of access to the world market took place. Along with it, the internal market of Ukraine became more open for imported products. The article analyses the structure of export from Ukraine after joining WTO in the context of individual types of products. The article identifies changes that took place in the market of engineering products after Ukraine joined WTO. The article shows that by main indicators of economic security the engineering industry of Ukraine cannot be considered as stable and also that, after joining WTO, main indicators of economic security of the engineering industry of Ukraine have not improved. It analyses the structure of export and import of Ukrainian engineering products to EU, CU and other countries. It proves that the most topical for the Ukrainian engineering industry is the issue of realisation of the import-replacement potential and increase of competitiveness of domestic products. It considers the state and changes, which took place after Ukraine joined WTO, in car building. It identifies main problems of domestic car building. It analyses measures of the state programme of Ukraine on economic development.

  17. A comparison of the degree of implementation of marine biodiversity indicators by European countries in relation to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hummel, Herman; Frost, Matt; Juanes, José A.

    2015-01-01

    The degree of development and operability of the indicators for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) using Descriptor 1 (D1) Biological Diversity was assessed. To this end, an overview of the relevance and degree of operability of the underlying parameters across 20 European countries....... The best scoring EU countries were France, Germany, Greece and Spain, while the worst scoring countries were Italy and Slovenia. No country achieved maximum scores for the implementation of MSFD D1. The non-EU countries Norway and Turkey score as highly as the top-scoring EU countries. On the positive side...

  18. Opportunities and threats of WTO membership of Ukraine in foreign trade of high-technology products under conditions of co-operation with EU countries and Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyzym Mykola O.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the problem of consequences of membership in the World Trade Organisation (WTO for Ukraine in foreign trade of high-technology products under conditions of co-operation with EU countries and the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia (CU. The article shows that after Ukraine joined WTO there were some rather significant reductions of tariff rates for Ukrainian products and liberalisation of access to the world markets, at the same time the internal Ukrainian market became more open for imported products. The article studies specific features and changes in the high-technology products market after Ukraine joined WTO. It analyses dynamics of volumes and specific weight of the world export-import of high-technology products and the structure of the world export and import of high technology products, including by individual countries and groups. The article makes a conclusion about a weak high-technology component of the Ukrainian export. It studies the structure of export of high-technology products of EU, CU and Ukraine. It shows that in order to develop the high-technology products market Ukraine needs to develop foreign trade with EU countries and also to continue co-operation with CU countries, in particular, with Russia. The article shows that the aerospace industry products takes the biggest specific weight in the export of high-technology products of Ukraine. It considers prospects of development of civil aircraft production in the world and Ukraine under the modern conditions. It analyses strengths and weaknesses of the aircraft construction industry and also threats and opportunities for aircraft construction of Ukraine due to external environment influence. The article shows that Ukraine cannot keep national aircraft building on its own, that is why it is necessary to develop close co-operation both with Russian enterprises and with the countries of the Western Europe. It offers recommendations on

  19. COMPETITIVE POSITION OF THE MAIN PRODUCERS AND EXPORTERS OF OILSEEDS AND VEGETABLE OILS IN THE INTRA-EU TRADE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karolina Pawlak

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper was to assess the competitive position of the main producers and exporters of oilseeds and vegetable oils in the intra-EU trade in 2004 and 2012. The competitiveness was assessed with the use of a selected set of quantitative measures of international competitive position. Moreover, some shares of the analysed countries in the intra-EU trade, as well as relative export intensity of oilseeds and vegetable oils in these countries were estimated. On the basis of the conducted analyses it is possible to conclude that apart from Germany in trade in rapeseed and soya beans, as well as the Netherlands in trade in rapeseed and sunflower-seed, the main producers and exporters of oilseeds were competitive on the Single European Market. Excluding soya-bean oil produced in the EU mainly from imported raw material, competitive advantage of most of the countries decreased together with the level of processing and was lower in trade in vegetable oils.

  20. Green entrepreneurship: EU experience and Ukraine perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olena CHYGRYN

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available These days the environmental challenges begin to play crucial role in sustainable development of the countries and regions. European environmental policy aims in the creation of a favorable framework for the development of green entrepreneurship. The paper deals with the analysis of EU experience in supporting and promoting the green entrepreneurship. The author analyzed and systematized the EU trends in GHG emission. The main features and parts of the green economy are described. The author emphasizes that EU has the huge experience in the sphere of developing and providing relevant green activities, which can be used by Ukraine for implementation green entrepreneurship projects on the different levels of the economy. Thus, the green positive practices in Austria, Hungary, Ireland and Spain were described. The author underlines that green entrepreneurship for Ukraine is one of the necessary conditions for improving the environmental status, solving the problems with the rational use of natural resources, increasing the welfare of the citizen, integration into the European Union and to ensure the green of innovative development. The activities which are necessary for mainstreaming for Ukraine’s integrating to the European sustainable entrepreneurship space were considered.

  1. THE EVOLUTION OF THE MARKETING RESEARCH MARKET ON THE LEVEL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES, AFTER 2000

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Catalina Timiras

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to identify how the marketing research market evolved after 2000 as a whole and by categories of the EU countries (the old and the new states respectively as well as the impact of the general economic development on this evolution of the market. Since 2000 the marketing research market registered a spectacular evolution in the new EU members, which certifies that it is in the growth stage. In the old member states the marketing research market reached maturity, the dynamics being slyghtly positive or even stationary. Regardless of the marketing research market trends registered in the old or in the new EU members, the development levels attained in the two categories of states are different. Thus, approximately 90% of the marketing research market of the EU belongs to the old states and only about 10% to the new members. Similarly to the markets of other products, the market studied here was also affected by the economic crisis, so all the EU countries registered involutions (followed by recoveries along with the onset of recession. In the countries analyzed, the relationship between the size of the marketing research market and the general economic development expressed by the GDP was a strong and direct one (both in the EU as a whole and by categories of EU countries, higher values of GDP being associated with larger (in terms of value marketing research markets.

  2. Refugee Quota Trading within the Context of EU-ENP Cooperation: Rational, Bounded Rational and Ethical Critiques

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mollie Gerver

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available In 1997 Peter Schuck proposed a ‘refugee quota trading’ mechanism, whereby countries voluntarily form a union, each country accepting a quota of refugees and able to buy and sell the quota to other states within and even outside of the union. Today, the EU arguably has a de facto cash transfer mechanism both within the EU and between the EU and European Neighbourhood Policy countries. This article explores the question of refugee quota trading, explaining why current EU policy fails to increase refugee protection. Throughout the critique, states are treated either as rational actors or actors with present-preference bias, the latter largely ignored in current discussions on international refugee ‘burden sharing’. In addition, the ethics of refugee quota trading is presented using arguments distinct from that of Anker et al. (1998 who argue that refugee quota trading creates a ‘commodification’ of refugees. One could argue that refugees’ protection is being commodified, not refugees themselves. However, when states are provided funds not to deport refugees, this can be a type of reward for not taking an action that states ought to follow regardless of the reward. Just as there are non-utilitarian reasons not to rely on rewards alone for lowering the crime rates for heinous crimes within states, there may be non-utilitarian arguments against refugee quota trading.

  3. Phosphor thermometry: On the synthesis and characterisation of Y{sub 3}Al{sub 5}O{sub 12}:Eu (YAG:Eu) and YAlO{sub 3}:Eu (YAP:Eu)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kissel, T. [Fachgebiet Reaktive Strömungen und Messtechnik (RSM), Center of Smart Interfaces (CSI), Technische Universität Darmstadt, Petersenstraße 32, 64287 Darmstadt (Germany); Brübach, J., E-mail: bruebach@ekt.tu-darmstadt.de [Fachgebiet Reaktive Strömungen und Messtechnik (RSM), Center of Smart Interfaces (CSI), Technische Universität Darmstadt, Petersenstraße 32, 64287 Darmstadt (Germany); Euler, M. [Fachgebiet Reaktive Strömungen und Messtechnik (RSM), Center of Smart Interfaces (CSI), Technische Universität Darmstadt, Petersenstraße 32, 64287 Darmstadt (Germany); Frotscher, M.; Litterscheid, C.; Albert, B. [Eduard-Zintl-Institut für Anorganische und Physikalische Chemie, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Petersenstraße 18, 64287 Darmstadt (Germany); Dreizler, A. [Fachgebiet Reaktive Strömungen und Messtechnik (RSM), Center of Smart Interfaces (CSI), Technische Universität Darmstadt, Petersenstraße 32, 64287 Darmstadt (Germany)

    2013-07-15

    With regard to phosphor thermometry, the materials Y{sub 3}Al{sub 5}O{sub 12}:Eu (YAG:Eu) and YAlO{sub 3}:Eu (YAP:Eu) were synthesised and characterised in order to substitute the commonly used thermographic phosphor Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Eu, whose temperature sensitive luminescence lifetime exhibits a strong and most often undesirable cross-sensitivity to the oxygen concentration of the surrounding gas phase. The synthesis is outlined in detail and the crystallographic structure was characterised by X-ray diffraction. In a second step, the luminescence properties following pulsed UV laser excitation were determined. In this context, the emission spectra and the temperature lifetime characteristics were monitored. For Y{sub 3}Al{sub 5}O{sub 12}:Eu and YAlO{sub 3}:Eu, temperature sensitive ranges of 1000 K–1470 K and 850 K–1300 K were identified. Contrary to Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Eu, both materials do show much lower cross-sensitivities to the oxygen concentration of the surrounding gas phase. - Highlights: ► Y{sub 3}Al{sub 5}O{sub 12}:Eu and YAlO{sub 3}:Eu were synthesised and characterised. ► The synthesis is outlined and the crystallographic structure was characterised. ► Emission spectra and the temperature lifetime characteristics were monitored. ► Compared to Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Eu lower sensitivities to the oxyg. conc. of the gas phase emerged.

  4. Development of Romanian Nuclear Power Program implications for future's EU enlargement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Havris, A.

    2002-01-01

    Energy and transport are two areas for which relations with third countries are crucial. Transport is of course essential in order to ensure smooth movements of people and economic operators within the EU but also with the outside world. Its importance becomes even more apparent in a period characterised by globalization. If modes of transport are the arteries of our society, then energy is the blood. The Green Paper on the security of EU energy supply issued by the Commission shows that whereas the EU economy is energy-intensive, Community energy resources are limited. Consequently, the EU is dependent on external sources of energy, a situation which will not change with the forthcoming enlargement. Hence, most of the EU's external relations include an important chapter on energy. The instrument for applying Romania's pre-accession strategy is the National Programme for Accession (NPAR). I focused on the current situation, short and medium term priorities of the Nuclear Energy as part of the Energy Chapter of the NPAR. In spite of the Romanian Authorities' strong commitment for the completion of Unit2, obtaining the EURATOM loan, for which Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica S.A. applied to the European Commission in 1999, remained a critical component of the overall financing requirements of this project. The National Strategy for the Development of the Energy Sector on Medium Term 2001- 2004, as part of our national economic strategy, concludes that on a least-cost basis and considering programs for improving energy efficiency, it is necessary to have Cernavoda Unit 2 in operation by 2006. Finally, are presented the benefits for Romania, as a country involved in the process of European Integration, with a view to obtaining the EURATOM loan and finalizing Cernavoda NPP - Unit2.(author)

  5. Studies of biochemistry and clinical biochemistry. Studies at sample medical schools in 13 EU countries regarding biochemistry and clinical biochemistry teaching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stern, Petr; Sebesta, Ivan; Trnkova, Bohuslava; Zima, Tomas

    2008-07-01

    The study summarizes the results obtained during personal visits to 53 medical schools in the 13 original EU countries during 2004--2006. Data from the Czech Republic is shown for comparison. The possibilities of acquiring information from the websites of the medical schools in the local language and English are assessed. The admission process to medical schools and the organization of studies of medicine, dentistry, and non-medical healthcare fields are briefly characterized. Significant attention is paid to the forms of education in biochemistry and clinical (bio)chemistry in the medical study field. The position of these subjects in the studies of dentistry and non-medical healthcare fields is also noted. In addition, the course of subject exams is described. The methods of funding and postgraduate studies at the medical schools are also briefly addressed.

  6. EU Budgetary Dynamics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Citi, Manuele

    2013-01-01

    In this article I study the long-term evolution of the main categories of expenditure of the European Union (EU) budget (1984-2011). The aim is to assess the extent to which the EU is affected by a structural form of policy inertia, and to investigate the general pattern of policy stability...... and change in the EU in light of the two models of policy dynamics currently existing in the literature: the incrementalist model and the punctuated equilibrium model. The analysis of long series of original data extracted from the EU budget shows that EU policies do not evolve following an incrementalist...

  7. Climate Change Policy in European Countries and its effects on industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Proost, S.; Van Regemorter, D.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we discuss the effects of different climate change policies on industrial activity and on welfare. We compare the effects of carbon taxes and grandfathered permits and the effects of exemptions for energy-intensive industries. We survey first the insights from economic theory and from model experiments for the US. Next we use a general equilibrium model to assess the effect of different climate change policies on industrial activity per sector and per member country in the EU. We pay particular attention to the effects of policies where one EU member state exempts its energy-intensive sectors from abatement efforts. The main findings are that, in the EU, the effects on industrial activity and the welfare costs of tradable permits or carbon taxes are small when no industrial sectors are exempted. When one member country exempts its energy intensive sector, this will reduce somewhat the impact on its activity level but will generate an extra welfare cost for the EU

  8. EU Energy Law. Volume 4. The EU Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delbeke, J.; Hartridge, O.; Lefevere, J.; Meadows, D.; Runge-Metzger, A.; Slingenberg, Y.; Vainio, M.; Vis, P.; Zapfel, P.

    2006-06-01

    Gives valuable insights in the why's, how's, trade-offs, and critical design choices of the Emission Trading System of the European Union (EU ETS). The chapters deal with (1) The EU ETS: the result of a decade of policy action on the economic dimension of EU environmental policy; (2) The international climate policy developments of the 1990s: UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, the Marrakech Agreements and the EU's Kyoto ratification decision; (3) Emissions trading: What is it? Design options and misconceptions; (4) The EU ETS Directive 2003/87/EEC explained; (5) The EU ETS Linking Directive explained; (6) The economic efficiency benefits of the EU ETS; (7) The NAP I experience; (8) The key importance of the Registry Regulation and of solid monitoring and verification; and (9) The potential role of the EU ETS for the elaboration of the post-2012 international climate regime. Conclusions are in chapter 10

  9. Financial structure and monetary policy transmission in transition countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Elbourne, A.; de Haan, J.

    Using the structural vector autoregressive methodology, we present estimates of monetary transmission for the new and future EU member countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Unlike most previous research we include ten transition countries. We examine to what extent monetary transmission in these

  10. Report on the structure of ownership in the financial sector across the EU

    OpenAIRE

    Michal Jurek

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to analyse the structure of ownership in the financial sector in the selected old (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom) and new (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland) EU Member States. This subject is particularly important to the proper understanding of the scale and scope of the process of financialisation in the EU countries. General objective of the report is the investigation and evaluation of the evolution of the structure of ownership...

  11. Viewls - Possibilities and performance of international biofuel trade from CEEC to WEC[Central and Eastern European Countries; Western European Countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dam, J. van; Faaij, A.; Lewandowski, I. [Utrecht Univ., Dept. of Science, Technology and Society, Utrecht (Netherlands); Zeebroeck, B. van [Transport and Mobility Leuven, Leuven (Belgium); Falkenberg, D.; Hein, M.; Schroeder, G.; Thraen, D.; Weber, M. [Inst. of Energy and Environment, Leipzig (Germany)

    2006-05-13

    The EU has set high targets to increase the use of renewable energy sources from which a large part has to come from biomass. To meet these targets, a large amount of biomass resources is needed, which requires large areas of land in the EU for energy crop production. However, the availability of good land for energy crop production is limited in Western European countries (WEC). This means that the potential from indigenous biomass resources is not sufficient to meet the set bioenergy targets. At the same time, the expansion of the EU and the inclusion of the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) in agricultural and energy EU policies create potential difficulties as well as opportunities. Agriculture plays an important role in the CEEC furthermore, the share of agricultural employment is still large. In the future rationalization of the current agriculture in the CEEC is expected. This will lead to increased productivity and economic performance. On the other hand, unemployment and an increase in abandoned land are expected as well. A study of the technical biomass production potentials in the CEEC shows that in some scenarios the biomass production potential exceeds the current final energy consumption on a country level. The main objectives of this study are: 1) Define the critical factors to set up a stable international biofuel trade between CEEC and WEC, 2) Estimate the cost performance of the energy carriers delivered in the WEC from the CEEC, 3) Analyze the regional differences in cost performance of the energy carriers in the CEEC. (BA)

  12. The new legal basis of the EU's energy policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farantouris, N.E.

    2011-01-01

    According to article 194 of the EU Lisbon Treaty, energy now falls within the province of European policy and is a sector for shared responsibility with member countries, in the same way as for the environment, transportation, the interior market and trans-European networks (article 4 of the Lisbon Treaty). The introduction in the Treaty of a chapter devoted to energy clearly has a political emphasis, as its shows the EU's attachment to the implementation of a coherent policy. However, its enactment carries with it not insignificant legal changes, because a specific and autonomous legal basis is established for the first time, thus allowing the Union to take decisions and actions in the area of energy. (author)

  13. Census taking in the Western Balkans : a challenging and often controversial task on the way to EU membership

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoh, Anna-Lena

    2016-01-01

    On the road towards EU enlargement, potential member states need to comply with the EU acquis communautaire. Chapter 18 of the acquis foresees the conduct of a population census by enlargement countries. This has proven to be more challenging in the post-war environment of the former Yugoslavia than

  14. The effects of Eu-concentrations on the luminescent properties of SrF2:Eu nanophosphor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yagoub, M.Y.A.; Swart, H.C.; Noto, L.L.; O’Connel, J.H.; Lee, M.E.; Coetsee, E.

    2014-01-01

    SrF 2 :Eu nanophosphors were successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The structure of the nanophosphors was investigated with x-ray diffraction. The average crystallite size calculated using the Scherrer equation was in the range of 7.0 nm. The photoluminescence of Eu doped as-prepared SrF 2 nanophosphors were studied using different excitation sources. The samples showed emission from both the Eu oxidation states, Eu 2+ and Eu 3+ . At low Eu concentrations the emission from Eu 2+ centered at 416 nm was more dominant. While the narrow band of Eu 3+ emission intensity increased with an increase in the Eu concentration. High resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicated that the Eu was indeed in both Eu 2+ and Eu 3+ valance states. The presence of Eu 2+ and Eu 3+ in the system largely enhanced the response of the Eu 3+ under ultraviolet excitation. The time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry results suggested that the energy transfer between two ions was likely to occur. The relative photoluminescence intensity of the Eu 2+ rapidly decreased with an increasing laser beam irradiating time. This result would make the current Eu 2+ doped SrF 2 samples unsuitable candidates for several applications, such as white light-emitting diodes and wavelength conversion films for silicon photovoltaic cells. - Highlights: • SrF 2 : Eu nanophosphors were successfully synthesised (hydrothermal technique). • PL and XPS results showed enhanced absorption response of Eu 3+ UV excitation. • Eu concentrations more than 5 mol% improved fluorescence emission. • TOF-SIMS results suggested that the energy transfer from Eu 2+ to Eu 3+ is dominant

  15. State and legal regulation of refugees’ and asylum seekers’ migration in EU as institutional basis of management of international migrations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.V. Ievdokymov

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available According to the analysis of World Bank data on the dynamics of migration indicators in Europe and Fragile State Index data the authors determine the groups of EU countries in geo-economic risk, which forms the pushing factors in the refugee flow formation. The geographic structure of refugees’ migratory flows to the EU is analyzed and the migration corridor dynamics is determined, in particular, it is found out that the overwhelming majority of refugees arrive to the EU through the Central and Eastern Mediterranean channels. In addition, It is determined that strengthening military and political instability in Africa and the Middle East, the tight policies and institutional mechanisms for crossing the EU's borders cause the increased flows of illegal migrants entering the EU in dangerous ways, in particular through the Mediterranean Sea, where a significant number of such persons, especially women and children, die. In addition, EU countries are structured by their migration policies (views on immigration, using of quantitative restrictions on immigration including highly skilled workers. As a result of the legal document study, the authors establish the system of documents identifying the institutional frameworks for the refugees’ and asylum seekers’ migratory flow management.

  16. Border tax adjustments and the EU-ETS. A quantitative assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manders, T.; Veenendaal, P.

    2008-10-01

    If the EU stands alone in adopting climate policy and imposes a strict emissions ceiling, competitiveness of EU energy-intensive sectors will be affected negatively. Relocation of EU energy-intensive firms to countries with a lax regime also leads to carbon leakage. However, when use is made of the opportunities of the Clean Development Mechanism these impacts are very modest. Border tax adjustments (BTAs) to 'level the playing field' between domestic and foreign producers may be considered to address the concerns about both competitiveness and carbon leakage. It is far from clear whether these measures are WTO-proof. Simulations show that both an import levy and an export refund restore competitiveness to a certain extent. BTAs may lower the costs for energy-intensive sectors, but induce higher costs for other sectors. This paper uses a general equilibrium model to quantify and assess the implications of a number of policy scenarios

  17. Russian energy in the EU market: Bolstered institutionsand their effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Romanova, Tatiana

    2014-01-01

    The article examines institutional changes in EU–Russian energy relations since 2000. The article explores the ability of transformed institutions to limit the politicisation of energy and to reconcile the EU competitive-market approach with Russian state capitalism. More specifically, the article focuses on changes in intergovernmental, transgovernmental and transnational interactions. The article demonstrates that the gradual strengthening of transgovernmental and transnational institutions has inhibited the politicisation of energy relations and facilitated regulative cooperation between the EU and Russia. However, the potential of shared institutions is constrained by internal institutions on both sides. In Russia, these obstacles are insufficient top-down delegation of responsibilities in the government and its great power aspirations. In the EU, key barriers include inter-institutional rivalries, the EU’s propensity to impose its legislation on external partners and the integration of energy policy with foreign policy. The article presents several policy implications. First, it is futile to institutionally impose the regulative paradigm of one partner on the other; rather, mutual dialogue is needed. Thus, institutions should be structured appropriately. Second, current depoliticisation will require the involvement of not only the EU and Russia but also transit countries, such as Ukraine. Third, transgovernmental and transnational cooperation should be nurtured because this is a useful channel for both information exchange and a regulative convergence of policy implementing mechanisms. Finally, this incremental regulative convergence is the only option available today for the EU and Russia; this is also a way to further depoliticise energy relations. - Highlights: • EU and Russia developed transgovernmental and transnational energy institutions. • It allowed them to face energy challenges: depoliticisation and market construction. • Internal EU and

  18. The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of screening for active tuberculosis among migrants in the EU/EEA: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenaway, Christina; Pareek, Manish; Abou Chakra, Claire-Nour; Walji, Moneeza; Makarenko, Iuliia; Alabdulkarim, Balqis; Hogan, Catherine; McConnell, Ted; Scarfo, Brittany; Christensen, Robin; Tran, Anh; Rowbotham, Nick; Noori, Teymur; van der Werf, Marieke J; Pottie, Kevin; Matteelli, Alberto; Zenner, Dominik; Morton, Rachael L

    2018-04-01

    The foreign-born population make up an increasing and large proportion of tuberculosis (TB) cases in European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) low-incidence countries and challenge TB elimination efforts. Methods : We conducted a systematic review to determine effectiveness (yield and performance of chest radiography (CXR) to detect active TB, treatment outcomes and acceptance of screening) and a second systematic review on cost-effectiveness of screening for active TB among migrants living in the EU/EEA. Results : We identified six systematic reviews, one report and three individual studies that addressed our aims. CXR was highly sensitive (98%) but only moderately specific (75%). The yield of detecting active TB with CXR screening among migrants was 350 per 100,000 population overall but ranged widely by host country (110-2,340), migrant type (170-1,192), TB incidence in source country (19-336) and screening setting (220-1,720). The CXR yield was lower (19.6 vs 336/100,000) and the numbers needed to screen were higher (5,076 vs 298) among migrants from source countries with lower TB incidence (≤ 50 compared with ≥ 350/100,000). Cost-effectiveness was highest among migrants originating from high (> 120/100,000) TB incidence countries. The foreign-born had similar or better TB treatment outcomes than those born in the EU/EEA. Acceptance of CXR screening was high (85%) among migrants. Discussion : Screening programmes for active TB are most efficient when targeting migrants from higher TB incidence countries. The limited number of studies identified and the heterogeneous evidence highlight the need for further data to inform screening programmes for migrants in the EU/EEA.

  19. Hepatitis B/C in the countries of the EU/EEA: a systematic review of the prevalence among at-risk groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falla, Abby May; Hofstraat, Sanne Henrietta Ina; Duffell, Erika; Hahné, Susan Josien Maria; Tavoschi, Lara; Veldhuijzen, Irene Karen

    2018-02-12

    In 2016, the World Health Organisation set a goal to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Robust epidemiological information underpins all efforts to achieve elimination and this systematic review provides estimates of HBsAg and anti-HCV prevalence in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) among three at-risk populations: people in prison, men who have sex with men (MSM), and people who inject drugs (PWID). Estimates of the prevalence among the three risk groups included in our study were derived from multiple sources. A systematic search of literature published during 2005-2015 was conducted without linguistic restrictions to identify studies among people in prison and HIV negative/HIV sero-status unknown MSM. National surveillance focal points were contacted to validate the search results. Studies were assessed for risk of bias and high quality estimates were pooled at country level. PWID data were extracted from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) repository. Despite gaps, we report 68 single study/pooled HBsAg/anti-HCV prevalence estimates covering 23/31 EU/EEA countries, 42 of which were of intermediate/high prevalence using the WHO endemicity threshold (of ≥2%). This includes 20 of the 23 estimates among PWID, 20 of the 28 high quality estimates among people in prison, and four of the 17 estimates among MSM. In general terms, the highest HBsAg prevalence was found among people in prison (range of 0.3% - 25.2%) followed by PWID (0.5% - 6.1%) and MSM (0.0% - 1.4%). The highest prevalence of anti-HCV was also found among people in prison (4.3% - 86.3%) and PWID (13.8% - 84.3%) followed by MSM (0.0% - 4.7%). Our results suggest prioritisation of PWID and the prison population as the key populations for HBV/HCV screening and treatment given their dynamic interaction and high prevalence. The findings of this study do not seem to strongly support the continued classification of MSM as a high risk group for chronic

  20. Sources of conflicts in climate policy within the EU. An economic analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aaheim, H. Asbjoern; Bretteville, Camilla

    1999-09-01

    This report is a part of a study of the potential for the EU to take on leadership in the climate negotiations. The aim is to sort out factors that may explain the different economic interests in cutting CO{sub 2}-emissions within the EU. It is based on the idea that interests occur as a result of different perception of the cost of emission cuts among stakeholders. Sector-based comparisons of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom indicate that the conflicts resulting from an announcement of emission cuts are likely to be moderate in Germany, the Netherlands and UK, while the possibilities for conflicts in France, Italy and Spain are significantly higher. The explanation can to a large extent be found by the possibilities for reducing emissions in the electricity sector. The differences facing the different countries when it comes to emission cuts might explain why the EU has not succeeded in implementing common measures across the member countries. To prepare for a common policy, a co-ordination of the electricity market should be given priority. Meanwhile, the differentiation of targets agreed upon after Kyoto clearly contributes to mitigate conflicts. However, new conflicts may occur as a result. The present analysis points out that Italy has got very strict targets compared with the other countries, while the targets for the Netherlands and Spain are moderate. 21 refs., 15 figs., 8 tabs.

  1. Performance indicators for SMEs accessing EU funds

    OpenAIRE

    Popa Adina-Simona

    2013-01-01

    Being the best supporters of national economies Small and Medium Sized Enterprises are actively searching alternative sources of finance for sustaining their goals and their performances. European Union is sustaining the SMEs access to finance by direct funding: grants from the European Commission and indirect funding: financial intermediaries in the SMEs origin country. Considering the importance of SMEs for national and European economy we will analyze the relationship between the EU fundin...

  2. Experimental in vitro transmission of Babesia sp. (EU1) by Ixodes ricinus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonnet, Sarah; Brisseau, Nadine; Hermouet, Axelle; Jouglin, Maggy; Chauvin, Alain

    2009-01-01

    Babesia sp. (EU1), first characterized in 2003, has been implicated in human cases of babesiosis in Italy, Austria and Germany. It has been identified in roe deer and in its suspected tick vector, Ixodes ricinus, in several European countries. The aim of the present study was to validate the competence of I. ricinus as a vector of Babesia sp. (EU1) via experimental infections. For this purpose, a parasite strain isolated from roe deer was cloned in sheep erythrocytes. After experimental infections, parasite DNA was successfully amplified by PCR in both eggs and larvae originating from infected I. ricinus females and in the salivary glands of females exposed to Babesia sp. (EU1) as nymphs. We also demonstrate that infected females were able to transmit parasite DNA during a new blood meal. Together with previous epidemiological studies, these results validate I. ricinus as a competent vector for Babesia sp. (EU1).

  3. BUILDING ENVIRONMENTAL CAPACITIES IN KOSOVO AND ITS CHALLENGE TO COMPLY WITH EU ENVIRONMENTAL ACQUIS

    OpenAIRE

    Istrefi, Remzije; Kerolli-Mustafa, Mihone

    2017-01-01

    This paper analyses the development of environmental governance in Kosovo, environmental laws, regulations, processes, and their conformity with the EU environmental acquis. Kosovo, like other countries in the Balkans trying to join the EU, will, in the process of accession, have to ensure that its legislation conforms to the Copenhagen accession criteria. While Kosovo authorities have progressed in the process of legal harmonization, there has been little progress in executing the legal fram...

  4. Changes in Policy and Market and Network Regulation to Increase Power Generation by Renewables and DG in the EU

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Oostvoorn, F.; Van der Welle, A.

    2009-01-01

    Recently the importance of 'Large scale DER integration' has increased as means to meet the ambitious 2020 EU policy objectives and targets for RES, emissions reductions and energy efficiency. Increasing the role of RES and DG (Renewable Energy Sources and Distributed Generation or DER) in supply is also highly beneficial for reducing EU dependency on gas and oil imports. In this EU context, it is important to review the current barriers, support policies and network regulation for integration of more DG, RES and small scale CHP (Combined Heat and Power) in the power systems. Several studies conducted for the EU and led by the ECN (Energy research Centre of the Netherlands) reveal that currently, in some, mainly new, Member States, the contribution of RES and DG is still very low. However, in coming decades the share of variable RES-E sources should become much larger in many EU countries. Note that 20% RES in a country in 2020 implies a share of electricity supply by RES of about 30% or more. Currently, countries like Denmark and Spain, already experience such a large contribution of (mostly intermittent type) renewables and this is already negatively impacting power system costs. Now the question arises whether or not we can increase the contribution of RES to the power supply beyond 20-30% without raising system inefficiency and what changes in system conditions and market and network regulation are necessary to efficiently absorb large volumes of so called intermittent RES supply resources. Based on findings from several large EU projects promoting the role of RES and DG in the power supply, the authors discuss and present the different barriers and solutions that should facilitate meeting the ambitious EU policy targets for RES in 2020

  5. EU-MOLDOVA TRADE RELATIONS: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF MOLDOVAN INDUSTRIES ON THE SINGLE MARKET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioana SANDU

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Engaging on the long road of implementing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU in 2010, Moldova is now closer than ever to being included in the most privileged category of the Eastern neighbouring countries - those who have chosen to deepen the European economic integration. The Vilnius Summit in November 2013 has reinforced the ‘more for more’ principle for both Moldova and Georgia by emphasizing, at the same time, the role of reactive measures and financial aid in counterbalancing aggressive trade barriers from non-EU states. Not only has Moldova proved to efficiently capitalize the provisions of the ATP agreement since 2008, but it has also consequently received more support from the EU in boosting exports to the single market. The wine industry was the first to benefit from the free-trade regime, as for the EU decision of eliminating quotas from the beginning of 2014. Nonetheless, the progressive liberalisation of trade flows between Moldova and the EU would finally oppose two asymmetric partners. Consequently, Moldova is facing the challenge of asserting its value on the EU market, by yet not undermining the relevance of other important trading partners nearby.

  6. The failure of intergovernmentalism in tackling the EU crisis and the European Parliament’s initiative

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Castaldi Roberto

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The EU is facing a multi-faceted, existential, crisis; it is an economic and social crisis in some countries, a political and cultural crisis all over the EU and a geopolitical crisis at the international level. National governments have taken the lead in the crisis management of the EU: the European Council has become the dominant institution and the intergovernmental method has come back into fashion. But intergovernmentalism has failed: since 2008 the crisis keeps getting worse. Intergovernmentalism is leading towards the EU’s disintegration. Among many voices to save the EU, it is interesting that the supranational institutions, and particularly the Parliament, are taking on themselves the responsibility to take the initiative and indicate a possible way forward for the Union.

  7. Reluctant to Learn? The Use of Evaluation to Improve EU Cohesion Policy Implementation in Polish and Spanish Regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wojtowicz, Dominika Maria; Kupiec, Tomasz

    2018-01-01

    For many European Union (EU) member states, the Cohesion Policy (CP) was the channel through which the practice of evaluation was transmitted into domestic administration. Studies have shown that the EU member countries differ in terms of their evaluation capacity and activity. None of those studies, however, addresses regional governments, which…

  8. Reproductive medicine and the law: egg donation in Germany, Spain and other European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romeo Casabona, Carlos María; Paslack, Rainer; Simon, Jörgen W

    2013-01-01

    This paper analyzes the key legal issues raised by Reproductive Medicine practiced in Europe, with special attention to the rules prevailing in countries such as Germany and Spain. Thus, the paper involves a detailed study of the regulation in force in those countries, comparing their solutions with the rules adopted in other EU countries. It also highlights the high risk of com-modification in oocyte donation. In light of this, the differences between the laws of EU countries -some of them, very restrictive with prohibitions or requirements for recipient women and others more permissive with the use of reproductive technologies- can lead to a "reproductive tourism" between countries, as indeed is happening nowadays.

  9. Recalls of microbiologically contaminated cosmetics in EU from 2005 to May 2008

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lundov, Michael Dyrgaard; Zachariae, Claus Otto Carl

    2008-01-01

    The Rapid Alert System for non-food consumer products in the EU (RAPEX) notifies each week the member countries on dangerous products sold in the EU. Microbiological contaminated cosmetics pose a potential health risk and are recalled from the market. This study investigated the number of recalled...... of contaminated cosmetic products could be two to three times higher in 2008 compared to 2007. The recalled products were manufactured in 17 different countries and only one company had more than one product recalled. It is important to keep monitoring the cosmetic products for contamination because an increasing...... microbiological contaminated cosmetics products in the RAPEX database from 2005 to until week 17 in 2008. A total of 173 cosmetic products were recalled in the period, 24 were contaminated and the most frequently found micro-organism was the pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It appears that the number...

  10. GETTING CLOSER TO EU STANDARDS - GEORGIA FISCAL GOVERNANCE ADJUSTMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David OBOLADZE

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available This study focuses on fiscal governance from the perspective of developing the public finance management of Georgia. The paper investigates the fiscal governance framework in European Union countries and examines the impact of fiscal rules and budget procedures in EU countries. Well-designed fiscal frameworks are generally associated with better budgetary outcomes in terms of deficit and debt control. Following a thorough investigation of the current stance of fiscal governance in Georgia, the paper analyses the main medium and long term perspectives for Georgia to approximate with EU fiscal governance. The main objective of this paper is to provide policy guidelines needed for the appropriate and necessary reforms to ensure comprehensive, coherent and consistent fiscal governance framework for Georgia, which will improve the performance of public finance management and national economy of Georgia.

  11. Inclusive Education in Progress: Policy Evolution in Four European Countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smyth, Fiona; Shevlin, Michael; Buchner, Tobias; Biewer, Gottfried; Flynn, Paula; Latimier, Camille; Šiška, Jan; Toboso-Martín, Mario; Rodríguez Díaz, Susana; Ferreira, Miguel A. V.

    2014-01-01

    This paper seeks to compare the evolution of inclusive education policy in the four countries of an EU-funded research project (QualiTYDES) operating under the shared policy environment of the UN, EU and European Commission. A shared policy cannot of course be assumed to result in common legislative or provisional outcomes at national level. The…

  12. The total neutron cross-sections of 151Eu, 153Eu and Eu below 1 eV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adib, M.; Maayouf, R.M.A.; Abdel-Kawy, A.; Ashry, A.; Hamouda, I.

    1981-01-01

    Total neutron cross-section measurements have been carried out for natural Eu and its stable isotopes in the energy range from 3 meV to 1 eV. The measurements were performed using two time-of-flight spectrometers installed in front of two of the horizontal channels of the ET-RR-1 reactor. The following results have been obtained: sigmasub(a) ( 151 Eu) = (9180 +- 150) b at 0.0253 eV, sigmasub(s) ( 153 Eu) = (375 +- 20) b at 0.0253 eV, sigmasub(d) (Eu) = (4600 +- 120) b at 0.0253 eV. The contribution of the resonance to the total neutron cross-sections, in the thermal region, was calculated using the single-level Breit-Wigner formula. (orig.)

  13. Myanmar seafood exports:Quick scan of the EU market potential

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pijl, van der W.; Duijn, van A.P.

    2012-01-01

    The Asian region is a major supplier of fish products to the European market. The aquaculture sector in a number of Asian countries has become an important producer as well as exporter of various captured and cultured seafood products. Since Myanmar is in a transition to democracy and the EU decided

  14. Cost effects of international trade in meeting EU renewable electricity targets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voogt, M.H.; Uyterlinde, M.A.

    2006-01-01

    The European market for renewable electricity received a major stimulus from the adoption of the Directive on the Promotion of Renewable Electricity. The Directive specifies the indicative targets for electricity supply from renewable energy sources (RES-E) to be reached in European Union (EU) Member States in the year 2010. It also requires Member States to certify the origin of their renewable electricity production. This article presents a first EU-wide quantitative evaluation of the effects of meeting the targets, using an EU-wide system for tradable green certificates (TGC). We calculate the equilibrium price of green certificates and identify which countries are likely to export or import certificates. Cost advantages of participating in such an EU-wide trading scheme are determined for each of the Member States. Moreover, we identify which choice of technologies results in meeting targets at least costs. Results are obtained from a model that quantifies the effects of achieving the RES-E targets in the EU with and without trade. The article provides a brief insight in this model as well as the methodology that was used to specify cost potential curves for renewable electricity in each of the 15 EU Member States. Model calculations show that within the EU-wide TGC system, the total production costs of the last option needed to satisfy the overall EU RES-E target equals 9.2 eurocent/kWh. Assuming that the production price of electricity on the European power market would equal 3 eurocent/kWh in the year 2010, the indicative green certificate price equals 6.2 eurocent/kWh. We conclude that implementation of an EU-wide TGC system is a cost-efficient way of stimulating renewable electricity supply

  15. The EU Rules on Labelling of Genetically Modified Foods: Mission accomplished?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Lars Bracht

    2010-01-01

    of GMO related content in a food product is in fact an appropriate measure to protect consumer interests. Furthermore, the EU labelling rules may prove to be a trade obstacle causing conflict in the EU’s trade relations with third countries. The labelling rules will most likely be considered a trade......In 2003 the EU adopted new rules regulating all aspects of placing genetically modified foods on the market. The rules significantly enhance the scope of the labelling requirement in an attempt to accommodate consumer demand, but it is debatable whether or not a labelling requirement in the case...

  16. The Promotion and Integration of Human Rights in EU External Trade Relations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samantha Velluti

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The European Union (EU has made the upholding of human rights an integral part of its external trade relations and requires that all trade, cooperation, partnership and association agreements with third countries, including unilateral trade instruments, contain with varying modalities and intensity a commitment to the respect for human rights. The paper discusses selected aspects of the EU’s promotion and integration of human rights in its external trade relations and assesses the impact of the changes introduced by the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon (ToL on EU practice.

  17. Comparative study on Climate Change Policies in the EU and China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bray, M.; Han, D.

    2012-04-01

    Both the EU and China are among the largest CO2 emitters in the world; their climate actions and policies have profound impacts on global climate change and may influence the activities in other countries. Evidence of climate change has been observed across Europe and China. Despite the many differences between the two regions, the European Commission and Chinese government support climate change actions. The EU has three priority areas in climate change: 1) understanding, monitoring and predicting climate change and its impact; 2) providing tools to analyse the effectiveness, cost and benefits of different policy options for mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts; 3) improving, demonstrating and deploying existing climate friendly technologies and developing the technologies of the future. China is very vulnerable to climate change, because of its vast population, fast economic development, and fragile ecological environment. The priority policies in China are: 1) Carbon Trading Policy; 2) Financing Loan Policy (Special Funds for Renewable Energy Development); 3) Energy Efficiency Labelling Policy; 4) Subsidy Policy. In addition, China has formulated the "Energy Conservation Law", "Renewable Energy Law", "Cleaner Production Promotion Law" and "Circular Economy Promotion Law". Under the present EU Framework Programme FP7 there is a large number of funded research activities linked to climate change research. Current climate change research projects concentrate on the carbon cycle, water quality and availability, climate change predictors, predicting future climate and understanding past climates. Climate change-related scientific and technological projects in China are mostly carried out through national scientific and technological research programs. Areas under investigation include projections and impact of global climate change, the future trends of living environment change in China, countermeasures and supporting technologies of global

  18. Sustainable development outlooks of the Estonian energy sector for convergence with the European Union countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laur, Anton; Tenno, Koidu; Soosaar, Sulev

    2002-01-01

    The article presents an overview of a research conducted in the Estonian Inst. of Economics and the Estonian Energy Research Inst. with the objectives to: analyse the dynamics of the main Estonian energy use indicators over the last 8-10 years with the background of general macroeconomics developments; compare these indicators with the respective energy indicators in the European Union Member States and Candidate Countries; evaluate Estonia's potential to catch up by the energy use efficiency (GDP energy intensity) of the average level of EU countries, modelling our possible development scenarios of GDP and TPES. The research results indicates several positive development tendencies (e.g. reduction of TPES and CO 2 emissions with the background of economic growth) in the Estonian energy sector, as well as convergence with the EU countries in terms of GDP energy intensity. Unfortunately, the model analysis results demonstrate that it takes a lot of time for Estonia to reach the current EU level - even under the most favourable GDP and TPES development conditions, 25-30 years. The primary reason is the very low level of our GDP per capita compared to the EU countries. (author)

  19. Differences in the progress of the biopesticide revolution between the EU and other major crop-growing regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balog, Adalbert; Hartel, Tibor; Loxdale, Hugh D; Wilson, Kenneth

    2017-11-01

    The five-year value in the compound annual growth rate of the biopesticides sector is predicted to be 16% by 2017 and to produce a global market worth $US 10 billion. Despite this, several impediments occur within the EU that negatively affect biopesticide research and innovation. At present, there are fewer biopesticide-active substances registered in the EU compared with the United States, India, Brazil and China. The relatively low level of biopesticide research in the EU (6880 ISI papers) versus the United States (18 839), India (9501) and China (7875) relates to the greater complexity of EU-based biopesticide regulations compared with these other countries. In this light, it is worth noting that tensions may exist between regulators that emphasise the beneficial nature of biopesticides in environmentally friendly crop management and those that adopt a more technologically based approach dependent on a chemical-pesticide-driven model. Compared with the other aforementioned countries, far fewer biopesticide products are available in the EU market, mainly as a direct result of the severe regulatory factors present there. The extent to which this trend will continue depends largely on a range of interacting political and/or regulatory decisions that influence environmentally friendly agricultural industries. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

  20. The Political Business Cycles of EU Accession Countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M. Hallerberg; L. Vinhas de Souza

    2000-01-01

    textabstractThis paper considers whether political business cycles exist in Eastern European accession countries. Section I introduces the overall objectives of the work. Section II provides a short introduction to the political business cycle literature. It also considers the role of exchange

  1. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EU AND RUSSIA: SYMBIOSIS OR COMPETITION?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ligia Corduneanu

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Cooperation and trust between Russia and the European Union (EU, two of the most important international actors, have reached the lowest level since the Cold War. The main bone of contention has been the future of countries situated in Eastern Europe, in the so-called ‘in-between’/’buffer’ region. On the one hand, the EU aims at strengthening links with the six Eastern European partners – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine – by encouraging reforms and by luring them to embrace European core values. However, Russia’s counteractions have mitigated the EU’s plans towards its vicinity - as the case of Ukraine best points out. Apart from the geopolitical competition over the ‘shared’ neighbourhood, the EU-Russia relation has started to depend heavily on the energy issues further complicating the already complex background. Russia uses the energy card as tool to influence the shape of the regional context, whereas the EU responds with a superior technological advantage and a more attractive economic and political agenda. Having this a backdrop, this paper aims to underline that a clear competition between the two players exists, fomented by a fundamental ideological difference in perceiving the outside world.

  2. AN ANALYSIS OF FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION IN SERBIA IN THE CONTEXT OF EU COMPETITIVENESS

    OpenAIRE

    Sanja Popovic Pantic

    2014-01-01

    In economies that are led by innovation, innovativeness and competitiveness are interdependent. If an enterprise and/or economy is competitive in the market it will likely have a high level of innovation management, harmonized with EU standards. A variety of different methodologies is used to assess the innovation capacities of small and medium sized companies, but IMPіrove methodology is widespread in EU countries. It is a benchmarking process which gives,...

  3. PUBLIC DEBT SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS: EU CASE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Botoc Claudiu

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The global crisis has caused a serious fiscal deterioration that leaves the world economy with serious challenges. In many developed markets as well as in a few emerging markets (Emerging markets public finances have already become, or are at least at risk of becoming, unsustainable. Commonly, public debt sustainability is defined as a sovereign's ability to service debt without large adjustments to public revenue and/or expenditure and without ever-increasing public-debt-to-GDP ratios. Hence, this definition refers to both a country's ability and willingness to repay its debt. We also have to add the fact that there isn`t an universal accepted definition of fiscal or debt sustainability. In light of the growing public debt, the issue of debt sustainability has increasingly attracted attention. In this paper we analyse public debt sustainability scenario in EU economies. At least half of the EU countries will have to implement stringent fiscal consolidation programmes over the next few years in order to prevent already high public-debt-to-GDP ratios from a further significant rise, also the case of Romania. However, drastic fiscal policy adjustment may be not feasible in the short term and hence public debt is likely to grow further. In some scenarios the public-debt-to-GDP ratio is predicted to soar to 133% in 2020, from just over 100% in 2010. By contrast, nearly all EM countries, including major economies, appear to be well positioned to stabilise or even outgrow their current debt ratios without drastic fiscal adjustment. Institutional improvements may help European countries to maintain fiscal credibility. In light of the future fiscal challenges, many European governments may introduce new or more effective national debt limits, similar to those put in place in the past with good results by some Emerging markets. Such institutional reforms could help to insulate fiscal policies from political pressure and to anchor financial market

  4. The Competitiveness of Exports from Manufacturing Industries in Croatia and Slovenia to the EU-15 Market: A Dynamic Panel Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nebojša Stojčić

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available It is often stated that the growth prospects of nations are closely related to patterns of competitiveness exercised by their firms and industries in the international market. Building on foundations of endogenous growth and new trade theories academics and policy-makers postulate that quality-driven competitiveness bears higher growth potential than the ability to compete in terms of prices. The transition of Central and Eastern European Countries has been characterised by movement from the latter towards the former pattern of competitiveness. This process was facilitated by the transfer of knowledge and skills through the outsourcing of production from their most important trading partners, the West European members of the European Union (EU-15 countries, which paved the way for the development of intra-industry trade. This paper explores the competitiveness of manufacturing industries from Croatia and Slovenia in the EU-15 market. Using dynamic panel analysis we find that between 2002 and 2007 producers from the two countries followed different patterns of competitiveness. While in Slovenia the quality of exports is the main determinant of EU-15 market share, the competitiveness of Croatian producers still depends on their labour costs. We also find a strong impact of intra-industry trade on the competiveness of industries from the two countries in the EU-15 market.

  5. EuCARD 2010 Accelerator Technology in Europe

    CERN Document Server

    Romaniuk, R S

    2010-01-01

    Accelerators are basic tools of the experimental physics of elementary particles, nuclear physics, light sources of the fourth generation. They are also used in myriad other applications in research, industry and medicine. For example, there are intensely developed transmutation techniques for nuclear waste from nuclear power and atomic industries. The European Union invests in the development of accelerator infrastructures inside the framework programs to build the European Research Area. The aim is to build new infrastructure, develop the existing, and generally make the infrastructure available to competent users. The paper summarizes the first year of activities of the EU FP7 Project Capacities EuCARD –European Coordination of Accelerator R&D. Several teams from this country participate actively in this project. The contribution from Polish research teams concerns: photonic and electronic measurement – control systems, RF-gun co-design, thin-film superconducting technology, superconducting transpo...

  6. Synthesis and tunable luminescent properties of Eu-doped Ca2NaSiO4F – Coexistence of the Eu2+ and Eu3+ centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mubiao Xie

    Full Text Available Novel phosphors Ca2NaSiO4F:Eu were synthesized successfully by the conventional solid-state method in CO atmosphere, and their spectroscopic properties in UV−vis region were investigated. The photoluminescence properties show that Eu3+ ions were partially reduced to Eu2+ in Ca2NaSiO4F. As a result of radiation and re-absorption energy transfer from Eu2+ to Eu3+, both Eu2+ bluish-green emission at around 520 nm and Eu3+ red emission are observed in the emission spectra under the n-UV light excitation. Furthermore, the ratio between Eu2+ and Eu3+ emissions varies with increasing content of overall Eu. Because relative intensity of the red component from Eu3+ became systematically stronger, white light emission can be realized by combining the emission of Eu2+ and Eu3+ in a single host lattice under n-UV light excitation. These results indicate that the Ca2NaSiO4F:Eu phosphors have potential applications as a n-UV convertible phosphor for light-emitting diodes. Keywords: Phosphors, Luminescence, White LED, Optical materials

  7. EuPA achieves visibility - an activity report on the first three years

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dunn, M J; Gil, C; Kleinhammer, C

    2008-01-01

    to biological and industrial researchers, the general public and science policy makers in Europe. In addition, the EuPA set out to promote scientific exchange for all applications and technology development related to Proteomics, and coordinate joint activities of national Proteomics societies at the European...... the national Proteomics organizations in their efforts; ii) to co-ordinate and provide educational programs, and iii) to advance the networking of scientists through meetings, workshops and student exchange. Linked to the mission were objectives to emphasise the benefits and contributions of Proteomics...... level. To achieve these tasks an organisational structure was conceived whereby four Activity Committees (Conferences/Communications, Education, EuPA-HUPO-Interactions and Funding) were implemented and a General Council consisting of all member countries. The remarkable rise and progress the EuPA has...

  8. The European Climate Change Programme. EU Action against Climate Change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-01-01

    The European Union has long been committed to international efforts to tackle climate change and felt the duty to set an example through robust policy-making at home. At European level a comprehensive package of policy measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been initiated through the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP). Each of the 25 EU Member States has also put in place its own domestic actions that build on the ECCP measures or complement them. The European Commission established the ECCP in 2000 to help identify the most environmentally effective and most cost-effective policies and measures that can be taken at European level to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The immediate goal is to help ensure that the EU meets its target for reducing emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. This requires the 15 countries that were EU members before 2004 to cut their combined emissions of greenhouse gases to 8% below the 1990 level by 2012

  9. ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimpe, Christoph

    between the national priorities and the structural challenges, highlighting the latest developments, their dynamics and impact in the overall national context. They further analyse and assess the ability of the policy mix in place to consistently and efficiently tackle these challenges. These reports were......This analytical country report is one of a series of annual ERAWATCH reports produced for EU Member States and Countries Associated to the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Union (FP7). The main objective of the ERAWATCH Annual Country Reports is to characterise and assess...... the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. The Country Report 2012 builds on and updates the 2011 edition. The report identifies the structural challenges of the national research and innovation system and assesses the match...

  10. The Economic Determinants of Bioenergy Trade Intensity in the EU-28: A Co-Integration Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohd Alsaleh

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the dynamic effect of the economic determinants on bilateral trade intensity of the European Union (EU region’s bioenergy industry outputs. The authors adopt the panel co-integration model approach to estimate annual trade intensity data of the EU-28 countries’ bioenergy industry outputs from 1990 to 2013. This study investigated the long-term influence of the rate of real exchange, gross domestic product (GDP, and export price on the trade intensity of bioenergy industry applying fully modified oriented least square (FMOLS, dummy oriented least square (DOLS, and pooled mean group (PMG models. In the current study, the findings boost the empirical validity of the panel co-integration model through FMOLS, indicating that depreciation has improved the trade intensity. This study has further investigated, through the causality test, a distinct set of countries. FMOLS estimation does find proof of the long run improvement of trade intensity. Thus, the result shows that the gross domestic product (GDP and the real exchange rate have a positive and noteworthy influence on the EU-28 region trade intensity of the bioenergy industry. Moreover, the export price affects negatively and significantly the trade intensity of the bioenergy industry in the EU-28 countries.

  11. Strategic neighbourhood: EU-Europe versus EU-East

    OpenAIRE

    Rahr, Alexander

    2004-01-01

    "Russia and the EU are the strongest actors on the European continent of the 21st century. Will the strategic partnership between the EU and Russia unite the entire continent under a 'common European home' or will the continent be split in two? Russia joining the rest of Europe is set to proceed initially through the Energy Alliance." (author's abstract)

  12. Can Sweden be forced to manage nuclear waste from other countries?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergstroem, Ulf; Lindgren, Jonas; Nordfors, Lennart; Hallerby, Christer

    2005-06-01

    This report tries to answer two questions: Can Sweden, through supranational decisions, be forced to dispose of other nations nuclear waste within its own borders? and How can a Swedish stakeholder follow and influence EU-agendas, in particular concerning nuclear waste? Sometimes it has been argued that, through the EU-membership, Sweden could be forced to accept foreign radioactive waste for disposal in Sweden. However, the Swedish Nuclear Technology Act clearly states that license for final disposal spent nuclear fuels can not be given for fuel from another country than Sweden. At the Swedish EU entry it was found that the national legislation were compatible with the EU regulations, and as a consequence waste from foreign nuclear plants can not be disposed of in Sweden, even if the plant is owned by a Swedish company. Other conclusions in the report are: The system for decision making in EU is complex and slow and must be supported by supranational and international organs. The process is complex, but offers many opportunities for following-up and influencing. The risk for anything happening 'over-night' in the radioactive waste question is minimal. The issue of regulating radioactive waste management in a supranational way, i.e. by forcing a country to accept wastes from another country is not on the agenda. The Euratom treaty is interpreted in the way that such decision can not be made. The international discussions about regional repositories build upon voluntary agreements. Scenarios leading to coersive legislation are judged to be politically unrealistic - and needing important changes to be realised

  13. The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of screening for active tuberculosis among migrants in the EU/EEA: a systematic review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenaway, Christina; Pareek, Manish; Abou Chakra, Claire-Nour; Walji, Moneeza; Makarenko, Iuliia; Alabdulkarim, Balqis; Hogan, Catherine; McConnell, Ted; Scarfo, Brittany; Christensen, Robin; Tran, Anh; Rowbotham, Nick; Noori, Teymur; van der Werf, Marieke J; Pottie, Kevin; Matteelli, Alberto; Zenner, Dominik; Morton, Rachael L

    2018-01-01

    Background : The foreign-born population make up an increasing and large proportion of tuberculosis (TB) cases in European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) low-incidence countries and challenge TB elimination efforts. Methods : We conducted a systematic review to determine effectiveness (yield and performance of chest radiography (CXR) to detect active TB, treatment outcomes and acceptance of screening) and a second systematic review on cost-effectiveness of screening for active TB among migrants living in the EU/EEA. Results : We identified six systematic reviews, one report and three individual studies that addressed our aims. CXR was highly sensitive (98%) but only moderately specific (75%). The yield of detecting active TB with CXR screening among migrants was 350 per 100,000 population overall but ranged widely by host country (110–2,340), migrant type (170–1,192), TB incidence in source country (19–336) and screening setting (220–1,720). The CXR yield was lower (19.6 vs 336/100,000) and the numbers needed to screen were higher (5,076 vs 298) among migrants from source countries with lower TB incidence (≤ 50 compared with ≥ 350/100,000). Cost-effectiveness was highest among migrants originating from high (> 120/100,000) TB incidence countries. The foreign-born had similar or better TB treatment outcomes than those born in the EU/EEA. Acceptance of CXR screening was high (85%) among migrants. Discussion: Screening programmes for active TB are most efficient when targeting migrants from higher TB incidence countries. The limited number of studies identified and the heterogeneous evidence highlight the need for further data to inform screening programmes for migrants in the EU/EEA. PMID:29637888

  14. The impact and efficiency of public administration excellence on fostering SMEs in EU countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksander Aristovnik

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The article investigates the impact and efficiency of bureaucracy on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs in the European Union (EU. For this purpose, the article applies a non-parametric approach, i.e. data envelopment analysis (DEA, to assess the best performers in terms of transforming existing bureaucratic burdens into selected SME indicators, such as growth in their numbers, employment or value added in the 2010-2014 period. The empirical results show that Luxembourg, Sweden and, in particular, the Baltic States can serve as a good benchmark for transforming a relatively favourable environment of public administration excellence into SME indicator growth. On the other hand, Denmark and the UK, despite their top ease-of-doing-business rankings could not significantly spur SME growth in the considered period. Nevertheless, the main goal for the large majority of EU member states, especially in South-east Europe and the Mediterranean region, remains a further reduction of bureaucracy that could be useful for improving the regulatory environment of SMEs and thus aid in an even more rapid recovery from the crisis.

  15. Rebalancing EU Interest Representation? Assocative Democracy and EU funding of Civil Society Organizations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sanchez Salgado, R.

    2014-01-01

    European Union (EU) funding of civil society organizations (CSOs) is a substantial and important part of EU governance, but study of such funding is scarce and theoretically underdeveloped. To fill this gap, this article analyzes the main features of EU funding of CSOs and its effects on the EU

  16. Report on nuclear safety in EU applicant countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-03-01

    Nuclear safety in the candidate countries to the European Union is a major issue which needs to be addressed in the frame of the enlargement process. The Heads of the nuclear safety Regulatory Bodies of the European Union member states having nuclear power plants, i.e. Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom thought it was their duty to offer their assistance to the European Union institutions at a moment when the expansion of the Union is being considered. As a consequence, they decided to issue a report giving their collective opinion on nuclear safety in those applicant countries having at least one nuclear power reactor (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia) and covering: the status of the regulatory regime and regulatory body and the nuclear power plant safety status. This report is based on the knowledge they gained through multilateral assistance programmes, in particular the Phare programmes, and also through bilateral contacts. It must be stressed that in some cases, they recognised that their current knowledge was not sufficient to express a clear and exhaustive opinion. Also, it should be pointed out that the judgements are based on widely applied Western European design standards for the defence-in-depth and associated barriers. Quantitative comparisons of Probabilistic Safety Assessments have not been used as the available results are of widely different depth and quality. They also recognised that such a report could only present the situation at a given moment and they intend to periodically update it so as to reflect the changes which may occur in these countries. At this stage, the report does not cover radioactive waste or radiation protection issues in any detail. After they had taken the decision to issue this report, they decided to create an association, the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) in order to increase the co

  17. Report on nuclear safety in EU applicant countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-03-01

    Nuclear safety in the candidate countries to the European Union is a major issue which needs to be addressed in the frame of the enlargement process. The Heads of the nuclear safety Regulatory Bodies of the European Union member states having nuclear power plants, i.e. Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom thought it was their duty to offer their assistance to the European Union institutions at a moment when the expansion of the Union is being considered. As a consequence, they decided to issue a report giving their collective opinion on nuclear safety in those applicant countries having at least one nuclear power reactor (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia) and covering: the status of the regulatory regime and regulatory body and the nuclear power plant safety status. This report is based on the knowledge they gained through multilateral assistance programmes, in particular the Phare programmes, and also through bilateral contacts. It must be stressed that in some cases, they recognised that their current knowledge was not sufficient to express a clear and exhaustive opinion. Also, it should be pointed out that the judgements are based on widely applied Western European design standards for the defence-in-depth and associated barriers. Quantitative comparisons of Probabilistic Safety Assessments have not been used as the available results are of widely different depth and quality. They also recognised that such a report could only present the situation at a given moment and they intend to periodically update it so as to reflect the changes which may occur in these countries. At this stage, the report does not cover radioactive waste or radiation protection issues in any detail. After they had taken the decision to issue this report, they decided to create an association, the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) in order to increase the co

  18. The effects of Eu-concentrations on the luminescent properties of SrF{sub 2}:Eu nanophosphor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yagoub, M.Y.A.; Swart, H.C.; Noto, L.L. [Department of Physics, University of the Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein ZA9300 (South Africa); O’Connel, J.H.; Lee, M.E. [Department of Physics and Centre for HRTEM, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, PO Box 77000, Port Elizabeth ZA6031 (South Africa); Coetsee, E., E-mail: CoetseeE@ufs.ac.za [Department of Physics, University of the Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein ZA9300 (South Africa)

    2014-12-15

    SrF{sub 2}:Eu nanophosphors were successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The structure of the nanophosphors was investigated with x-ray diffraction. The average crystallite size calculated using the Scherrer equation was in the range of 7.0 nm. The photoluminescence of Eu doped as-prepared SrF{sub 2} nanophosphors were studied using different excitation sources. The samples showed emission from both the Eu oxidation states, Eu{sup 2+} and Eu{sup 3+}. At low Eu concentrations the emission from Eu{sup 2+} centered at 416 nm was more dominant. While the narrow band of Eu{sup 3+} emission intensity increased with an increase in the Eu concentration. High resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicated that the Eu was indeed in both Eu{sup 2+} and Eu{sup 3+} valance states. The presence of Eu{sup 2+} and Eu{sup 3+} in the system largely enhanced the response of the Eu{sup 3+} under ultraviolet excitation. The time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry results suggested that the energy transfer between two ions was likely to occur. The relative photoluminescence intensity of the Eu{sup 2+} rapidly decreased with an increasing laser beam irradiating time. This result would make the current Eu{sup 2+} doped SrF{sub 2} samples unsuitable candidates for several applications, such as white light-emitting diodes and wavelength conversion films for silicon photovoltaic cells. - Highlights: • SrF{sub 2}: Eu nanophosphors were successfully synthesised (hydrothermal technique). • PL and XPS results showed enhanced absorption response of Eu{sup 3+} UV excitation. • Eu concentrations more than 5 mol% improved fluorescence emission. • TOF-SIMS results suggested that the energy transfer from Eu{sup 2+} to Eu{sup 3+} is dominant.

  19. High‐Tech Export from the V4 Countries – Structure and Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judyta Lubacha-Sember

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to verify the relation between the value of high‐tech export and the value of intellectual capital assets. At the first stage of the study, an analysis of the value and structure of high‐tech export in the V4 countries was performed. At the second stage, the Synthetic Intellectual Capital Asset Index (ICA was calculated using the Perkal index. At the last stage, in order to examine the relation between the value of high‐tech export and the value of intellectual capital assets, an estimation of panel models for selected variables was performed. The results of analysis show that the value of high‐tech export from the V4 countries varies, and the V4 countries score lower in the ranking of EU countries arranged by the value of ICA is than in the ranking of EU countries arranged by the value of high‐tech export. The  relation  between  the  value  of  high‐tech export and the value of ICA was negative for the V4 countries, but models created with the data for all EU countries showed a positive correlation. Identify the causes of such a situation could be very valuable.  Linking  intellectual  capital  assets to  the  high‐tech export could be helpful to find the sources of the high level of exports in this sector.

  20. Die Baltischen handels-beziehungen mit Russland: Pfadabhängigkeiten trotz EU-Integration? Challenging the Baltic states trade relations with Russia: caught in path dependencies?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klaus Schrader

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Against the backdrop of the lingering Ukraine crisis, Russia retaliated against the EU sanctions imposed on selected Russian enterprises and representatives by boycotting import goods from European and North American suppliers. Russian politicians further threatened to restrict the export of raw materials, especially natural gas, provided that the EU-Russia relations further worsen and sanctions gather momen-tum. Hence, the paper deals with the question to what extent the EU economies Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are vulnerable to Russian reprisals and would experience comparatively high costs of the EU sanction policy. The focus of the analysis is on the Baltic States’ trade relations with Russia because these countries were integrated in the Soviet division of labor before regaining independence. It is analyzed whether path dependencies in Baltic trade patterns still exist that could make Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania more vulnerable to political blackmail than other EU countries.

  1. AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW TO THE TAX EVASION: THE EFFECT OF TAX MORALE ON PAYING TAXES IN MACEDONIA AND EU COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maja Ristovska

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available In the last couple of years there is a growing literature and evidence suggesting that enforcement efforts alone cannot achieve significant increase of tax compliance. This literature links the willingness of citizens to pay taxes with the social values and norms, i.e. to the tax morale. If correct, the optimal government policies to tackle the tax evasion might defer considerably from the common ones. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate factors that shape the tax morale of Macedonian citizens, and to provide a comparative assessment with the EU countries. Our empirical investigation is based on the work of Frey and Torgler (2007, through estimating an ordered probit model in which the dependent variable is the tax morale, and is regressed on a number of independent variables, age, gender, marital status, education, national pride, trust in institutions, happiness, life satisfaction, etc. Data for our study are from the fourth wave (2008 of the European Values Survey. Our main finding is that contrary to other studies for the European countries, the non-demographic factors are more important factors influencing tax morale in Macedonia than the demographic ones. The main contribution of this study is that it is the first attempt in our knowledge to investigate the factors driving the tax morale in Macedonia.

  2. Testing popular VaR models in EU new member and candidate states

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saša Žiković

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available The impact of allowing banks to calculate their capital requirement based on their internal VaR models, and the impact of regulation changes on banks in transitional countries has not been well studied. This paper examines whether VaR models that are created and suited for developed markets apply to the volatile stock markets of EU new member and candidate states (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey. Nine popular VaR models are tested on five stock indexes from EU new member and candidate states. Backtesting results show that VaR models commonly used in developed stock markets are not well suited for measuring market risk in these markets. Presented findings bear very important implications that have to be addressed by regulators and risk practitioners operating in EU new member andcandidate states. Risk managers have to start thinking outside the frames set by their parent companies or else investors present in these markets may find themselves in serious trouble, dealing with losses that they have not been expecting. National regulators have to take into consideration that simplistic VaR models that are widely used in some developed countries are not well suited for these illiquid and developing stock markets.

  3. THE FISCAL PRESSURE IN THE EU MEMBER STATES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DOBROTĂ GABRIELA

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available The development of an economy is determined in a significant proportion by the tax system structure, by how it exercises its functions and ensures the collection of state resources. A high tax efficiency, due to the acceptability of tax provisions are the ideal conditions of any tax system. In this context, it is obvious that most tax systems have undergone significant changes under the impact of the action of a complex system of factors. Increased need for resources in various countries was reflected in attempts to identify the relationship that allows both the securing of the necessary funds and their economic and social development. The quantification of the fiscal pressure on the EU member states show a wide range of tax rates. This paper makes a comparative analysis of the degree of taxation in the EU member states.

  4. Brussels without Muscles? Exploring the EU's Management of its Gas Relationship with Russia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harriman, David

    2010-03-01

    In many respects, the EU is a strong player on the world stage, for example, in trade, climate change issues and crisis management. In its relationship with Russia over gas supply, however, the EU's political capacity remains limited. Part of the problem lies in the lack of EU unity, but this is more a symptom than an actual cause. A key explanation is the interplay between external and internal factors. The external factors - that is the EU's and Russia's conflicting interests and the structure of the political system - reinforce the EU's internal problems. This is an effect of that the gas issue falls under different policy areas (energy, foreign relations and security policy) within which the European Commission and the member states have different responsibilities. Another problem is that energy is the Commission's responsibility, but the real competence lies with the member states. The current multipolar structure of European politics reduces the scope for cooperation that favours the EU as a whole - in this case its energy security. The fact that the Commission and member states, and the member states among themselves, have different views on energy policy vis-a-vis Russia exacerbates these circumstances. Other key factors are the lack of transparency and competition in the gas sector (which suits both the Russian company Gazprom and large EU companies) and the unbalanced dependence of EU countries on Russian gas. Relations between France, Germany and Russia are also important. Germany and France are key players for the EU's energy security, and their support for the gas pipeline Nord Stream, their resistance to unbundling in the gas sector and their relatively warm relations with Russia have not strengthened the EU's position in its gas relationship with Russia. Besides, the Lisbon Treaty increases France's and Germany's powers inside the EU. Combined with the conflicting interests of the EU nd Russia, the structure of European politics, and different views

  5. Potential gains from CO2 trading in the EU

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard; Vesterdal, Morten

    2003-01-01

    A new Green Paper from the European Commission on emissions trading foresees the setting-up of a CO2 trading system within the EU for the energy sector. Because any such international environmental agreement is self-enforcing, the participants must have an economic net gain from joining the propo......A new Green Paper from the European Commission on emissions trading foresees the setting-up of a CO2 trading system within the EU for the energy sector. Because any such international environmental agreement is self-enforcing, the participants must have an economic net gain from joining...... the proposed system. Our contribution is therefore to follow the Green Paper proposal and investigate whether member countries and the largest industrial boilers in the electricity sector actually will get significant net gains from CO2 trade in the European Union rather than undertaking domestic actions...... solely. We show, based on PRIMES model, that a full CO2 emission trading system between Annex B countries suggest overall cost savings in the order of 40 % compared to a situation with no trading at all between Member States. A tradable CO2 permit scheme with comprehensive coverage of emissions within...

  6. Competitiveness of Serbia and Macedonia and the accession to the EU in a time of crisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lazić Biljana

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The elapsed global economic and financial crisis has caused economic instability around the world and the consequences of crisis will be manifested in different forms for a long time. Destructive power of crisis has not bypassed developed countries that due to previous economic stability and financial strength managed to overcome the crisis waves quickly. However, for developing countries that are still economically unstable and financially very weak the crisis can indeed be fatal. The destruction of the domestic economy, the slowdown of economic trends, the decline in the standards of the population, the growth of external debt, constant inflation threats are just some of many effects of the crisis faced by Serbia and Macedonia. These republics of the former Yugoslavia in addition have shared history, similar institutional design and economic and political environment, and they have the same status in the EU accession process and similar levels of economic competitiveness. Following achieved levels of global and individual competitiveness of Serbia and Macedonia in the past five years, it will be explained how the crisis affected their key pillars of competitiveness, in which period the worst results were achieved and when the recovery and noticeable improvement began. Constant efforts to improve the competitiveness of these countries will provide faster and more efficient treatment of the effects of the crisis while intensifying their relations with the EU. The primary aim of this paper is to prove the existence of relations between the achieved level of competitiveness and the current EU status of analyzed countries while highlighting the fact that the enhancement of national competitiveness, fostering relations with the EU and the acceleration of the accession process also represent a primary weapon in the continuation of struggle with the consequences of the crisis.

  7. COMPARATIVE STUDY ON INDIRECT TAXES AT EU LEVEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HARALAMBIE GEORGE ALIN

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The economic downturn, affecting lately the states all over the world, imposed their governments to take measures in fiscal and budget plan in order to reduce the budget deficit, by reducing spending and increasing the revenue mobilized to the budget, especially tax revenues, by increasing the tax burden both for the individuals and legal entities. Reforming the tax system at European level involved widening the tax base both for the income earned by individual taxpayers and those made by companies to the detriment of effective tax rates increase. The share in GDP of mandatory levies is uneven across the EU. In the year 2012, it range from 30% in Lithuania with 50% to Denmark. Fiscal consolidation in the member states aimed reforms in the field of indirect taxation (by increasing VAT- 1% for the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Poland and Finland to 7% in Hungary with 5%, Romania, 4%, excise duties and environmental taxes and a downward trend in the rate of taxation in the case of direct taxes through progressive taxation of personal income, which led to increased revenue due compulsory levies in most countries of the European Union. 13 EU countries have acted to increase the VAT rate between 2010-2014.

  8. The EU(7)-PIM list: a list of potentially inappropriate medications for older people consented by experts from seven European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renom-Guiteras, Anna; Meyer, Gabriele; Thürmann, Petra A

    2015-07-01

    The aim of the study was to develop a European list of potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) for older people, which can be used for the analysis and comparison of prescribing patterns across European countries and for clinical practice. A preliminary PIM list was developed, based on the German PRISCUS list of potentially inappropriate medications and other PIM lists from the USA, Canada and France. Thirty experts on geriatric prescribing from Estonia, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden participated; eight experts performed a structured expansion of the list, suggesting further medications; twenty-seven experts participated in a two-round Delphi survey assessing the appropriateness of drugs and suggesting dose adjustments and therapeutic alternatives. Finally, twelve experts completed a brief final survey to decide upon issues requiring further consensus. Experts reached a consensus that 282 chemical substances or drug classes from 34 therapeutic groups are PIM for older people; some PIM are restricted to a certain dose or duration of use. The PIM list contains suggestions for dose adjustments and therapeutic alternatives. The European Union (EU)(7)-PIM list is a screening tool, developed with participation of experts from seven European countries, that allows identification and comparison of PIM prescribing patterns for older people across European countries. It can also be used as a guide in clinical practice, although it does not substitute the decision-making process of individualised prescribing for older people. Further research is needed to investigate the feasibility and applicability and, finally, the clinical benefits of the newly developed list.

  9. Extended Challenges for the EU's Climate and Energy Policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haslauer, F.

    2015-01-01

    Market-driven climate and energy policies are far more effective than regulation-driven policies. It is time for the EU to rethink its energy strategy. The world is in the throes of a global energy transition as countries seek to meet rising demand by fundamentally changing their energy sectors. Global energy demand is expected to increase by 1.4 percent through 2030, with demand for electricity (a renewable) rising by more than 2 percent during this time period. The European Union has been front and center in this energy transition, seeking to meet three climate and energy targets by 2020: (1) reduce CO2 emissions, (2) increase renewables, and (3) become more energy efficient. Most countries are on track to meet the first two targets but meeting the third one has proved to be more difficult. This is largely because there is no single European power market. Energy policies and regulations are still driven by individual nations. If this continues, the EU energy transition will be costly - prices will shoot up and global competitiveness will suffer. It's time for the EU to work as one large entity and adopt market-driven policies. The advantages include a smoother energy transition in a growing economy, ability to leverage size for more competitive energy costs, and lower prices for consumers. In an ideal scenario, there is one overriding EU target for reducing CO2 emissions, and then the other two - renewables and energy efficiency - act as levers to meet that target. Essentially, the market decides which solutions are the most efficient. A market-driven energy strategy is funded from a CO2-emissions certificate market - to send the right price signals - or a CO2 tax to allocate costs to CO2 emissions. Rather than concentrating funds on feed in tariffs, funds are geared toward improving energy efficiency, research and development of renewables and running pilot programs. In this way, the EU 'incentivizes' innovation and funding is far less than what

  10. Total neutron cross-sections of /sup 151/Eu, /sup 153/Eu and Eu below 1 eV

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adib, M.; Maayouf, R.M.A.; Abdel-Kawy, A.; Ashry, A.; Hamouda, I.

    1981-01-01

    Total neutron cross-section measurements have been carried out for natural Eu and its stable isotopes in the energy range from 3 meV to 1 eV. The measurements were performed using two time-of-flight spectrometers installed in front of two of the horizontal channels of the ET-RR-1 reactor. The following results have been obtained: sigmasub(a) (/sup 151/Eu) = (9180 +- 150) b at 0.0253 eV, sigmasub(s) (/sup 153/Eu) = (375 +- 20) b at 0.0253 eV, sigmasub(d) (Eu) = (4600 +- 120) b at 0.0253 eV. The contribution of the resonance to the total neutron cross-sections, in the thermal region, was calculated using the single-level Breit-Wigner formula.

  11. Macroeconomic sources of foreign exchange risk in new EU members

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kočenda, Evžen; Poghosyan, T.

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 33, č. 11 (2009), s. 2164-2173 ISSN 0378-4266 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA402/08/1376; GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:MSM0021620846 Keywords : foreign exchange risk * time-varying risk premium * Stochastic discount factor * new EU member countries Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.908, year: 2009

  12. Potentials for export of fresh raspberries from Serbia to EU fresh markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nikolić Ivan

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to present potentials of the most significant EU national markets for imports of fresh raspberries from Serbia. We carried out analysis of three markets with highest trade deficit of fresh raspberries expressed in quantities: Germany, Netherlands and Austria. The paper further analyses production and foreign trade trends in selected countries. According to results of this analysis, we identified monthly periods with highest potential for exports of fresh raspberries from Serbia to target markets. The paper also analyses wholesale prices of fresh raspberries and EU policy of direct support to raspberry producers.

  13. The Long-Term Prospects of Biofuels in the EU-15 Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reinhard Haas

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The core objective of this paper is to analyze the energy and CO2 reduction potentials as well as the market prospects of biofuels in EU-15 in a dynamic framework till 2050. The most important result of this analysis is that 2nd generation biofuels might become economically competitive between 2020 and 2030, yet this can only be achieved if the following preconditions are fulfilled: (1 achievement of significant learning effects leading to considerably lower plant costs; (2 significant improvement of conversion efficiency from feedstock to fuel leading to lower feedstock costs and better ecological performance; (3 increases in conventional diesel and gasoline prices, e.g., due to CO2 based taxes.

  14. Quantification of pesticides used in agriculture in the EU-27

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagner, Susanne; Fantke, Peter; Theloke, Jochen; Friedrich, Rainer

    2010-05-01

    Pesticides have become relatively ubiquitous pollutants. They may affect non-targeted organisms and can be found as contaminants in agricultural soils, groundwater, rivers, lakes and in the food chain (Margni et al., 2002; Hamilton & Crossley, 2004; Arias-Estévez et al., 2008). As "it has been common knowledge that many pesticides cause harm to the environment and to human health" (Pretty & Waibel, 2005), it is essential to account for a quantitative assessment of impacts of current agricultural practice at the European scale. Therefore, inventory data sets of applications and related emissions of the most relevant active substances are necessary. A review of publicly available data sets evidenced that data on consumption of active substances and releases into the environment for EU member states are of low quality or lacking entirely. Either only few substances are covered (e.g. EPER, E-PRTR) or data are highly aggregated in terms of total amount of active substances. Sales or consumption data are differentiated by target organisms and crop types (Eurostat) or by chemical classes (FAOSTAT, OECD.StatExtracts). In Germany, sales data categorised into target organisms and chemical classes are available. To our knowledge, Denmark and the United Kingdom are the only European countries providing application rates for specific active substances and crops. As a basis for analysing the relation between source, environmental fate and sink of pesticides and for considering the importance of crop-specific properties on the fate of pesticides (Trapp and Kulhanek, 2006), crop-specific emission inventories for individual active substances are required. Thus, the aim of our work was to develop a crop-specific inventory for active substances currently used in agriculture in the EU-27. Based on Eurostat (2007), the five most important active substances applied to the crop categories of cereals, maize, oilseeds, potatoes, sugar-beets, grapes and vine, fruit trees and vegetables

  15. Transfer pricing rules in EU member states

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veronika Solilová

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the important area of international taxes is transfer pricing. Transfer price is a price set by a taxpayer when selling to, buying from, or sharing resources with a related (associated person. The tran­sac­tions between these persons should be assessed at their arm’s length price in according the arm’s length principle – international accepted standard – as the price which would have been agreed between unrelated parties in free market conditions. This paper is focused on the tranfer pricing rules used in particular EU Member States so as if EU Member States apply the arm’s length principle, define the related persons, apply recommendations of the OECD Guidelines, use the transfer pricing methods, require TP Documentation, exercise specific transfer pricing audit or impose specific penalties and apply APAs. Transfer pricing rules should prevent taxpayers from shifting income to related person organized in tax havens or in countries where they enjoy some special tax benefit.

  16. Eestimaa.eu kuulub lätlasele ja riik.eu hollandlasele / Mikk Salu

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Salu, Mikk, 1975-

    2006-01-01

    Zone Medias eu domeeninimesid registreeriva Jaanus Puttingu hinnangul on Eesti riik olnud passiivne EL-i domeeninime .eu sisaldavate lehekülgede kaitsmisel, sajad Eestile olulised domeeninimed on juba nii siinsete kui ka piiritaguste inimeste käes. Lisa: Rahvaliit.eu kuulub kinnisvaraportaalile

  17. Preparation of EuSe nanoparticles from Eu(III) complex containing selenides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adachi, Taka-aki; Tanaka, Atsushi; Hasegawa, Yasuchika; Kawai, Tsuyoshi

    2008-01-01

    The EuSe nanoparticles were prepared by the thermal reduction of Europium nitrate with new organic selenium compound, tetraphenylphosphonium diphenylphosphinediselenide (PPh 4 )(Se 2 P(C 6 H 5 ) 2 ), for the first time. EuSe nanoparticles were identified by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) measurements. The average size of the EuSe nanoparticles was found to be 19 nm. The energy gap in EuSe nanoparticles of 19 nm was estimated by edge of absorption band, giving the energy gap of 1.86 eV

  18. The EU climate policy: Is the will to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases greater than the capability to do it?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wetterstad, Joergen

    2002-01-01

    The climate policy of the EU is rapidly developing. The EU is emerging as an ideal in the international cooperation that aims to initiate trade of emission quotas. The EU was playing a major role on the Johannesburg conference of 2002 and has always supported the Kyoto Protocol, which may come into force in 2003. However, the development of emission situation in most of the member countries, the slow follow-up of the goals and the coming expansion into Eastern Europe raises the question if the EU is a climate political instigator on unsafe ground

  19. Induced spin-polarization of EuS at room temperature in Ni/EuS multilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Poulopoulos, P., E-mail: poulop@upatras.gr [Laboratory of High-Tech Materials, School of Engineering, University of Patras, 26504 Patras (Greece); Materials Science Department, University of Patras, 26504 Patras (Greece); Goschew, A.; Straub, A.; Fumagalli, P. [Institut für Experimentalphysik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, D-14195 Berlin-Dahlem (Germany); Kapaklis, V.; Wolff, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala (Sweden); Delimitis, A. [Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute (CPERI), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), 57001 Thermi, Thessaloniki (Greece); Wilhelm, F.; Rogalev, A. [European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), B.P.220, 38043 Grenoble (France); Pappas, S. D. [Laboratory of High-Tech Materials, School of Engineering, University of Patras, 26504 Patras (Greece); Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala (Sweden)

    2014-03-17

    Ni/EuS multilayers with excellent multilayer sequencing are deposited via e-beam evaporation on the native oxide of Si(100) wafers at 4 × 10{sup −9} millibars. The samples have very small surface and interface roughness and show sharp interfaces. Ni layers are nanocrystalline 4–8 nm thick and EuS layers are 2–4 nm thick and are either amorphous or nanocrystalline. Unlike for Co/EuS multilayers, all Eu ions are in divalent (ferromagnetic) state. We show a direct antiferromagnetic coupling between EuS and Ni layers. At room temperature, the EuS layers are spin-polarized due to the proximity of Ni. Therefore, Ni/EuS is a candidate for room-temperature spintronics applications.

  20. Thermodynamic assessment of EuBr2 unary and LiBr-EuBr2 and NaBr-EuBr2 binary systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gong, Weiping; Gaune-Escard, Marcelle

    2009-01-01

    As a basis for the design and development of molten salt mixtures, thermodynamic calculations of the phase diagrams and thermodynamic properties were carried out on the EuBr 2 unary and LiBr-EuBr 2 and NaBr-EuBr 2 binary systems over a wide temperature and composition range, respectively. The Gibbs energy of EuBr 2 was evaluated using an independent polynomial to fit the experimental heat capacity, the thermodynamic parameters for each phase in the LiBr-EuBr 2 and NaBr-EuBr 2 systems were optimized by using available experimental information on phase diagrams. A regular substitutional solution model for the liquid phase and Neumann-Kopp rule for the stoichiometric compound LiEu 2 Br 5 were adopted to reproduce the experimental data with reasonable excess Gibbs energy. Comparisons between the calculated phase diagrams and thermodynamic quantities show that all reliable experimental information is satisfactorily accounted for by the present thermodynamic description. Some thermodynamic properties were predicted to check the suitability of the present calculation.

  1. Comparison of the evolution of energy intensity in Spain and in the EU15. Why is Spain different?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mendiluce, Maria; Perez-Arriaga, Ignacio; Ocana, Carlos [Instituto de Investigacion Tecnologica, Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid, Santa Cruz de Marcenado 26, 28015 Madrid (Spain)

    2010-01-15

    Energy intensity in Spain has increased since 1990, while the opposite has happened in the EU15. Decomposition analysis of primary energy intensity ratios has been used to identify which are the key sectors driving the Spanish evolution and those responsible for most of the differences with the EU15 energy intensity levels. It is also a useful tool to quantify which countries and economic sectors have had most influence in the EU15 evolution. The analysis shows that the Spanish economic structure is driving the divergence in energy intensity ratios with the EU15, mainly due to strong transport growth, but also because of the increase of activities linked to the construction boom, and the convergence to EU levels of household energy demand. The results can be used to pinpoint successful EU strategies for energy efficiency that could be used to improve the Spanish metric. (author)

  2. Eurogulf: an Eu-GCC dialogue for energy stability and sustainability. Final research report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naji, Abi-Aad; Skinner, R.; Arnott, R.; Mabro, R.; Luciani, G.; Luciani, G.

    2005-01-01

    The EUROGULF project was launched in 2002 by a consortium led by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, and comprising the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, the Energy Policy Unit of the National Technical University of Athens and ECONERGY SAL of Beirut. Funding is provided by the European Commission through a grant from the SYNERGY program. The objective of the project is to analyse European Union (EU) - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relations with respect to oil and gas issues and propose new policy initiatives and approaches to enhance cooperation between the two regional groupings. The project has originated a collection of papers whose provisional drafts have been discussed in two workshops: in Riyadh in April 2004, and in Florence in November 2004. This document is the final research report presented at the concluding conference in Kuwait, on April 2005. It gathers the final versions of the project papers: Executive Summary and Policy Paper; Task 1 - Economic and Political Conditions for Energy Security: Prospects for Oil and Gas Exports from the GCC Member Countries; Prospects for Oil and Gas Exports from the GCC Member Countries; Supply Responses to Price Changes in the Medium Term and the Definition of an 'Optimal' Price Band for Guaranteeing Energy Security in the Long Term; Discussion of the Desirable Rate of Exploitation of GCC Hydrocarbon Resources in the light of the Objectives of Maximizing Revenue and Achieving Economic Development in the Long Run; Promoting Economic Diversification as a Tool to Encourage Countries holding Major Hydrocarbon Reserves to Increase Production in line with Growing Global Demand at Stable Prices; Task 2 - Enhancing the Efficiency and Transparency of the International Oil Markets: The Reference Pricing System: Origins, Rationale, Assessment; Reforming Reference Pricing and Seeking for Alternative Pricing Systems; Strategic Stockpiles vs. Market Intervention for Price

  3. Eurogulf: an Eu-GCC dialogue for energy stability and sustainability. Final research report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Naji, Abi-Aad [ECONERGY, Washington (United States); Skinner, R.; Arnott, R.; Mabro, R. [Oxford Institute for Energy Studies - OIES (United States); Luciani, G.; Luciani, G. [EUI, RSCAS, Mediterranean Programme (Italy)

    2005-07-01

    The EUROGULF project was launched in 2002 by a consortium led by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, and comprising the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, the Energy Policy Unit of the National Technical University of Athens and ECONERGY SAL of Beirut. Funding is provided by the European Commission through a grant from the SYNERGY program. The objective of the project is to analyse European Union (EU) - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relations with respect to oil and gas issues and propose new policy initiatives and approaches to enhance cooperation between the two regional groupings. The project has originated a collection of papers whose provisional drafts have been discussed in two workshops: in Riyadh in April 2004, and in Florence in November 2004. This document is the final research report presented at the concluding conference in Kuwait, on April 2005. It gathers the final versions of the project papers: Executive Summary and Policy Paper; Task 1 - Economic and Political Conditions for Energy Security: Prospects for Oil and Gas Exports from the GCC Member Countries; Prospects for Oil and Gas Exports from the GCC Member Countries; Supply Responses to Price Changes in the Medium Term and the Definition of an 'Optimal' Price Band for Guaranteeing Energy Security in the Long Term; Discussion of the Desirable Rate of Exploitation of GCC Hydrocarbon Resources in the light of the Objectives of Maximizing Revenue and Achieving Economic Development in the Long Run; Promoting Economic Diversification as a Tool to Encourage Countries holding Major Hydrocarbon Reserves to Increase Production in line with Growing Global Demand at Stable Prices; Task 2 - Enhancing the Efficiency and Transparency of the International Oil Markets: The Reference Pricing System: Origins, Rationale, Assessment; Reforming Reference Pricing and Seeking for Alternative Pricing Systems; Strategic Stockpiles vs. Market Intervention for

  4. Eurogulf: an Eu-GCC dialogue for energy stability and sustainability. Final research report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Naji, Abi-Aad [ECONERGY, Washington (United States); Skinner, R; Arnott, R; Mabro, R [Oxford Institute for Energy Studies - OIES (United States); Luciani, G; Luciani, G [EUI, RSCAS, Mediterranean Programme (Italy)

    2005-07-01

    The EUROGULF project was launched in 2002 by a consortium led by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, and comprising the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, the Energy Policy Unit of the National Technical University of Athens and ECONERGY SAL of Beirut. Funding is provided by the European Commission through a grant from the SYNERGY program. The objective of the project is to analyse European Union (EU) - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relations with respect to oil and gas issues and propose new policy initiatives and approaches to enhance cooperation between the two regional groupings. The project has originated a collection of papers whose provisional drafts have been discussed in two workshops: in Riyadh in April 2004, and in Florence in November 2004. This document is the final research report presented at the concluding conference in Kuwait, on April 2005. It gathers the final versions of the project papers: Executive Summary and Policy Paper; Task 1 - Economic and Political Conditions for Energy Security: Prospects for Oil and Gas Exports from the GCC Member Countries; Prospects for Oil and Gas Exports from the GCC Member Countries; Supply Responses to Price Changes in the Medium Term and the Definition of an 'Optimal' Price Band for Guaranteeing Energy Security in the Long Term; Discussion of the Desirable Rate of Exploitation of GCC Hydrocarbon Resources in the light of the Objectives of Maximizing Revenue and Achieving Economic Development in the Long Run; Promoting Economic Diversification as a Tool to Encourage Countries holding Major Hydrocarbon Reserves to Increase Production in line with Growing Global Demand at Stable Prices; Task 2 - Enhancing the Efficiency and Transparency of the International Oil Markets: The Reference Pricing System: Origins, Rationale, Assessment; Reforming Reference Pricing and Seeking for Alternative Pricing Systems; Strategic Stockpiles vs. Market Intervention for Price

  5. Accession of the Slovak Republic to EU - new legislation, new conditions and new approaches in the area of emergency preparedness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sladek, V.; Metke, E.

    2003-01-01

    At present after five years of Urad jadroveho dozoru (UJD) experience of using new Slovak regulations and before entering to European Union (EU), which is foreseen since May 2004 a comprehensive review of Atomic Act and all relevant decrees is being made with the objective to fit them to EU directives. On line with that also necessary organizational and technical arrangements in the area of regulatory activities including emergency preparedness are prepared. UJD participate actively in EU and IAEA projects to achieve the harmonization of its practices with EU and other countries with developed nuclear power and makes efforts to keep on a high level of nuclear safety to be a valuable member of EU

  6. Byg EU om

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nedergaard, Peter

    2017-01-01

    Der argumenteres for en række påstande vedrørende en mulig ombygning af EU med henblik på at håndtere den krise, som unionen står i. Grundlæggende for dem alle er, at enten ombygges EU på disse områder, eller også smuldrer samarbejdet. Et internationalt samarbejde som EU kollapser ikke; det mister...

  7. Approximation of the energy acquis communautaire. Review of energy markets and policies of seven accession countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Oostvoorn, F.; Voogt, M.H.; Uyterlinde, M.A.; Van Wees, M.T.

    1999-12-01

    This report is a compilation of the country reviews conducted by ECN in the framework of the Phare Multi-country programme project 'Approximation of CEEC to EU legislation'. The project was conducted and co-ordinated by DEM (Denmark), with contributions of ERM (UK) and ECN. The project's main objective was to assist the CEECs to approximate their energy legislation with EU energy legislation. A secondary objective was to review the current situation of the energy markets and policies in the thirteen CEECs with respect to their progress in approximation towards the EU energy acquis and policy practices. For this second objective ECN assessed the current situation in seven countries, on the basis of a survey organised by the project co-ordinator DEM and filled in by the counterparts in the seven CEECs. Those seven countries are: the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland. These country reviews, which were sent to DEM for inclusion in their final report, are compiled here. In addition, ECN drafted an introduction and formulated a few final comments

  8. AN EXAMINATION OF OKUN’S LAW: EVIDENCE FROM EUROPEAN TARGET COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Persico Tony Ernesto

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper Okun’s law is tested for six European selected countries in order to compare the responsiveness of unemployment to economic growth over the period 1981-2010. In the first section there is a survey of scientific works that have observed the empirical relationship between growth and unemployment. The countries selected are representative of different socio-economic contexts today existing in Europe, i.e. EU member countries, countries that adopt the Euro, and others which are candidates to join the EU or that although EU members have chosen not to adopt the Euro. Finally, we also refer to the U.S. and Canada, which are country-systems where the regularity of Okun’s rule of thumb was conceived. In particular, we intend to represent the data of the macroeconomic variables GDP and unemployment rate in their annual variations for a time series sufficiently long to show the occurrence of the supposed regularity, and then to investigate specific cases, which represent changes compared to the expected variations. In addition to any changes occurred over time in the studied relationship, these empirical observations, along with the reported literature, will help to draw conclusions about the differences regarding the inflexibility and responsiveness to changes in the aggregated output by the labor market of the countries involved in the study.

  9. EuO and Gd-doped EuO thin films. Epitaxial growth and properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sutarto, Ronny

    2009-01-01

    Europium oxide (EuO) based materials exhibit a wealth of spectacular phenomena, including half-metallic ferromagnetism, metal-insulator transition, colossal magneto-resistance, large magneto-optical Kerr effect, tunable ferromagnetic ordering temperatures, and large and long-lived photo-induced conductivity. These extraordinary properties make EuO an ideal candidate for implementation in device applications, in particular, for spintronics. Most of the work in the past has been carried out on bulk EuO, but for device applications it is preferred to have the EuO in thin lm form. A urry of studies have therefore emerged in the last decade in order to explore a wide variety of preparation routes and to investigate the properties of the resulting EuO thin films. A recent highlight is the demonstration that doped EuO films can be fabricated on Si and GaN, thereby exhibiting the expected spin-polarized transport effects. Nevertheless, it is still far from a trivial task to prepare EuO thin films with well de ned properties. For bulk EuO, it is already known that stoichiometry is the key issue, and that the presence of small amounts of defects or impurities quickly lead to very large deviations of the material properties. In fact, to make bulk EuO to be stoichiometric one needs temperatures as high as 1800 C. It is obvious that such high temperatures are not compatible with device engineering processes. The preparation of thin films must therefore involve much lower temperatures, preferably not higher than 400-500 C. The consequences are very dear. It turned out that many of the recent studies on EuO thin films are suffering from sample quality problems, due to the presence of, e.g., trivalent Eu species (Eu 3 O 4 , Eu 2 O 3 ), oxygen vacancies, or even Eu metal clusters. Controlled doping of the EuO with trivalent rare-earth ions is also not trivial, since most often even the actual doping concentrations were not known. In fact, one could also question in this respect the

  10. EuO and Gd-doped EuO thin films. Epitaxial growth and properties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sutarto, Ronny

    2009-07-06

    Europium oxide (EuO) based materials exhibit a wealth of spectacular phenomena, including half-metallic ferromagnetism, metal-insulator transition, colossal magneto-resistance, large magneto-optical Kerr effect, tunable ferromagnetic ordering temperatures, and large and long-lived photo-induced conductivity. These extraordinary properties make EuO an ideal candidate for implementation in device applications, in particular, for spintronics. Most of the work in the past has been carried out on bulk EuO, but for device applications it is preferred to have the EuO in thin lm form. A urry of studies have therefore emerged in the last decade in order to explore a wide variety of preparation routes and to investigate the properties of the resulting EuO thin films. A recent highlight is the demonstration that doped EuO films can be fabricated on Si and GaN, thereby exhibiting the expected spin-polarized transport effects. Nevertheless, it is still far from a trivial task to prepare EuO thin films with well de ned properties. For bulk EuO, it is already known that stoichiometry is the key issue, and that the presence of small amounts of defects or impurities quickly lead to very large deviations of the material properties. In fact, to make bulk EuO to be stoichiometric one needs temperatures as high as 1800 C. It is obvious that such high temperatures are not compatible with device engineering processes. The preparation of thin films must therefore involve much lower temperatures, preferably not higher than 400-500 C. The consequences are very dear. It turned out that many of the recent studies on EuO thin films are suffering from sample quality problems, due to the presence of, e.g., trivalent Eu species (Eu{sub 3}O{sub 4}, Eu{sub 2}O{sub 3}), oxygen vacancies, or even Eu metal clusters. Controlled doping of the EuO with trivalent rare-earth ions is also not trivial, since most often even the actual doping concentrations were not known. In fact, one could also question in

  11. The New Environment of EU Enlargement: The Impact of Economic Crisis on the Western Balkans and their EU Accession Prospects

    OpenAIRE

    Ritsa Panagiotou

    2014-01-01

    This paper will explore the impact of the economic crisis on the Western Balkan countries, and how the new, unfavorable international environment is affecting their EU accession prospects. The analysis will be presented in three sections: the first part will examine the effect of the “first wave” of the global economic crisis on the economies of the region, specifically the impact on the region’s macroeconomic indicators, foreign direct investment flows, financial sectors, etc. Part two...

  12. Taxing of financial sector as possible own resource of EU budget

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danuše Nerudová

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The discussion about the possible taxation of the financial sector has started in the European Union as a result of the financial crisis which has spread to the Europe from the United States in 2008. European Commission concluded that EU should lead the efforts to introduce system of levies or taxies on financial institutions. EU member states individually committed to support the financial sector for a total about EUR 4.6 trillion (i.e. 39% of EU-27 GDP in 2009. Those public interventions have significant budgetary consequences (strongly felt in Greece, Spain or Italy and imposes a heavy burden on the present and future generations. Therefore there is a strong consensus not only on the level of the European Union but also internationally, that financial sector should contribute to the public finance more fairly. As a reaction on costs of the financial crisis which was paid out from the public money, some of the countries immediately introduced temporary measures in order to collect back paid out money. The aim of the paper is to research the possibility of financial sector taxation, to discuss the proposal of the European Union on the introduction of financial transaction tax on EU level and through the multi-criteria analysis to research, whether this type of the tax is suitable as an own resource of EU budget.

  13. Free allocations in EU ETS Phase 3: The impact of emissions performance benchmarking for carbon-intensive industry - Working Paper No. 2013-14

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lecourt, S.; Palliere, C.; Sartor, O.

    2013-02-01

    From Phase 3 (2013-20) of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, carbon-intensive industrial emitters will receive free allocations based on harmonised, EU-wide benchmarks. This paper analyses the impacts of these new rules on allocations to key energy-intensive sectors across Europe. It explores an original dataset that combines recent data from the National Implementing Measures of 20 EU Member States with the Community Independent Transaction Log and other EU documents. The analysis reveals that free allocations to benchmarked sectors will be reduced significantly compared to Phase 2 (2008-12). This reduction should both increase public revenues from carbon auctions and has the potential to enhance the economic efficiency of the carbon market. The analysis also shows that changes in allocation vary mostly across installations within countries, raising the possibility that the carbon-cost competitiveness impacts may be more intense within rather than across countries. Lastly, the analysis finds evidence that the new benchmarking rules will, as intended, reward installations with better emissions performance and will improve harmonisation of free allocations in the EU ETS by reducing differences in allocation levels across countries with similar carbon intensities of production. (authors)

  14. Stock Indices as Generalizing Indicators of the Stock Markets Condition in the European Union Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuba M. V.

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the article is to determine the degree of interdependence of stock markets in separate countries of the European Union, namely: France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary on the basis of studying the changes in stock indexes, as well as determining the existence of tendencies of approximating the dynamics of the national stock index «PFTS Index» to the corresponding dynamics of stock indexes in surveyed countries. The article analyzes the dynamics of changes in stock indices in the UK (FTSE, Germany (DAX 30, France (CAC 40 and pan-European ones (EURO STOXX 50, as well as changes in stock indices in Poland (WIG 20, Czech Republic (PX, Hungary (BUX. Calculations of the coefficients of pair correlation between changes in stock indices in the studied countries have been performed. The calculation results show a substantial connection between the indicators of changes in stock indices and allow to make a conclusion that in the dynamics of stock indices of national stock markets of the studied EU countries some common trends are observed, moreover, in the behavior of the considered indices common local trends are noticed as well. The author calculated the coefficient of pair correlation between the indicators of changes in the national stock index «PFTS Index» and the stock indices of the «old» and «new» EU countries. The calculations showed that the PFTS Index does not demonstrate a high level of correlation with stock indices of the «old» EU countries and has a tendency of approaching the corresponding dynamics of stock indices of the «new» EU countries.

  15. Analysis of national allocation plans for the EU ETS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zetterberg, Lars; Nilsson, Kristina; Aahman, Markus; Kumlin, Anna-Sofia; Birgersdotter, Lena

    2004-08-01

    The EU ETS is a Community-wide scheme established by Directive 2003/87/EC for trading allowances to cover the emissions of greenhouse gases from permitted installations. The first phase of the EU ETS runs from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2007. Each Member State must develop a National Allocation Plan for the first phase stating: the total quantity of allowances that the Member State intends to issue during that phase; and how it proposes to distribute those allowances among the installations which are subject to the scheme In this paper twelve of the national allocation plans have been analysed and compared to the criteria stated in the EU Directive. The twelve allocation plans analysed are: the Austrian, the Danish, the Finnish, the German, the Irish, the Lithuanian, the Luxembourg, the Dutch, the Swedish, the British and the draft Flemish (Belgium) and Portuguese. Generally most countries have allocated generously to the trading sector. The allocation has often been based on future needs. For most sectors the allocation is higher than current emissions. Many countries will have to make large reductions in the non-trading sector and/or buy credits through JI- and CDM-projects in order to fulfil their commitment according to the EU burden sharing agreement of the Kyoto Protocol. In many of the allocation plans the emission reducing measures in the non-trading sector is poorly described and the credibility of the measures are hard to determine. Two sectors have been analysed in more detail, the energy and the mineral oil refining sectors. Figures presenting allocation vs. current emissions for those sectors are given for those countries where data was available in the allocation plan. The energy sector has been considered to have the best possibilities to pass on costs for the allowances to the consumers and hence the allocation to this sector is often more restricted than the allocation to other sectors. The mineral oil refining sector is more exposed to

  16. Strategies for public health research in European Union countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grimaud, Olivier; McCarthy, Mark; Conceição, Claudia

    2013-11-01

    'Health' is an identifiable theme within the European Union multi-annual research programmes. Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe (PHIRE), led by the European Public Health Association, sought to identify public health research strategies in EU member states. Within PHIRE, national public health associations reviewed structures for health research, held stakeholder workshops and produced reports. This information, supplemented by further web searches, including using assisted translation, was analysed for national research strategies and health research strategies. All countries described general research strategies, outlining organizational and capacity objectives. Thematic fields, including health, are mentioned in some strategies. A health research strategy was identified for 15 EU countries and not for 12. Ministries of health led research strategies for nine countries. Public health research was identified in only three strategies. National research strategies did not refer to the European Union's health research programme. Public health research strategies of European countries need to be developed by ministries of health, working with the research community to achieve the European Research Area.

  17. The food poverty challenge: comparing food assistance across EU countries. A Transformative Social Innovation perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Galli, F.; Hebinck, A.; Arcuri, S.; Brunori, G.; Carroll, B.; O'Connor, D.; Oostindië, H.A.

    2016-01-01

    Most people in EU are food secure, but there are socio economic groups that struggle with poverty and health, making them vulnerable to food insecurity and in recent years there has been an increase in people needing food assistance in Europe. As the literature portrays, the position of food

  18. The effect of steps to promote higher levels of farm animal welfare across the EU. Societal versus animal scientists’ perceptions of animal welfare

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Averós, X.; Aparicio, M.A.; Ferrari, P.; Guy, J.H.; Hubbard, C.; Schmid, O.; Ilieski, V.; Spoolder, H.A.M.

    2013-01-01

    Information about animal welfare standards and initiatives from eight European countries was collected, grouped, and compared to EU welfare standards to detect those aspects beyond minimum welfare levels demanded by EU welfare legislation. Literature was reviewed to determine the scientific

  19. Global National Qualifications Framework Inventory: Country Cases from EU and ETF Partner Countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cedefop - European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, 2013

    2013-01-01

    Certificates, diplomas and titles are commonly known as qualifications. Their purpose is to show employers, training providers, and individuals what the person holding the qualification has learned and can do. Every country issues many different qualifications, but for the European labor market to work as intended--that is for European citizens to…

  20. The quest for a European civic culture : The EU and EU Citizenship in policies and practices of citizenship education in seven EU member states

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bakker, W.E.; van der Kolk, M.; Berkeley, Dominic; Koska, Viktor

    2017-01-01

    Since the Treaty of Maastricht (1992) all nationals of EU member states hold EU citizenship too. EU citizens hold EU citizenship rights in addition to their national rights. These rights include civil, social, economic and political rights. Holding these rights does not guarantee actual