Danish Foreign Policy and the Balance between the EU and the US

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Henrik

2009-01-01

In the international debate it is often argued that Denmark in its major foreign policy priorities has sided with the USA since the Cold War rather than with the EU or its European partners. The article examines whether this is correct, and if it is, why this is so, since 2001. The paper also asks...

Governing EU employment policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Eva; Triantafillou, Peter; Damgaard, Bodil

2015-01-01

In the European Union (EU), employment policy is a prerogative of the member states. Therefore the EU's ability to govern in this area depends on its capability to involve national governments and relevant stakeholders in a collaborative effort to formulate and implement shared policy objectives....... of collaboration, the implementation phase mainly consists in the less demanding forms of cooperation and coordination....

Health, alcohol and EU law: understanding the impact of European single market law on alcohol policies.

Science.gov (United States)

Baumberg, Ben; Anderson, Peter

2008-08-01

Many professionals in the alcohol field see the role of the the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as negative for health. This review examines ECJ and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) case law in the context of two broader debates: firstly the extension of European Union (EU) law into alcohol policy (the 'juridification' of alcohol policy), and secondly the extent to which alcohol policy is an example of the dominance of 'negative integration' (the removal of trade-distorting policy) over 'positive integration' (the creation of European alcohol policies). A comprehensive review of all ECJ/EFTA Court cases on alcohol, with interpretation aided by a secondary review on alcohol and EU law and the broader health and trade field. From looking at taxation, minimum pricing, advertising and monopoly policies, the extension of the scope of the these courts over alcohol policy is unquestionable. However, the ECJ and EFTA Court have been prepared to prioritize health over trade concerns when considering alcohol policies, providing certain conditions have been met. While a partial juridification of alcohol policy has led to the negative integration of alcohol policies, this effect is not as strong as sometimes thought; EU law is more health friendly than it is perceived to be, and its impact on levels of alcohol-related harm appears low. Nevertheless, lessons emerge for policymakers concerned about the legality of alcohol policies under EU law. More generally, those concerned with alcohol and health should pay close attention to developments in EU law given their importance for public health policy on alcohol.

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.

Analysis of the EU policy package on climate change and renewables

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Capros, Pantelis; Mantzos, Leonidas; Parousos, Leonidas; Tasios, Nikolaos; Klaassen, Ger; Van Ierland, Tom

2011-01-01

In 2009 the EU decided to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least by 20% in 2020 compared to 1990 and to supply 20% of energy needs by 2020 from renewable energy sources. This paper uses an energy model coupled with a non-CO 2 greenhouse gas model to assess the range of policy options that were debated to meet both targets. Policy options include trading of renewable targets, carbon trading in power plants and industry and the use of the Clean Development Mechanism to improve cost-efficiency. The models also examined fairness by analysing the distribution of emission reduction in the non-emission trading sector, the distribution of CO 2 allowances in the emission trading sector and the reallocation of renewable targets across Member States. The overall costs of meeting both targets range from 0.4% to 0.6% of GDP in 2020 for the EU as a whole. The redistribution mechanisms employed significantly improve fairness compared to a cost-effective solution. - Research highlights: → Meeting the EU's greenhouse gas and renewable targets costs 0.4-0.6% of GDP. → Trading national targets for renewable energy reduces costs. → Carbon trading in power plants and industry and CDM also lowers costs. → The redistribution mechanisms agreed by the EU significantly improve fairness.

The innovation of EU environmental policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

actors involved. The seven case-study chapters, written from a variety of perspectives, focus on such topics as the impact of formal and informal institutional factors on policy innovation, the potential influence of new members on EU environmental policy-making, the role of cross-national networks...... and alliances, the shifting balance between leader and laggard members, and the ongoing problem integrating the environment into other policy fields. The book also draws on theoretical approaches ranging from institutional to policy network analyses and examines such pertinent contemporary issues as packaging......Inspired by the recent accession of three environmentally progressive member states to the European Union (EU), this book explores the process of environmental policy innovation in the EU, the forces behind the introduction of new issues and policy approaches, and the roles played by the major...

The Crisis in Policy Debate.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowland, Robert C.; Deatherage, Scott

1988-01-01

Asserts that policy debate is declining, mainly because of incomprehensible argumentation and speaking. Claims that judges should intervene in the debate process to demand certain minimums of effective argument. Advocates the creation of a debate coach organization that would establish general norms for judging behavior. (MM)

Economic impacts of EU climate policy until 2020; EU:n ilmastopolitiikan talousvaikutukset vuoteen 2020

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rantala, O. E-mail: olavi.rantala@etla.fi

2012-07-01

The study evaluates the impacts of EU climate policy on the emission allowance price, electricity prices, the competitiveness of industry and macroeconomic developments in the third EU emission trading period 2013-2020. The economic impacts of climate policy on Finland are compared to the impacts on the entire EU area. It turns out that due to its cold climate and heating energy demand, higher export intensity of the economy and higher energy intensity of the industry Finland pays a higher price for EU climate policy in terms of output and employment losses than the EU on average. The study examines the macroeconomic effects of climate policy also in the more distant future, assuming that climate policy is tightened further in the 2020s. Climate policy implemented by emission trading means that the long-term economic growth in the EU area depends essentially on emission-free electricity production, and no longer on other growth factors, such as the labour supply and productivity growth. (orig.)

The EU sustainable energy policy indicators framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Streimikiene, Dalia; Sivickas, Gintautas

2008-11-01

The article deals with indicators framework to monitor implementation of the main EU (European Union) directives and other policy documents targeting sustainable energy development. The main EU directives which have impact on sustainable energy development are directives promoting energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources, directives implementing greenhouse gas mitigation and atmospheric pollution reduction policies and other policy documents and strategies targeting energy sector. Promotion of use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements are among priorities of EU energy policy because the use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements has positive impact on energy security and climate change mitigation. The framework of indicators can be developed to establish the main targets set by EU energy and environmental policies allowing to connect indicators via chain of mutual impacts and to define policies and measures necessary to achieve established targets based on assessment of their impact on the targeted indicators representing sustainable energy development aims. The article discusses the application of indicators framework for EU sustainable energy policy analysis and presents the case study of this policy tool application for Baltic States. The article also discusses the use of biomass in Baltic States and future considerations in this field.

Tracing the French Policy PISA Debate: A Policy Configuration Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Pons, Xavier

2016-01-01

This article traces the evolution of the French policy PISA debate from 2001 to 2014 by analysing the results of two original qualitative researches. Theoretically, this debate is the outcome of specific policy configurations, which predetermine its scope, content and effectiveness. These configurations are themselves described through their…

Mobile TV: An assessment of EU policies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tadayoni, Reza; Henten, Anders; Windekilde, Iwona Maria

The aim of the paper is to discuss EU policies in the area of mobile TV. The European Commission has strongly promoted an EU-wide common policy on mobile TV including the choice of DVB-H as the standard to be used. The paper aims at discussing this policy in view of the technological and market...... developments in the field of mobile media....

Energy policy for Europe. Ensuring secure and low-carbon energy in the EU's internal market. Interim report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Egenhofer, C.; Hammes, J.J.; Pedersen, K.

2006-12-01

In early March 2006, the European Commission re-launched the discussion on an Energy Policy for Europe with the 2006 publication of its Green Paper 'Secure, Competitive and Sustainable Energy for Europe'. This manifests the EU's will to broaden its reflection on its future energy systems, taking into account increasing market liberalisation and globalisation, environmental pressures, technological challenges and the growing import dependency from politically unstable regions. Other major contributions to this debate include the climate change communication 'Winning the battle against climate change' (published in 2005), the Green Paper on Energy Efficiency (2005), the Energy Efficiency Action Plan (2006), the ongoing works of the High Level Group on Competitiveness, Energy and the Environment (2006) and the enquiry into the energy sector by DG Competition of the European Commission in 2006. The Spring European Council in March 2006 welcomed the Energy Policy Green Paper and committed itself adopting a prioritised Action Plan at its spring session in 2007, to be prepared by the European Commission and the Energy Council. Early next year, the European Commission will table both the EU Strategic Energy Review, accompanied by a number of sectoral policies and a Green Paper on future climate change policy for the period post-2012 when the Kyoto Protocol expires. Both the EU Strategic Energy Review and the post-2012 Green Paper will outline the European Union (EU) 'energy and climate change vision' and propose a roadmap towards achieving EU energy and climate change objectives, namely, how to ensure the competitiveness of European industries while at the same time combating climate change and ensuring security of energy supply. To contribute to this debate, the CEPS multi-stakeholder Task Force on 'energy policy for Europe' has presented this Interim Report, which attempts to develop the key elements for an EU energy policy framework. Although this report will focus

EU Energy Law and Policy Issues. Volume 3

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Delvaux, B.; Hunt, M.; Talus, K. (eds.)

2011-12-15

This third volume of EU Energy Law and Policy Issues presents an overview of some of the most recent developments taking place in the EU energy sector at a time when the Third Energy Package is likely to be or has been implemented in the EU Member States. In this respect, the reader will find a number of contributions which offer detailed and critical views on some of the main issues tackled by the Third Energy Package. Aside from this, the relationship between sector specific regulation and the rules of general competition law is examined in the second section of the book. This part also contains particular contributions on access regimes in gas and electricity markets as well as an innovating analysis on the methods for allocating allowances under the EU Emissions trading scheme and the interaction of such methods with EU state aid rules. Just like the previous volumes of the book, section III offers a deep insight into the external aspects of EU energy policy. Accordingly, the role of the Lisbon Treaty in promoting EU energy policy in the international arena is scrutinized in addition to the most recent evolutions on the topical issue of the Energy Charter Treaty. This section is completed with a daring contribution about the need to adopt a comprehensive theory of legal harmonization between the EU and third partners, which is presented using the specific case of the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue. Last but not least, some fundamental issues regarding the environmental aspects of EU Energy policy undergo an in-depth study in the final section of the book. Not only is the legal regime of energy efficiency in energy-related products examined, but also the issue of carbon constraining policies under WTO law. Finally, the electricity's industry viewpoint on the 2020 targets rounds off this third volume of EU Energy Law and Policy Issues with judicious comments.

EU Energy Law and Policy Issues. Volume 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delvaux, B.; Hunt, M.; Talus, K.

2011-12-01

This third volume of EU Energy Law and Policy Issues presents an overview of some of the most recent developments taking place in the EU energy sector at a time when the Third Energy Package is likely to be or has been implemented in the EU Member States. In this respect, the reader will find a number of contributions which offer detailed and critical views on some of the main issues tackled by the Third Energy Package. Aside from this, the relationship between sector specific regulation and the rules of general competition law is examined in the second section of the book. This part also contains particular contributions on access regimes in gas and electricity markets as well as an innovating analysis on the methods for allocating allowances under the EU Emissions trading scheme and the interaction of such methods with EU state aid rules. Just like the previous volumes of the book, section III offers a deep insight into the external aspects of EU energy policy. Accordingly, the role of the Lisbon Treaty in promoting EU energy policy in the international arena is scrutinized in addition to the most recent evolutions on the topical issue of the Energy Charter Treaty. This section is completed with a daring contribution about the need to adopt a comprehensive theory of legal harmonization between the EU and third partners, which is presented using the specific case of the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue. Last but not least, some fundamental issues regarding the environmental aspects of EU Energy policy undergo an in-depth study in the final section of the book. Not only is the legal regime of energy efficiency in energy-related products examined, but also the issue of carbon constraining policies under WTO law. Finally, the electricity's industry viewpoint on the 2020 targets rounds off this third volume of EU Energy Law and Policy Issues with judicious comments.

Towards a green economy in Europe. EU environmental policy targets and objectives 2010-2050

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-07-15

The 'green economy' has emerged as a priority in policy debate in recent years. But what does the concept mean in practice and how can decision-makers measure progress towards this strategic goal? This report provides some answers, presenting a detailed overview of the key objectives and targets in EU environmental policy and legislation for the period 2010-2050. It focuses on selected environmental and resource policy areas, specifically: energy; greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ozone-depleting substances; air quality and air pollution; transport sector emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants; waste; water; sustainable consumption and production (SCP); chemicals; biodiversity and land use. (Author)

EU policy objectives and energy investment decisions

OpenAIRE

Alario, Juan

2007-01-01

EU energy policies have changed focus in the last few years with a view to substantially reducing energy import dependency and greenhouse gas emissions. The EU Commission has played a leading role in defining the new orientations. The implementation of the EU policy objectives approved by the Council of March 2007 will require a substantial expansion of energy investments. However, the degree of uncertainty affecting investment decisions remains high, notably in relation to the pricing of CO2...

Energy policy in the EU and in Russia. Positions, potential conflicts, approaches for cooperation.; Energiepolitik in der EU und Russland. Interessenlagen, Konfliktpotenziale, Kooperationsansaetze

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liebing, Stefan

2010-06-01

The paper under the above mentioned title tries to develop an understanding of the question why energy relations and cooperation between the European Union and Russia in energy matters haven't been very successful over the last decade and why relations are affected by crises frequently. In order to answer these questions meaningfully, several steps need to be made: First, the paper offers a summary of recent policy debate on energy questions on the EU side. It identifies relevant participants in the ''political arena'' and describes their positioning and interaction, based on a multi-level-governance approach. Following a look at history of European energy policy developments, the paper concludes that a complex European policy field has developed recently, although there is no direct responsibility for energy matters with European institutions so far, but that the justification for any law-making in the said areas is deducted from secondary EU level responsibilities such as common market, competition law or environmental matters. However, there is a huge bandwidth of positions between political actors, civil service, parliaments, industry associations, consumers - organizations etc as well as between community and national level organizations. Not only a battle for power and competence between these levels hinders a straight and consistent energy policy across the EU, there is also significantly different focus with different players on where to put effort between conflicting objectives of the ''European Energy Triangle'', demanding (1) secure and reliable, (2) cheap and competitive as well as (3) environmentally friendly energy supplies. Despite all these differences, within the EU, a strong and well-regarded new area of policy debate has developed in the energy sector and a lot has been achieved. Observers frequently demand the EU to ''speak with one voice'' towards third parties, eg gas producing

EU Competition Policy Since 1990

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bartalevich, Dzmitry

2013-01-01

in anticartel enforcement policies, antimonopoly regulation, and the regulation of mergers and acquisitions. The purpose of this article is to fill the gap by attempting to link EU competition policy with U.S. antitrust, provide a critical overview of the most important elements of European competition policy......, and merger control....

Should the EU climate policy framework be reformed?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David ELLISON

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Though to-date the European Union (EU has played the most significant leadership role in international negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG emissions, the emission-reducing performance of individual EU Member states has for many been less than stellar. Several EU15 Member states continue to raise rather than lower emissions. Analysing the most successful policy instruments, this paper argues EU policy efforts could benefit from three important innovations. The following strategies – the adoption of an EU-wide FIT (feed-in tariff, an EU-wide carbon tax and more flexibility in the trading of carbon credits – could significantly improve emission reductions, their relative cost-efficiency and spread burden-sharing more evenly across technologies and Member states. This raises important questions, both about the effectiveness of EU and Kyoto-style commitments, as well as the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS. The commitment strategy, and in particular the EU ETS mechanism, have had the smallest impact on emission reductions. The proposed set of strategies could make a far greater contribution to future EU efforts and potentially lock in the impressive progress already made. Such a policy shift, if successful, would also greatly enhance the EU’s already significant credibility and bargaining power in international climate negotiations.

A research on EU trade policy system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qi Sitong

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The EU is the world’s largest trade group, occupying an important position in the world trade in goods and services, especially in the field of service trade. The EU trade in services exports and imports are higher than the United States and Japan, and the EU is the world’s largest capital output and input group, and the world’s largest foreign aid providers. With the deepening of the European integration process, Europe’s position in the world economy and trade is on the rise. Therefore, the EU’s trade policy has increasingly become the focus of attention. From the vertical point of view, research directions can be divided into trade in goods policy, trade in services policy, international direct investment policy, trade-related intellectual property policy four field. In this paper, the four vertical areas are illustrated as the focus of the study.

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.

Interaction of the EU emissions Trading Directive with climate policy instrument in the Netherlands. Policy Brief

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sijm, J.P.M.

2003-11-01

This policy brief presents an overview of the implications of the proposed EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for some selected energy and climate policy instruments in the Netherlands. It summarises the results of research that has been conducted by the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) as part of the EU-funded project Interaction in EU Climate Policy

Exit, voice, and disappointment: mountain decline and EU compensatory rural policy in Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Collantes, Fernando

2010-01-01

The article analyses the Spanish experience of EU compensatory rural policy in order to contribute to broader debates on the effectiveness of this kind of policy and the role of agriculture in the definition of European rural policies. In the case of Spain, compensatory allowances to mainly mountain farmers had little effect on economic trajectories or social cohesion because of the small sums involved, the exclusion of those with very small farms, and the decreasing role of agriculture in the rural economy. Other, more structural, instruments of rural policy focused on small-scale promotion of business growth but were ill-equipped to challenge some of the territorially defined items of living standard gaps. A historically grounded analysis suggests that the main changes in the social trajectory of Spain's mountain areas in the last decades have little to do with compensatory policy and are related to ordinary economic dynamics.

Theoretical principles and practice of EU regional policy monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktoriia Olіinyk

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The paper explores the practice of monitoring and evaluating regional development policy in the European Union, as well as impact thereof on key indicators of economic and social development both in separate regions and in the EU as a whole. The authors analyzed developments in the regional policy monitoring practice, while also identified peculiarities characteristic of the monitoring process regarding implementation of development programmes and determined main stages of evaluation. The paper specifies basic difficulties in setting up the system of monitoring and evaluating achievement of objectives and coordination of regional programmes. The authors described major disparity in economic and social development of the EU Member States under their development programmes as well as determined main indicators of EU regional disparities. Principles, instruments and mechanisms for monitoring EU regional policy were also defined. The paper analyzes changes in the EU regional development paradigm focusing on the priorities for concentrating financial resources and instruments in terms of cohesion policy

EU climate policy: dividing up the commons

OpenAIRE

Juan Delgado

2007-01-01

Juan Delgado discusses the economic impact of climate change policies. The EU has committed to an ambitious climate change agenda. The challenge facing Europe now is how to meet the targets at a minimum cost and how to allocate the cost in such a way that it has a neutral impact on competitiveness. This note was presented in August 2007 to the Economic Policy Committee of the EU.

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.;

EU climate policy up to 2020. An economic impact assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boehringer, Christoph [Department of Economics, University of Oldenburg (Germany); Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) Mannheim (Germany); Loeschel, Andreas [Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) Mannheim (Germany); Moslener, Ulf [KfW Development Bank, Frankfurt (Germany); Rutherford, Thomas F. [Center for Energy Policy and Economy (CEPE), ETH Zuerich (Switzerland)

2009-07-01

In its fight against climate change the EU is committed to reducing its overall greenhouse gas emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. To meet this commitment, the EU builds on segmented market regulation with an EU-wide cap-and-trade system for emissions from energy-intensive installations (ETS sectors) and additional measures by each EU Member State covering emission sources outside the cap-and-trade system (the non-ETS sector). Furthermore, the EU has launched additional policy measures such as renewable energy subsidies in order to promote compliance with the climate policy target. Basic economic reasoning suggests that emission market segmentation and overlapping regulation can create substantial excess costs if we focus only on the climate policy target. In this paper, we evaluate the economic impacts of EU climate policy based on numerical simulations with a computable general equilibrium model of international trade and energy use. Our results highlight the importance of initial market distortions and imperfections as well as alternative baseline projections for the appropriate assessment of EU compliance cost. (author)

EU climate policy up to 2020: An economic impact assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boehringer, Christoph, E-mail: boehringer@uni-oldenburg.d [Department of Economics, University of Oldenburg (Germany); Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) Mannheim (Germany); Loeschel, Andreas [Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) Mannheim (Germany); Moslener, Ulf [KfW Development Bank, Frankfurt (Germany); Rutherford, Thomas F. [Center for Energy Policy and Economy (CEPE), ETH Zuerich (Switzerland)

2009-07-01

In its fight against climate change the EU is committed to reducing its overall greenhouse gas emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. To meet this commitment, the EU builds on segmented market regulation with an EU-wide cap-and-trade system for emissions from energy-intensive installations (ETS sectors) and additional measures by each EU Member State covering emission sources outside the cap-and-trade system (the non-ETS sector). Furthermore, the EU has launched additional policy measures such as renewable energy subsidies in order to promote compliance with the climate policy target. Basic economic reasoning suggests that emission market segmentation and overlapping regulation can create substantial excess costs if we focus only on the climate policy target. In this paper, we evaluate the economic impacts of EU climate policy based on numerical simulations with a computable general equilibrium model of international trade and energy use. Our results highlight the importance of initial market distortions and imperfections as well as alternative baseline projections for the appropriate assessment of EU compliance cost.

EU climate policy up to 2020. An economic impact assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boehringer, Christoph; Loeschel, Andreas; Moslener, Ulf; Rutherford, Thomas F.

2009-01-01

In its fight against climate change the EU is committed to reducing its overall greenhouse gas emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. To meet this commitment, the EU builds on segmented market regulation with an EU-wide cap-and-trade system for emissions from energy-intensive installations (ETS sectors) and additional measures by each EU Member State covering emission sources outside the cap-and-trade system (the non-ETS sector). Furthermore, the EU has launched additional policy measures such as renewable energy subsidies in order to promote compliance with the climate policy target. Basic economic reasoning suggests that emission market segmentation and overlapping regulation can create substantial excess costs if we focus only on the climate policy target. In this paper, we evaluate the economic impacts of EU climate policy based on numerical simulations with a computable general equilibrium model of international trade and energy use. Our results highlight the importance of initial market distortions and imperfections as well as alternative baseline projections for the appropriate assessment of EU compliance cost. (author)

Debatable Premises in Telecom Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

HURWITZ, Justin; Layton, Roslyn

2014-01-01

in the world. The Internet is opening up new platforms for business, education, government, and civic engagement. It has literally been a driving force in toppling governments. Telecommunications policy is important to every government in the world, and debates over what policies should be implemented......Around the world, telecommunications policy is one of the most important areas of public policy. The modern economy is driven by telecom technologies, and many telecom-related firms – Google, Apple, Facebook, and myriad fixed and mobile Internet service providers – are among the largest companies...

Energy poverty policies in the EU: A critical perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bouzarovski, Stefan; Petrova, Saska; Sarlamanov, Robert

2012-01-01

Once confined to the UK context – where it was struggling to receive political recognition for years – the concept of energy (or fuel) poverty is slowly entering the EU's agenda, where it has crept into a number of regulatory documents and policy proposals. Using evidence gathered from an international workshop and semi-structured interviews with decision-makers, experts and advocacy activists in Brussels and Sofia, this paper explores the adoption of policies aimed at addressing energy poverty within (i) the organisational context of the EU; and (ii) national state institutions in Bulgaria – a member state facing considerable problems at the energy affordability – social inequality nexus. While the former are largely nascent and poorly co-ordinated, the latter have already been implemented de jure to a significant extent. However, many unresolved issues surrounding their de facto implementation remain. At the same time, national policy makers remain largely unaware of the existence of direct energy poverty related initiatives at the EU level. - Highlights: ► This paper explores the adoption of energy poverty policies within the EU and Bulgaria. ► We establish the existence of a range of nascent efforts to address the issue at EU level. ► Bulgaria has been good at implementing EU energy poverty relevant directives. ► However, policy makers speak a different language when it comes to direct energy poverty action.

The Eu as a strategic global policy actor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chatzopoulou, Sevasti; Ansell, Christopher

that shapes and is being shaped by the EU strategic choices. This process is facilitated by the existing EU institutions and structures, the administrative and technical expertise capacity when it responds to the internal and external challenges (environment, sustainable development climate and circular......This article aims to complement the existing literature on the EU as a global actor and demonstrates that the EU’s entrepreneurship on policy, ideas and knowledge production contributes to the evolution of the EU as a strategic global policy actor. While the number of significant studies on the EU...... as a global actor proliferated the last decades, these studies concentrate on the EU’s role in a fragmented manner, focusing either on specific normative or more economic and trade issues, and thus often competing between themselves. This article acknowledges these contributions and aims to take them further...

Examining the role of policy design and policy interaction in EU automotive emissions performance gaps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skeete, Jean-Paul

2017-01-01

In the wake of the 2015 ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, the US and European governments publicly confronted automakers about their behaviour, which raised concerns about the integrity of the current emissions legislation regimes. In this article, I argue that ‘flexibilities’ within the EU's emissions legislative framework afforded automakers the opportunity to legally sidestep strict performance standards laid out in the law and resulted in a significant performance gap in real world driving emissions. This article provides a timely examination of EU emission legislation policy design and policy interaction within the European Union with the aim of explaining why the EU policy framework failed to regulate the regional automotive industry. Current research is mostly concerned with the typology and effectiveness of individual environmental policy instruments, be it regulatory or economic incentives, that aim to influence industry behaviour. This article approaches the current EU policy regime in a more holistic manner and focuses on the exploitation of weaknesses in the regulatory framework by private firms, which has received little academic attention in the innovation and transition literature. A major contribution of this article therefore is a body of primary qualitative interview data from industry elites concerning relevant emissions policies. - Highlights: • Significant performance gaps exist between stated and real-world car emissions. • Real-world performance gaps exist due to exploitation of flawed EU policy design. • Diesels have the widest performance gaps and are most harmful to air quality. • Policy interaction compounds EU air quality problems and promotes path-dependency. • Closing performance gaps requires policy revisions and more enforcement autonomy.

The role of EU institutions in implementing its monetary policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilia GEORGIEVA

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The main goal of the current article is to illustrate in detail the powers of the EU institutions to implement its monetary policy. The methods used to explore the topic and to draw the conclusions and interpret the findings are based on deduction and induction. On the grounds of the information presented in the article the following conclusions have been drawn: the relations between the EU institutions responsible for implementing its monetary policy (the European Central Bank, the European Parliament, the Council, the European Commission and others are entirely based on fundamental principles laid down for all its institutions; the commitments of the institutions implementing the EU monetary policy are strictly stipulated in its primary legislation and are mostly related to the establishment of the EU Economic and Monetary Union, the framing, planning and implementing of the common monetary policy, the management of the Monetary Union. In the conditions of world financial and economic crisis the EU has attempted to respond adequately to its monetary policy problems, commensurate with the scope and matching the specific nature of this crisis.

EU rural policy reform (1997-1999): between politics and policy learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steffensen, Jonny Trapp

2006-01-01

EU rural development policy is gaining in relative significance as the "second pillar" of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Its substance - objectives and instruments - is still under development. This article explores the contribution of so-called "policy learning" by the European Commission...

EU 2004 Declaration. EU policy workshop development of offshore wind energy. Background document

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Bruijne, R.

2004-09-01

Participants of the Dutch EU Presidency's 'EU Policy Workshop on the development of offshore wind energy' published this Declaration that called for action at the EU Transport, Energy and Telecom Council on November 29, 2004. The Declaration lists a series of action points on three main issues relating to the development of offshore wind energy in Europe: market development; environment; and grid integration of large scale offshore wind

Getting out of the perfect storm: towards coherence between electricity market policies and EU climate and energy goals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruedinger, Andreas; Spencer, Thomas; Sartor, Oliver; Mathieu, Mathilde; Colombier, Michel; Ribera, Teresa

2014-01-01

In recent years, the EU power market has been hit by a 'perfect storm', combining multiple interacting factors: revision of demand expectations, growth of both conventional and renewable capacities, a drastic shift from gas to coal power plants and a lack of visibility on future evolutions. Some of these factors are related to the climate agenda, but mostly, they show the inherent and structural difficulties of the current design of the EU power market itself. Within the debate on EU's 2030 framework for climate and energy policies, this situation raises the question: how can the EU's policies address current difficulties of the power market while simultaneously achieving the structural targets of security, affordability and sustainability of supply in the context of decarbonization? Hitherto, the two agendas of internal electricity market policy and climate policy have been largely considered in isolation or even as conflicting agendas. However, a secure low-carbon transition will require significant policy intervention in the electricity sector, including in electricity market design. And, vice versa, an ambitious and coherent package on climate and energy policy can help restore an efficient and competitive electricity market, by strengthening investment signals, improving coordination among member states and providing a sound market framework to improve the technical and economic integration of new low-carbon technologies. Against this background, future challenges for the European policy framework should be considered along two lines: the balance between market forces and regulatory intervention, and the interplay between national and regional approaches. A reinforced EU ETS will have an important role to play, but will not be sufficient on its own to guide both dispatching and investment decisions. Complementary policies will be needed, to provide visibility on the retirement of old carbon intensive plants as well as enhanced coordination

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

EU competences in European energy policy; EU-Kompetenzen einer europaeischen Energiepolitik

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schneider, Almut Madlen

2010-07-01

The author intends to analyze the possible consequences of legal acts in energy policy and to check whether they may serve as competence for an EU energy policy according to the EG or Euratom treaties. She starts by outlining energy-political acts of the EU on the basis first of the former EC treaty and then of the Euratom treaty. These acts cover the issues of nuclear safety and nuclear waste, 'nuclear package' and safeguards monitoring. The next chapter presents the fundamentals of the competence distribution between the EU and its member states. On this basis, the energy-political competences for action of the former EG and Euratom treaties are discussed. This includes operative competences, harmonization competences, material restrictions of national energy policy, and structural instruments for making restrictions on national energy policies. The next chapter presents a critical assessment of the extent of the competence of Article 95 EG (now: Article 114 AEUV) and discusses the role of European law on grants and competition for the functioning of the European energy markets. The 'nuclear package' is reassessed from the view of competence law. Finally, the central new contents of the Lisbon treaty and their consequences for energy law are gone into. The importance of an energy competence title for the energy sector is questioned, and the interdependences between the Lisbon treaty and the Euratom treaty are analyzed. (orig.)

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....

(Inefficiency of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy: Ukraine, Brexit, Trump and beyond

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filipec Ondřej

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The main aim of this article is to explore and analyze key determinants of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy efficiency. For this purpose a 3C analytical approach is used, exploring EU foreign and security policy consistency, capacities and the dimension of cooperation. Article analyzes both horizontal and vertical, consistency of EU Foreign and Security policy especially with connection to Ukraine crises and diverging interests of EU member states. EU capacities are explored with main focus on military spending and challenges related to limited spending. EU military decline is put in contrast with new emerging regional powers. In the area of cooperation article is dedicated mainly to ineffective partnership with Turkey, cold attitude of Trump administration towards Europe and the implications of Brexit for EU foreign and security policy.

Crisis of the EU Eastern Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina V. Bolgova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The results of the Vilnius summit of the EaP project and the consequent Ukrainian crisis with major international effects make possible questioning about the eventual scenarios of the EU eastern politics and possible configurations ofinternational interactions. The article elaborates on the key elements and trends of the EU activities at the post-soviet space that are likely to frame the context of its further developments. The most visible trends analysed here are the extreme differentiation of bilateral relations within the EaP project alongside with the growing symbolism of official rhetoric and program practices of the European Union. As a result, we see the EU's intention to narrow the geographical and qualitative field of its activities on the eastern directionwith saving the shell of the EaP for nominal functioning. Such tactics is not likely to result in a drastic change of the model of conflict dependencies in the "shared neighbourhood". The article analyses key misperceptions of the actors involved in the complex of interactions in the region. The structure is complicated by the deepening and widening of Russia-lead Eurasian integration project. Current crisis of the EU eastern policy is considered to derive from the exaggeration of the value-based, normative aspect of the common foreign policy in general and will have the systemic consequences both for the European external actions and for its internal developments.

Causes of the EU ETS price drop: Recession, CDM, renewable policies or a bit of everything?—New evidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koch, Nicolas; Fuss, Sabine; Grosjean, Godefroy; Edenhofer, Ottmar

2014-01-01

The price of EU allowances (EUAs) in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) fell from almost 30€/tCO 2 in mid-2008 to less than 5€/tCO 2 in mid-2013. The sharp and persistent price decline has sparked intense debates both in academia and among policy-makers about the decisive allowance price drivers. In this paper we examine whether and to what extent the EUA price drop can be justified by three commonly identified explanatory factors: the economic recession, renewable policies and the use of international credits. Capitalizing on marginal abatement cost theory and a broadly extended data set, we find that only variations in economic activity and the growth of wind and solar electricity production are robustly explaining EUA price dynamics. Contrary to simulation-based analyses, our results point to moderate interaction effects between the overlapping EU ETS and renewable policies. The bottom line, however, is that 90% of the variations of EUA price changes remains unexplained by the abatement-related fundamentals. Together, our findings do not support the widely-held view that negative demand shocks are the main cause of the weak carbon price signal. In view of the new evidence, we evaluate the EU ETS reform options which are currently discussed. - Highlights: • We examine whether abatement-related fundamentals justify the EU ETS price drop. • 90% of the variations of EUA price changes remain unexplained. • Variations in economic activity are robustly explaining EUA price dynamics. • Price impact of renewable deployment and international credit use remains moderate. • Reform options are evaluated in the light of the new findings

Debatable Premises in Telecom Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hurwitz, Justin (Gus); Layton, Roslyn

2015-01-01

‟t stand up well to critical analysis. This paper collects and responds to a number of these premises that, collectively, underlie much popular, political, and academic support for increased telecommunications regulation in the United States and Europe – as well as much of the rest of the world....... in the world. The Internet is opening up new platforms for business, education, government, and civic engagement. It has literally been a driving force in toppling governments. Telecommunications policy is important to every government in the world, and debates over what policies should be implemented...

Civil Society Participation in EU Gender Policy-Making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agustin, Lise Rolandsen

2008-01-01

The participation of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) in the policy processes of the European Union (EU) is a potential site of substantial representation of women (SRW). In the article, it is argued that the institutional context can both enable and constrain civil society actors’ claims......-making. TANs employ framing strategies to make their claims resonate with or challenge the dominant discourse of the EU policies. The institutions use contested frames to constitute legitimate claims-makers, by recognising certain claims as more valid than others. The possibilities of SRW are delimited, since...

Interaction between the EU emissions trading scheme and energy policy instruments in the Netherlands. Implications of the EU Directive for Dutch Climate Policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sijm, J.P.M.; Van Dril, A.W.N.

2003-11-01

The present study analyses the potential interactions between the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and some selected energy and climate policy instruments in the Netherlands. These instruments include: (1) The Benchmarking Covenant (BC): a negotiated agreement with energy-intensive industries in order to improve their energy efficiency; (2) The Regulatory Energy Tax (REB): an ecotax (or levy) on the consumption of gas and electricity, including the partial exemption of this ecotax on renewable electricity; (3) The Environmental Quality of Electricity Production (MEP): a feed-in subsidy system for producers of renewable electricity; and (4) The system of Tradable Green Certificates (TGCs): a system of guarantees of origin to promote renewable electricity based on the partial exemption of the REB. A general finding of the present report is that once the EU ETS becomes operational, the effectiveness of all other policies to reduce CO2 emissions of the participating sectors becomes zero. The report explores the specific implications of this general finding for the coexistence of the EU ETS and the selected policy instruments in the Netherlands. It concludes that this coexistence will have a significant impact on the performance of both the EU ETS and the selected instruments in the Netherlands

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...

EU environmental state aid policy: wide implications, narrow participation?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flaam, Karoline

2008-11-15

This article investigates the 2008 reform of the EU's environmental state aid guidelines, with an eye to determining the degree of external pressure and lobbyism towards environmental state aid policies. What is found is a strikingly low level of external pressure on the policy-field, not least on the part of the private sector. In fact, EU environmental state aid policy is largely the making of a few Commission officials, without much external 'interference'. The article discusses possible reasons for this, and asks whether state aid policy-making might be marked less by clear and established interests and utility maximising, and more by actors constrained by complexity and bounded rationality. (author). refs.,tab

EU'S ANTIDUMPING POLICIES TOWARDS CHINA AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

OpenAIRE

CLINCI, Ionut Cristian

2013-01-01

This paper first tries to describe the antidumping measures and to explain how they work in the trade relations between EU and China. Then it tries to explain the implications of the antidumping measures from an economic perspective. Finally, the paper tries to answer the question whether the EU discriminates China in its antidumping policies.

'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

Why and how the EU should act on armed drones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martins, Bruno Oliveira; Backhaus, Benedikt

2015-01-01

This article systematizes the reasons that demand EU action on the issue of armed drones. It argues that a clear positioning of Brussels is required due to consistency with former practices in similar events and fundamental vectors of EU foreign and security policy, as well as legal and strategic...... position itself in the international debate on the regulation of armed drones....

Methodology proposal for territorial distribution of greenhouse gas reduction percentages in the EU according to the strategic energy policy goal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tolon-Becerra, A.; Lastra-Bravo, X.; Bienvenido-Barcena, F.

2010-01-01

A 20% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2020 is one of the main objectives of the European Union (EU) energy policy. However, this overall objective does not specify how it should be distributed among the Member States, according to each one's particular characteristics. Consequently, in this article a non-linear distribution methodology with dynamic objective targets for reducing GHG emissions is proposed. The goal of this methodology is to promote debate over the weighting of these overall objectives, according to the context and characteristics of each member state. First, an analysis is conducted of the situation of greenhouse gas emissions in the reference year (1990) used by the EU for reaching its goal of reducing them by 20% by 2020, and its progress from 1990 to 2007. Then, the methodology proposed was applied for the year 2020 on two territorial aggregation levels following the EUROSTAT Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), in the EU-15 and EU-27 member countries and on a regional level in 19 Spanish Autonomous Communities and Cities (NUTS-2). Weighting is done based on CO 2 intensity, GHG emissions per capita and GHG emissions per GDP. Finally, several recommendations are provided for the formulation of energy policies.

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?.

The Process Architecture of EU Territorial Cohesion Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Faludi

2010-08-01

Full Text Available When preparing the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP, Member States were supported by the European Commission but denied the EU a competence in the matter. Currently, the Treaty of Lisbon identifies territorial cohesion as a competence shared between the Union and the Member States. This paper is about the process architecture of territorial cohesion policy. In the past, this architecture resembled the Open Method of Coordination (OMC which the White Paper on European Governance praised, but only in areas where there was no EU competence. This reflected zero-sum thinking which may continue even under the Lisbon Treaty. After all, for as long as territorial cohesion was not a competence, voluntary cooperation as practiced in the ESDP process was pursued in this way. However, the practice of EU policies, even in areas where there is an EU competence, often exhibits features of the OMC. Surprisingly effective innovations hold the promise of rendering institutions of decision making comprehensible and democratically accountable. In the EU as a functioning polity decision making is thus at least part deliberative so that actors’ preferences are transformed by the force of the better argument. This brings into focus the socialisation of the deliberators into epistemic communities. Largely an informal process, this is reminiscent of European spatial planning having been characterised as a learning process.

Framing the policy debate over spirits excise tax in Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Zatonski, Mateusz; Hawkins, Benjamin; McKee, Martin

2018-06-01

Industry lobbying remains an obstacle to effective health-oriented alcohol policy. In 2013, an increase in excise tax on spirits was announced by the Polish government. This article presents a qualitative analysis of the public debate that ensued on the potential economic, health and social effects of the policy. It focuses on how competing groups, including industry actors, framed their position and sought to dominate the debate. Online archives of five Polish national newspapers, two spirits trade associations, and parliamentary and ministerial archives were searched. A thematic content analysis of the identified sources was conducted. The overall findings were compared with existing research on the framing of the Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) debate in the UK. A total of 155 sources were analysed. Two main frames were identified: health, and economic. The spirits industry successfully promoted the economic frame in their own publications and in the media. The debate was dominated by arguments about potential growth of the grey market and losses in tax revenue that might result from the excise tax increase. The framing of the debate in Poland differed from the framing of the MUP debate in the United Kingdom. The Polish public health community was unsuccessful in making health considerations a significant element of the alcohol policy debate. The strategies pursued by UK health advocates offer lessons for how to make a more substantial impact on media coverage and promote health-oriented legislation.

Introducing short term flexibility in the EU ETS to assure its long-term credibility: a multi-criteria analysis of policy options. Climate Report no. 45

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Desai, Zuheir; Alberola, Emilie; Berghmans, Nicolas

2014-07-01

It is now well established that the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) needs to be reformed. After more than 18 months of discussions, the EU Commission disclosed, in its communication published in January 2014 on 'A policy framework for climate and energy in the period from 2020 to 2030', its legislative proposal of a market stability reserve (MSR) in the EU ETS. This measure, that should be implemented from the next compliance period (2021-2028) onwards, would reduce the surplus of allowances growing since 2008 and improve the ETS's resilience to external shocks by automatically adjusting the supply of allowances to be auctioned. The operation of this MSR would be determined by predefined rules that, once agreed on, leave no discretion to either the Commission or Member States. The choice of the EU Commission to introduce a reserve in the EU ETS is very innovative even if other emissions trading schemes have already introduced a reserve in their design. Initial discussions began in March and April 2014 in the European Parliament and Council and the question of whether the MSR really improves the functioning of the EU ETS in the long term is still being debated. What other structural mechanism would be better suited in improving the long-term effectiveness of the EU ETS? To help in the decision making process, this report presents a multi-criteria analysis. Without prejudging their political support, five policy options have been evaluated that would introduce some flexibility in the EU ETS and potentially ensure its long-term credibility: an auction reserve price, permit supply rules that target a certain corridor of surplus (market stability reserve), permit supply rules that target economic activity, permit supply rules that target overlap with other energy policies and a rolling emissions cap. The assessment of these five policy options was based on a criteria tree and on the EU ETS experts' panel's votes that expressed

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?.

PUBLIC POLICIES TO R&D IN ROMANIA IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EU STATE AID POLICY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bacila Nicolae

2015-07-01

Full Text Available From an economic perspective, the importance of EU state aid policy refers to correcting “market failure” situations that may occur in the economy, aiming at maintaining an undistorted competition in the economic environment. In the context of the Commission focusing its efforts towards promoting R&D investment through Europe 2020 strategy, Romania is a modest innovator and is facing a relatively low level of economic competitiveness. The present paper aims at providing a contribution to the literature on public policies to R&D in the EU, developing both a quantitative and a qualitative analysis of public policies to R&D in Romania in the context of the EU state aid policy. Our research hypothesis considers that public policies to R&D in Romania, as in other Central and Eastern European countries, are following a convergence process with the practices from the EU level. Based on data provided by Eurostat, we have stressed that the existing gap between the national level and the EU level tends to maintain in the state aid field even in the future, in spite of Romanian government sector R&D expenditure tending to converge with the EU level, which highlights the potential of catching up with the European model. We believe that the success of the convergence process will depend in the future, to a large extent, on the implementation of the modernised legal and institutional framework of state aid policy, as well as on the capacity to build consensus by policy makers around the necessity to structure future economic development around R&D investment. In order to successfully address these structural R&D problems, the National Strategy for Research, Development and Innovation aims to establish R&D as engine for increasing economic competitiveness, while at the same time strengthening strategic areas with comparative advantages, supporting public-private partnerships, funding clusters in areas of smart specialisation, developing intellectual

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.

EU policy options for climate and energy beyond 2020

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koelemeijer, R.; Ros, J.; Notenboom, J.; Boot, P. [Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency PBL, Den Haag (Netherlands); Groenenberg, H.; Winkel, T. [Ecofys, Utrecht (Netherlands)

2013-05-15

In 2009, the EU climate and energy package with targets for 2020 (the so-called 20-20-20 targets) were formulated. For the period after 2020, however, there are no legally binding targets at the EU level, except for a decreasing ETS cap which will not be sufficient in light of the ambition for 2050. This leads to uncertainty for market players, as project lead times are long and high upfront investments need to deliver returns well beyond 2020. In its Green Paper on a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies, the European Commission recognised the need for clarity regarding the post-2020 policy framework. Currently under discussion is whether the approach for 2020 should be continued towards 2030 in the form of three more stringent targets or that other approaches would be more appropriate. Within this context, the Dutch Government asked PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and Ecofys for advice. PBL and Ecofys have subsequently analysed possible options for an EU policy framework for 2030 that will steer towards a low-carbon economy by 2050 in a cost-effective way.

EU energy policies towards the 21st century: a business intelligence report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyons, Paul K.

1998-06-01

This report discusses the EU energy policy, and examines the single market, the internal electricity and gas markets, and the single market with respect to coal, oil and biofuel. The environmental policy, the control of air quality, climate change policies, security of supplies, and economic and social cohesion are addressed. Nuclear issues, research and demonstration programmes, EU enlargement, and international affairs are discussed. (UK)

Member State Foreign Policy towards EU Military Operations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rodt, Annemarie Peen

2017-01-01

Over the past decade the European Union has undertaken military operations in Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, twice in the Democratic Republic of Congo, jointly in the Central African Republic and Chad, both in and off the coast of Somalia and most recently in Mali. Ongoing discussions in Brussels...... suggest that another operation in CAR may be underway shortly. The EU’s military endeavours are particularly interesting to this enquiry, as they suggest a radical change in the cohort of member states’ foreign policy towards the Union, which until the turn of the Millennium had been considered by its MS......, amongst others, as a predominantly ‘civilian power’. The significance of such a change merits a chapter that delves deeper into MS foreign policy specifically related to EU military operations.The rationale for this research is to further unpack intra-EU foreign policy and its effect on the external...

The EU environmental policy context for monitoring for and with raptors in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Duke, Guy

2008-09-01

This paper outlines the importance of the policy context for monitoring with and for raptors, and, conversely, of the importance of such monitoring for policy. It then outlines two key areas of European Union (EU) environmental policy most relevant to monitoring for and with raptors, namely biodiversity policy and pollution policy. For each of the policy areas, the pertinent objectives and actions of the current EU policy are identified, and their relevance for raptor monitoring is discussed. The potential contribution of raptor monitoring to the further development of these policy areas is also addressed.

The Normality of EU Sport Policy Studies: Disciplinary Locus in Political Science, Sport Science or Elsewhere?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacob Kornbeck

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The Normality of EU Sport Policy Studies: Disciplinary Locus in Political Science, Sport Science or Elsewhere? Mainstream European integration research has shown that research on the EU tends to follow the conjunctures of European integration itself. This realisation has led to some debate on which branch of political science – international relations or government – or indeed other academic disciplines is/are the most appropriate locus for such research. The paper takes these debates one step further by looking at the occurrence of ‘EU & sport’ studies within the wider field of EU studies. The main material used comes from the ECLAS database. Findings lead to a discussion of whether ‘EU & sport’ studies should rather be for EU specialists or for sport specialists and a plea for disciplinary normalisation whereby sport science would need to get more directly involved (without necessarily overwriting political science. Some ideas are added regarding the need for a mapping of Central & Eastern European scholarship. Normalita politických studií EU v oblasti sportu: místo v oborech politologie, sportovních vědách či jinde? Hlavní integrační proudy v evropském výzkumu dokumentují, že výzkum v EU má tendenci zkoumat evropskou integraci jako takovou. Toto poznání vedlo k diskusi, v kterém oboru politologie – mezinárodní vztahy či vláda – nebo i v jiných akademických disciplínách je nejvhodnější místo pro takový výzkum. Stať se pokouší posunout tyto diskuse o krok dále tím, že studie o „EU a sportu“ se posuzují v širším záběru EU studií. Hlavní informační zdroje pocházejí z databáze ECLAS. Naše zjištění vedou k diskusi o problematice „EU a sportu“ v tom smyslu, zda by tyto studie měly být spíše určeny odborníkům EU, nebo sportovním specialistům. Důležitá je otázka disciplinární začlenění této problematiky, s širším zapojením sportovních věd (aniž by

Vaccination policies of immigrants in the EU/EEA Member States-the measles immunization example.

Science.gov (United States)

Bica, Mihai A; Clemens, Ralf

2018-06-01

In 2015-16, the European Union/European Economic Area Member States (EU/EEA MSs) experienced an unprecedented volume and rate of migration, posing serious challenges to existing national immunization systems and strategies and raising the questions of where, when and who to vaccinate. We assessed existing strategies for vaccinating immigrant populations in the EU/EEA using measles as an example of the most important vaccine-preventable diseases. In this cross-sectional study, conducted from March to May 2016, an electronic questionnaire was sent to the Heads of National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) or equivalent policy-making bodies in each of the 31 EU/EEA Member States. Responses were entered into a structured database and validated by survey responders for final analysis. Validated responses from all 31 EU/EEA NITAGs or equivalents showed that there is no common measles immunization policy for European immigrants. Policies vary widely from no policy at all (9 of 31, 29%) to vaccination of all comers (2 of 31, 6%), or vaccination of selected cohorts based on vaccination history (17 of 31, 55%) or serum antibody analysis (2 of 31, 6%). Further, the operational responsibilities for immigrant vaccination and documentation methods are not unified within the EU/EEA region. With some notable exceptions immunization policies to contain spread of infectious diseases through migration are either non-existent or vary widely between countries in the EU/EEA. With freedom of movement within the EU/EEA there ought to be harmonization and a common EU/EEA vaccination strategy to replace national policies for immigrant populations.

Tax policy at the outskirts of EU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vesterø Jensen, Carsten; Nielsen, Søren Bo

2003-01-01

of Greenland's tax system, the paper's special focus will be on the corporate tax systemand its interplay with personal taxation, as well on as the system of import duties. In particular, wecarry out computations of effective marginal and average corporate tax rates, as well as average effectivetax burdens...... on consumption, labour income and capital income, and compare these to similarmeasures for EU countries. In addition, we outline how Greenland's economic policy in other areasinterferes with tax policy. Especially fishery regulation, management of government-owned companies,and housing policy have major...

Does climate policy make the EU economy more resilient to oil price rises? A CGE analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maisonnave, Hélène; Pycroft, Jonathan; Saveyn, Bert; Ciscar, Juan-Carlos

2012-01-01

The European Union has committed itself to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% in 2020 compared with 1990 levels. This paper investigates whether this policy has an additional benefit in terms of economic resilience by protecting the EU from the macroeconomic consequences due to an oil price rise. We use the GEM-E3 computable general equilibrium model to analyse the results of three scenarios. The first one refers to the impact of an increase in the oil price. The second scenario analyses the European climate policy and the third scenario analyses the oil price rise when the European climate policy is implemented. Unilateral EU climate policy implies a cost on the EU of around 1.0% of GDP. An oil price rise in the presence of EU climate policy does imply an additional cost on the EU of 1.5% of GDP (making a total loss of 2.5% of GDP), but this is less than the 2.2% of GDP that the EU would lose from the oil price rise in the absence of climate policy. This is evidence that even unilateral climate policy does offer some economic protection for the EU.

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.

Diskrepanz: Die EU-Frauenpolitik zwischen Deregulierung und Gleichheitsansprüchen Internal Discrepancies: EU Women’s Policies between Deregulation and Claims to Equality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ingrid Biermann

2003-03-01

Full Text Available In von neun Autorinnen verfassten Beiträgen gibt der Band Einblicke in zentrale Felder der EU-Politik: die europäische Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion (EWWU, die Strukturpolitik, die Gleichstellungspolitik und das Gender Mainstreaming, die Osterweiterung sowie die Ausarbeitung einer europäischen Verfassung. Damit werden wesentliche Teile des Maastricht-Vertrags (1992, des Amsterdamer Vertrags (1997 und des Nizza-Vertrags (2000 behandelt. Hierdurch bildet dieser Band eine wichtige Grundlage für die Diskussion über die Frauenpolitik der EU.This anthology, consisting of nine essays written by women authors, offers insights into central areas of EU politics: the European Economic and Currency Union, structural policies, policies dealing with gender equality, the expansion of the EU, as well as the creation of a new European constitution. These policies include relevant parts of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam, and the 2000 Treaty of Nizza. The information and insights presented here make this book an important basis for any discussions about EU women’s policies.

The impact of new member states on EU environmental policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Mikael Skou

1996-01-01

The fourth enlargement of the EU, with Sweden, Finland and Austria, which took effect on 1 January 1995, is by many expected to have a positive impact on the environmental policy dimension of the Union, which has been under strain since the Rio Summit in 1992.......The fourth enlargement of the EU, with Sweden, Finland and Austria, which took effect on 1 January 1995, is by many expected to have a positive impact on the environmental policy dimension of the Union, which has been under strain since the Rio Summit in 1992....

Debates of the Vista 2009 Colloquium 'A European emergency: energy policy'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fabius, Laurent; Ladoucette, Philippe de; Lederer, Pierre; Percebois, Jacques; Ristori, Dominique; ); ROSIER, Philippe; Tran Thiet, Jean-Paul; Chalmin, Philippe

2009-05-01

After an introduction speech by the chairman of Vista-Think tank energies, a first debate examined whether energy needs Europe. The interveners discussed the existence of other instruments than competition, the openness to all the market actors, the relationship between the regulatory policy and the possibility of development at a European level. The second debate examined whether Europe needs energy. The interveners describe the development of a European energy sector in a context without any actual European energy policy, how such a policy can emerge, how the various challenges and objectives are addressed

Competitors or collaborators: a comparison of commercial diplomacy policies and practices of EU member states.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stadman, A.; Ruel, Hubertus Johannes Maria; Ruel, H.J.M.

2012-01-01

Commercial diplomacy within the EU is currently a matter for the individual EU member states (MS). This results in different policies and practices. But to what extent do they really differ? This chapter presents the results of a comparative study on EU MS commercial diplomacy policies and

Gun Control: The Debate and Public Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Watkins, Christine

1997-01-01

Provides an overview and background information on the debate over gun control, as well as several teaching ideas. Handouts include a list of related topics drawn from various disciplines (economics, U.S. history), seven arguments for and against gun control, and a set of policy evaluation guidelines. (MJP)

EU Development Policy in a Changing World

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mold, Andrew

2007-01-01

On many fronts, EU development policy is at a critical juncture. In the face of major new challenges, such as the current impasse in the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, and increasing concerns over security threats, the European Union is having to rethink much of its development

Relevance of PLUREL's results to policies at EU, national, regional and local level

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fertner, Christian; Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick

and results to policies and policy development at the EU-level, as well as the national and regional level. PLUREL has peri-urban land use relationships as its main focus. This includes analysis of drivers, consequences, policies and scenarios for the future. Even though PLUREL aims for pan-European coverage...... of natural resources as well as an attractive development in general. Besides these spatial relevant sector policies, the EU enforces legislation which is translated into spatial explicit instruments on sub-regional level. E.g. the Habitat and Birds Directive caused the development of Natura 2000 areas......, an EU-wide network of nature protection areas. The implementation of Trans-European Networks through funding programmes is another sector policy having an impact on land-use change and rural-urban relations. On the sub-regional scale the perception on overall goals like sustainability can be very...

EU climate policy impact in 2020. With a focus on the effectiveness of emissions trading policy in an economic recession scenario

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graus, W.; Sreenivasamurthy, U.; Wesselink, B.

2009-06-01

PBL's Environmental Balance 2009 provides information on the current status and trends of environmental and climate policies. Ecofys contributes to the climate policy section of the report by developing the following three indicators: (1) ex-post and ex-ante policy impacts until 2020 at EU level (wedge diagram); (2) business-as-usual emissions of EU ETS sectors until 2020, revised for the current economic recession; (3) a latest literature review of EUA (EU emission allowances) price band expected until 2020. Based on the latter two analyses, a brief note on the impact of the current economic recession on the effectiveness of the EU emission trading scheme until 2020 is presented.An economic recession of two years or longer will considerably decrease the effectiveness of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in stimulating low-carbon technologies. In order to meet EU climate targets in the longer term, new governmental policies will be needed to compensate for this.

THE CRUCIAL THEMES OF EU ENLARGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacques Pelkmans

2001-12-01

Full Text Available This article provides a critical review of the “terms” of the ongoing EU enlargement, in the light of the European public interest. The European public interest ought to include the prospective (Central European members, within a perspective of an enlarged Union in 2010, or so. The following forms a personalised summary of a major report published (in Dutch in September 2001 by the WRR in The Hague (a think-tank, formally under the Dutch Prime Minister, but by statute fully independent. The author was one of the lead-writers of this report. The present article merely focuses on the policy recommendations of the report. It is hoped that these kinds of critical analyses will help to stimulate solid policy debate on the EU in Romania, on the road to EU membership. The article discusses why the notion of a “core-acquis” would improve the enlargement strategy; the application of the core acquis to the internal market, environment and justice and home affairs; judicial and administrative capacity; accession to “euro-land”; the rapid reform of the CAP; a reform of “cohesion” approaches; and a note on the EU budgetary implications.

Keynesian, Monetarist and Supply-Side Policies: An Old Debate Gets New Life

Science.gov (United States)

Niederjohn, M. Scott; Wood, William C.

2009-01-01

Debates over how to promote a healthy economy are pervasive once more, after decades when it seemed such debates had been put to rest. The market meltdown of 2008 ended a long string of years in which monetary policy reigned supreme. Monetary policy is the regulation of money and the banking system to influence economic variables. Its adherents,…

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)

Energy Climate Change - Challenges and Prospects of the EU Policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blecic, P.; Bosnjakovic, B.; Frankovic, B.

2013-01-01

The paper discusses the main challenges and prospects of EU policy in the field of energy and climate change, without going into technical details, but establishes the main themes of sustainability: economy, environment and new jobs. It describes the foundations and the objectives of the current EU energy policy, and the reasons why the current approach to reduction of greenhouse gases emissions is disappointing. Also, the question is whether EU will achieve the renewable energy goals for the year 2020. The security of energy supply and availability is also considered, especially in view of high dependence on import energy in the today fragmented market. For the way forward to mid-century, the targets to year 2030 are of critical importance. Also, the paper gives an overview of the state of renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions in Croatia.(author)

US and EU competition policy on abuse of dominance in high tech industries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouwer, M.

2011-01-01

Abuse of dominance is one of the three pillars of competition policy in both the EU and the US. Competition laws are similar, but enforcement differs greatly between the EU and the US. The EU administrative approach is less punitive than the US court based system. The use of fines by the EU in

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

Agents of Institutional Change in EU Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

de la Porte, Caroline; Natali, David

2018-01-01

Social Investment package (SIP) through issue-framing, institutional alignment and consensus-building. Despite this, the SIP of 2013 ended as a ‘social investment moment’ that rapidly lost momentum because no additional measures such as indicators or funds were integrated with SIP. Furthermore......The contribution addresses – through actor-centred historical institutionalism – why and how social investment (SI) emerged at the European Union (EU) level. SI policies built on the institutional basis of the policy co-ordination processes in employment and social inclusion, which originated...

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

Shifting policy priorities in EU-China energy relations: Implications for Chinese energy investments in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gippner, Olivia; Torney, Diarmuid

2017-01-01

Shifting energy policy priorities both in China and the EU (European Union) have transformed their bilateral relationship. In order to assess the impact of domestic policy priorities on bilateral energy cooperation and climate policy, this comparative study traces the evolution of EU and Chinese approaches to energy policy – and their relative emphasis on factors and frames such as availability, efficiency, affordability and environmental stewardship. Drawing on government documents and a data set of interviews with Chinese policy-makers, experts and academics in 2015–2016, the article argues that while the EU started with a strong emphasis on environmental stewardship and moved towards a focus on affordability and availability, China started with a strong emphasis on availability and has moved towards a greater emphasis on environmental stewardship. This shift in frames on the Chinese side and subsequent changes in subsidy structures and targets can partially explain the increase in investments in renewable energy technologies. The article concludes that the Chinese and EU perspectives have become more aligned over the past ten years, coinciding with an increasing trend towards renewable energy in Chinese energy investments in the EU, for example in Italy and the UK. - Highlights: • Compares dominant frames of energy policy in China and the European Union in the period 2005–2015. • Shows that there has been a convergence of policy frames between China and the EU. • Convergence on environmental stewardship is necessary but not sufficient for FDI in clean energy.

An equity assessment of introducing uncertain forest carbon sequestration in EU climate policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Münnich Vass, Miriam; Elofsson, Katarina; Gren, Ing-Marie

2013-01-01

Large emissions of greenhouse gases are expected to cause major environmental problems in the future. European policy makers have therefore declared that they aim to implement cost-efficient and fair policies to reduce carbon emissions. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the cost of the EU policies for 2020 can be reduced through the inclusion of carbon sequestration as an abatement option while equity is also improved. The assessment is done by numerical calculations using a chance-constrained partial equilibrium model of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and national effort-sharing targets, where forest sequestration is introduced as an uncertain abatement option. Fairness is evaluated by calculation of Gini-coefficients for six equity criteria to policy outcomes. The estimated Gini-coefficients range between 0.11 and 0.32 for the current policy, between 0.16 and 0.66 if sequestration is included and treated as certain, and between 0.19 and 0.38 when uncertainty about sequestration is taken into account and policy-makers wish to meet targets with at least 90 per cent probability. The results show that fairness is reduced when sequestration is included and that the impact is larger when sequestration is treated as certain. - Highlights: • We model EU's CO 2 emission reduction targets to 2020 for the 27 member states. • We assess the equity of including forest carbon sequestration in EU policy with six equity criteria. • A stochastic partial equilibrium model is used, in which abatement cost is minimised. • Current burden sharing within the EU is quite fair when compared with current income inequality. • The abatement cost is reduced and inequality increased when including sequestration

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.

Debated agronomy: public discourse and the future of biotechnology policy in Ghana

OpenAIRE

Braimah, Joseph A.; Atuoye, Kilian N.; Vercillo, Siera; Warring, Carrie; Luginaah, Isaac

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT This paper examines the highly contested and ongoing biotechnology (Bt) policy-making process in Ghana. We analyse media content on how Bt is viewed in the context of Ghana’s parliamentary debate on the Plant Breeders Bill and within the broader public policy-making literature. This paper does not seek to take a position on Bt or the Bill, but to understand how policy actors influence the debate with political and scientific rhetoric in Ghana. The study reveals that in the midst of s...

PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC ECONOMIC POLICIES OF MOLDOVA ASSOCIATION TO THE EU: METHODOLOGY, PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gheorghe RUSU

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Economic policies and decisions on EU association starting with the begginig of 90’s were pseudo-scientific, contradictory, incoherent because those policies have not based themselves on modern and current economic theories elaborated and promoted by the EU. Actuality. The topic is actual from the perspective of the factors’ analysis which were conducting to delay the association process of Moldova to the EU. At the same time, those were increasing instability, disequilibrium in the national economy and raise of social vulnerability and constraint levels which ultimately increased the gap between the national and EU economic development levels. During the period of 2000-2015, the socio-economic policy of the Republic of Moldova is described more as small and fragmented steps on conceiving economic and financial instruments for the integration into the EU which were reflected in the Neighbourhood Partnership and Association Agreement with the EU. These processes conducted for the state incapacity to define its own objectives and social-economic priorities for the association as well as legitimated a continuous stage of transition to the market economy. The scope of the present article is to propose a real change of the development and social-economic association policies for achieving final objective on integration to EU. The proposals would consist in emphasizing and implementation of the EU economic principles reflected in the neoclassic synthesis and neo-conservative theories; the elaboration and implementation of a new Strategy on economic supervision, coordination and anticipation of the economic disequilibrium; achieve economic stability for diminishing the negative effects of the global and regional crisis on national economy and adaptation of the development policies to the national socio-economic conditions. The methods used for the elaboration and achieving the expected results of the study were analysis and synthesis of the

Good things do not always come in threes: On the excess cost of overlapping regulation in EU climate policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Böhringer, Christoph; Keller, Andreas; Bortolamedi, Markus; Rahmeier Seyffarth, Anelise

2016-01-01

Since the mid-1990's the European Union (EU) aims at pushing global climate policy. The objective is to promote international cooperation by the adoption of substantial EU-wide greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and their least-cost implementation. Our quantitative impact assessment of the EU Climate and Energy Package shows that the myriad of instruments used in the EU to curb greenhouse gas emissions is doomed to generate substantial excess cost. We conclude that EU climate and energy policy should better disentangle its choices of objectives, targets, and policy instruments on rigorous economic grounds in order to improve the coherence and overall cost-effectiveness of policy initiatives. - Highlights: •EU Climate and Energy Package almost quintuples costs for EU-wide emission abatement. •The main source of excess cost of EU climate policy are energy efficiency mandates.

How will the EU climate adaptation strategy affect EU agricultural policies?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Helle Ørsted; Karali, Eleni; Castellari, Sergio

A key objective in the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change (COM (2013) 216 final) is to ensure mainstreaming, i.e. integration, of adaptation measures into European sectoral policies. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one such sectoral policy which is prioritised in the strategy...... as an area to be climate proofed. The CAP is under revision and will be reformed for the 2014-2020 period with the explicit objectives of strengthening the competitiveness and the sustainability of agriculture (EC). Climate change adaptation objectives are included in the proposal for a greening...... of the single payment scheme (2011/0280 (COD), and the proposal for the Rural Development Fund also specifically sets out climate change adaptation as a cross-cutting objective to which rural development funding must contribute 2011/0282 (COD). This paper therefore examines the most important challenges...

Metering: EU policy and implications for fuel poor households

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Darby, Sarah J.

2012-01-01

Fuel poverty is a function of household energy consumption, income, and the cost of delivered energy. The paper discusses ways in which current EU policy on the development of ‘smart’ metering could affect fuel poor households. The main focus is on developments in electricity metering and the development of ‘active demand’ and smart grids, so that demand can be matched closely with available supply. Advances in metering and related technologies open the way to time-of-use charging, easier switching between suppliers and between credit payment and prepayment, direct load control of some end-uses by the utility, greater scope for microgeneration, and improved consumption feedback for customers. These options open up both uncertainties and risks. The paper offers definitions and discussion of various functions of smart metering, summarizes the EU policy background, and considers some possible equity implications of rolling out a new generation of meters. There follows an assessment of potential implications to the fuel poor of changes to metering, based on a review of the literature on energy feedback, tariffing, and supplier–customer relationships. Much of the discussion is based on the UK experience, with examples from other EU member states and, where appropriate, from other parts of the world. - Highlights: ► Smart meters are part of general upgrading of electricity and gas networks. ► EU policy is to roll out the meters to 80%+ of the population by 2020. ► Improved feedback and prepayment metering may benefit the fuel poor. ► Remote disconnection and data privacy are issues for all consumers. ► We need careful assessment of potential gains and losses to the fuel poor.

Red light for Green Paper: The EU policy on energy efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nilsson, Mats

2007-01-01

The EU Green Paper on energy efficiency calls for action to decrease energy use and thus achieve increased competitiveness, fulfil the environmental targets and increase security of supply. In this comment, we examine the role the EU Commission suggest that energy efficiency, and policies supporting energy efficiency, takes. The policies and the suggestions are qualitatively elaborated upon in the light of the goal of a common European electricity market. We suggest that the rationales for the energy efficiency measures are weak, and that the suggested goals of increased competitiveness, environmental targets, and security of supply are best reached with the direct measures especially designed for each goal. Some of the energy efficiency measures may counter-act other direct policies. Further, The Green Paper measures may prove detrimental to the European Electricity market insofar as the policies suggested could lead to a policy fatigue among the electricity consumers

The security of energy supply. The European Commission's Green Paper stimulates debate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

The growing dependence of the European Union (EU) on external supplies of energy is the central focus of a ''Green Paper'' issued in late November 2000 by the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels. Entitled ''Towards a European Strategy for the Security of Energy Supply'', the Green Paper is intended to stimulate debate on the EU's energy policies and strategies. European member States are ''interdependent'', the Green Paper states, ''both because of climate change issues and the creation of the internal energy market. Any energy policy decision taken by a Member State will inevitably have repercussions on the functioning of the market in other Member States. Energy policy has assumed a new, Community dimension.'' Three main points emerge from the Green Paper: The EU will become increasingly dependent on external energy sources; its enlargement will not change this situation. Based on current forecasts, energy dependence will reach 70% by the year 2030. - The EU has very limited scope to influence energy supply conditions; it is essentially on the demand side that the EU can intervene, mainly by promoting energy saving in buildings and the transport sector. - The EU presently is not in a position to respond to the challenge of climate change and to meet its commitments, notably under the Kyoto Protocol. Featured here is the Executive Summary of the Green Paper

The EU and Climate Change Policy: Law, Politics and Prominence at Different Levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chad David Damro

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The European Union (EU is a prominent player in the politics of climate change, operating as an authoritative regional actor that influences policy-making at the national and international levels. The EU’s climate change policies are thus subjected to multiple pressures that arise from the domestic politics of its twenty-seven individual member states and the international politics of non-EU states with which it negotiates. Facing these multiple pressures, how and why could such a non-traditional actor develop into a prominent player at different levels of climate change policy-making? This article argues that the EU’s rise to prominence can be understood by tracking a number of historical-legal institutional developments at the domestic and international levels. The article also provides a preliminary investigation of the EU emissions trading scheme, a new institutional mechanism that illustrates the policy pressures arising from different levels.

EU policies on car emissions and fuel quality. Reducing the climate impact from road transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Christensen, Anne Raaum; Gulbrandsen, Lars H.

2012-07-01

Transport is the second biggest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU, and contributes about one-quarter of the EU's total emissions of CO{sub 2}. Significant reductions in GHG emissions from transport are required if the EU is to achieve its long-term climate goals. This report examines the making and implementation of two of the regulations the EU has put in place to lower emissions from the transport sector: the EU's revised Fuel Quality Directive (Directive 2009/30/EC) and the cars/CO{sub 2} regulation (Regulation (EC) 443/2009). It was found that the relevance of various theories of policymaking in the EU varies with different policy phases. A policy-network understanding of EU policymaking is strengthened when assessing the policy-initiation phase. The Commission played a key role in this phase and drafted legislation in close collaboration with the car and oil refining industries. An intergovernmentalist understanding of EU policy-making is strengthened when assessing the decision-making phase. In this phase, member states defending the interests of their domestic industries had strong influence, but the European Parliament played an important role in this phase too, employing its power in the co-decision procedure. Finally, the implementation process is best understood as a multi-level governance process in which several actors and institutions - notably the Commission, member states, industries, and NGOs - influenced the process. (Author)

The EU and the International Sanctions against Iran

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seeberg, Peter

2016-01-01

In July 2015 an agreement on the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Iran’s nuclear program was announced between Iran and the permanent members of the UNSC, Germany and the EU. The Iranian decision to comply with the results of the negotiations attracted much focus, both...... at the policy level and in scholarly debates. However, the foreign and security policy interests and possibilities of Iran in the MENA region have not been discussed very intensively, nor has there been much attention paid to how the international actors and in particular the EU were able to influence...... the Iranian policies and decisions. This article seeks to take up this challenge: firstly by analyzing to what degree the sanctions influenced the Iranian decisions on the nuclear issue; and secondly, by discussing how the sanctions regime affected the relations between Iran and the international actors...

Towards a Demand-Driven Agenda for Place-Based Policies in the EU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Camilla

This policy study is the second report on the policy implications of the EU funded project Policy Incentives for the Creation of Knowledge – Methods and Evidence (PICK-ME). All contributions in the project related with place-based policy and cluster building are summarized and reviewed (Work...

Influencing parliamentary debate on labour policy in Uruguay | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Influencing parliamentary debate on labour policy in Uruguay ... The study has been presented in international conferences and was recently published in the ... Mini soap operas foster financial education and inclusion of women in Peru.

A Survey on the Tax Policy in EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian Mihai INCEU

2007-10-01

Full Text Available In this study we make an analysis of the major aspects concerning the tax policy in the EU countries. For revealing a global image on tax policy within the EU we have to consider in our analysis the overall tax burden, the structure of tax revenues (direct taxation, indirect taxation, social contributions and the main types of taxes: corporate tax, personal tax, consumption tax. This article is based on a dynamic analysis of taxation using as a main tools descriptive and empirical analysis. The empirical study tries to determinate the correlation between tax burden and the implicit tax rate on capital and business income, consumption and labor through the panel methodology. This analysis is based the data delivered by the EUROSTAT. The main results obtained from the empirical study is that there are major differences concerning the correlation between total taxes as percentage of GDP and the implicit tax rate of profit, consumption and labor.

Judicial Influence on Policy Outputs?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martinsen, Dorte Sindbjerg

2015-01-01

to override unwanted jurisprudence. In this debate, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has become famous for its central and occasionally controversial role in European integration. This article examines to what extent and under which conditions judicial decisions influence European Union (EU......) social policy outputs. A taxonomy of judicial influence is constructed, and expectations of institutional and political conditions on judicial influence are presented. The analysis draws on an extensive novel data set and examines judicial influence on EU social policies over time, that is, between 1958...

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...

The European Union's Africa Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Gorm Rye

2013-01-01

For a number of years, there has been an international debate on whether and to what extent small member states can influence the common external policies of the European Union. Recent research on the role of small EU states concludes that these states are neither per se political dwarfs nor power...... including North–South and specifically Africa policies. Five separate analyses are carried out addressing the question of Nordicization and Europeanization. Based on the empirical analyses, it is not possible to confirm the hypothesis that a Nordicization of the European Union's Africa policy has taken...... place. Rather, it appears adequate to talk about convergence of policies between the Nordics and the EU and therefore, the Africa policies of both actors are basically the result of Europeanization....

The Third EU Energy Market Package. Are We Singing the Right Song?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Jong, Jacques [Clingendael International Energy Programme CIEP, Den Haag (Netherlands)

2008-02-15

The liberalisation of EU energy markets has been a key objective of EU policy makers for many years. Proposals issuing from Brussels have met with both applause and resistance from many business and political circles. Ever since the project of a 'single European market for gas and electricity' began in the early 1990s, the debate has been alternatingly dominated by rational and emotional arguments, resulting in more or less effective compromises. In this new CIEP Briefing Paper the author takes a thorough look at energy policy in the European Union. He author offers a detailed and thoughtful expose of the current discussions on European electricity and gas markets, and offers key suggestions for fruitful discussions on how to secure competitive EU markets with a reliable external security of (gas) supply.

The dimensions of the policy debate over transportation energy: The case of hydrogen in the United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Collantes, Gustavo

2008-01-01

Environmental and politico-strategic concerns have driven the increase in policy activity related to energy that the United States witnessed in the last few years. The nature of the issues at stake and the level of stakeholder involvement result in a highly complex policy debate. The broad concern of this paper is the study of this energy-policy process and the identification of the main policy issues. Specifically, multivariate analysis is applied to data on a wide variety of stakeholders' policy beliefs and policy preferences to identify the policy dimensions that characterize the debate over energy policy in the United States. The focus is on the policy debate over hydrogen as a transportation fuel, although many results are applicable to the debate over transportation energy at large. The analysis uses a dataset of 502 individuals from 323 different stakeholder organizations obtained via a web-based survey specifically designed for this study

Northern Steps of EU Enlargement: The Impact of “Cohesion” Policies on Iceland’s Accession Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriana Di Stefano

2011-03-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the EU accession process of Iceland, reading the latest northern steps of EU enlargement under a “cohesion” perspective, i.e., through the lens of the cohesion “theory”, namely the method resulting from interactions of the general principles of subsidiarity and cooperation or partnership. From the Mediterranean to the Arctic, the territorial dimension of cohesion policies, as grounded in different EU policies, plays different roles and meets a wide range of economic and social needs. By implementing Nordicum-Mediterraneum analogies, a cohesion-minded EU enlargement approach requires the overall reframing of territorial-based policies and a better allocation of shared responsibilities at the more efficient level of governance.

Climate policy and trade policy - The French proposal for a EU-wide border tax adjustment for CO2 emissions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Damian, M.; Abbasn, M.

2007-01-01

The paper examines the French proposal to establish a EU-wide border tax adjustment for CO 2 emissions. The tax seeks to offset competitive distortions toward European industries which incur the cost of the Kyoto Protocol and to prompt European competitors to join the Kyoto Protocol. So far, the debate has chiefly focused on the compatibility of such a border tax adjustment with the rules of the multilateral trading system of the World Trade Organization. Without auguring how a dispute would eventually be settled within the WTO frame-work, the paper argues that the implementation of a border tax adjustment is not as much an issue of technical feasibility or compatibility with the multilateral trading system, as a matter of collective determination to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The French proposal is a yardstick for climate policy after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. The paper looks in more details into the core directions of pending negotiations. (authors)

The Foreign Fighters Phenomenon in the EU – Profiles, Threats & Policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bibi van Ginkel

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Despite the widespread media attention for foreign fighters in Europe, very little is known about the phenomenon itself, something also evidenced by the lack of a single foreign fighter definition across the EU. In a study commissioned by the Netherlands National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV, ICCT addresses this gap by analysing not only the numbers and characteristics of foreign fighters across the EU, but also how the Union and Member States assess the threat of foreign fighters as well as their policy responses regarding security, preventive and legislative measures. The Report also outlines a series of policy options aimed both at the EU and its Member States. Findings include: Of a total estimated 3,922 – 4,294 foreign fighters from EU Member States, around 30% have returned to their home countries. A majority of around 2,838 foreign fighters come from just four countries: Belgium, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, with Belgium having the highest per-capita FF contingent. There is no clear-cut profile of a European foreign fighter. Data indicates that a majority originate from metropolitan areas, with many coming from the same neighbourhoods, that an average of 17% are female, and that the percentage of converts among foreign fighters ranges from 6% to 23%. The radicalisation process of foreign fighters is reported to be short and often involves circles of friends radicalising as a group and deciding to leave jointly for Syria and Iraq. EU1 In analysing the policies of Member States in response to the foreign fighter phenomenon, the authors recommend that strategies be implemented which encompass a suitable, proportional, context-specific and effective mix of policy responses, taken from a toolbox of security, legislative, and preventive measures. Their analysis reveals that, while many Member States have already bolstered security and legislative policy measures, a larger focus needs to be put on preventive

What can EU policy do to support renewable electricity in France?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sartor, Oliver

2016-04-01

Under the 2030 Climate and Energy Package, the European Union has set itself a target of increasing the share of renewable energy from to 27%. Electricity will play a key role in achieving these goals, with the share of renewable power projected to increase to around 47% of the electricity mix by 2030. While electricity is only one part of the energy system, electricity is therefore a vital sub-sector of the EU's renewable energy strategy to 2030. As the second largest energy consumer in Europe, and with relatively ambitious national goals of achieving 32% renewable energy and 40% renewable electricity (RES-E) by 2030, France will be critical to achieving the EU's objectives. As the most interconnected electricity market in Europe, France's approach to renewable electricity will also influence the redesign of electricity markets to cope with higher shares of variable RES-E in its region. Facilitating the efficient deployment and integration of renewable electricity in France is therefore an important sub-chapter of European renewable energy policy going forward. The integration of higher shares of renewable electricity in France is a significant domestic policy challenge. But EU can take a number steps to facilitate the achievement of France's goals. One area where the EU has value added is by ensuring that EU rules for state aid to renewables do not inadvertently become a barrier to cost-efficient deployment of renewables in France. The EU should also push France (and all Member States) to develop a coherent and comprehensive RES-E market integration strategy for 2030 to facilitate national and regional market development. In addition, the EU should push France to improve the quality of its enabling environment for renewable electricity projects, so that it is in line with EU benchmarks

Debating food security policy in two different ideational settings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Farsund, Arild Aurvåg; Daugbjerg, Carsten

2017-01-01

in Australia and Norway is compared. In Australia, agricultural normalism (agricultural markets and production are considered to be similar to those of other economic sectors) has been dominant since the mid-1980s, while Norwegian agricultural policy making has been dominated by agricultural exceptionalism...... (agriculture is considered a unique economic sector with special market and production conditions). It is demonstrated in the article how these two opposing institutionalised ideational foundations have influenced the nature of the food security debate in the two countries. In Australia, the debate emphasises...... the positive role of the market and trade in providing global food security. In Norway, the debate highlights the need to regulate market forces and restrict trade in order to allow countries to develop their own agricultural sectors....

The paradox of EU enlargement and member states' policies: Dilemmas and challenges: The case of Portugal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neves Santos Miguel

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper addresses the issue of EU enlargement with its dual nature: of an intra-EU process, related to the consolidation of a democratic-peace based on collective security, and an external process, involving EU foreign policy and impact on relations with other major global players. Although enlargement is a multidimensional process that combines different perspectives - candidate countries' enlargement politics, member states' politics/policy, EU enlargement politics and external global impact - the paper focuses on Member States policies towards enlargement by looking at the case of Portugal, in particular in relation with the Big Bang Eastern enlargement, and aims at explaining the paradox of Portugal's strong political support to enlargement while it was one of the main potential losers in terms of economic interests. A 'foreign policy analysis' framework is adopted in order to understand the process of decision-making and the interaction between the domestic and the EU levels. The argument put forward is that an exclusive constructivist approach does not provide a satisfactory explanation, as there was also rationalist-interest logic at play. The Portuguese policy towards enlargement was determined not only by the 'solidaritysimilarity' logic, dominant in the formal political discourse but also by the consideration of long-term interests in the EU related to the preservation of the strategic alliance with Germany. The overall systemic impact of enlargement tends to weaken the EU as it presents a major paradox functioning as a double-edged sword. While it has a positive impact by contributing to the enhancement of the EU international profile as it grows in size raising expectations about its potential global role, it also leads to greater heterogeneity, undermining the EU cohesion and its ability to act together with a single voice becoming a robust global player, thus frustrating the expectations raised in the first place.

Staying above the Fray: Framing and Conflict in the Coverage of Education Policy Debates

Science.gov (United States)

Tamir, Eran; Davidson, Roei

2011-01-01

This article examines the mass media's role in shaping education policy debates in light of pluralist theory and Bourdieu's social fields theory. We content analyzed the coverage of New Jersey education policy debates during 1985, when the governor moved to consolidate his power in the education field. We used quantitative framing and conflict…

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

Contrasting frames in policy debates on climate change adaptation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dewulf, A.

2013-01-01

The process by which issues, decisions, or events acquire different meanings from different perspectives has been studied as framing. In policy debates about climate change adaptation, framing the adaptation issue is a challenge with potentially farreaching implications for the shape and success of

Contentious terrain in EU information society policies: Media pluralism and freedom of expression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miyase Christensen

2008-09-01

Full Text Available In an EU context, the benefits attributed to new communication technologies are many: the creation of employment and economic growth; the enrichment of cultural/political dialogue and civic engagement; and, the permeation of a sense of European identity across the region. However, in the face of an increased emphasis on economic competitiveness both globally and at the EU policy level, there exists an unmistakable convergent approach to audiovisual/communications, cultural and competition policies. Parallel to this is an upsurge of concern—voiced by, for example, the European Parliament—over media pluralism and freedom of expression. Although the virtues of safeguarding “media pluralism” and “freedom of speech” in a healthy democracy are axiomatic, in the face of current dynamics, their meaning is widely contested. The purpose of this article is to offer an analysis of recent EU Information Society (IS policies in relation to media pluralism and freedom of speech. Mediepluralisme og ytringsfrihed: Et omstridt felt inden for EU-informationssamfundspolitikker I en EU-kontekst er der mange fordele, som tilskrives nye kommunikationsteknologier: Skabelsen af beskæftigelse og økonomisk vækst; berigelsen af kulturel/politisk dialog og borgerengagement; og udbredelsen af en fornemmelse af europæisk identitet på tværs af regionerne. Men i lyset af en øget vægtning af økonomisk konkurrence, såvel globalt som i relation til EU's politikker, eksisterer der en umiskendelig sammensat tilgang til politikker for audiovisuel kommunikation, kultur og konkurrence. Parallelt med dette findes en pludselig stigning i interessen omkring mediepluralisme og ytringsfrihed. Skønt værdien af at beskytte ”mediepluralisme” og ”ytringsfrihed” i lyset af aktuelle dynamikker er aksiomatisk i et sundt demokrati, udfordres betydningen af dette i udstrakt grad. Formålet med denne artikel er at give en analyse af nyere EU

Contentious terrain in EU information society policies: Media pluralism and freedom of expression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miyase Christensen

2008-12-01

Full Text Available In an EU context, the benefits attributed to new communication technologies are many: the creation of employment and economic growth; the enrichment of cultural/political dialogue and civic engagement; and, the permeation of a sense of European identity across the region. However, in the face of an increased emphasis on economic competitiveness both globally and at the EU policy level, there exists an unmistakable convergent approach to audiovisual/communications, cultural and competition policies. Parallel to this is an upsurge of concern—voiced by, for example, the European Parliament—over media pluralism and freedom of expression. Although the virtues of safeguarding “media pluralism” and “freedom of speech” in a healthy democracy are axiomatic, in the face of current dynamics, their meaning is widely contested. The purpose of this article is to offer an analysis of recent EU Information Society (IS policies in relation to media pluralism and freedom of speech. Mediepluralisme og ytringsfrihed: Et omstridt felt inden for EU-informationssamfundspolitikker I en EU-kontekst er der mange fordele, som tilskrives nye kommunikationsteknologier: Skabelsen af beskæftigelse og økonomisk vækst; berigelsen af kulturel/politisk dialog og borgerengagement; og udbredelsen af en fornemmelse af europæisk identitet på tværs af regionerne. Men i lyset af en øget vægtning af økonomisk konkurrence, såvel globalt som i relation til EU's politikker, eksisterer der en umiskendelig sammensat tilgang til politikker for audiovisuel kommunikation, kultur og konkurrence. Parallelt med dette findes en pludselig stigning i interessen omkring mediepluralisme og ytringsfrihed. Skønt værdien af at beskytte ”mediepluralisme” og ”ytringsfrihed” i lyset af aktuelle dynamikker er aksiomatisk i et sundt demokrati, udfordres betydningen af dette i udstrakt grad. Formålet med denne artikel er at give en analyse af nyere EU

Interaction of the EU ETS and national climate policy instruments – Impact on biomass use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kautto, N.; Arasto, A.; Sijm, J.; Peck, P.

2012-01-01

Policy-makers apply multiple policy instruments simultaneously in the climate and energy policy field at both EU and Member State levels. This creates interactions between instruments that can be complementary and synergistic but also conflicting. This article focuses on the interactions of climate policy instruments and their impact on biomass use. The objectives are to examine interactions of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) with the main national climate policy instruments and to identify the influence of these on biomass use. The work draws experiences from seven EU countries (Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom), with a special focus on Finland and Sweden. The analysis explores the effects of policy interactions and is based on an examination of literature, and interviews with biomass experts in research, industry and policy spheres. Results indicate that the combined effects of climate policy instruments have a tangible impact on biomass use, whereas the causal links to the EU ETS are difficult to assess separately. Policy impacts found include increased competition for biomass resources, changes in fuel mixes and a contribution to upward pressure on wood prices. Differences in these effects are linked to differing national policy mixes and energy-carrier portfolios – an example being the relative differences in the importance of peat to the energy mix in Finland and Sweden. Analysis and comparison of the effects in the selected countries can yield insight on how to improve the design of policy interventions that impact biomass use. This study confirms the importance of identifying interactions between policy instruments so as to recognise – and manage – synergies and conflicts. The development of more synergistic and coordinated policy instrument mixes would also be beneficial for the bioenergy field. -- Highlights: ► Combined effects of climate policy instruments have a tangible impact on biomass

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...

The Role of the OECD and the EU in the Development of Labour Market Policy in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caroline Anne de la Porte

2009-12-01

Full Text Available This article analyses the role of the OECD through its “Jobs Strategy” and the European Union (EU through the “European Employment Strategy” in the development of macro-economic, employment and labour market policy in the Czech Republic. As a full member of the two organisations, the Czech Republic has been subject to their soft non-binding policy advice in the area of labour market reform. The OECD and EU policy models are similar, both insisting on growth-oriented macro-economic policy, supported by active labour market policies, an active and effective public employment service (PES and the de-regulation of labour markets. However, the OECD actively advocates private actor involvement in labour markets, while the EU insists on the role of the public sector. The inquisitive styles of the two organisations differ: the OECD has a decontextualised and quantified analysis of performance accompanied by a supportive in-depth qualitative analysis, while the EU has a more contextualised analysis, which is also more politicised. However, the EU’s policy is partially supported by European structural funds, while the OECD has no comparable instrument. Despite some differences in policy model and inquisitive style, both the OECD and the EU have given the same major policy recommendations over time to the Czech Republic, although the OECD has insisted more on de-regulation, whereas the EU has also emphasised worker security and anti-discrimination. In macro-economic policy, de-regulation and increasing flexibility on the labour market, the Czech Republic conforms with OECD and EU policy models and recommendations. The PES has been developed institutionally to fit both models. However, activation, shifts in expenditure from passive to active labour market policy, training and placement of the PES have not changed substantially since the Czech Republic became member of the EU, suggesting that the real impact of the OECD and the EU has been weak.

The EU must triple its energy saving policy effect

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wesselink, B.; Eichhammer, W.; Harmsen, R.

2010-01-01

The impact of EU energy savings policy must triple to achieve the bloc’s 2020 energy savings goal. But such efforts could get a much better foundation if European leaders set a binding energy consumption target, rather than the current indicative savings target. The evidence for such

International Public Relations in the EU: Development Cooperation Public Opinion and Public Policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Negrescu

2011-05-01

Full Text Available In the context of the growing importance of the cooperation for development in the European Union and the appearance of a common growing public opinion agreement supporting this kind of initiatives, it is necessary to understand if we can talk today about a true common European consensus. Still covered on intergovernmental level and considered to be a part of the national foreign policies, EU development aid is still far from reaching the maximum of its efficiency. In this paper we try to introduce a new evaluation method of the cooperation for development policies and interpretation of the degree of communitarisation of the national policies that will enable us to appreciate the stages that have to be completed by the member countries but also by the EU to realize a completely uniform European assistance strategy and of the activities, so necessary for raising the efficiency of the funds allocated by the EU, but also in the perspective of achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Lifting off towards Open Government: a report from the EU Belgian Presidency Conference

OpenAIRE

BROSTER David; MISURACA GIANLUCA; BACIGALUPO Margherita

2011-01-01

This article summarises the main messages from the Lift off towards Open Government Conference, held on 15-16 December 2010, organised by the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council. It aims to disseminate these messages to the research and practitioner communities and to contribute to the current policy debate on the prospects of e-Government, now being shaped and implemented on local, regional, national and pan-European levels. First, the article outlines the progress of the EU discourse on e-...

ERIC First Analysis: Agricultural Policy. 1986-87 National High School Debate Resolutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, David L.; Fraleigh, Douglas

Designed to serve as a framework in which high school debate students, coaches, and judges can evaluate the issues, arguments, and evidence concerning which agricultural policies best serve the United States, this booklet provides guidelines for research on the 1986-87 debate resolutions selected by the National Federation of State High School…

Social capital and Regional Policy in the EU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

2009-01-01

There needs to be a clear and explicit distinction between policy interventions aimed at increasing income and growth (“efficiency” objectives in the terminology of the Report) and those aimed at reducing inequalities (“social inclusion” objectives in the Report), not least in order to be able...... to monitor and evaluate the results. There needs to be a greater coherence with the place-based or territorial policy concept. And a true concentration on a few issues of key importance for the EU and its people. This would create a Europe-wide critical mass of interventions on commonly agreed priorities...

EU POLICY ON EDUCATION FUNDING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Cristina PANA

2014-04-01

Full Text Available On average, EU countries allocate 6.4% of total public expenditure for the direct support of the public sector at all levels of education. In view of a more rational allocation of resources seriously diminished by the crisis there are made efforts to identify educational areas considered problematic in terms of accessing various education programs. This paper presents pre-school funding policies and policies to support families with preschool and school age children in the European Union through a comparative analysis of the focus group type. There are also presented concrete ways of achieving that family support such as tax cuts, family allowances or by taking into account certain factors in order to establish fees. In all countries where taxes are paid for pre-compulsory education (ISCED A there is a mechanism by which parental contributions can be adjusted according to the means available taking into account criteria such as family income, number of children, family status (children who live with one parent geographic area, etc.

Implementing SDG 15.3 on Land Degradation Neutrality in the EU and EU Member States

Science.gov (United States)

Wunder, Stephanie; Starke, Sue Martina; Frelih-Larsen, Ana; Kaphengst, Timo

2017-04-01

The continuing degradation of land and soils is a severe threat to the provision of ecosystem services and economic development. Sustainable use of land and soils are therefore an integral part of the "Agenda 2030" with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets adopted by the UNGeneral Assembly in September 2015. The SDGs provide new opportunities for an ambitious and integrated environmental policy worldwide and in the EU. Among the many relevant targets that directly or indirectly address soils (such as goals on zero hunger, well being, clean energy, climate change, water and sustainable cities), target 15.3 that aims to achieve "a land degradation-neutral world" by 2030 is the most relevant. The concept of "Land Degradation Neutrality" (LDN) is not only about halting the loss of healthy and fertile land, but also actively reversing degradation by restoring land in order to counterbal-ance losses that cannot be avoided. It is a very ambitious target but due to a lack of balancing mechanisms for degradation and restoration in most countries also a new concept. Land Degra-dation Neutrality therefore both needs a scientific conceptual framework as well as a political debate about its implementation and development of instruments. In the EU and its Member States, this debate can also serve as a catalyst to revive the discussion on a common soil policy in Europe after the withdrawal of the proposal for a soil framework directive in 2014. To analyze options for the implementation of target 15.3 in Germany and Europe the research project "Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals on Soils in Germany" (http://ecologic.eu/12876) is currently carried out by the Ecologic Institute on behalf of the Ger-man Environment Agency (UBA) and the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMUB). The project will run until spring 2017 and the session "European Environmental Policies and Sustainability" at the EGU will be an ideal opportunity to present the final

Review: Questioning Ireland: debates in political philosophy and public policy

OpenAIRE

Sheehan, Helena

2000-01-01

This is a review of a collection of essays entitled Questioning Ireland: debates in political philosophy and public policy, edited by Joseph Dunne, Attracta Ingram and Frank Litton, published in Dublin by the Institute of Public Administration in 2000.

The Interdependence of Competition Policy, Consumer Policy and Regulation in Introducing and Safeguarding Effective Competition in the EU Telecommunications Market

OpenAIRE

Bartels, Andreas; Pleșea, Doru Alexandru; Studeny, Michael; Just, Vanessa

2017-01-01

Currently, the European Union finds itself in troubled waters. It has to prove that its benefits outweigh the costs of its endeavour. In this respect, an EU competition policy that focuses on consumer welfare is one way to gain support by the citizens of its member states. The Roaming Regulation that has reduced the mobile communications costs while travelling abroad serves as a good example for this approach. The EU Commission views consumer policy as another important factor to protect and ...

Designing an EU energy and climate policy portfolio for 2030: Implications of overlapping regulation under different levels of electricity demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flues, Florens; Löschel, Andreas; Lutz, Benjamin Johannes; Schenker, Oliver

2014-01-01

The European Union's current climate and energy policy has to operate under an ex ante unforeseen economic crisis. As a consequence prices for carbon emission allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System collapsed. However, this price collapse may be amplified by the interaction of a carbon emission cap with supplementary policy targets such as minimum shares for renewables in the power sector. The static interaction between climate and renewable policies has been discussed extensively. This paper extends this debate by analysing the efficiency and effectiveness of a policy portfolio containing a cap and trade scheme and a target for a minimum renewable share in different states of aggregate electricity demand. Making use of a simple partial equilibrium model of the power sector we identify an asymmetric interaction of emissions trading and renewable quotas with respect to different states of aggregate electricity demand. The results imply that unintended consequences of the policy interaction may be particularly severe and costly when aggregate electricity demand is low and that carbon prices are more sensitive to changes in economic activity if they are applied in combination with renewable energy targets. Our analysis of the policy interaction focuses on the EU, yet the conclusions may also be of relevance for fast growing emerging economies like China. - Highlights: • A minimum renewable quota that is added to an existing emissions trading system causes excess costs. • Excess costs depend on electricity demand and are highest when electricity demand is low. • Excess costs can reach up to 1.2 Billion Euro annually in the European Union in 2030. • CO 2 prices are more sensitive to changes in electricity demand if combined with minimum renewable quota

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.

Towards EU Cybersecurity Law: Regulating a New Policy Field

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wessel, Ramses A.; Tsagourias, Nicholas; Buchan, Russell

2015-01-01

EU cybersecurity forms a prime example of an area in which both internal and external (global as well as bilateral) policies are connected and in which the different legal competences of the Union need to be combined. Over the past decade the European Union started to take its first careful steps in

The EU Anti-dumping Policy towards China: Challenges for Chinese and Foreign Managers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller; Rutkowski, Aleksander Jerzy

2002-01-01

advice to Chinese or foreign managers in companies in China with export to the EU. First, the CELEX database may give some important information on how to formulate a price policy for exports to the EU so anti-dumping measures can be avoided. Secondly, the owner structure of the company is important...

Policy options for carbon taxation in the EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laurent, Eloi; Le Cacheux, Jacques

2010-06-01

Even though the EU clearly leads the global fight against climate change and despite the additional reduction in emissions due to the global crisis and European recession, the ambitious objectives flagged in the '20-20-20 by 2020' strategy and 'climate-energy package' are probably out of reach if a more resolute and consistent policy of carbon taxation is not rapidly put in place. First, the EU is not as 'virtuous' as it may seem, and shows signs of a 'fatigue' in mitigating climate change; this is explained by the weak incentive structure of current climate institutions, due to both narrow coverage and insufficient stringency of the European 'Emission Trading Scheme' (ETS) - the European 'carbon market'-, and to excessive reliance on emission standards combined with weak energy taxation. Fears of losing competitiveness are a major argument against imposing a higher carbon price on industries, feeding tax competition both within the EU and vis-a-vis the rest of the world. Though not fully satisfactory, the Commission's recent proposal (a revision of the 2003 energy taxation directive introducing floors on national excises based on carbon content) would help solving the intra-EU conundrum. Alternatively, an extension of the EU ETS to households and the transport sector via the 'upstream' inclusion of fossil fuel dealers would also be a feasible solution. In order to answer the 'carbon leakage' argument and to send appropriate price signals to European consumers on extra-EU imports, a border adjustment mechanism - carbon levy or inclusion of importers into the EU ETS - is also necessary. Ultimately though, in order to make sure that economic agents face a uniform carbon price, a generalized carbon tax, in the form of a European 'Carbon Added Tax' (ECAT), would be the most effective instrument in the fight against climate change, as well as the pillar of a thorough tax

Public policy and media frames: the debate over migration in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Augusto Veloso Leão

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The main goal of this article is to provide a good basis to assess the way media frames are embedded in a wider social scenario, and how public and political preferences can be researched through media debate. The methodology adopted allows for an analysis of newspaper articles that can show broader trends of the debate and serve as a thermometer to measure public debate. It can further highlight details and enable in-depth analyses of media discourse. The article explores the interconnectedness of media debate and policy-making process by means of the analysis of articles published in a Brazilian newspaper between 2009 and 2010. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies are employed to identify the frames used in media and to offer insights of their relationship with the political debate. The ongoing political debate has raised attention to the issue of migration, with a great numbers of actors expressing very diverse points of view. A broader public debate has been initiated and some portions of it find voice in different means of communication. The paper argues that changes in the public and in the media debate are a response to changes in the political debate, while at the same time the first two also help to outline the latter.

Translating EU renewable energy policy for insular energy systems: Reunion Island's quest for energy autonomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Sawatzky

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Recognition of the negative impacts of climate change has led to agreement on the need to decarbonise energy systems through the employment of renewable energy. With many national and transnational policies in place, the options available to insular energy systems (IES differ from those of interconnected areas due to fragility in their production and distribution networks. Based on the concepts of policy mobility and translation, this study examines the interplay of EU renewable energy policy and insular governance processes aimed at achieving energy autonomy through renewable energy development. Reunion Island, a French Overseas Department and Region, is used as a case study to examine local energy governance processes, aspects that shape regional translation of national and EU policy, and the potential effects that create structures and pathways of energy transition. The study shows that Reunion Island’s regional Energy Governance Committee has significant application potential as a governance tool in other IES and small islands within the EU, but that renewable energy development is restricted due to national policy measures and path dependent governance structural constraints.

Debated agronomy: public discourse and the future of biotechnology policy in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Braimah, Joseph A; Atuoye, Kilian N; Vercillo, Siera; Warring, Carrie; Luginaah, Isaac

2017-01-01

This paper examines the highly contested and ongoing biotechnology (Bt) policy-making process in Ghana. We analyse media content on how Bt is viewed in the context of Ghana's parliamentary debate on the Plant Breeders Bill and within the broader public policy-making literature. This paper does not seek to take a position on Bt or the Bill, but to understand how policy actors influence the debate with political and scientific rhetoric in Ghana. The study reveals that in the midst of scientific uncertainties of Bt's potential for sustainable agriculture production and food security, policy decisions that encourage its future adoption are heavily influenced by health, scientific, economic, environmental and political factors dictated by different ideologies, values and norms. While locally pioneered plant breeding is visible and common in the Ghanaian food chain, plant breeding/GMOs/Bt from international corporations is strongly resisted by anti-GMO coalitions. Understanding the complex and messy nature of Bt policy-making is critical for future development of agricultural technology in Ghana and elsewhere.

The EU as a Normative Power and the Research on External Perceptions: the Missing Link

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Henrik

2014-01-01

perception offer some findings that are central for the NPE debate. This article’s argument is that the external perceptions literature points to a limited (if still identifiable) perception of the EU as a normative power depending on the geographical area. By comparison, the image of a powerful economic......In research on European foreign policy two important axes of debate have been running relatively independently of each other for more than a decade: the study of the European Union as a normative power (NPE) and the study of external perceptions of the EU. However, the studies of external...... actor is prevalent. The article raises the question of whether the thin and geographically varied character of the perceptions relating to the EU as a normative power justifies the general designation of NPE.Anew agenda focusing on geographical differences and interaction with other sources of power...

Climate Policy and Carbon Leakage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2008-07-01

This report explores the effects of the EU emissions trading scheme on the aluminium sector (i.e. competitiveness loss and carbon leakage). With its very high electricity intensity, primary aluminium stands out in the heavy industry picture: a sector whose emissions are not capped in the present EU ETS, European aluminium smelters still stand to lose profit margins and, possibly, market shares, as electricity prices increase following CO2 caps on generators' emissions - the famous pass-through of CO2 prices into electricity prices. The analysis includes a method of quantification of this issue, based on two indicators: profit margins and trade flows. As the EU is at the forefront of such policy, the paper provides policy messages to all countries on how trade exposed energy-intensive industries can be 'moved' by carbon constraint. This also is a contentious topic in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the US, where ambitious climate policies -- including cap-and-trade systems -- are currently debated.

EU internal energy market policy: new dynamics in the Brussels policy game?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eikeland, Per Ove

2008-11-15

The paper analyses the September 2007 European Commission proposal for a third internal energy policy package. It asks if the proposal reflected fundamental changes in the Brussels policy game from 2003, when the existing legislation had been adopted. A multi-level governance approach has inspired this check of alternative propositions. We find that the proposal was primarily the result of greater will on the part of the Commission to pressure unwilling member-state governments. There is also strong evidence that the Commission pursued a new form of multi-level game, pressing non-state agents directly to change the political game at the national level. Our study finally discusses whether different network approaches would add explanatory power to our study, acknowledging that agents working in larger networks could have greater thrust on the Commission. The main conclusion is that EU policy networks have become less stable and more issue-specific, making policy predictions less certain than before. (author).refs.,tab

The Global Health Policies of the EU and its Member States: A Common Vision?

Science.gov (United States)

Steurs, Lies; Van de Pas, Remco; Delputte, Sarah; Orbie, Jan

2018-01-01

Background: This article assesses the global health policies of the European Union (EU) and those of its individual member states. So far EU and public health scholars have paid little heed to this, despite the large budgets involved in this area. While the European Commission has attempted to define the ‘EU role in Global Health’ in 2010, member states are active in the domain of global health as well. Therefore, this article raises the question to what extent a common ‘EU’ vision on global health exists. Methods: This is examined through a comparative framing analysis of the global health policy documents of the European Commission and five EU member states (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Denmark). The analysis is informed by a two-layered typology, distinguishing global health from international health and four ‘global health frames,’ namely social justice, security, investment and charity. Results: The findings show that the concept of ‘global health’ has not gained ground the same way within European policy documents. Consequently, there are also differences in how health is being framed. While the European Commission, Belgium, and Denmark clearly support a social justice frame, the global health strategies of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France put an additional focus on the security and investment frames. Conclusion: There are different understandings of global/international health as well as different framings within relevant documents of the EU and its member states. Therefore, the existence of an ‘EU’ vision on global health is questionable. Further research is needed on how this impacts on policy implementation. PMID:29764107

How to design greenhouse gas trading in the EU?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Svendsen, G.T.

2003-01-01

A new and remarkable Green Paper about how to trade greenhouse gases (GHG) in the EU has recently been published by the Commission of the European Union. This to achieve the stated 8% reduction target level. The Green Paper raises ten questions about how greenhouse gas permit trading should be designed in the EU before year 2005. These ten questions can be compressed into four main issues, namely target group, allocation of emission allowances, how to mix emission trading with other instruments and fourth enforcement. In the literature, there is a strong need to guide decision-makers and stimulate academic debates concerning the actual design of a simple and workable GHG market model for the EU. This model must take both economic, administrative and political concerns into account so that it is feasible in practice. Based on our findings, we therefore develop a policy recommendation concerning the future design of GHG permit trading in the EU. (author)

How to design greenhouse gas trading in the EU?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tinggaard Svendsen, G.; Vesterdal, M.

2001-01-01

A new and remarkable Green Paper about how to trade Greenhouse gases (GHG) in the EU has recently been published by the Commission of the European Union. This to achieve the stated 8% reduction target level. The Green paper raises ten questions about how greenhouse gas permit trading should be designed in the EU before year 2005. These ten questions can be compressed into four main issues, namely target group, allocation of emission allowances, how to mix emission trading with other instruments and fourth enforcement. In the literature, there is a strong need to guide decision-makers and stimulate academic debates concerning the actual design of a simple and workable GHG market model for the EU. This model must take both economic, administrative and political concerns into account so that it is feasible in practice. Based on our findings, we therefore develop a policy recommendation concerning the future design of GHG permit trading in the EU. (au)

How to design greenhouse gas trading in the EU?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tinggaard Svendsen, G; Vesterdal, M

2001-07-01

A new and remarkable Green Paper about how to trade Greenhouse gases (GHG) in the EU has recently been published by the Commission of the European Union. This to achieve the stated 8% reduction target level. The Green paper raises ten questions about how greenhouse gas permit trading should be designed in the EU before year 2005. These ten questions can be compressed into four main issues, namely target group, allocation of emission allowances, how to mix emission trading with other instruments and fourth enforcement. In the literature, there is a strong need to guide decision-makers and stimulate academic debates concerning the actual design of a simple and workable GHG market model for the EU. This model must take both economic, administrative and political concerns into account so that it is feasible in practice. Based on our findings, we therefore develop a policy recommendation concerning the future design of GHG permit trading in the EU. (au)

Exploring the EU ETS beyond 2020. A first assessment of the EU Commission's proposal for Phase IV of the EU ETS (2021-2030). COPEC Research Program: the Coordination of EU Policies on Energy and CO2 with the EU ETS by 2030

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jalard, Matthieu; Alberola, Emilie; Afriat, Marion; Vaidyula, Manasvini; Dahan, Lara; Cail, Sylvain; Cassisa, Cyril; Keramidas, Kimon; Coussy, Paula; Portenart, Philomene

2015-11-01

This report, written in partnership with I4CE and IFPen, provides the first complete and comprehensive assessment of the EU Commission's proposal and its coherence with the 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy policies, demonstrating that: 1 - Re-calibrating the EU ETS requires considering its interactions with complementary climate and energy policies by 2030. Interactions between different policies may induce additional costs vis-a-vis an optimal transition to a low-carbon economy. 2 - Introducing the Market Stability Reserve is necessary to support the ambition of the EU ETS. Guaranteeing MSR effectiveness calls for a governing framework to be established before 2030. 3 - The free allocation mechanism for Phase IV requires more flexible and targeted allocation to sectors most exposed to carbon leakage risk. 4 - Expanding the EU ETS scope with the inclusion of the road transport sector may not necessarily be the most cost-effective way to achieve the GHG 2030 target. 5 - Considering the large scale of ETS auction revenues by 2030, the use of ETS proceeds by the European Commission and by Member States constitutes an increasingly relevant funding source to support decarbonization efforts in non-ETS sectors and to finance R and D in low carbon technologies

Towards the harmonization of water-related policies for managing drought risks across the EU

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kampragou, E.; Apostolaki, S.; Manoli, E.; Froebrich, J.; Assimacopoulos, D.

2011-01-01

Drought is recognized as a major issue in the EU, particularly in the Mediterranean region, posing risks to the environment as well as to local and regional economies. The EU policy on water management is continuously evolving, particularly in relation to water scarcity and drought. Starting with

Renewable energy policies in Europe: Converging or diverging?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kitzing, Lena; Mitchell, Catherine; Morthorst, Poul Erik

2012-01-01

Nations today are urgently challenged with achieving a significant increase in the deployment of renewable energies. In Europe that need has given rise to a debate about the most effective and efficient support strategy. Whilst the different interests debate whether full European harmonisation...... or strengthening of national support policies for electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E) is the best way forward, individual national support schemes are rapidly evolving. This study investigates how the EU member states have applied support policy types over the last decade. By identifying predominant...

A harmonized calculation model for transforming EU bottom-up energy efficiency indicators into empirical estimates of policy impacts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horowitz, Marvin J.; Bertoldi, Paolo

2015-01-01

This study is an impact analysis of European Union (EU) energy efficiency policy that employs both top-down energy consumption data and bottom-up energy efficiency statistics or indicators. As such, it may be considered a contribution to the effort called for in the EU's 2006 Energy Services Directive (ESD) to develop a harmonized calculation model. Although this study does not estimate the realized savings from individual policy measures, it does provide estimates of realized energy savings for energy efficiency policy measures in aggregate. Using fixed effects panel models, the annual cumulative savings in 2011 of combined household and manufacturing sector electricity and natural gas usage attributed to EU energy efficiency policies since 2000 is estimated to be 1136 PJ; the savings attributed to energy efficiency policies since 2006 is estimated to be 807 PJ, or the equivalent of 5.6% of 2011 EU energy consumption. As well as its contribution to energy efficiency policy analysis, this study adds to the development of methods that can improve the quality of information provided by standardized energy efficiency and sustainable resource indexes. - Highlights: • Impact analysis of European Union energy efficiency policy. • Harmonization of top-down energy consumption and bottom-up energy efficiency indicators. • Fixed effects models for Member States for household and manufacturing sectors and combined electricity and natural gas usage. • EU energy efficiency policies since 2000 are estimated to have saved 1136 Petajoules. • Energy savings attributed to energy efficiency policies since 2006 are 5.6 percent of 2011 combined electricity and natural gas usage.

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

Failures of the national policy for sustainable development of Bulgaria – economic dimensions

OpenAIRE

Nozharov, Shteryo; Koralova, Petya

2017-01-01

Bulgaria is a member of the EU since 2007. The country has issues with its economic policy, which issues could have negative impact over the EU’s policies as a whole. When the economic policy of a Member State is blemished by a systematic strategic misconceptions, it is necessary this to be analysed in depth. The debate, about the future of the EU after Brexit and the concept about multi-speed Europe is consequence of the efficiency of the economic and political systems in each individual Mem...

The challenge of carbon dioxide removal for EU policy-making

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Vivian; Geden, Oliver

2018-05-01

Most scenarios to meet the Paris Agreement require negative emissions technologies. The EU has assumed a global leadership role in mitigation action and low-carbon energy technology development and deployment, but carbon dioxide removal presents a serious challenge to its low-carbon policy paradigm and experience.

Greening the Common Agricultural Policy. Impacts on farmland biodiversity on an EU scale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Zeijts, H.; Overmars, K.; Van der Bilt, W.; Schulp, N.; Notenboom, J.; Westhoek, H. [Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency PBL, Den Haag (Netherlands); Helming, J.; Terluin, I. [LEI, Wageningen University and Research Centre WUR, Wageningen (Netherlands); Janssen, S. [Alterra Wageningen UR, Wageningen (Netherlands)

2011-08-15

'Greening' the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as proposed by the European Commission (EC), will slow down the decline in farmland biodiversity, most notably in intensive farming areas. Extensively farmed areas are better served by policies preserving their rich biodiversity. Regional variation in policies tailored to reflect local conditions could, therefore, result in a better outcome.

Climate for Collaboration: Analysis of US and EU Lessons and Opportunities in Energy and Climate Policy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Vita, A.; de Connick, H.; McLaren, J.; Cochran, J.

2009-11-01

A deepening of cooperation between the United States and the European Union requires mutual trust, and understanding of current policies, challenges and successes. Through providing such understanding among policymakers, industry and other stakeholders in both economies, opportunities for transatlantic cooperation on climate change and energy policy emerge. This paper sets out by discussing the environmental, legislative, and economic contexts of the EU and US as related to climate. This context is essential to understanding how cap-and-trade, renewable energy and sustainable transportation policies have taken shape in the EU and the US, as described in Chapter 3.1. For each of these policies, a barrier analysis and discussion is provided. Chapter 4 builds off this improved understanding to listobservations and possible lessons learned. The paper concludes with recommendations on topics where EU and US interests align, and where further cooperation could prove beneficial.

Ukraine, EU and Russia: soft power versus Realpolitik?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Barata

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The relationship between the European Union (EU and Ukraine began in 1998 with the signature of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. Afterwards, in 2003 Ukraine joined the European Neighbourhood Policy and in 2004 EU was already the major trade partner with Ukraine, bigger than Russia. Anticipating the approach of former soviet republics towards Euro Atlantic structures and the foreseen loss of influence in its near abroad, Putin’s Russia launched in 2011 the Eurasian Economic Union, an economic bloc formed by some of the Russia’s former satellite States - Belarus and Kazakhstan – and through a carrot and stick policy tried to attract also Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, in order to thwart the Chinese economic development and to impose itself in the regional and global markets. In November 2013, during the 3rd EU’s Eastern Partnership Summit, in Vilnius, Lithuania, Ukraine’s President, Viktor Yanukovych surprised the world refusing to sign the Commercial Agreement with EU, turning back to a EU possible integration. On the other hand, Russia offered to reduce the natural gas rates plus a fifteen billion dollars loan, throwing Ukraine in a quasi civil war, and leaving EU and Russia on opposite sides. Considering this situation what to expect from Ukraine? To continue being a Russian satellite or head towards the Euro Atlantic geopolitical space? This paper intents to analyse the actual situation in Ukraine following Barry Buzan’s approach of multidimensional security, focusing on the different postures assumed by each one of the actors - EU and Russia - which have been between complementarity and division. The scope of the analysis is to contribute to the academic debate about security dynamics between EU, Russia and Ukraine during the post-USSR period, arguing that in the geopolitical dispute for the post-soviet space where Ukraine is integrated, the Russian Realpolitik prevails the EU soft power.

The Interdependence of Competition Policy, Consumer Policy and Regulation in Introducing and Safeguarding Effective Competition in the EU Telecommunications Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Bartels

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Currently, the European Union finds itself in troubled waters. It has to prove that its benefits outweigh the costs of its endeavour. In this respect, an EU competition policy that focuses on consumer welfare is one way to gain support by the citizens of its member states. The Roaming Regulation that has reduced the mobile communications costs while travelling abroad serves as a good example for this approach. The EU Commission views consumer policy as another important factor to protect and benefit customers. In markets with natural monopolies, the two policies require the support of an effective regulatory policy. The research demonstrates that these three policies – if harmonised – are able to lead to an increase in consumer welfare (primarily by reducing prices and that they protect the rights and interests of consumers. In the case of telecommunications, several initiatives of the European Commission and of national regulatory authorities to falls in prices and forced operators to implement customer friendly rules and to protect customer data and privacy. The authors consider that the European Commission has tried to establish and harmonise rules across all member states in order to protect the interests and rights of consumers on the telecommunication market. The enforcement of competition and consumer policy within institutions from the telecom field certainly could promote the focus on consumers and the possibility to use a large “toolbox”. Harmonising and adjusting the policies across different countries and institutions and minimising any possible side effects is nevertheless a challenging task for the EU Commission in the future.

Tendances Carbone no. 80 'The EU ETS, a good example of a 'zombie' public policy'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leguet, Benoit

2013-01-01

Among the publications of CDC Climat Research, 'Tendances Carbone' bulletin specifically studies the developments of the European market for CO 2 allowances. This issue addresses the following points: - Back-loading was rejected by the European Parliament on 16 April and referred to the Parliament's ENVI Commission. A new plenary session vote has been scheduled for early July. - Structural reforms: discussion at the Parliament ENVI Commission at the end of June. - The EU-ETS is a 'zombie' policy, because the EU's climate policy lacks ambition. - If we want the EU ETS to remain the flagship for the transition towards a low-carbon economy, we must restore economic players' confidence in Europe's long-term climate goals

Towards a New LLL Paradigm? EU Policy on Key Competences and Reskilling: Facets and Trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Papadakis

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Policy initiatives such as the European Year of Creativity and Innovation (2009 and the EU Framework on “Key Competences” (2006 and onwards aim at contributing on the ongoing reconceptualisation of skills (gradually correlated to Reskilling, Employability, Sustainability and Competitiveness and operate within the context of a changing balance between technocracy, pedagogy and politics. I.e. according to the EU cluster on Key Competences “major themes are applied throughout the Framework: creativity, critical thinking, initiative taking, play a major role in all eight key competences”. This explicit changing role of Creativity gains in political visibility and requires a contextually embedded and multidisciplinary approach. On such a perspective the present paper analyzes the political context and interest politics’ impact on the transformations on LLL and reskilling within the EU policy agenda and raises methodological and epistemological issues on the interface between educational and policy analysis.

A climate for collaboration. Analysis of US and EU lessons and opportunities in energy and climate policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Vita, A.; McLaren, J.; De Coninck, H.C.; Cochran, J.

2009-11-01

This paper aims to improve mutual understanding between the EU and US with regard to climate change and energy policy, suggesting specific opportunities for transatlantic cooperation in this area. A background on the environmental, legislative, and economic contexts of the EU and US as they relate to climate policy sets the context. This is followed by an overview of how cap and trade, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation policies have taken shape in the EU and the US. Some observations and lessons learnt within each of these areas are highlighted. Building on these insights, recommendations are made regarding the carbon market, possibilities for new technologies to bridge the valley of death, and best practices and standards.

The Unexpected Negotiator at the Table: How the European Commission’s Expertise Informs Intergovernmental EU Policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng-Hsuan Chou

2015-03-01

Full Text Available How, if at all, does the Commission’s expertise inform intergovernmental decision-making within the EU? In this article, we aim to capture the relationship between the Commission’s expertise and its influence within intergovernmental policy-areas through a study of Commission influence in two least likely sectors: security and defence policies (military mission Atalanta and EU Maritime Security Strategy and external migration (EU mobility partnerships with third countries. In these cases we observe that the Commission strongly informs policy developments even though it has only limited formal competences. To explore whether and, if so, how this influence is linked to its expertise, we develop and consider two hypotheses: The expert authority hypothesis and the expert arguments hypothesis. To identify possible additional channels of influence, we also consider the relevance of two alternative hypotheses: The strategic coalition hypothesis and the institutional circumvention hypothesis. We find that the Commission’s use of its expertise is indeed key to understanding its de facto influence within policy-areas where its formal competences remain limited. Our findings add to the existing literature by revealing how expertise matters. Specifically, our cases show that the Commission informs intergovernmental decision-making by successfully linking discussions to policy-areas where it holds expert authority. However, the Commission also informs EU policies by circumventing the formal lines of intergovernmental decision-making, and by cooperating with member states that share its preference for further integration.

EU governance of economic and social policies : Chances and challenges for social Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bekker, S.; Klosse, S.

2013-01-01

This article aims at establishing to what extent the renewed EU economic and social policy coordination cycles offer opportunities to uphold and further develop the Union’s social objectives. First, it seeks to examine to what extent the legal frameworks in which macroeconomic and social policies

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

The Development and Persistence of Agricultural Policy in the EU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berthou, Silas

Abstract The analysis of which factors affect the development of European agricultural policy, the CAP, combines economic, political and historic methods to examine the interaction between politicians, farmers and voters/taxpayers. The objective of this PhD thesis is to examine the development...... and persistence of agricultural policy in the EU, based on the hypothesis that the political process and the agricultural structure are linked together. This is achieved through an examination of the foundation, the Danish farm household income and the future of agricultural support. The result of this study...... is that the foundation of agricultural policy in Europe depends on domestic policy, thus how the policy measures will affect voters. The farm households in Denmark have a living standard which is equal to rest of the society....

The policy chicken and the science egg. Has applied ecology failed the transgenic crops debate?

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, A J

2014-12-01

Ecology has a long history of research relevant to and impacting on real-world issues. Nonetheless problems of communication remain between policy-makers and scientists because they tend to work at different levels of generality (policy deals with broad issues, science prefers specific questions), and complexity (policy-makers want simple answers, ecologists tend to offer multi-factorial solutions) and to different timescales (policy-makers want answers tomorrow, ecologists always seem to want more time). These differences are not unique to the debate about the cultivation of transgenic crops. Research on gene flow is used to illustrate how science and policy are intimately bound together in a value-laden, iterative and messy process unlike that characterised by the 'encounter problem-do science-make policy' model. It also demonstrates how the gap between science and policy is often characterised by value-laden language. Scientists involved in ERA for transgenic crops may find their engagement with policy- and decision-makers clouded by misunderstanding about what one should expect from the other. Not the least of these, that science can define harm, is explored in a discussion of the U.K. Farm Scale Evaluations of herbicide-tolerant GM crops. The varied responses to these extensive trials highlight the problems of linking specific scientific experiments with broad policy objectives. The problems of applied ecology in the transgenic crops debate are not unique but may differ from other areas of environmental policy in the intense politicisation of the debate, the emphasis on assessment of risk and the particularly broad policy objectives.

Challenges of a common climate policy. An analysis of the development of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aufenanger, Vanessa

2012-01-01

The emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) adopted by the European Union in 2003 was a new instrument for the EU and its Member States. It is one of the most important strategies of achieving the EU's greenhouse gas reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol. This book analyses the policy cycle of the EU ETS Directive, focusing on the crucial implementation phase. The revised EU ETS Directive of 2009 includes significant changes for greater ecological effectiveness, changes that were unlikely to have been adopted in 2003. It is evident that the experiences of the first phase influenced not only the second implementation phase but also the revision. The intensive learning process that took place on all levels was necessary to overcome institutional constraints so that the EU ETS could be successfully established and further developed. The EU ETS policy-making is a good example to demonstrate that output legitimacy challenges input legitimacy. With the centralisation of the EU ETS in 2013 it is likely to become a more effective system; however, the legislators from the Member States may lose influence. This problem will have to be addressed.

Limits of an "Energy Union": only pragmatic progress on EU energy market regulation expected in the coming months

OpenAIRE

Fischer, Severin; Geden, Oliver

2015-01-01

Since the Juncker Commission took office in late 2014, the idea of an »Energy Union« has been a central theme of the EU energy policy debate. Today, the Energy Union concept covers every area of current European energy and climate policy. Its primary objective is to create a coherent, overarching policy framework. From a political perspective, the Commission’s aim is to prevent any further renationalization of energy policy. But although the Member State governments constantly refer to the en...

National Security and the Industrial Policy Debate: Modernizing Defense Manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

1991-05-01

47. 49. Michael Schroeder and Walecia Konrad, " Nucor : Rolling Right Into Steel’s Big Time," Business Week 19 Nov. 1990: 76. 50. Clyde V. Prestowitz...Defense." The I Industrial Policy Debate. Ed. Chalmers Johnson. San Francisco: ICS Press, 1984. i 74I Schroeder, Michael and Walecia Konrad. " Nucor

A multi-level analysis of the EU linking directive process: the controversial connection between EU and global climate policy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flaam, Karoline Haegstad

2007-10-15

Despite initial scepticism in the EU towards the Kyoto Protocol's project mechanisms (the CDM and JI), the 'Linking Directive' was adopted in October 2004, connecting the EU emissions trading scheme with the project mechanisms. Not only was the Linking Directive settled remarkably quickly, the decision-making process also left a more liberal text, with fewer restrictions on the use of the project mechanisms, as compared to the initial directive proposal. This report examines possible explanations to this puzzle, evaluating whether Member State preferences, EU institutions or external influence from the climate regime best can contribute to understanding the process. On the basis of the analysis of written sources stemming from the decision-making process, as well as seven in-depth interviews, the report finds that Member State preferences were the main driver in the Linking Directive process. This gives support to the intergovernmentalist mantra, that Member States are the main decision-makers in the EU. It also challenges much recent research claiming that EU policy-making is increasingly being taken out of the hands of the nation-state and into supranational actors such as the Commission and the European Parliament. (author). 41 refs., figs., tabs

A multi-level analysis of the EU linking directive process: the controversial connection between EU and global climate policy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flaam, Karoline Haegstad

2007-10-15

Despite initial scepticism in the EU towards the Kyoto Protocol's project mechanisms (the CDM and JI), the 'Linking Directive' was adopted in October 2004, connecting the EU emissions trading scheme with the project mechanisms. Not only was the Linking Directive settled remarkably quickly, the decision-making process also left a more liberal text, with fewer restrictions on the use of the project mechanisms, as compared to the initial directive proposal. This report examines possible explanations to this puzzle, evaluating whether Member State preferences, EU institutions or external influence from the climate regime best can contribute to understanding the process. On the basis of the analysis of written sources stemming from the decision-making process, as well as seven in-depth interviews, the report finds that Member State preferences were the main driver in the Linking Directive process. This gives support to the intergovernmentalist mantra, that Member States are the main decision-makers in the EU. It also challenges much recent research claiming that EU policy-making is increasingly being taken out of the hands of the nation-state and into supranational actors such as the Commission and the European Parliament. (author). 41 refs., figs., tabs

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

Energy security of supply under EU climate policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Groenenberg, H.; Wetzelaer, B.J.H.W.

2006-12-01

The implications of various climate policies for the security of supply in the EU-25 were investigated. The security of supply was quantified using the Supply/Demand (S/D) Index. This index aggregates quantitative information on a country's energy system into one single figure. It takes a value between 0 and 100, with higher values indicating a more secure energy system. The S/D Index was calculated for the year 2020 based on the information in a series of policy scenarios, including a baseline (S/D Index 50.7), an energy efficiency scenario (53.8), two renewable energy scenarios (52.6 and 53.3) and two scenarios with combined policies (55.9 and 55.6).The S/D Index proved a useful indicator for assessing the implications of climate policies for the security of supply. As climate policies become more stringent, CO2 index fall, and the S/D index increases. The magnitude of the changes in the two indices is not always similar however. Major falls in CO2 indices in the order of 20% for two scenarios with combined energy efficiency and renewable energy polices lead to less noteworthy improvements in the associated S/D indices. Nevertheless, this combination of policies leads to the greatest improvements in the security of supply

Debatable Issues of Regulatory Policy of Russian Nanoindustry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frolov Daniil Petrovich

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The article studies the debatable issues of regulatory policy in the sphere of nanoindustry. The nanotech industry has interindustry character that is caused by interdisciplinarity of a nanoscience therefore it is necessary to recognize objectively impossible exact definition of its branch structure. As a result of terminological uncertainty, the state support and regulation of nanotech industry is a difficult process. The substantial expansionism of the term “nanotechnology” and metaphorism of the concept “nanoindustry” is reasoned. The need of creating more detailed classification (by 1-2 orders of nanotechnologies and allocation of at least three subindustries of nanotech industry is proved. The deficiency of convergent orientation of policy of regulation of the Russian hi-tech industries is revealed. The conceptual discrepancy of nanoindustrial policy of the Russian Federation combining elements of traditional policy of import substitution and new industrial policy is shown. The expediency of transition from universal policy of nanoindustry regulation to the development of a package of the segment-focused strategies of development of different types of nanotechnologies and the nanotechnological activities is proved. The special attention is paid to a safety control problem (combination of obligatory certification and voluntary marking of nanoproduction, strengthening the role of nanotech industry self-regulation and active integration of stakeholders into the system of strategic planning.

Cooperative and competitive policies in the EU : The European Siamese twin?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lejour, A.M.

1995-01-01

With the completion of the internal market many possibilities for the EU member states to protect their markets against imports are restricted or even eliminated. This gives, however, member states the incentive to use other policy instruments. This paper analyzes the effect of liberalizing trade

Institutional Diversity in Ontario's University Sector: A Policy Debate Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Piché, Pierre G.; Jones, Glen A.

2016-01-01

In order to meet the demands in a cost-effective manner of an emerging knowledge society that is global in scope, structural higher education policy changes have been introduced in many countries with a focus on systemic and programmatic diversity. There has been an ongoing debate about institutional diversity in Ontario higher education,…

Use of a policy debate to teach residents about health care reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Vu Q C; Hirsch, Mark A

2011-09-01

Resident education involves didactics and pedagogic strategies using a variety of tools and technologies in order to improve critical thinking skills. Debating is used in educational settings to improve critical thinking skills, but there have been no reports of its use in residency education. The present paper describes the use of debate to teach resident physicians about health care reform. We aimed to describe the method of using a debate in graduate medical education. Second-year through fourth-year physical medicine and rehabilitation residents participated in a moderated policy debate in which they deliberated whether the United States has one of the "best health care system(s) in the world." Following the debate, the participants completed an unvalidated open-ended questionnaire about health care reform. Although residents expressed initial concerns about participating in a public debate on health care reform, all faculty and residents expressed that the debate was robust, animated, and enjoyed by all. Components of holding a successful debate on health care reform were noted to be: (1) getting "buy-in" from the resident physicians; (2) preparing the debate; and (3) follow-up. The debate facilitated the study of a large, complex topic like health care reform. It created an active learning process. It encouraged learners to keenly attend to an opposing perspective while enthusiastically defending their position. We conclude that the use of debates as a teaching tool in resident education is valuable and should be explored further.

Emissions Trading: The Ugly Duckling in European Climate Policy?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wraake, Markus

2009-07-15

The initial years of the European Union's Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) have provided a large-scale testing ground for trading of a new environmental commodity, carbon dioxide. This paper provides an overview of the origins and characteristics of the EU ETS. It then goes on to analyse the most contentious issues that have been discussed in the economics literature and in the public debate surrounding the trading system. The lessons learned are diverse and not all experiences are positive. Nevertheless, invaluable information has been gained from the EU ETS and policy makers in Europe and elsewhere would be wise to make use of it, be they supporters of emissions trading or sceptics to such policies. The paper concludes with a look toward the future, highlighting some upcoming revisions of the EU ETS and at what issues remain unresolved

Performance auditing in EU cohesion policy: what do we know and what should we know?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Damen, M.; Groenendijk, Nico

2012-01-01

Recently, the European Commission has put forward proposals for the next program period of EU Cohesion Policy (EUCP). Part of these proposals is an increased emphasis on performance management. This paper analyses what we know so far on performance management of EU cohesion funds. It will be argued

The EU in Geneva: The Diplomatic Representation of a System of Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caterina Carta

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The European Union (EU diplomatic system can be conceived as representative of a system of governance, and, through this, of its constitutive independent units. The way in which the EU's political system is represented through diplomatic practices is telling of two interrelated aspects of the EU's international actorness. First, it reveals the link between the foreign policy of a non-state actor and sheds light on the division of competences that characterises the EU's foreign policy-making system. Second, it highlights the complex institutional and organisational features of a non-state diplomatic system. This article locates the puzzle of EU diplomatic activity in the general debate about changes in the institution of diplomacy. Secondly, it explains how post-Lisbon institutional arrangements have been translated into practice in two multilateral delegations: the delegation to the UN and the mission to the WTO in Geneva. It finally draws some preliminary conclusions. The article concludes that beyond competition over the attribution of competences in the EU’s diplomatic governance, different ideas coexist about what ‘locating the EU in the international scene’ means. Pursuing a ‘single voice’ by unifying forms of external representation is not necessarily perceived as the most convenient strategy envisaged by all EU actors. While institutional actors tend to believe that coherence and strength may descend from a more unified system of representation, the member states tend to believe that, in certain circumstances, differentiation could increase the EU’s strength.

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.

The policy debate over public investment in comparative effectiveness research.

Science.gov (United States)

Rich, Eugene C

2009-06-01

Policy makers across the political spectrum, as well as many clinicians and physician professional associations, have proposed that better information on comparative clinical effectiveness should be a key element of any solution to the US health-care cost crisis. This superficial consensus hides intense disagreements over critical issues essential to any new public effort to promote more comparative effectiveness research (CER). This article reviews the background for these disputes, summarizes the different perspectives represented by policy makers and advocates, and offers a framework to aid both practicing and academic internists in understanding the key elements of the emerging debate. Regarding the fundamental question of "what is CER," disagreements rage over whether value or cost effectiveness should be a consideration, and how specific patient perspectives should be reflected in the development and the use of such research. The question of how to pay for CER invokes controversies over the role of the market in producing such information and the private (e.g., insurers and employers) versus public responsibility for its production. The financing debate further highlights the high stakes of comparative effectiveness research, and the risks of stakeholder interests subverting any public process. Accordingly there are a range of proposals for the federal government's role in prioritization, development, and dissemination of CER. The internal medicine community, with its long history of commitment to scientific medical practice and its leadership in evidence-based medicine, should have a strong interest and play an active role in this debate.

Dynamics in National Agri-environmental Policy implementation under Changing EU Policy Priorities: does one size fit all?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vesterager, Jens Peter; Frederiksen, Pia; Kristensen, Søren Bech Pilgaard

2016-01-01

by creatingan increasingly demanding set of regulations with which each member state must comply. National AEPimplementation may, however, maintain original characteristics and fail to adopt or transform as EUpolicy implementation proceeds or when EU policies develop. This creates a potential gap between...

The Role of the OECD and the EU in the Development of Labour Market Policy in the Czech Republic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Porte, Caroline de la

2009-01-01

This article analyses the role of the OECD through its "Jobs Strategy" and the European Union (EU) through the "European Employment Strategy" in the development of macro-economic, employment and labour market policy in the Czech Republic. As a full member of the two organisations, the Czech...... Republic has been subject to their soft non-binding policy advice in the area of labour market reform. The OECD and EU policy models are similar, both insisting on growth-oriented macro-economic policy, supported by active labour market policies, an active and effective public employment service (PES......) and the de-regulation of labour markets. However, the OECD actively advocates private actor involvement in labour markets, while the EU insists on the role of the public sector. The inquisitive styles of the two organisations differ: the OECD has a decontextualised and quantified analysis of performance...

The relative generosity of the EU-15 member states’ child policies

OpenAIRE

Jérôme De Henau; Sile O’Dorchai; Danièle Meulders; Hélène Périvier-Timbeau

2004-01-01

The main purpose of this project is to analyse the influence of labour market conditions and social policies on the fertility decisions of young people in order to contribute to the design of better policies at European and national levels to facilitate combination of parenthood and work. Chapter I presents a broader picture on women’s current labour force participation according to motherhood status in the 15 countries of the former EU. The chapter also discusses related European Union po...

The Commission White Paper on a Strategy for a Future EU Chemicals Policy: the view of European companies of American parentage.

Science.gov (United States)

Montfort, Jean-Philippe

2003-04-01

After years of good service, EU legislation on chemicals is currently subject to a major review. This process, initiated by the Council of Ministers at Chester in April 1998, will soon lead to new legislative proposals. In the meantime, a review of the Commission's White Paper on "Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy," published in February 2001, clearly shows that the regulatory landscape in this area will be significantly reshaped and that a new burden will be imposed on industry to demonstrate that the production and use of chemicals indeed conform to high standards of protection of human health and the environment. In the view of industry, on both sides of the Atlantic, while the objectives of the proposed reform can be supported, the measures proposed in the White Paper to implement these objectives are not properly balanced and will lead to substantial societal and economic drawbacks, unless significant adjustments are made. The purpose of this article is to present the pitfalls and difficulties of the reform as they are perceived by the EU Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Brussels, an organization that regroups about 150 European companies of American parentage, belonging to a broad range of European business sectors, including producers and users of chemicals. In view of the transatlantic and cross-business character of its membership, the EU Committee offers a different perspective on the debate.

From taxes to permits? The Norwegian climate policy debate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bretteville, Camilla; Soefting, Guri Bang

2000-09-01

Taxation as an instrument for environmental policy (green taxes) has been a topic of heated debate in Norway for almost 30 years. The subject of environmental taxes has time after time inflamed both policy makers and scholars alike. The suitability of green taxes as a policy instrument was first discussed in the 1970s. The 1980s introduced the idea that income from green taxes would make reductions in other taxes possible: a green tax reform. In the 1990s, the tax discussion boiled down to whether or not all polluters should face the same carbon tax. Lately, however, the discussion around the Kyoto Protocol has led to increased interest around the alternative of introducing a system of tradable emission quotas. Environmental taxation might thus be a declining policy instrument in Norway. This is contrary to recent developments in several other European countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. This paper explores why the idea of a green tax reform never got off the ground in Norway by providing an overview of Norwegian environmental policy in the period from 1972 to early 2000. (author)

To what extent are EU steel companies susceptible to competitive loss due to climate policy?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okereke, Chukwumerije; McDaniels, Devin

2012-01-01

In recognition of their competitive vulnerability, a set of special rules have been devised for managing sectors such as iron and steel within the EU ETS. Under these rules, the EU steel sector has received free allocations in excess of their compliance needs to now, and will continue to receive some free allowances up to 2020. However, perceptions of the sector's competitive vulnerability have been largely based on inherently hypothetical analyses which rely heavily on counterfactual scenarios and abatement cost estimates often provided by firms themselves. This paper explores how the three largest steel firms in the EU (AcerlorMittal, Corus, and ThyssenKrupp) have sought to strategically exaggerate their vulnerability to carbon pricing to the effect of an inefficient policy outcome. We conduct a qualitative assessment of two of the key narratives underpinning the competitive vulnerability argument of EU steel companies – lack of abatement opportunities and inability to pass through cost increases – based on interviews, case studies, and publicly available data. We find that these arguments provide only partial and weak justifications for competitive loss and preferential treatment under the EU ETS. The strategy however remains successful due to information asymmetry and the peculiar political economy of EU climate regulation. - Highlights: ► We evaluate carbon leakage and vulnerability claims to climate policy by EU Steel companies. ► We find these claims are exaggerated and form key part of companies' climate political strategy. ► The success of this strategy implicates information asymmetry and the broader political economy of regulation within the EU. ► It has proved successful in helping the sector achieve free emission allocations in the EUETS.

Framing Video Games and Internet Bullying on the ‘Smarter’ Channel of the ‘Debating Europe’ Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tulia Maria Cășvean

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The new digital world may propagate old subjects, such violence in and through new media. Violent behavior is a concerning topic for academia, EU institutions and the large public that could be debated on online platforms which take the citizens’ questions and comments directly to policy makers for them to respond. ‘Debating Europe’ is a multi-channel online platform that encourages citizen to debate diverse topics that include violent behavior. Acknowledging that participants could have their own interests, divergent from those of the institution, legitimating or delegitimating the topic, our intention is to observe and analyze through the lens of frame analysis the citizens’ communicative practice on the SMARTER channel of the Debating Europe platform and their perceptions and attitudes towards the violent behavior topic in Europe.

This time it’s different? Effects of the Eurovision Debate on young citizens and its consequence for EU democracy–evidence from a quasi-experiment in 24 countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maier, Jürgen; Faas, Thorsten; Rittberger, Berthold

2018-01-01

For the very first time in EU history, the 2014 EP elections provided citizens with the opportunity to influence the nomination of the Commission President by casting a vote for the main Europarties’ ‘lead candidates’. By subjecting the position of the Commission President to an open political...... contest, many experts have formulated the expectation that heightened political competition would strengthen the weak electoral connection between EU citizens and EU legislators, which some consider a root cause for the EU’s lack of public support. In particular, this contest was on display in the so...... citizens. Unfortunately, the debate has only reached a very small audience....

Environment and innovation. An evaluation of EU strategies and policies; Umwelt und Innovation. Eine Evaluation von EU-Strategien und Politiken

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hertin, Julia; Jacob, Klaus; Kahlenborn, Walter

2008-03-15

This study outlines the methodology and results of the research project: ''Umwelt, Innovation und Beschaeftigung in einem europaeischen Kontext: Europaeische Strategien als ein Motor fuer oekeffiziente Technologien und Wettbewerbsfaehigkeit'', funded by the BMU and UBA and carried out jointly by the Forschungsstelle fuer Umweltpolitik of Freie Universitaet Berlin and Adelphi Consult. The project was carried out with the intention to evaluate inhowfar current EU policies follow and implement goals that can be classified as ''ecological industrial policy''. In the definition of the BMU, this concept means a political strategy which enhances eco-efficient innovations beyond the traditional approaches of environmental and R + D policy. A strategy of this type is to influence the innovation behaviour and also influence the marketing conditions for generic technologies. As the strategy intends to effect both a reduction of the ecological burden and an enhancement of the economic and competitive standing, it can recur to a two-fold foundation. The current investigation attempted to identify political measures at EU level that are suited for enhancing fast development and propagation of eco-efficient technologies. (orig.)

Addressing competitiveness and leakage concerns in climate policy: An analysis of border adjustment measures in the US and the EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asselt, Harro van; Brewer, Thomas

2010-01-01

The implementation of climate policies in the US and EU in light of uncertainties about future international climate policy has shifted attention to two interrelated concerns, namely competitiveness and carbon leakage. Although various policy measures are available to address these concerns, there has been much discussion about one such measure in particular: the use of offsetting measures at the border. This article compares policy discussions in the US and the EU on how to address competitiveness and carbon leakage concerns, with a focus on the role of import-related border adjustment measures. It analyses the kinds of measures that so far have been put forward with a view to addressing competitiveness and carbon leakage; compares the approaches to the problems in the US and the EU; and provides a preliminary discussion of international cooperation on border adjustment measures. It concludes that two kinds of cooperation are needed between the EU and the US - not only cooperation through formal international negotiations, but also cooperation through international learning processes, in which the EU and the US learn from each other about design and implementation issues as they develop their respective cap-and-trade systems.

Two Decades of E-Learning Policy Evolution at EU Level: Motivations, Institutions and Instruments

Science.gov (United States)

Salajan, Florin D.; Roumell, Elizabeth A.

2016-01-01

This article records and documents the historical development of e-learning policies at EU level by conducting a discourse and content analysis of four key e-learning policy documents drafted and implemented by the European Commission over the past 20 years: "Learning in the Information Society: Action Plan for a European Education…

Securitizing Moves To Nowhere? The Framing of the European Union’s Energy Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal Natorski

2008-07-01

Full Text Available In 2006, debates about ‘energy security’ reached the top of the EU’s political agenda. A conjunction of political and economic factors seemed to be critically affecting the security of supply in most EU member states. A wide range of actors called for the establishment of a ‘Common Energy Policy,’ based on a fully operational Internal Energy Market and equipped with an external dimension enabling the EU to speak with one voice in the world. The results of this heated debate, however, fell short of these objectives. Informed by securitisation approaches, this article explores the debate over energy security that unfolded between 2005 and 2007. It aims to provide an understanding about why the framing of energy as a security issue did not mobilise enough support in favour of ground-breaking measures to tackle what was unanimously presented as a unique and especially hazardous situation. Specifically, the article will argue that those attempts to frame energy as a security issue in order to gain support for a Common Energy Policy have been of limited effect, precisely because the security framing contributed to the further legitimisation of EU member states’ reluctance to cede sovereignty in the energy domain.

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.

Coordinating the Uncoordinated: The EU Forest Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filip Aggestam

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The second European Union (EU Forest Strategy responds to new challenges facing both forests and the forest-based sector which highlights the EU’s need for a policy framework ensuring coordination and coherence of forest-related policies. The objective of the present article is to analyse whether the new Strategy contributes towards horizontal policy coherence of EU forest-related policies, given its shared and exclusive competences. This is achieved by comparing European Commission and forest industry policy priorities as articulated in the Strategy and through research carried out for the recent Cumulative Cost Assessment (CCA of forest-based industries. Results from the comparative analysis demonstrate that the Strategy does not address many EU policies and policy instruments that affect the whole forest value chain and that it clearly omits existing EU policy instrument objectives that entail significant costs for the forest-based industry. It is therefore argued that without coordinating collective EU goals and gathering strong political support, it is at best extremely difficult or at worst impossible, to achieve coherence for EU forest-related policies across the whole forest value chain. Improving coherence of Union forest-related policies will require the Strategy to address more policy areas and instruments, including clearly defined parameters of what constitutes an EU forest-related policy. These pressing needs reach beyond what the Strategy presently sets out to achieve.

Reform of the EU's climate policy. Small step or big hit?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janssen, Matthias; Peichert, Patrick; Perner, Jens; Riechmann, Christoph

2015-01-01

Emissions trading listed as a flexible mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol is regarded as a market economy way in climate protection. Since 2005 the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the central climate policy instrument for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, in particular for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). For years, however, the CO 2 price is too low to direct the politically and socially targeted technical innovations in the electricity sector and the industry. The article analyses the temporary and structural causes of this problem, highlights the EU's reform efforts and points to areas of activity, the basis of which the EU ETS may act in the future as a central instrument for climate protection in the European Union. [de

Essentials of EU law

CERN Document Server

Reinisch, August

2012-01-01

This book explores the history and institutions of the EU, examines the interplay of its main bodies in its legislative process and illustrates the role played by the EU Courts and the importance of fundamental rights. The student is also introduced to the key principles of the internal market, in particular the free movement of goods and the free movement of workers. In addition a number of other EU policies, such as the Common Agricultural Policy, Environmental Protection and Social Policy are outlined, while a more detailed inquiry is made into European competition law.

[The role of science in policy making--EuSANH-ISA project, framework for science advice for health].

Science.gov (United States)

Cianciara, Dorota; Piotrowicz, Maria; Bielska-Lasota, Magdalena; Wysocki, Mirosław J

2012-01-01

Governments and other authorities (including MPs) should be well informed on issues of science and technology. This is particularly important in the era of evidence-based practice. This implies the need to get expert advice. The process by which scientific knowledge is transmitted, along with proposals how to solve the problem, is called science advice. The main aim of the article is to discuss the issue of science advice--definitions, interaction between science and policymaking, and its position in contemporary policies. The second aim is to present European Science Advisory Network for Health (EuSANH), EuSANH-ISA project, and framework for science advice for health which was developed by participants. Furthermore, the role of civil society in decision-making process and science advice is also discussed. Interaction between scientists and policy-makers are described in terms of science-push approach (technocratic model), policy-pull (decisionistic) and simultaneous push-pull approach (pragmatic). The position of science advice is described in historical perspective from the 50s, especially in the last two decades. Description relies to USA, Canada and UK. Principles of scientific advice to government (Government Office for Science, UK) are quoted. Some important documents related to science advice in EU and UN are mentioned. EuSANH network is described as well as EuSANH-ISA project, with its objectives and outcomes. According to findings of this project, the process of science advice for health should follow some steps: framing the issue to be covered; planning entire process leading to the conclusion; drafting the report; reviewing the report and revision; publishing report and assessing the impact on policy.

Financial sustainability versus access and quality in a challenged health system: an examination of the capitation policy debate in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Atuoye, Kilian Nasung; Vercillo, Siera; Antabe, Roger; Galaa, Sylvester Zackaria; Luginaah, Isaac

2016-11-01

Policy makers in low and middle-income countries are frequently confronted with challenges of increasing health access for poor populations in a sustainable manner. After several years of trying out different health financing mechanisms, health insurance has recently emerged as a pro-poor health financing policy. Capitation, a fixed fee periodically paid to health service providers for anticipated services, is one of the payment policies in health insurance. This article examines claims and counter-claims made by coalitions and individual stakeholders in a capitation payment policy debate within Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme. Using content analysis of public and parliamentary proceedings, we situate the debate within policy making and health insurance literature. We found that the ongoing capitation payment debate stems from challenges in implementation of earlier health insurance claims payment systems, which reflect broader systemic challenges facing the health insurance scheme in Ghana. The study illustrates the extent to which various sub-systems in the policy debate advance arguments to legitimize their claims about the contested capitation payment system. In addition, we found that the health of poor communities, women and children are being used as surrogates for political and individual arguments in the policy debate. The article recommends a more holistic and participatory approach through persuasion and negotiation to join interests and core evidence together in the capitation policy making in Ghana and elsewhere with similar contexts. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Negotiating services liberalization within TTIP : The EU external trade policy at crossroads

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Delimatsis, Panagiotis

2016-01-01

The conclusion of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) constitutes a priority and key component of the new external trade policy of the European Union (EU) and an immediate follow-up to several years of regulatory cooperation between the two global trade powers. In an era of

2003-2004 ACADEMIC TRAINING PROGRAMME (Renewable) Energy Policy in the EU Members States and the Accession States

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2003-01-01

13, 14, 15, 16, 17 October 2003 2003-2004 ACADEMIC TRAINING PROGRAMME LECTURE SERIES Main Auditorium bldg. 500 (Renewable) Energy Policy in the EU Members States and the Accession States D. Reiche / Free University of Berlin, D The aim of this lecture is to discuss the transformation of the energy sectors in the EU with the main focus on obstacles and success conditions for renewable energy sources. Besides the EU-15 and 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. The factors which influence renewable energy development are described as the path dependencies/starting positions in energy policy (natural conditions for the RES, availability of fossil resources, use of nuclear power), the instruments for promoting renewable energies (as feed-in tariffs or quota obligations), the economic (level of energy prices, for example), technological (i.e. grid capacity), and cognitive environment.

Boundaries of Welfare between the EU and Member States during the ‘Great Recession’

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

de la Porte, Caroline; Pochet, Philippe

2014-01-01

-state reform changes over time in line with socio-economic conditions as well as shifting political-party governmental coalitions in the Council. We argue that in particular the economically oriented actors, including the European Central Bank, have been successful in the context of the Great Recession. More...... recently, social priorities around notions such as social investment are becoming more central in the EU debate on economic and social policy....

Energies: the real debate; Energies: Le Vrai Debat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-07-01

Concurrently to the National Debate on the energies, a real debate has been proposed by seven associations of the environment protection and improvement. This debate, international, proposes: a panorama of the stakes, a presentation of the nuclear as an energy source not necessary dangerous, the relation between climate and employment and the conditions of existence and development of a local energy policy. (A.L.B.)

Market Share, R&D Cooperation, and EU Competition Policy

OpenAIRE

Richard Rubble; Bruno Versaevel

2009-01-01

Working Paper GATE 2009-10; Current EU policy exempts horizontal R&D agreements from antitrust con- cerns when the combined market shares of participants are low enough. This paper argues that existing theory does not support limiting the exemption to low market shares. This is done by introducing a set of non-innovating outside firms to the standard framework to assess what link might exist between the market share of innovating firms and the product market benefits of cooperation. With R&D out...

Addressing 2030 EU policy framework for energy and climate: Cost, risk and energy security issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Llano-Paz, Fernando de; Martínez Fernandez, Paulino; Soares, Isabel

2016-01-01

The different energy sources, their costs and impacts on the environment determine the electricity production process. Energy planning must solve the existence of uncertainty through the diversification of power generation technologies portfolio. The European Union energy and environmental policy has been mainly based on promoting the security of supply, efficiency, energy savings and the promotion of Renewable Energy Sources. The recent European Commission communication “Towards an European Energy Union: A secure, sustainable, competitive and affordable energy for every European” establishes the path for the European future. This study deals with the analysis of the latest EU “Energy Union” goals through the application of Markowitz portfolio theory considering technological real assets. The EU targets are assessed under a double perspective: economic and environmental. The model concludes that implementing a high share of Renewable Energy target in the design of European Policies is not relevant: the maximization of Renewable Energy share could be achieved considering a sole Low Emissions of carbon dioxide policy. Additionally it is confirmed the need of Nuclear energy in 2030: a zero nuclear energy share in 2030 European Mix is not possible, unless the technological limits participation for Renewable Energy Sources were increased. - Highlights: • Implementing a high RES share target in European Policies could not be relevant. • Maximizing RES share could be achieved considering a sole Low Emissions policy. • The EU 2030 Nuclear energy 50% shutting down could be feasible. • Minimizing risk portfolio presents high diversification and energy security levels.

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.

Crossing borders: a critical review of the role of the European Court of Justice in EU health policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Eleanor

2012-04-01

Over the last two decades, the European Union (EU) has steadily increased its involvement in the health policies of its member states, with considerable support from the European Court of Justice (ECJ). However, much of the literature examining the Court's role has focused upon the intersection between internal market law and the health services sector; the majority of studies have failed to examine the potential role for the Court in public health policy. Observers such as Greer have seen the development of healthcare as a clear case of neofunctional spillover, a view supported but qualified by Wasserfallen and others, who present a more detailed account of the mechanics of the process. Alternative analyses have focused upon the new modes of governance, soft law and other factors - this article reviews the current state of research in the field and the extent to which it should concern health policy actors and non-specialists in EU policy alike. It concludes that the Court has played and continues to play a crucial role in the development of EU public health policy, as well as in health services and broader social policy, where its influence has already been well documented. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agrofuels' role in the EU energy policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tricase, C.; Lombardi, M.

2008-01-01

Over last years, growing concerns related to climate changes and to the necessity of a certain and guarantee energy supply have been generating considerations that will induce to a substantial review of the current European economic and energy system. In such a developing context, governments and economic operators have been giving an important role to bio energy as an instrument to lower polluting emissions, to diversify energy supply and to increase the value of rural areas. This was also emphasized by the European Union through specific measures and incentives. The aim of this paper is to analyse the current agrofuel' role (biodiesel and bio ethanol) in the EU energy policy, considering the problems related to their use as underlined by the lively discussion at international level [it

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.

Advantages and controversy of common agricultural and cohesion policy in the EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kostić Vladimir

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The authors explore deals and payments that have a positive effect on the development of Common agricultural and cohesion policy. They particularly emphasize the ways of protecting the European Union from cheap imported products from non-EU countries. They also deal with the mechanisms that are built into the process, with the structural policy regarding 'Agenda 2000', as well as the reforms of Common agricultural and cohesion policy from its beginnings until now. The paper presents problems of guaranteed prices, ecology, quotas, agricultural levies and customs duties. The authors also investigated the Common Agricultural and Rural Policy of the European Union 2014-2020, the ways to accelerate the transfer of technology and strengthen the cooperation between agriculture and research sectors in the future.

Bulgarian agriculture in the conditions of the EU Common Agricultural Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stela TODOROVA

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The agricultural sectors of the former centrally planned economies, including Bulgaria were in a state of economic crises in the period after socialist governments fell. The former system disappeared almost overnight while new market structures had not yet emerged. The outcome of this transition shocks was a sharp decline in both agricultural output and the sector's GDP in the early 1990s. Some countries of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE recovered from this initial decline much faster. The principle reason for the difference appears to be the more resolute adherence of CEE governments to reform policies throughout their economies. The purpose of this study is to get more knowledge about the structure and possibilities of Bulgarian agriculture after the transition period and last but not least, about the effects of the EU CAP on the Bulgarian economy and farmers.That is why were made some interviews, and besides, it was carried out a questionnaire survey in order to get a picture about how farmers act in a new environment called the Common Agricultural Policy of EU. For collecting information, as well as confirming or rejecting the investigation hypotheses chi-square analysis was applied.

Impact of energy policy instruments on the estimated level of underlying energy efficiency in the EU residential sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippini, Massimo; Hunt, Lester C.; Zorić, Jelena

2014-01-01

The promotion of energy efficiency is seen as one of the top priorities of EU energy policy (EC, 2010). In order to design and implement effective energy policy instruments, it is necessary to have information on energy demand price and income elasticities in addition to sound indicators of energy efficiency. This research combines the approaches taken in energy demand modelling and frontier analysis in order to econometrically estimate the level of energy efficiency for the residential sector in the EU-27 member states for the period 1996 to 2009. The estimates for the energy efficiency confirm that the EU residential sector indeed holds a relatively high potential for energy savings from reduced inefficiency. Therefore, despite the common objective to decrease ‘wasteful’ energy consumption, considerable variation in energy efficiency between the EU member states is established. Furthermore, an attempt is made to evaluate the impact of energy-efficiency measures undertaken in the EU residential sector by introducing an additional set of variables into the model and the results suggest that financial incentives and energy performance standards play an important role in promoting energy efficiency improvements, whereas informative measures do not have a significant impact. - Highlights: • The level of energy efficiency of the EU residential sector is estimated. • Considerable potential for energy savings from reduced inefficiency is established. • The impact of introduced energy-efficiency policy measures is also evaluated. • Financial incentives are found to promote energy efficiency improvements. • Energy performance standards also play an important role

Contrasting perspectives on China's rare earths policies: Reframing the debate through a stakeholder lens

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayes-Labruto, Leslie; Schillebeeckx, Simon J.D.; Workman, Mark; Shah, Nilay

2013-01-01

This article critically compares China's rare earth policy with perspectives upheld in the rest of the world (ROW). We introduce rare earth elements and their importance for energy and present how China and the ROW are framing the policy debate. We find strongly dissonant views with regards to motives for foreign direct investment, China's two-tiered pricing structure and its questionable innovation potential. Using the metaphor of “China Inc.”, we compare the Chinese government to a socially responsible corporation that aims to balance the needs of its internal stakeholders with the demands from a resource-dependent world. We find that China's internal stakeholders have more power and legitimacy in the REE debate than the ROW and reconceptualise various possible mitigation strategies that could change current international policy and market dynamics. As such, we aim to reframe the perspectives that seem to govern the West and argue in favor of policy formation that explicitly acknowledges China's triple bottom line ambitions and encourages the ROW to engage with China in a more nuanced manner. - Highlights: • Very different perspectives persist regarding China's rare earth policies. • Scarcity, substitutability and uncertainty drive the divergent perspectives. • We compare China to a socially responsible corporation, “China Inc.”. • China's internal stakeholders have higher salience than ROW. • We propose and reframe policy mitigation strategies

The interaction between EU biofuel policy and first- and second-generation biodiesel production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boutesteijn, C.; Drabik, D.; Venus, T.J.

2017-01-01

We build a tractable partial equilibrium model to study the interactions between the EU biofuel policies (mandate and double-counting of second-generation biofuels) and first- and second-generation biodiesel production. We find that increasing the biodiesel mandate results in a higher share of

Trading well-being for economic efficiency: The 1990 shift in EU childcare policies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bussemaker, M.; Bleijenbergh, I.L.; de Bruijn, J.G.M.

2006-01-01

In 1992, the European Union (EU) adopted the Recommendation on Childcare and became involved in childcare policy. For the first time, care services and domestic care were acknowledged as the common responsibility of all the European and national political units. The article shows the interaction

Of Policy Entrepreneurship, bandwagoning and free-riding : EU member states and multilateral cooperation frameworks for Europe's southern neighbourhood

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schumacher, T.; Bouris, D.; Olszewska, M.

2016-01-01

Over the past 25 years the EU and NATO have displayed considerable agency and thus influence as far as the development of institutionalised collective cooperation and/or foreign policy frameworks towards Europe’s southern neighbourhood is concerned. Against this backdrop, this article puts EU and

EU-reporting of policy measures to mitigate climate change within the administrative sector of the Ministry of the Environment; Ilmastonmuutoksen hillintaeaen taehtaeaevien politiikkatoimenpiteiden raportointi EU:lle ympaeristoeministerioen hallinnonalalta

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hilden, M.; Mattinen, M.; Maeenpaeae, I.

2013-04-15

The UN's climate agreement and EU's legislation that is linked to the agreement, necessitate evaluation and reporting of the policy sectors, the implementation of policy measures, and the achievement of the set goals. A report according to EU's monitoring mechanism, Decision (280/2004/EC) and (2005/166/EU) was submitted in 2011. This report describes in detail how the data was collected in the administrative sector of the Ministry of Environment, and how the reporting was organized in practice. As a result of the experiences, measures were identified that could simplify future reporting. Some measures concern development of contentual matters, such as an improvement of economic assessments, other measures concern data management. Especially, a web-based reporting system and its realization alternatives and possibilities have been outlined. It is recommended to develop light reporting system for the environmental administration, that makes it possible to save and process data related to policies and measures, so that the different reporting needs can be met by changing the output format. (orig.)

Hyped up. Energy policy in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sapper, Manfred; Weichsel, Volker

2013-01-01

The volume covers the following issues: Russia's promotion to an energy super power - history of a European interlocking; the large uncertainty - The US shale gas boom, EU and Russia; natural gas in central Asia and the Caspian area; natural gas - price and modernization, price policy and energy efficiency in Russia; the partners Winterhall - Gazprom; the regulation of the petroleum boom in the post -Soviet region; nuclear energy in Eastern and Western Europe, reactions following Chernobyl and Fukushima; renewable energies in Russia; Hiroshima from the Soviet view; debate: cooperation is required, German policy concerning Russia.

Reform of the EU's climate policy. Small step or big hit?; Reform der EU-Klimapolitik. Kleiner Schritt oder grosser Wurf?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janssen, Matthias; Peichert, Patrick; Perner, Jens; Riechmann, Christoph [Frontier Economics Ltd., Koeln (Germany)

2015-11-15

Emissions trading listed as a flexible mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol is regarded as a market economy way in climate protection. Since 2005 the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the central climate policy instrument for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, in particular for carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}). For years, however, the CO{sub 2} price is too low to direct the politically and socially targeted technical innovations in the electricity sector and the industry. The article analyses the temporary and structural causes of this problem, highlights the EU's reform efforts and points to areas of activity, the basis of which the EU ETS may act in the future as a central instrument for climate protection in the European Union. [German] Der im Kyoto-Protokoll als flexibler Mechanismus aufgefuehrte Emissionshandel gilt als marktwirtschaftlicher Weg in den Klimaschutz. Das Europaeische Emissionshandelssystem (EU ETS) ist seit 2005 das zentrale klimapolitische Instrument zur Senkung des Ausstosses von Treibhausgasen, insbesondere fuer Kohlenstoffdioxid (CO{sub 2}). Seit Jahren ist der CO{sub 2}-Preis jedoch zu gering, um die politisch und gesellschaftlich angestrebten technischen Innovationen im Stromsektor und der Industrie zu lenken. Der Artikel untersucht die temporaeren und strukturellen Ursachen dieses Problems, beleuchtet die Reformbestrebungen der EU und zeigt Handlungsfelder auf, anhand derer das EU ETS auch in Zukunft als zentrales Instrument fuer Klimaschutz in der Europaeischen Union fungieren kann.

AGRICULTURAL FRANCHISING AND CONTRIBUTION TO ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES OF THE EU COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY

OpenAIRE

Stanković, Milica

2014-01-01

The Common Agricultural Policy is the oldest, the most complex, the most expensive EU policy and it represents one of the most important drivers of European integration. Agrarian franchising is one of the innovations in the field of franchising, which implementation is still in its infancy and it is necessary to strive for the popularization of this business model. The aim of the paper is to emphasize the importance of agricultural franchising concept development and contribution of implement...

A New Wave of European Climate and Energy Policy: Towards a 2030 Framework

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hanrahan, Gina

2013-06-11

Against a complex, challenging, and often contradictory background, the EU is currently trying to decide what kind of climate and energy regime it wants and needs in the post-2020 period. Should it replicate the formula of the 2008 Climate and Energy Package to 2030 and beyond? Or are there other pathways that may prove more effective or politically palatable? The European Commission has recently published a consultation paper on a 2030 climate and energy framework and enormous efforts are being expended in Brussels and across the Member States as stakeholders work to shape to terms of the debate. This policy brief attempts to provide an understanding of the current debates and to illuminate the key challenges in designing a new wave of European climate policy. It first sets out the current EU energy and climate framework and discusses progress made to date, before going on to outline a range of key challenges in the design of a 2030 framework. This is the fourth in a series of Environment Nexus policy briefs by experts in the field of climate, energy, agriculture and water.

Regionális és kisebbségpolitikai válaszok az EU-csatlakozás kihívásaira (Regional and Minority Policy Responses to the Challenges of the EU Accession

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edit Soós

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The paper gives a detailed description of the situation of the Hungarian national minority in Vojvodina. It covers the debate surrounding the minority issue which has been included in democracy discourses, but never in their mainstream. The aim of the paper is to identify how international and EU regulation of minorities influence the position of Hungarian ethnic minority in Vojvodina where Hungarians have an exceptionally strong presence within the community. For there is a clearly identifiable demand and willingness to have a cultural and teritorial autonomy. The paper has a special focus on the legislative and institutional frmaework of the Serbian minority policy and shows how the minority rights work in practice. The study also notes that efforts have been made to improve legislation in favour of minorities but rebukes the chronic failure to implement this legislation and introduce additional legislative or regulatory measures.

EU-Russia Cultural Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Sidorova

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the link between culture and diplomacy between Russia and the European Union, and shows the importance of cultural relations. It examines the common space of science, education and culture introduced at the 2003 EU-Russia Summit in St. Petersburg and the application of the principles of this concept that were established at the 2005 EU-Russia Summit in Moscow. It then considers EU-Russia collaboration on humanitarian action and the challenges that both parties face in this sphere. It also explains the formation of EU domestic and foreign cultural policy, and the role of European institutions and states in cultural affairs and diplomacy, as well as key elements and mechanisms of contemporary Russian foreign cultural policy. In addition, the article focuses on the European side of post-Soviet EU-Russia cultural relations. This cultural collaboration is defined as a competitive neighbourhood. EU and Russian interests collide: while Europeans try to promote their values, norms and standards within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, Russia seeks to culturally influence and engage in this region for geostrategic and historical reasons. Finally, the article assesses the prospects for the EU-Russia cultural relations and emphasizes the role of ideology in improving such relations.

What policy adjustments in the EU ETS truly affected the carbon prices?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan, Ying; Jia, Jun-Jun; Wang, Xin; Xu, Jin-Hua

2017-01-01

Carbon market becomes increasingly popular as a cost-effective instrument to mitigate CO_2 emissions. However, its construction is a learning-by-doing process, and needs consistent regulatory updates in order to deliver optimal effects. This paper uses the event study method to assess the impacts of different policy adjustments on the EUA returns in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) since 2005. Comparing to existing studies that focus on the impact of a single policy, this paper provides a complementary reference on if and to what extent policy adjustments can impact the carbon prices by classifying all regulatory update events into six categories. Its key findings are as follows. First, aggregate impacts of total 50 events studied are low while impacts of events having underlying negative impacts are higher than those having underlying positive impacts. Second, 24 events have significant impacts on EUA returns and are coherent to their theoretical impacts (except one event). Third, events having negligible impact on EUA returns are those that are announced not for the first time or those having no impact on CO_2 quotas supply and demand. Finally, there are different impact patterns: some events have different impacts on short-end and long-end carbon prices. - Highlights: • Impacts of policy adjustments in the EU ETS on carbon price are investigated. • Aggregate impacts of total 50 events studied are low. • Policy adjustments having underlying negative impacts have a higher impact. • Events that are announced for the first time are apt to have significant impact. • There are different impact patterns of events on EUA spot and futures returns.

From smart specialisation to smart experimentation: Towards a new theoretical framework for EU regional policy

OpenAIRE

Benner, Maximilian

2013-01-01

The idea of smart specialisation has gained high prominence in the discourse about EU regional policy. In the coming program period from 2014 to 2020 it is expected to be a major pillar of EU structural funds. The notion of smart specialisation incorporates some basic principles of evolutionary economics and centers on the idea of an entrepreneurial discovery process of new trajectories on the regional level. It does not, however, sufficiently take into account the relevance of in...

Key indicators for tracking 2030 strategies towards decarbonization in the EU: which indicators, why and what process for using them?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sartor, Oliver

2016-09-01

Decarbonizing national economies will require significant structural transformations of national energy systems and a number of emissions intensive sectors. Policy makers will therefore need to identify a comprehensive and coherent set of goals for each key aspect of the transition and monitor progress towards achieving these goals using indicators. But which specific goals and indicators should they focus on? And how can we be sure that the approach is consistent with achieving deep transformation change? This paper attempts to answer this question. This question is particularly relevant for current policy debate in Europe, where EU Member States have agreed to develop a set of 'key indicators' to track progress towards decarbonization as part of the new Energy Union governance mechanism. The EU is currently in the process of developing a 'new governance mechanism' to ensure the effective implementation of the EU's Energy Union project and the achievement of the EU's targets under the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. The new governance mechanism will have far- reaching consequences for the way that the EU and its Member States plan, monitor and coordinate on energy and climate policy post-2020. Key indicators will have a crucial role to play in this mechanism. The purpose of indicators for climate and energy policy is to monitor progress towards EU climate and energy goals. However, since the bulk of policy action towards these goals generally takes place at the Member State level, these goals must also be adopted at Member State level for the indicators to track the success of policy implementation. For this, the goals that indicators track need to be included in national climate and energy plans. The EU has proposed to make this the case for some EU goals contained in the Energy Union project, but not for other ones. A closer integration of European indictors and national plans and targets set by Member States is needed. A singular use of indicators only to

In the name of human rights: the problematics of EU ethical foreign policy in Africa and elsewhere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivia Umurerwa Rutazibwa

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This doctoral research project explores avenues to research ethically defined foreign policy differently, i.e. in ways that more systematically account for its counterproductive elements. Building on the specific case of the European Union’s foreign policy in sub-Saharan Africa, embodied by the 2000 Cotonou Agreement and the 2007 Joint Africa-EU Strategy, through four papers and one books review, the study firstly develops the Ethical Intervener Europe analytical framework to account for the embedded problematics in the EU’s ethical foreign policy. Secondly, through an eclectic theoretical approach, the study seeks to theoretically pin-point some alternatives to think about ethical foreign policy and finally, looks to concretize it through its application on the case of relative autonomous peace- and state-building in Somaliland. This research report briefly introduces the different findings and addresses the need for further research in view of a decolonial approach to the study of ethical foreign policy in a context of structural inequality. Key words: ethical foreign policy, (humanitarian interventions, EU, sub-Saharan Africa, Somaliland, decoloniality, democratization, state-building

The rise and fall of GO trading in European renewable energy policy. The role of advocacy and policy framing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nilsson, Maans [Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Kraeftriket 2B, SE 10691 Stockholm (Sweden); Nilsson, Lars J.; Ericsson, Karin [Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University, Box 118, SE 22100 Lund (Sweden)

2009-11-15

This paper examines policy processes surrounding the rise and fall of the proposed EU-wide policy instrument designed to help achieve the EU's renewable energy targets - the trading of Guarantees of Origin (GO). It discusses its origins and examines factors in the policy processes over time leading first to its development and then to its abandonment. A first analysis looks at the near-term policy-making process before and after the proposal on GO trading in January 2008, focusing on the European policy-making institutions and influences of interest groups and member state governments. It then takes a step back and looks over a longer time period at how competing policy frames have shaped the agendas underlying the debate. Results show how a strong internal market frame acted as a primary driving force in the Commission to promote the GO trading instrument. The rejection of the GO trading proposal in the Council and Parliament can be largely attributed to the lack of a strong lobby in favour of GO, the accumulated experience with and institutionalisation of national RES support policies such as feed-in tariffs, and growing general political concerns for supply security, innovation and competitiveness. (author)

The rise and fall of GO trading in European renewable energy policy: The role of advocacy and policy framing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nilsson, Mans, E-mail: mans.nilsson@sei.s [Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Kraeftriket 2B, SE 10691 Stockholm (Sweden); Nilsson, Lars J.; Ericsson, Karin [Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University, Box 118, SE 22100 Lund (Sweden)

2009-11-15

This paper examines policy processes surrounding the rise and fall of the proposed EU-wide policy instrument designed to help achieve the EU's renewable energy targets-the trading of Guarantees of Origin (GO). It discusses its origins and examines factors in the policy processes over time leading first to its development and then to its abandonment. A first analysis looks at the near-term policy-making process before and after the proposal on GO trading in January 2008, focusing on the European policy-making institutions and influences of interest groups and member state governments. It then takes a step back and looks over a longer time period at how competing policy frames have shaped the agendas underlying the debate. Results show how a strong internal market frame acted as a primary driving force in the Commission to promote the GO trading instrument. The rejection of the GO trading proposal in the Council and Parliament can be largely attributed to the lack of a strong lobby in favour of GO, the accumulated experience with and institutionalisation of national RES support policies such as feed-in tariffs, and growing general political concerns for supply security, innovation and competitiveness.

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…

EU enlargement and the Common Agricultural Policy: The case of Slovenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. KAVCIC

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The paper aims at assessing the economic effects of Slovenia ’s accession to the EU.For this purpose, a sector model of Slovenian agriculture APAS-PAM has been constructed.The methodological framework allows for assessment of market, income and competitiveness effects for ten key agricultural products with consideration of two accession scenarios (optimistic EUe and pessimistic EUpthat describe the whole range of possible accession effects.Slovenia ’s accession to the EU will not increase agricultural production significantly.Accession under the scenario of complete acceptance of the CAP mechanisms and quasi equal treatment by the EU (EUewill not bring significant changes to aggregate production and income levels with moderate changes on commodity basis. Discrimination of the candidate countries in the field of direct payments and non-competitive down-stream sector assumed by the EUp– subscenario will significantly deteriorate the income situation of domestic producers. This holds especially for cereal and beef production. For many commodities,the competitiveness of the food processing industry assuming different price levels for raw materials could have much greater impact on the economic situation of agricultural production than agricultural policy environment itself.;

Optimal Rather than Mandatory EU Company Law

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hertig, G.; McCahery, J.A.

2006-01-01

A significant debate rages within the EU about whether to give firms the choice to opt in or out of corporate law provisions. Both sides agree that more flexibility and adaptability of legal rules to business needs is crucial. Nevertheless, and not surprisingly, many still view EU mandatory

EU Think Tank Fora as Transaction Cost Reducers: A Study of Informal Interest Intermediation in the EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marybel Perez

2014-05-01

Full Text Available By examining the organisational structure of EU think tank fora (seminars, workshops and conferences, this article proposes that fora can play the role of transaction cost reducers in EU policymaking. I argue that certain aspects of EU policymaking, including i controlled processes of consultation, ii diminishing costs of management, and iii the risk of state capture, incentivise EU institutions to outsource part of the consultation activity to policy actors that can help EU institutions fulfil their informational and legitimacy needs. I argue that think tanks are able to play this role because they i reduce information asymmetries by connecting a wide variety of policy actors and ii act as intermediaries that mitigate opportunistic behaviour. The empirical assessment reveals that the dimensions characterising transactions are present in EU think tank fora. It shows that policy actors that do not usually participate in formal consultation processes frequently attend fora where they meet representatives of EU institutions, particularly Parliament and Commission representatives.

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

Policy brief the aftermath of the great recession: Can Africa converge ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The United States (US) government and the European Union (EU) and its member countries embarked on the most aggressive fiscal and monetary policy deployment in history during the crisis2. In Africa, during the period before and after the crisis, a debate ensued among scholars and others as to whether Africa could ...

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.”  

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

Strategic environmental noise mapping: methodological issues concerning the implementation of the EU Environmental Noise Directive and their policy implications.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Murphy, E

2010-04-01

This paper explores methodological issues and policy implications concerning the implementation of the EU Environmental Noise Directive (END) across Member States. Methodologically, the paper focuses on two key thematic issues relevant to the Directive: (1) calculation methods and (2) mapping methods. For (1), the paper focuses, in particular, on how differing calculation methods influence noise prediction results as well as the value of the EU noise indicator L(den) and its associated implications for comparability of noise data across EU states. With regard to (2), emphasis is placed on identifying the issues affecting strategic noise mapping, estimating population exposure, noise action planning and dissemination of noise mapping results to the general public. The implication of these issues for future environmental noise policy is also examined.

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.

RE-Shaping. Shaping an effective and efficient European renewable energy market. D20 Report. Consistency with other EU policies, System and Market integration. A Smart Power Market at the Centre of a Smart Grid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neuhoff, K.; Boyd, R.; Grau, T. [Climate Policy Initiative, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Berlin (Germany); Hobbs, B.; Newbery, D. [Electricity Policy Research Group, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom); Borggrefe, F. [University of Cologne, Cologne (Germany); Barquin, J.; Echavarren, F. [Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid (Spain); Bialek, J.; Dent, C. [Durham University, Durham (United Kingdom); Con Hirschhausen, C. [Technical University of Berlin, Berlin (Germany); Kunz, F.; Weigt, H. [Technical University of Dresden, Dresden (Germany); Nabe, C.; Papaefthymiou, G. [Ecofys Germany, Berlin (Germany); Weber, C. [Duisberg-Essen University, Duisburg-Essen (Germany)

2011-10-15

The core objective of the RE-Shaping project is to assist Member State governments in preparing for the implementation of Directive 2009/28/EC (on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources) and to guide a European policy for RES (renewable energy sources) in the mid- to long term. The past and present success of policies for renewable energies will be evaluated and recommendations derived to improve future RES support schemes. The core content of this collaborative research activity comprises: Developing a comprehensive policy background for RES support instruments; Providing the European Commission and Member States with scientifically based and statistically robust indicators to measure the success of currently implemented RES policies; Proposing innovative financing schemes for lower costs and better capital availability in RES financing; Initiation of National Policy Processes which attempt to stimulate debate and offer key stakeholders a meeting place to set and implement RES targets as well as options to improve the national policies fostering RES market penetration; Assessing options to coordinate or even gradually harmonize national RES policy approaches. In the EU, at least 200 gigawatts (GWs) of new and additional renewable electricity sources may be needed by 2020. The aim of this report is to analyse whether the current electricity market and system design is consistent with such an ambitious target. Using an international comparison, we identify opportunities to improve the power market design currently in place across EU countries so as to support the large scale integration of renewable energy sources.

Examining the potential impacts of climate change on international security: EU-Africa partnership on climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Dodo, Mahamat K

2014-01-01

Climate Change like many global problems nowadays is recognized as a threat to the international security and cooperation. In theoretical terms, it is being securitized and included in the traditional security studies. Climate change and its accompanying environmental degradation are perceived to be a threat that can have incalculable consequences on the international community. The consequences are said to have more effects in small island developing nations and Africa where many States are fragile and overwhelmed with mounting challenges. In recent years, the security implications of the climate change are being addressed from national, regional and multilateral level. Against this backdrop, this paper intends to contribute to the debate on climate change and international security and present a broader perspective on the discussion. The paper will draw from the EU-Africa partnership on climate change and is structured as follows: the first part introduces the background of the international climate change policy and its securitization, the second part covers the EU-Africa relations and EU-Africa partnership on climate change, and the third part discusses the Congo Basin Forest Partnership as a concrete example of EU-Africa Partnership on Climate Change. Lastly, the paper concludes by drawing some conclusions and offers some policy perspectives and recommendations. Q54; 055; 052; 01;

Can EU Act as a Democracy Promoter? Analysing the Democratization Demand and Supply in Turkey - EU Relations

OpenAIRE

Çiğdem Üstün

2017-01-01

The EU’s role to assist Turkey in its democratization efforts has been debated during Turkey’s candidacy. However, in the second decade of the 21st century, this role of the EU lost its visibility while Turkey seemed to lose its interest in reform movements. This paper, inspired by Pevehouse, defines the EU as a supplier of democratization mechanisms and Turkey as an actor in need. Although lack of enthusiasm and disengagement have come to characterize Turkey-EU relations, this study aims to ...

EU regulation on "conflict minerals": A step towards higher accountability in the extractive sector?

OpenAIRE

Küblböck, Karin; Grohs, Hannes

2017-01-01

"No blood in my cell phone" - In the early 2000s, NGO-campaign slogans pointed out the links between raw materials in electronic products and the financing of armed conflicts. These campaigns focused on the responsibility of companies for their supply chain. In July 2017, an EU regulation came into effect that aims to prevent companies from financing armed conflicts via their procurement of raw materials. This Policy Note explains how the debates on 'conflict minerals' led to the formulation ...

Planned development and coordination of public policies as a starting point in the harmonization of national regulations with the EU aquis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jovanić Tatjana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available One of the most important aspects of harmonizing Serbian legislation with the EU law, however still neglected in Serbia, is the mutual relationship between the design and coordination of public policies on the one hand, and the harmonization of legislation in the course of negotiations for EU accession, on the other hand. This aspect has been largely neglected because of the misuse of emergency procedure for adopting legislation in order to assure compatibility with the EU law, but also due to underdeveloped regulatory policies, which has been reduced to the guillotine of legislation, instead of developing a cycle of policy and analytical phase that precedes the drafting of legislation. Although the negotiating structure of European integration has been improved, the Negotiation Team and Coordination Body certainly can not replace the role of policy makers in their creation. Since the new Law on Ministries envisaged the creation of the Secretariat for the coordination of public policies, an institutional prerequisite for the implementation of the function of harmonizing public policy proposals has been put forward, but is not yet clear what powers in the policy cycle this institution would have. In any case, this administrative body will certainly complement Serbian coordination structure in the negotiation process.

Strategic environmental noise mapping: methodological issues concerning the implementation of the EU Environmental Noise Directive and their policy implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, E; King, E A

2010-04-01

This paper explores methodological issues and policy implications concerning the implementation of the EU Environmental Noise Directive (END) across Member States. Methodologically, the paper focuses on two key thematic issues relevant to the Directive: (1) calculation methods and (2) mapping methods. For (1), the paper focuses, in particular, on how differing calculation methods influence noise prediction results as well as the value of the EU noise indicator L(den) and its associated implications for comparability of noise data across EU states. With regard to (2), emphasis is placed on identifying the issues affecting strategic noise mapping, estimating population exposure, noise action planning and dissemination of noise mapping results to the general public. The implication of these issues for future environmental noise policy is also examined. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

Advocacy coalitions involved in California's menu labeling policy debate: Exploring coalition structure, policy beliefs, resources, and strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Payán, Denise D; Lewis, LaVonna B; Cousineau, Michael R; Nichol, Michael B

2017-03-01

Advocacy coalitions often play an important role in the state health policymaking process, yet little is known about their structure, composition, and behavior. In 2008, California became the first state to enact a menu labeling law. Using the advocacy coalition framework, we examine different facets of the coalitions involved in California's menu labeling policy debate. We use a qualitative research approach to identify coalition members and explore their expressed beliefs and policy arguments, resources, and strategies by analyzing legislative documents (n = 87) and newspaper articles (n = 78) produced between 1999 and 2009. Between 2003 and 2008, six menu labeling bills were introduced in the state's legislature. We found the issue received increasing media attention during this period. We identified two advocacy coalitions involved in the debate-a public health (PH) coalition and an industry coalition. State organizations acted as coalition leaders and participated for a longer duration than elected officials. The structure and composition of each coalition varied. PH coalition leadership and membership notably increased compared to the industry coalition. The PH coalition, led by nonprofit PH and health organizations, promoted a clear and consistent message around informed decision making. The industry coalition, led by a state restaurant association, responded with cost and implementation arguments. Each coalition used various resources and strategies to advance desired outcomes. PH coalition leaders were particularly effective at using resources and employing advocacy strategies, which included engaging state legislators as coalition members, using public opinion polls and information, and leveraging media resources to garner support. Policy precedence and a local policy push emerged as important policymaking strategies. Areas for future research on the state health policymaking process are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How to trigger low carbon technologies by EU targets for 2030? An assessment of technology needs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Groenenberg, H.; Van Breevoort, P.; Janeiro, L.; Winkel, T.

2013-04-15

The current EU framework for energy and climate policies up to 2020 consists of three headline targets: 20% reduction of GHG emissions compared to 2005, a 20% share of renewable energy in final energy consumption, and 20% primary energy savings compared to baseline developments. While progress on these 2020 targets is mixed, discussions in the EU about climate and energy policies and targets for the period after 2020 have started. Given the long cycles associated to energy and climate investments, agreement on a clear longer-term policy framework is critical to improve visibility for investors and avoid lock-in effects in inefficient or polluting technologies. Therefore, the European Commission published a Communication on 6 June 2012 on the need for a long term policy framework for renewable energy, and a Green Paper on the 2030 climate and energy policy framework on 27 March 2013. Against this background, the Dutch Ministries of Infrastructure and Environment and the Ministry of Economic Affairs requested PBL to create input for the European debate on climate targets and policies until and beyond 2030. Ecofys supported PBL by addressing the following two questions: (1) What steps are needed for selected key technology groups to achieve long term GHG emission reductions and what climate and energy policies are likely to trigger these steps?; and (2) What are the pros and cons of a 2030 policy framework with (a) a GHG reduction target only, and (b) targets for GHG reduction, renewable energy, and energy efficiency? The focus of the first question was on four technology groups, namely (1) energy efficiency in the built environment, notably for heat; (2) solar PV and wind energy; (3) advanced biofuels; (4) CO2 carbon capture and storage (CCS). An analysis of the steps needed for the deployment of the full GHG mitigation potential of the discussed technology groups shows that this will largely depend on the adoption of a wide range of policy instruments by EU Member

Single Policy Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kronsell, Annica; Manners, Ian James

2015-01-01

Single policy studies are the most common form of European Union (EU) research. Single policy studies are widely used to understand the role of the EU in a wide variety of sectors, together with their development over time, and often offer public policy prescriptions. This chapter discusses...... the relevance of single policy studies in EU research and give examples of how such research can be designed and carried out. The chapter reviews three examples of single policy studies using different methods based on EU environmental policy, the EU biofuels directive, and the EU Common Security and Defence...... Policy (CSDP). The examples are illustrative of how single policy studies can be designed to use different approaches in the analysis: multiple streams approach to policy-making; a comparative hypothesis testing; and feminist institutional theory....

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

Public Innovation Policy in the Pharmaceutical Industry: the Cases of the EU and USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. A. Mamedyarov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: the main purpose of this article was to study the modern tools of the public innovation policy in the global pharmaceutical industry (US and EU cases, which is one of the most knowledge-intensive sectors of the global economy. During the study, it was necessary to achieve the following objectives: to identify main components of the innovation policy in the sector, to consider the role of intellectual property protection, measures of innovation support, regulatory control and other factors, and, also, to identify comparative characteristics of innovation processes within the US and the EU pharmaceutical sector. Methods: this article is based on a qualitative comparative study of the US and EU innovation policy in the pharmaceutical industry. Industryoriented innovation support measures (i.e. levels of private and public financing have been quantitatively analyzed, including the evaluation of the levels of R&D productivity; also, a comparative study of the pharma patent statistics in the leading countries have been performed. This article highlights the problems of intellectual property protection, which remains an important source of financial stability for major pharma companies being the basis for new innovation agenda. Low R&D productivity and high costs of new innovative drugs together emphasize the significance of the analysis of current innovation processes within the pharmaceutical industry, and could open the way for building more effective managerial and business processes. Results: the global pharmaceutical industry today is under thorough control of government regulators and civil society organizations seeking to improve mechanisms of the drugs distribution, in order to make drugs more accessible, safe and clean. This high regulation level impedes innovation within existing pharma business models, and leads to high costs of the newest drugs. The study revealed that successful pharmaceutical innovation today requires

Assessment of non-cost barriers to renewable energy growth in EU Member States - AEON

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-05-15

The accelerated deployment of renewable energy technologies has become a major priority for public policy makers across the globe. In the last two decades, most of the debate concerning the promotion of renewables was focused on the financial support schemes and on improving grid access conditions for renewable electricity. Of course, these are crucial issues which will continue to deserve serious attention in the future. However, during the last few years, the importance of tackling non-financial and non-technical barriers to renewable electricity, heat and transport has gained the attention of many policy analysts. In June 2009, Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, entered into force. The articles 13, 14 and 16 of the Directive contain a number of requirements for Member States to address or remove non-cost barriers to the increased deployment of renewable energy sources. This study presents among others an overview of these barriers in all EU Member States; their history, their impact on renewable energy deployment and suggestions for policy solutions, where feasible. Separate studies were carried out for 27 EU-countries and made available in a zip-file.

The role of network bridging organisations in compensation payments for agri-environmental services under the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Dedeurwaerdere, Tom; Polard, Audrey; Melindi-Ghidi, Paolo

2015-11-01

Compensation payments to farmers for the provision of agri-environmental services are a well-established policy scheme under the EU Common Agricultural Policy. However, in spite of the success in most EU countries in the uptake of the programme by farmers, the impact of the scheme on the long term commitment of farmers to change their practices remains poorly documented. To explore this issue, this paper presents the results of structured field interviews and a quantitative survey in the Walloon Region of Belgium. The main finding of this study is that farmers who have periodic contacts with network bridging organisations that foster cooperation and social learning in the agri-environmental landscapes show a higher commitment to change. This effect is observed both for farmers with high and low concern for biodiversity depletion. Support for network bridging organisations is foreseen under the EU Leader programme and the EU regulation 1306/2013, which could open-up interesting opportunities for enhancing the effectiveness of the current payment scheme for agri-environmental services.

The evolution of emissions trading in the EU. Tensions between national trading schemes and the proposed EU directive

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boemare, Catherine; Quirion, Philippe; Sorrell, Steve

2003-12-01

The EU is pioneering the development of greenhouse gas emissions trading, but there is a tension between the 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' evolution of trading schemes. While the Commission is introducing a European emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) in 2005, several member states have already introduced negotiated agreements that include trading arrangements. Typically, these national schemes have a wider scope than the proposed EU directive and allow firms to use relative rather than absolute targets. The coexistence of 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' trading schemes may create some complex problems of policy interaction. This paper explores the potential interactions between the EU ETS and the negotiated agreements in France and UK and uses these to illustrate some important generic issues. The paper first describes the proposed EU directive, outlines the UK and French policies and compares their main features to the EU ETS. It then discusses how the national and European policies may interact in practice. Four issues are highlighted, namely, double regulation, double counting of emission reductions, equivalence of effort and linking trading schemes. The paper concludes with some recommendations for the future development of UK and French climate policy

Structural asymmetries at the roots of the eurozone crisis: what’s new for industrial policy in the EU?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto Botta

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we analyze and try to measure productive and technological asymmetries between central and peripheral economies in the eurozone. We assess the effects such asymmetries would likely bring about on center–periphery divergence/convergence patterns, and derive some implications as to the design of future industrial policy at the European level. We stress that future European Union (EU industrial policy should be regionally focused and specifically target structural changes in the periphery as the main way to favor center–periphery convergence and avoid the reappearance of past external imbalances. To this end, a wide battery of industrial policy tools should be considered ranging from subsidies and fiscal incentives to innovative firms, public financing of R&D efforts, sectoral policies, and public procurements for home-produced goods. All in all, future EU industrial policy should be much more interventionist than it currently is, and dispose of much larger funds with respect to the present setting in order to effectively pursue both short-run stabilization and long-run development goals.

Effective research and innovation (R&I) policy in the EU-28: A causal and configurational analysis of political governance determinants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Turkeli, S.; Kemp, R.P.M.

2015-01-01

Effective research and innovation (R&I) policy depends on the extent to which ideas, interests and institutional mechanisms for policy making work together rather than work against each other. In a political governance model for effective R&I policy in the EU-28, the separate influence of

The REFUEL EU road map for biofuels in transport: Application of the project's tools to some short-term policy issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Londo, Marc; Lensink, Sander; Wakker, Andre; Fischer, Guenther; Prieler, Sylvia; van Velthuizen, Harrij; de Wit, Marc; Faaij, Andre; Junginger, Martin; Berndes, Goeran; Hansson, Julia; Egeskog, Andrea; Duer, Henrik; Lundbaek, Jeppe; Wisniewski, Grzegorz; Kupczyk, Adam; Koenighofer, Kurt

2010-01-01

The current hot debate on biofuels calls for a balanced and realistic long-term strategy for biofuels. The REFUEL project provides several ingredients for such a strategy. Analyses in this project indicate that domestically produced biofuels can cover a significant share of EU fuel demand in the coming decades, with the EU-12 new member states and Ukraine as most promising regions. This potential can be realised with residual streams and on existing agricultural land, without conversion of e.g. nature reserves. Second generation biofuels are essential for the long-term success of biofuels due to their superior performance in many ways. But generally, the key challenge for the near future would be how to enhance the development of biofuels in a responsible way, i.e. stimulating the production chains with the best performance, and preventing negative impacts e.g., by paying careful attention to possible system impacts of biofuel production such as indirect land use changes and rising food prices. Finally, 2nd generation biofuels require specific policy: the precursor role of 1st generation is overrated, both in technical terms as well as in their role as market precursors. When it comes to synergies, 2nd generation biofuels might benefit more from other developments in the energy sector, such as initiatives in co-firing of biomass for (heat and) power, than from 1st generation biofuels, also because of the public resistance that the latter induce. (author)

A public debate on nuclear? A first assessment of the two EPR and wastes debates organised by the Public Debate National Commission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

After a presentation of the organisation, the background and the participants of both debates (about the EPR and about nuclear wastes), this publication reports the conclusions published by those who organized these debates, extracts of interventions, work-group reports. These interventions, debates and work-groups were dealing with the industrial policy and the maintaining of abilities, the EPR safety. Other contributions are discussing the content of this kind of debates

POWER MANAGEMENT SAFETY IN EU AND THE ENERGY POLICY IN TRANSPORTATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryszard Rolbiecki

2015-06-01

Full Text Available EU countries face a serious problem of being too much dependent on the crude oil import. Transportation sector is especially dependent on import of fuels. Therefore The White Paper of 2011 outlines the need for more effective energy supplies management as one of the main European transportation policy objectives. Technical innovations, featuring a wider use of alternative fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, liquefied natural gas (LNG and biofuels play a great role in the process of ensuring energy safety.

CO{sub 2}MPARE. CO2 Model for Operational Programme Assessment in EU Regions. Improved carbon management with EU Regional Policy. Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hekkenberg, M. [ECN Policy Studies, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Schram, J. [Energies Demain, Montreuil Sous Bois (France); Amerighi, O. [Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development ENEA, Rome (Italy); Keppo, I. [University College London UCL, London (United Kingdom); Papagianni, S. [Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving CRES, Pikermi Attiki (Greece); Ten Donkelaar, M. [ENVIROS, Prague (Czech Republic)

2013-03-15

The CO2MPARE model supports national and regional authorities in making balanced decisions for their investment portfolio under their regional development programmes, in particular under their Operational Programmes of EU Regional Policy. The EU's climate objectives require that investments across the EU are channeled towards low-carbon development. The carbon impacts of investments should therefore be seriously considered in the decision making process of regional development programmes. The CO2MPARE model informs national and regional authorities on the impacts that the investments under various Operational Programmes can have in terms of CO2 emissions. Knowing which investments lead either to additional emissions or rather to emission reductions, and what the overall impact of a programme is, represents the first step towards investment decisions that have decarbonisation co-benefits. CO2MPARE estimates the combined carbon impact of all activities that take place under a programme, and provides insights into the relative contributions of the different themes. Through its high aggregation level, it allows comparison of investment scenarios rather than individual projects. As such, it aims to support informed decisions on investment strategies rather than project investment decisions. In doing so, it also helps to build and develop a 'carbon culture' within the authorities directly or indirectly in charge of managing Regional Policy Operational Programmes. The model is primarily aimed at Operational Programmes co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Climate and competitiveness: An economic impact assessment of EU leadership in emission control policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alexeeva-Talebi, V.; Boehringer, C.; Moslener, U. [Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim (Germany)

2007-07-01

The European Council has recently claimed to consider ambitious emission reduction targets (15 to 30 percent by 2020 as compared to 1990 levels) to limit global climate change. In light of the coexistent EU priorities under the Lisbon process, the authors analyze alternative unilateral EU emission control policies against their effects on EU (sectoral and economy-wide) competitiveness using a multi-sector, multi-region computable general equilibrium (CGE) model framework. For a given emission reduction target, the simulations show that alternative implementation rules (uniform versus sectorally differentiated carbon taxes) induce ambiguous impacts on sectoral competitiveness: For a uniform tax, relatively carbon-intensive EU industries face competitiveness losses, while carbon-extensive sectors improve their ability to compete internationally. Losses and gains are reinforced by the stringency of unilateral emission reduction targets. Thus, the implementation of an (economically efficient) uniform carbon tax induces structural change which inevitably goes at the expense of carbon-intensive industries. Vice versa, the authors find that more pronounced tax differentiation in favor of carbon-intensive industries can largely neutralize the negative impacts of emission constraints on their competitiveness, but goes at the expense of overall efficiency. In this case, adjustment costs of emission abatement will to a large extent be born by energy-extensive sectors in terms of a deteriorated ability to compete. As a middle course, moderate tax differentiation allows to sectorally balance competitiveness effects of emission control policies and at the same time limit overall efficiency losses. The authors find also that the level of tax differentiation to balance sectoral competitiveness effects and to limit overall efficiency losses is independent of the emission reduction target. Furthermore, the results indicate that the magnitude of sectoral competitiveness effects is

Production-phase greenhouse gas emissions arising from deliberate withdrawal and destruction of fresh fruit and vegetables under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Stephen D; Reay, David S; Bomberg, Elizabeth; Higgins, Peter

2018-08-01

Since 1962 the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) has enabled payment of subsidy to some food producers for withdrawal of specific commodities - including fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) - where market prices have fallen below a pre-set level. These deliberate withdrawals have led to large amounts of usable food (~60% of withdrawals) being destroyed on farms across the EU. Such wasted food incurs a significant climate change cost through its production-phase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here, we assess the magnitude of this FFV withdrawal and destruction, its spatial and temporal trends, and its associated GHG emissions between 1989 and 2015. We find the total mass of avoidable FFV losses occurring as a result of these EU CAP market interventions for this 26-year period to be 23.6Mt. The production-phase GHG emissions associated with the withdrawn FFV that was subsequently destroyed amount to 5.1Mt CO 2 e over this period. We also find that, with each successive Common Market Organisation (CMO) reform there has been a marked reduction (~95% between 1989 and 2015) in the quantity of such deliberate withdrawals. Surprisingly, however, whilst the absolute quantity of FFV withdrawn and destroyed has fallen, the proportion of withdrawals that is destroyed remained roughly static at an average of about 60%. Finally, to inform debate on action needed to address FFV specifically, and food loss and waste more generally, we highlight potential scenarios and mechanisms to reduce withdrawals, avoid FFV destruction and improve alternative use of withdrawn food in the future. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The second pillar of the CAP: the role of Commission policy learning in the creation and reform of EU rural development policy (1968-1999)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steffensen, Jonny Trapp

argument advanced in this thesis is that policy learning is a multifaceted phenomenon that can most reliably be examined employing 'method pluralism' (documentary analysis, elite interviews, and survey techniques). A second theoretical assertion is that policy learning can change the beliefs - termed......This thesis examines the concept of 'policy learning' and explores its applicability to the European Commission's role in EU policymaking. Policy learning refers to 'knowledge-based' policy formulation, where content of policy proposals is shaped to a 'non-trivial' extent by administrative...... 'policy strategy' - of political actors. A third theoretical contribution is the concept of 'bureaucratic policy learning capability' (BPLC) which refers to an organisation's ability and inclination to utilise available policy-relevant knowledge. I assess the Commission's BPLC through a survey, designed...

EU and Tourism Development: Bark or Bite?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Halkier, Henrik

2010-01-01

In the absence of major programmes to strengthen the quality and competitiveness of European destinations, the role of the EU in tourism development has often been seen as fairly limited. Despite this, spill-overs or side effects from adjoining policy areas with extensive European regulation...... or intervention can be equally important, and the paper examines key aspects of the EU's role in tourism development in order to discuss to what extent the traditional interpretation of a passive actor of little consequence should be modified or even discarded. Drawing upon European and Nordic documentary sources...... as well as existing specialist literature, the text first examines the development of an EU policy statement on tourism, and then two areas of EU policy - competition policy and regional development - are analysed with a view to establishing side-effects in European and Nordic destinations...

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

EU BUDGET – THE POLICY OF SHARING THE CAKE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hella GERTH

2006-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the EU budget aiming at casting light on the relationship between political and economic matters and on the importance that they function as a mechanism. Somehow the budget could be compared to a barometer showing the political pressure and the level of integration inside the European Union. Discussing the structure of the budget, where the EU money come from and how are the funds distributed afterwards, and also referring to important moments in the historical development of the European Union’s budget, the paper emphasizes the same idea of financial matters strong related to the political choices. It argues also, by describing the complexity of the budgetary procedure and the importance of financial control, that the budget is an important interplay between actors, is an important balance of power trying to reach equilibrium and efficiency. The paper also reviews the main issues of the present budgetary debates, the positions taken by European actors, counting their losses and gains, and to which extent their choices are more a national concern or following the European interest, aiming at presenting the actual state of the European Union taking into account both the economic and the political integration. The budget being one of the key elements forming the structure of the big edifice, the European Union, it is of great importance when discussing budgetary matters to have in mind the present context as a whole, determined by issues like the failure of the summit for setting a new budgetary framework, or the rejection of the European Constitution by the citizens of two of its founding members. Though, it is important when discussing the budget, economical matters to put them in a political context and also to see them in the present context.

What is going to change in EU rural development policies after 2013? Main implications in different national contexts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Mantino

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This paper will address the changes the CAP post‐2013 may bring to its second pillar in EU countries. After the presentation of the legislative package put forward by the European Commission, a debate emerged in some countries on how to define rural development strategies for the period 2014‐2020. The paper will discuss positive innovations and main challenges of the new rural development policies with respect to what happened in the 2007‐2013 period. In particular, the paper intends to focus on the following issues: 1 which relevant changes have been introduced in the rural development framework; 2 how these changes can influence the preparation of the next programming period 2014-2020, looking more in depth at three countries (Italy, Spain and France; 3 what lessons can be drawn from this reform and the initial implementation in three countries in terms of institutional changes and their likely success and failure. This analysis concludes that the success or failure of the 2014-2020 reform of rural development will significantly depend on what types of transaction costs and incentive systems will be brought about within the programming system. These two factors in turn will strongly depend on the way the different actors will perceive the different costs and incentives, their expectations on the role of rural development programmes in a context where budget for agriculture is shrinking everywhere, and finally their capability to build new strategic alliances and cooperation at every level (national, regional and local with other economic and social actors. Future policy scenarios might bring new and heavy constraints to rural development policies and consequently might also reduce the opportunities of institutional innovations.

REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS AND THE IMPACT OF EU STRUCTURAL FUNDS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

. Delia Anca Gabriela Gligor

2015-09-01

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. Romania’s accession to the European Union in 2007 provided an opportunity to recover in terms of regional performance and economic growth, namely structural funds as a form of nonrefundable European financial help to disadvantaged regions of member states. Our research is thus focused on analyzing the impact of structural funds’ absorption upon regional competitiveness in Romania, using extensive data over a period of seven years. Results show that EU funds critically influence the competitiveness of Romanian regions, providing reliable data for policy decision makers.

Analysis of policy options and implementation measures promoting electricity from renewable biomass in the EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kautto, N.

2005-04-01

Biomass as a renewable energy source holds a great potential in responding to energy challenges of the future as well as meeting renewable energy targets set by the European Union. The objective of this study was to analyse various policy options and implementation measures promoting electricity from renewable biomass in the European Union, including new Member States (EU-25). The main political driving force behind this investigation was the RES-E Directive (2001/77/EC). The effectiveness of policy instruments regarding the development of electricity from biomass and biogas in the period of 1990-2002, and the framework conditions, i.e. success and risk factors, for this progress were assessed though a 'five-step approach'. Past development in terms of bioelectricity production and generating capacity was assessed based on statistics of Eurostat and the IEA. Policy instruments promoting bioelectricity and the framework factors on the national level in each EU Member State (excluding Cyprus and Malta) were investigated using the EU and governmental documents, independent evaluations and expert contacts as information sources. It became clear that determination of the effectiveness of policy instruments cannot be separated from the environment these mechanisms are applied to: mapping of the frame conditions for development is essential. Instead of selecting distinct policy instruments, successful Member State/bioelectricity combinations were chosen. The most successful combinations were found to be Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and Finland, whereas examples of unsuccessful measures were found in Greece, Luxembourg and the new Member States. Bioelectricity has clearly benefited from feed-in tariff system in countries like Germany but the use of biomass has essentially increased even without this measure in Sweden and Finland, where favourable taxation and strong links between forestry and power industries are defining factors for positive development. This study

Involving the citizens. Radioactive waste management and the EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferraro, Gianluca

2014-01-01

The European Union (EU) has been often criticized for its democratic deficit, which has been studied in the academic literature at multiple levels: in the polity (macro-level), the institutions (meso-level) and the policies (micro-level) of the EU. The paper presents counterarguments in favour of the democratic nature of the EU and focuses on the micro-level, particularly the process of implementation of EU policies. Policy implementation and the democratic involvement of citizens are discussed with regard to radioactive waste management and the Directive 2011/70/EURATOM. The Directive's clause on transparency and the recent development of a centre of knowledge for public participation in energy policy implementation by the European Commission (EC) are expression of the democratic nature of the EU and provide further counterarguments to the claim of democratic deficit.

Policy options to improve the effectiveness of the EU emissions trading system: A multi-criteria analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clò, Stefano; Battles, Susan; Zoppoli, Pietro

2013-01-01

This paper considers several policy options which have been proposed to improve the functioning of the ETS. These options require an intervention either on the ETS cap (−30% target, set-aside, carbon central bank, long-term target) or on the carbon price (European and national price floor). We analyse the impact of each policy on the ETS carbon price and emissions. A multi-criteria evaluation method is applied to compare the policy options against a plurality of environmental, economic and procedural criteria. We find that the final ranking depends on the goals to be achieved, i.e., the relative weights attributed to the criteria. When policymakers want mainly to support the carbon price both in the short and long-run, while improving ETS flexibility and harmonization, the CCB and the EU price floor are, respectively ranked as first and second-best options. As the preference for environmental and implementation goals gradually increases, the position of the EU price floor and CCB options tend to invert. The −30% target should be adopted when reducing emissions is the priority goal, while a national price floor is the worst option, in this case. Nevertheless, self-interested States looking for a relatively quick, feasible solution, may find it optimal. - Highlights: ► A multi-criteria analysis is adopted to compare policy options to improve the ETS effectiveness. ► An ETS cap reversible adjustment by a carbon central bank is the first-best option. ► The establishment of a EU-wide price floor would represent a second-best solution. ► A national price floor is the worst option but self-interest states may find it optimal. ► A post-2020 target is not a mutually exclusive option and should be set

The Danish Biofuel Debate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Janus

2014-01-01

of biofuels enrol scientific authority to support their positions? The sociological theory of functional differentiation combined with the concept of advocacy coalition can help in exploring this relationship between scientific claims-making and the policy stance of different actors in public debates about...... biofuels. In Denmark two distinct scientific perspectives about biofuels map onto the policy debates through articulation by two competing advocacy coalitions. One is a reductionist biorefinery perspective originating in biochemistry and neighbouring disciplines. This perspective works upwards from...

The Influence of the Chicago School on the Commission's Guidelines, Notices and Block Exemption Regulations in EU Competition Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bartalevich, Dzmitry

2016-01-01

Antitrust rules are fundamentally informed and shaped by economic theories. Given the significance of EU competition policy for the European integration process, it is essential to disentangle the economic theories underlying EU competition law. There is abundant theoretical and empirical...... theory. The elements of the Chicago School theory hold strongest in vertical practices; they are somewhat weaker in horizontal practices and in unilateral exclusionary conduct....

Subsidies in Croatian agriculture and adjustment to the EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramona Franić

2005-08-01

Full Text Available After the Croatian independence and re-adoption of the free trade principles, in political debates agriculture got the role of one of the basic pillar in economic development. There is intention to protect domestic agriculture against much more developed western European agriculture and to support its competitiveness, respecting at the same time the requirements of the international trade agreements asking for decreasing domestic protection. The reform of agricultural price policy started in 1988, due to the trade policy reform within the requirements imposed by the membership in the World Trade Organization. Recent changes from 2003 tend to simplify the system of agricultural support and to equalize the level of incentives. Together with existing production subsidies, new models of income support, capital investments and rural development are introduced. The reform predicts harmonization of domestic agricultural policy measures with those conducted or should be conducted in the EU. It means the shift from the old way of supporting European agricultural markets, toward incentives for European farmer, in the way that in total support prevails income, and not production support.

Can EU Act as a Democracy Promoter? Analysing the Democratization Demand and Supply in Turkey - EU Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Çiğdem Üstün

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The EU’s role to assist Turkey in its democratization efforts has been debated during Turkey’s candidacy. However, in the second decade of the 21st century, this role of the EU lost its visibility while Turkey seemed to lose its interest in reform movements. This paper, inspired by Pevehouse, defines the EU as a supplier of democratization mechanisms and Turkey as an actor in need. Although lack of enthusiasm and disengagement have come to characterize Turkey-EU relations, this study aims to demonstrate that there are differences between the governing and the opposition actors’ views on the EU and its role in the democratization of Turkey. Data collected from the speeches of opposition parties’ parliamentarians between 1 January 2011 and 31 August 2016 demonstrates the similarities observed in these parties’ concerns regarding democratic practices and the perception of the EU as an actor strengthening democracy, while indicating that the EU, as a supplier, overlooked their concerns during the process.

EU-policy and smart materials; EU-beleid en smart materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pieters, D.; Van der Beek, M.

2012-09-15

Netherlands will focus on large-scale production of smart materials. Several examples from Dutch universities show that the Netherlands is very active in this sector. Nanotechnology and the development of advanced materials are considered as 'key technologies'. To realize these applications EU funding will be made available both for research projects and to support market introduction [Dutch] Nederland zet in de toekomst in op grootschalige productie van smart materials. Verschillende voorbeelden van Nederlandse universiteiten laten zien dat Nederland tot op heden zeer actief is in deze veelzijdige sector. Nanotechnologie en de ontwikkeling van geavanceerde materialen worden in dit licht beschouwd als zogenoemde 'sleuteltechnologieen'. Om deze toepassingen te realiseren komt zowel EU-geld beschikbaar voor onderzoeksprojecten als ter ondersteuning van marktintroductie.

Involving the citizens. Radioactive waste management and the EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferraro, G.

2014-01-01

The European Union (EU) has been often criticized for its democratic deficit, which has been studied in the academic literature at multiple levels: in the polity (macro-level), the institutions (meso-level) and the policies (micro-level) of the EU. The paper presents counter-arguments in favour of the democratic nature of the EU and focuses on the micro-level, particularly the process of implementation of EU policies. Policy implementation and the democratic involvement of citizens are discussed with regard to radioactive waste management and the Directive 2011/70/EURATOM. The Directive's clause on transparency and the recent development of a centre of knowledge for public participation in energy policy implementation by the European Commission (EC) are expression of the democratic nature of the EU and provide further counter-arguments to the claim of democratic deficit. (authors)

Journal of Contemporary European Research User You are logged in as... jcer_editor My Profile Log Out Subscribe... Sign up for issue alerts Follow JCER on Twitter Font Size Make font size smaller Make font size default Make font size larger Journal Content Search Search Scope Browse By Issue By Author By Title Information For Readers For Authors For Librarians Journal Help Keywords CFSP Communication ESDP EU EU enlargement EU trade policy Energy, EU, External Policy Europe European Commission European Parliament European Union European integration Europeanisation Euroscepticism First Enlargement Germany Liberty Lisbon Treaty Poland Russia Security The UACES Blog Power shift? The EU’s pivot to Asia 100 Books on Europe to be Remembered For a Global European Studies? EU Member State Building in the... Same aims, different approaches?... Open Journal Systems Home About User Home Search Current Archives Announcements UACES Home > Vol 9, No 4 (2013 > De Ville The Promise of Critical Historical Institutionalism for EU Trade Policy Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferdi de Ville

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to convince the reader of the potential of a critical version of historical institutionalism (HI as a theoretical perspective for EU trade policy analysis. It argues that critical HI sensitises the analyst to important but hitherto often neglected factors including: the influence of the past on EU trade policy; the complex, multiarena and multilevel nature of contemporary trade policy; and issues of distributional conflict. The core concept in critical HI is ‘reactive sequencing’, conceiving of policy evolution as a chain of events produced by reactions and counter-reactions. This paper demonstrates that this is invaluable to understand contemporary EU trade politics. Some examples of EU trade policy decisions and its general strategic evolution since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round are given to show the value of critical HI. Finally, the external dimension of “Europe 2020” as the latest trade policy strategy is analysed from a critical historical institutionalist angle.

How did policy actors use mass media to influence the Scottish alcohol minimum unit pricing debate? Comparative analysis of newspapers, evidence submissions and interviews

Science.gov (United States)

Hilton, Shona

2015-01-01

Aims: To explore how policy actors attempted to deliberately frame public debate around alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) in the UK by comparing and contrasting their constructions of the policy in public (newspapers), semi-public (evidence submissions) and private (interviews). Methods: Content analysis was conducted on articles published in ten national newspapers between 1 January 2005 and 30 June 2012. Newsprint data were contrasted with alcohol policy documents, evidence submissions to the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport Committee and 36 confidential interviews with policy stakeholders (academics, advocates, industry representatives, politicians and civil servants). Findings: A range of policy actors exerted influence both directly (through Parliamentary institutions and political representatives) and indirectly through the mass media. Policy actors were acutely aware of mass media's importance in shaping public opinion and used it tactically to influence policy. They often framed messages in subtly different ways, depending on target audiences. In general, newspapers presented the policy debate in a “balanced” way, but this arguably over-represented hostile perspective and suggested greater disagreement around the evidence base than is the case. Conclusions: The roles of policy actors vary between public and policy spheres, and how messages are communicated in policy debates depends on perceived strategic advantage. PMID:26045639

Creative Learning and Innovative Teaching: Final Report on the Study on Creativity and Innovation in Education in EU Member States

OpenAIRE

Romina Cachia; Anusca Ferrari; Kirsti Ala-Mutka; Yves Punie

2010-01-01

EU policies call for the strengthening of Europe's innovative capacity and the development of a creative and knowledge-intensive economy and society through reinforcing the role of education and training in the knowledge triangle and focusing school curricula on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. This report brings evidence to the debate on the status, barriers and enablers for creativity and innovation in compulsory schooling in Europe. It is the final report of the project: ‘Creat...

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.

Effects of EU dairy policy reform for Dutch dairy farming : a primal approach using GMM estimation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ooms, D.L.; Peerlings, J.H.M.

2005-01-01

This paper estimates a production function for milk using a generalised method of moments estimator to avoid the endogeneity problem. Using the first-order conditions for profit maximisation, the economic effects for individual Dutch dairy farms of the 2003 EU dairy policy reform are analysed. With

Bifurcation of Mobility, Bifurcation of Law : Externalization of migration policy before the EU Court of Justice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spijkerboer, T.P.

2017-01-01

The externalization of European migration policy has resulted in a bifurcation of global human mobility, which is divided along a North/South axis. In two judgments, the EU Court of Justice was confronted with cases challenging the exclusion of Syrian refugees from Europe. These cases concern core

Reforming the EU Budget

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Citi, Manuele

The marginal involvement of the EU in redistributive policies and its limited fiscal resources have led to a lack of attention to the EU budget and its determinants. In this paper I analyse an original dataset containing yearly data on the main macrocategories of expenditure and how they have...

European integration assessed in the light of the 'rules vs. standards debate'

NARCIS (Netherlands)

F. Weber (Franziska)

2011-01-01

textabstractThe interplay of various legal systems in the European Union (EU) has long triggered a debate on the tension between uniformity and diversity of Member States' (MS) laws. This debate takes place among European legal scholars and is also paralleled by economic scholars, e.g. in the ambit

Turkey's EU Quest and Political Cleavages under AKP

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rahigh-Aghsan, Ali

2011-01-01

This article analyses the extent to which the rise of political Islam (Note 1) in Turkey has triggered an intense and polarized debate about the principle eligibility of Turkey to be a full European Union (EU) member state. The Justice and Development Party’s (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi......) The overall political targets of political Islam in Turkey seems less compatible with the traditional Turkish EU quest than formerly (2) The Turkish political Islamic turnaround is contributing to a climate of increasing scepticism in Europe, and presents significant obstacles to EU accession. As a result...

Land Sparing and Land Sharing Policies in Developing Countries - Drivers and Linkages to Scientific Debates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mertz, Ole; Mertens, Charlotte Filt

2017-01-01

The need for developing land sparing or land sharing policies for protecting the environment has been a polarized debate in the scientific literature. Some studies show that "spared" landscapes with clearly separated intensive agriculture and pristine forest are better for biodiversity and other...... ecosystem services, whereas others demonstrate the benefits of "shared" mosaic landscapes composed of a mix of forest types, agricultural fields, grassland, and plantations. Increasingly, these scientific views have been depolarized, recognizing that both shared and spared landscapes have a role to play......, depending on the context. However, it is less clear from the literature what drives actual policy-making related to land sparing and land sharing in developing countries and what the outcomes of these policies are. We therefore reviewed the international peer-reviewed literature for evidence of policies...

EU agricultural reform fails on biodiversity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pe'er, G.; Dicks, L.V.; Visconti, A.; Arlettaz, R.; Baldi, A.; Kleijn, D.; Scott, A.V.

2014-01-01

In December 2013, the European Union (EU) enacted the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2014–2020, allocating almost 40% of the EU's budget and influencing management of half of its terrestrial area. Many EU politicians are announcing the new CAP as “greener,” but the new environmental

Backward- and forward-looking responsibility for obesity: policies from WHO, the EU and England.

Science.gov (United States)

Vallgårda, Signild; Nielsen, Morten Ebbe Juul; Hartlev, Mette; Sandøe, Peter

2015-10-01

In assigning responsibility for obesity prevention a distinction may be drawn between who is responsible for the rise in obesity prevalence ('backward-looking responsibility'), and who is responsible for reducing it ('forward-looking responsibility'). We study how the two aspects of responsibility figure in the obesity policies of WHO (European Region), the EU and the Department of Health (England). Responsibility for the emergence and reduction of obesity is assigned to both individuals and other actors to different degrees in the policies, combining an individual and a systemic view. The policies assign backward-looking responsibility to individuals, the social environment, the authorities and businesses. When it comes to forward-looking responsibility, individuals are expected to play a central role in reducing and preventing obesity, but other actors are also urged to act. WHO assigns to individuals the lowest degree of backward- and forward-looking responsibility, and the Department of Health (England) assigns them the highest degree of responsibility. Differences in the assignment of backward- and above all forward-looking responsibility could be explained to some extent by the different roles of the three authorities making the plans. WHO is a UN agency with health as its goal, the EU is a liberal economic union with optimization of the internal European market as an important task, and England, as an independent sovereign country, has its own economic responsibilities. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Implementation of the EU-policy framework WFD and GWD in Europe - Activities of CIS Working Group Groundwater

Science.gov (United States)

Grath, Johannes; Ward, Rob; Hall, Anna

2013-04-01

At the European level, the basic elements for groundwater management and protection are laid down in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) and the Groundwater Daughter Directive (2006/118/EC). EU Member States, Norway and the European Commission (EC) have jointly developed a common strategy for supporting the implementation of the WFD. The main aim of this Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) is to ensure the coherent and harmonious implementation of the directives through the clarification of a number of methodological questions enabling a common understanding to be reached on the technical and scientific implications of the WFD (European Communities, 2008). Groundwater specific issues are dealt with in Working Group C Groundwater. Members of the working group are experts nominated by Member states, Norway, Switzerland and Accession Countries (from administrative bodies, research institutes, …) and representatives from relevant stakeholders and NGOs. Working Group C Groundwater has produced numerous guidance documents and technical reports that have been endorsed by EU Water Directors to support and enable Member States to implement the directives. All the documents are published by the EC. Access is available via the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/groundwater/activities.htm Having addressed implementations issues during the 1st river basin planning cycle, WG C Groundwater is currently focussing on the following issues: groundwater dependent ecosystems, and climate change and groundwater. In the future, the outcome and recommendations of the "Blueprint" - to safeguard Europe's water resources - which was recently published by the EC will be of utmost importance in setting the agenda for the group. Most likely this will include water pricing, water demand management and water abstraction. Complementory to the particular working groups, a Science Policy Interface (SPI) activity has been established. Its purpose is

Taxes as a political instrument in the climate policy of some European countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasa, Sjur

2000-06-01

While the use of climate taxes in Norway has not been increasing much recently, many European countries have shown an increasing interest in taxing their factories. There is also increasing interest within the EU centrally for such ''green'' taxes. The report briefly reviews the use of green taxes in some European countries. The focus is on some of the ''green'' (and rich) nations within the EU, namely Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, as theses countries have had the most rapid increase in the use of taxis in their climate policies in the 1990s. In addition, Great Britain is also discussed, where the use of green taxes has recently been implemented as a climate policy. A main objective of the report has been to introduce a comparative perspective into the Norwegian debate on green taxes and climate. In Norway, some actors have described the attempts to go in for the use of taxes as a means towards the industry as distinctively Norwegian. The report concludes that taxes on the manufacturing industries are used increasingly often in important European countries. The report may also add background material to the current debate in Norway on gas power plants

Sustainable Development in the EU: Redefining and Operationalizing the Concept

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sander R.W. van Hees

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Although sustainable development plays an important role in EU law, neither EU law nor EU policy clearly explains what the concept means and how it must be put into practice. Policy-makers, NGOs, politicians and businesses do, however, need guidance on sustainable development for the purpose of good policy-making, for effectively holding the EU accountable, and for the design of CSR programmes. To that end, this article will first explain the guidance which EU law and policy already offer on sustainable development. Subsequently, this article will propose (I a more workable definition of sustainable development than the one (the Brundtland definition which is currently used, and (II a framework of application for sustainable development. This framework of application (which will have the form of a sustainability impact assessment provides practical guidance for policy-makers, politicians, NGOs and businesses when dealing with sustainable development in their day-to-day work.

Debating China's assertiveness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

He, Kai; Feng, Huiyun

2012-01-01

Engaging the recent debate on China's assertive foreign policy, we suggest that it is normal for China – a rising power – to change its policy to a confident or even assertive direction because of its transformed national interests. We argue also that it is better to understand future US–China re...

The radiation protection policy of the ICRP: new approaches and false debates, by the Dr Nenot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nenot, J.C.

2000-01-01

The thoughts led within the ICRP during the last months and the new approach for the radiation protection policy presented by its president Roger Clarke arouse in the specialized media, numerous debates and interpretations. In an article called 'Low and very low doses: towards a change of regulation?' the R.G.N. has evoked some aspects of themes in discussion(number 3 - 1999 - may-june). In this article, the Dr Jean-Claude Nenot relates the context in which the debate has been developed and gives some interpretation errors that if they should last, would risk to maintain a sterile controversy. (N.C.)

Sustainable development in the EU : Redefining and operationalizing the concept

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Hees, Sander R W

Although sustainable development plays an important role in EU law, neither EU law nor EU policy clearly explains what the concept means and how it must be put into practice. Policy-makers, NGOs, politicians and businesses do, however, need guidance on sustainable development for the purpose of good

Point Climat no. 22 'Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is laying the initial foundations for a European agricultural climate policy'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foucherot, Claudine; Bellassen, Valentin

2012-01-01

Among the publications of CDC Climat Research, 'Climate Briefs' presents, in a few pages, hot topics in climate change policy. This issue addresses the following points: The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has had a very small climate component since 1992. The recent inclusion of green payments and the climate risk management tools proposed for the CAP for the period beyond 2013 illustrate the European Commission's willingness to expand this climate component. Furthermore, there is little mention of the agricultural sector in the tools rolled out by the European climate policy, particularly those derived from the 2009 'Climate and Energy' Package. Therefore, even if this autumn's parliamentary debate results in the reform proposals being diluted, the post-2013 CAP could nevertheless become a principal tool for a common EU climate policy in the agricultural sector

European Union Climate Change Policy: in the nexus of internal policy-making and itnernational negotiations

OpenAIRE

Cao, Hui

2012-01-01

The aim of the dissertation is to examine the European Union s climate policy in the nexus of domestic policy-making and international negotiations. I firstly test the EU s internal climate policy-making by applying the rational choice institutionalism on the model of institution and preference affect EU s policy outcomes and conclude that: as the EU has a convergent preference, the EU s unique decision-making procedure, the entrepreneurship and EU s membership had been driving EU s climate...

Migrants and the language of instruction: Is the EU policy deficit driving new innovations in social inclusion?

Science.gov (United States)

Cullen, Joe

2017-08-01

Language learning has long been seen as an important tool for achieving European Union (EU) targets for social inclusion. However, "mainstream" policy instruments like the Action Plan on Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity and the European Charter for Minority Languages have been undermined in recent years by the effects of the global financial crisis, which has contributed to the widespread decimation of welfare budgets in many EU member states. This has been accompanied by the increasing influence of a "neo-liberal" discourse in welfare and social service policies and practices, leading to the delegation of responsibility for service provision from central, regional and local government to commercial enterprises, civil society and, ultimately, to citizens themselves. At the same time, the gaps in service provision that have resulted from this "financial crisis" have opened up new opportunities for social innovators. New kinds of organisations are beginning to develop and apply new approaches using language learning to deliver innovative services aimed, for example, at supporting the integration of immigrants in society. Using case study analysis, this paper explores how these new approaches have developed, what kinds of innovation are being delivered and the contribution these social innovations are making to broader EU social inclusion objectives.

Polyethylene recycling: Waste policy scenario analysis for the EU-27.

Science.gov (United States)

Andreoni, Valeria; Saveyn, Hans G M; Eder, Peter

2015-08-01

This paper quantifies the main impacts that the adoption of the best recycling practices together with a reduction in the consumption of single-use plastic bags and the adoption of a kerbside collection system could have on the 27 Member States of the EU. The main consequences in terms of employment, waste management costs, emissions and energy use have been quantified for two scenarios of polyethylene (PE) waste production and recycling. That is to say, a "business as usual scenario", where the 2012 performances of PE waste production and recycling are extrapolated to 2020, is compared to a "best practice scenario", where the best available recycling practices are modelled together with the possible adoption of the amended Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive related to the consumption of single-use plastic bags and the implementation of a kerbside collection system. The main results show that socio-economic and environmental benefits can be generated across the EU by the implementation of the best practice scenario. In particular, estimations show a possible reduction of 4.4 million tonnes of non-recycled PE waste, together with a reduction of around €90 million in waste management costs in 2020 for the best practice scenario versus the business as usual scenario. An additional 35,622 jobs are also expected to be created. In environmental terms, the quantity of CO2 equivalent emissions could be reduced by around 1.46 million tonnes and the net energy requirements are expected to increase by 16.5 million GJ as a consequence of the reduction in the energy produced from waste. The main analysis provided in this paper, together with the data and the model presented, can be useful to identify the possible costs and benefits that the implementation of PE waste policies and Directives could generate for the EU. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The structure of the climate debate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tol, Richard S.J.

2017-01-01

First-best climate policy is a uniform carbon tax which gradually rises over time. Civil servants have complicated climate policy to expand bureaucracies, politicians to create rents. Environmentalists have exaggerated climate change to gain influence, other activists have joined the climate bandwagon. Opponents to climate policy have attacked the weaknesses in climate research. The climate debate is convoluted and polarized as a result, and climate policy complex. Climate policy should become easier and more rational as the Paris Agreement has shifted climate policy back towards national governments. Changing political priorities, austerity, and a maturing bureaucracy should lead to a more constructive climate debate. - Highlights: • Strong discrepancy between ideal and actual climate policy explained by incentives of policy-makers. • Paris Agreement allows for greater emphasis on national climate policies. • Shifting priorities and maturing bureaucracies allows climate policies to focus on greenhouse gas emission reduction.

A Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC: Lessons Learned from EU Project INTEGRATE and Beyond

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liesbeth Borgermans

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Efforts are underway in many European countries to channel efforts into creating improved integrated health and social care services. But most countries lack a strategic plan that is sustainable over time, and that reflects a comprehensive systems perspective. The Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC as presented in this paper resulted from experiences with the EU Project INTEGRATE and our own work with healthcare reform for patients with chronic conditions at the national and international level. This project is one of the largest EU funded projects on Integrated Care, conducted over a four-year period (2012–2016 and included partners from nine European countries. Project Integrate aimed to gain insights into the leadership, management and delivery of integrated care to support European care systems to respond to the challenges of ageing populations and the rise of people living with long-term conditions. The objective of this paper is to describe the PGIC as both a tool and a reasoning flow that aims at supporting policy makers at the national and international level with the development and implementation of integrated care. Any Policy Guide on Integrated should build upon three building blocks, being a mission, vision and a strategy that aim at capturing the large amount of factors that directly or indirectly influence the successful development of integrated care.

A Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC): Lessons Learned from EU Project INTEGRATE and Beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Borgermans, Liesbeth; Devroey, Dirk

2017-09-25

Efforts are underway in many European countries to channel efforts into creating improved integrated health and social care services. But most countries lack a strategic plan that is sustainable over time, and that reflects a comprehensive systems perspective. The Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC) as presented in this paper resulted from experiences with the EU Project INTEGRATE and our own work with healthcare reform for patients with chronic conditions at the national and international level. This project is one of the largest EU funded projects on Integrated Care, conducted over a four-year period (2012-2016) and included partners from nine European countries. Project Integrate aimed to gain insights into the leadership, management and delivery of integrated care to support European care systems to respond to the challenges of ageing populations and the rise of people living with long-term conditions. The objective of this paper is to describe the PGIC as both a tool and a reasoning flow that aims at supporting policy makers at the national and international level with the development and implementation of integrated care. Any Policy Guide on Integrated should build upon three building blocks, being a mission, vision and a strategy that aim at capturing the large amount of factors that directly or indirectly influence the successful development of integrated care.

Migrants and the Language of Instruction: Is the EU Policy Deficit Driving New Innovations in Social Inclusion?

Science.gov (United States)

Cullen, Joe

2017-01-01

Language learning has long been seen as an important tool for achieving European Union (EU) targets for social inclusion. However, "mainstream" policy instruments like the "Action Plan on Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity" and the "European Charter for Minority Languages" have been undermined in…

Growth effects of EU and EZ memberships

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dreyer, Johannes Kabderian; Schmid, Peter A.

2017-01-01

of economic integration in Europe. The aim of this article is to investigate whether EU and EZ memberships enhance growth for their members. In order to perform our empirical analysis, we estimate different growth models restricting the time frame to the first 15 years of the Euro - from 1999 to 2013. We find...... a positive impact of EU membership on economic growth, but no impact of being part of the EZ, except during the financial crisis, when the EZ has a negative impact on growth amongst its members. Considering the heated political debate related to the Brexit referendum, our results favour a “yes” to the EU...

ENHANCING EU-TAIWAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chung-hung Cho

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The EU’s 2015 new trade strategy: Trade for all: toward a more responsible trade and investment policy, highlights its key role in keeping markets open worldwide and lists the Asia-Pacific region as the priority party for signing Regional Trade Arrangements (RTAs with the EU. The new strategy allows the EU and its member states to initiate talks on economic cooperation agreement (ECA with Taiwan. This article takes the EU-Asia interregional cooperation as a case study while exploring the role of Taiwan in the region. The first section describes the shift in EU’s trade policies and the special features of the types of interregionalism between the EU and Asia. The second section explores the bilateral trade relations. The third section evaluates the opportunities and the internal and external challenges and limitations of an EU-Taiwan ECA, emphasizing the factor of mainland China. The final section provides conclusions on the influence of an EU-Taiwan ECA on the relations of EUTaiwan considering economic and non-economic factor

Achieving Economic Growth in the EU Through Lobbyism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard; Brandt, Urs Steiner

2009-01-01

EU budget. Here, the two main redistribution policies, (1) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and (2) the Structural Funds, consume more than four fifths of the total annual EU budget. Thus, if the EU is to achieve its strategic goal, a strong cure is needed to reduce redistribution and encourage more......At Lisbon in 2000, the European Union (EU) set itself a new strategic goal, namely to become the world's leading economy and to enhance social cohesion across the union, all within a decade. It is argued in this article that one fundamental barrier to the fulfilment of this dream is the fact...

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

En 'dansk' immigrationspakke til EU - uden Danmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adler-Nissen, Rebecca

2008-01-01

og den franske immigrationspagt i Danmark, skyldes, som så ofte før, at vi her i landet har en Europadebat, der er vendt på hovedet i forhold til den, der føres i de andre EU-lande. Mens danske politikere hen over sensommeren har diskuteret, hvordan man kan minimere EU's indflydelse på dansk......I dag præsenterer Kommissionen en ambitiøs pakke om lovlig og ulovlig indvandring og integration. Målet er, at den skal vedtages sammen med det franske formandskabs immigrationspagt af EU's stats- og regeringschefer den 15.-16. oktober 2008. At der ikke har været mere debat om Kommissionens pakke...... indvandringspolitik og særligt familiesammenføringsreglerne, har resten af EU diskuteret, hvordan man fortsat kan styrke EU's rolle i indvandrings- og immigrationspolitikken og skabe en højere grad af solidaritet mellem medlemslandene. Udgivelsesdato: 8. oktober...

The EU as an international security provider

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rodt, Annemarie Peen; Wolff, Stefan; Whitman, Richard

2015-01-01

This contribution develops a framework of analysis that covers the actors involved in the policy making process of international security provision, the dynamics of this process itself, its outcomes (concrete strategies and policies) and their impact. Our efforts to establish such a framework...... of analysis, which could serve as the foundation for a mid-range theory of the EU as an international security provider, will examine the relevance of, and apply, existing theories of international relations/international security and foreign policy analysis to the specific case of the EU. The framework...... that will emerge from this analysis will then be tested and applied empirically in the following contributions that focus on how particular policies are formulated and implemented, and that analyse, in single and comparative case studies, the impact and effectiveness of the EU as an international security provider....

Aid policy for peat from the EU's standpoint

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alanen, J.; Suvanto-Luomala, S.; Aeimae, K.

2002-10-01

The study analyses the restrictions that may be imposed by the European Union on our national taxation schemes supporting the energy use of peat. These restrictions would mainly relate to the EU and international climate policy, which may change the attitudes towards the energy use of peat. The taxation arrangements studied concern the refunds of the electricity tax granted to small peat-fired power plants and the tax on peat, which compared especially with coal, is light in heat production. The study aims to find out whether the arrangements included State aid prohibited by the European Community or whether they gave rise to prohibited tax discrimination of other Member States' energy products. It was concluded that the objectives of the Community, particularly the regional security of energy supply, promotion of combined electricity and heat production, and employment, favour the energy use of peat rather than oppose to it. As for the aid to small power plants, it can be considered that the grounds for obtaining an exemption from the EC State aid prohibition exist, because the benefits of the aid referred to are more important than the disadvantages brought by it for undistorted trade and competition. This situation cannot be expected to change in the near future, either, e.g. as a result of the climate policy. As regards heat production, peat taxation cannot be considered to include State aid or to lead to discrimination against exported fuels like coal. This is essentially based on the taxation sovereignty of Member States and the related right to enhance national goals by means of taxation. The current energy tax regulation by the Community or the Commission's Proposal for an Energy Tax Directive do not seem to pose any obstacles to continuing Finland's present energy taxation policy. (orig.)

Global energy security and the implications for the EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Umbach, Frank

2010-01-01

The following article will analyse the global and geopolitical dimensions of the future international energy security and its implications for Europe and the EU-27. In this context, I will discuss to which extent the EU's newly proclaimed 'Energy Action Plan' of the EU Spring summit of 2007 and its declared common energy (foreign) policy are a sufficient strategy to cope with the new global and geopolitical challenges. The article concludes the following: (1) The interlinkage between globally designed traditional energy security concepts - that rely just on economic factors and 'market-strategies' - and domestic as well as regional political stability demands new thinking with regard to both energy supply security and foreign and security policies. (2) Although after the Russian-Ukrainian gas conflict in January 2006, energy security has forced its way up the European energy and foreign policy agendas, the EU-27 member states have largely failed to forge a coherent European energy security and energy foreign policy strategy after their Spring summit of 2007 because its declared political solidarity has been still lacking. But the 2nd Strategic Energy Review of November 2008 has recommended new initiatives to overcome this lack by promoting concrete infrastructure and other projects for enhancing Europe's supply security and its political solidarity as part of a common energy (foreign) policy. If the EU is able to implement the March 2007 and November 2008 decisions, the EU oil and gas demand will drastically reduce and freeze at current levels. In this case, Putin's energy policies by using Russia's energy resources and pipeline monopolies as a political instrument to enforce its economic and geopolitical interests will be proved as self-defeating in Russia's long-term strategic interests. It will reduce Gazprom's gas exports to a much smaller EU gas market than originally forecasted as the result of a deliberate EU policy of decreasing its overall gas demand and

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.

Agricultural franchising and contribution to achieving objectives of the EU common agricultural policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stanković Milica

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The Common Agricultural Policy is the oldest, the most complex, the most expensive EU policy and it represents one of the most important drivers of European integration. Agrarian franchising is one of the innovations in the field of franchising, which implementation is still in its infancy and it is necessary to strive for the popularization of this business model. The aim of the paper is to emphasize the importance of agricultural franchising concept development and contribution of implementation of this concept to the achievement of the Common Agricultural Policy objectives and improvement of the agrarian sector as a whole. Special attention is paid on agricultural franchising as a hybrid form of disinvestment in conditions of economic crisis. Based on analysis of advantages and disadvantages of agricultural franchising, we conclude that it has the potential for solving a large number of problems that occur in the agrarian sector, with a particular focus on the importance of agricultural franchising to the achievement of the CAP objectives.

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.

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.

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

The evolution of the EU external trade policy in services - CETA, TTIP, and TiSA after Brexit

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Delimatsis, Panagiotis

2017-01-01

The conclusion of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) constitutes a priority and key component of the external trade policy of the European Union (EU). It is also an immediate follow-up to several years of regulatory cooperation between the two global trade powers. In an era of

Where Does The Brexit Debate Stand In The United Kingdom Right Now?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manners, Ian James

2016-01-01

On the 11th October 2016 the opposition Labour Party presented the ruling Conservative UK government with a list of 170 questions – one for each day before Teresa May’s self-imposed deadline to start the process of leaving the EU. A more realistic list of questions in the UK’s ‘Brexit’ debate right...... now would consist of 17 000 questions – the four decade-old UK-EU relationship raises so many questions that it would take that many days (46 years) to address them. This briefing will focus on three factors in the UK right now – referendum context, UK gov-ernment, and Brexit debate – with a specific...

The great climate debate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudhakara Reddy, B.; Assenza, Gaudenz B.

2009-01-01

For over two decades, scientific and political communities have debated whether and how to act on climate change. The present paper revisits these debates and synthesizes the longstanding arguments. Firstly, it provides an overview of the development of international climate policy and discusses clashing positions, represented by sceptics and supporters of action on climate change. Secondly, it discusses the market-based measures as a means to increase the win-win opportunities and to attract profit-minded investors to invest in climate change mitigation. Finally, the paper examines whether climate protection policies can yield benefits both for the environment and the economy. A new breed of analysts are identified who are convinced of the climate change problem, while remaining sceptical of the proposed solutions. The paper suggests the integration of climate policies with those of development priorities that are vitally important for developing countries and stresses the need for using sustainable development as a framework for climate change policies.

Policy Debate | Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative : What Can We Learn from its Failure?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela L. Martin

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Editor’s note: This paper is a contribution to the ‘Policy Debate’ section of International Development Policy. In this section, academics, policy-makers and practioners engage in a dialogue on global development challenges. Papers are copy-edited but not peer-reviewed. Instead, the initial thematic contribution is followed by critical comments and reactions from scholars and/or policy-makers.In her article ‘Pay to Preserve: The Global Politics of Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Proposal’, published in DevPol’s special issue on  Energy and Development in 2011, Pamela L. Martin, Associate Professor of Politics at the Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, provided a favourable outlook on Ecuador’s innovative environmental governance mechanism. Accordingly, its unique potential lay in its objective of contributing towards sustainable development and social justice and in case of success, the author even predicted a possible replication in other developing countries. Despite its benefits, the initiative was abandoned in 2013. In this paper, Martin revisits the initiative and analyses the reasons for its failure, namely President Correa’s public pursuit of a Plan B, entering into negotiations with oil firms interested to explore the ITT reserves. Moreover, the initiative was in stark competition with the national REDD+ programme, the mainstream policy approach to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation against payments, which is being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC.Pamela L. Martin’s article is followed by a response by Dr. Imme Scholz, Deputy Director of the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE. She examines why Germany, as the largest European donor, withdrew its support for the Yasuní-ITT Initiative.Readers who are intetested are invited to contribute to this policy debate on our blog .Download the whole

THE PROFITABILITY AND LIQUIDITY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE FINANCING POLICY IN THE METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY OF EU 28

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DOBROTĂ GABRIELA

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In the context of the problems of the economic system, the use of the capital and his structure represent important elements in the process of the financial decisions. The aim of this paper is to identify the influence of funding policy on rentability in metallurgical industry, dimensioned with the help of a set of relevant indicators, determined on the base of some aggregated data for a significant sample of very large firms from EU 28. Also, the paper present the situation of liquidity, reflected through the cash- flow and liquidity ratio, in the metallurgical industry of EU 28, being used dates for the period 2004 – 2013, for the mentioned sample. The conclusion of the realised study is that a funding policy well-founded, correlated with the efficient management of expenses and proactive risk management can positively influence the profitability and liquidity.

Does the EU meet its policy objective of 'promoting sustainable use of arctic resources'? An analysis from the viewpoint of arctic energy resources

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Neumann, A.; Hossain, Kamrul

2014-01-01

The EU started to develop its own Arctic policy in 2008. One of the three main objectives of this policy is the promotion of sustainable use of Arctic resources. "Sustainability" was also a focus of the 2011 resolution of the European Parliament as a guiding principle in developing European policies

EU trade in the time of financial crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fojtíková, L.

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The paper is focused on the European Union (EU trade and trade policy in the time of global financial and economic crisis. The analysis of the EU exports and imports points out that the financial crisis has had a negative impact on the intra as well as on the extra-EU trade in the period 2007-2009, but differences among the EU member states have existed. Although the EU tries to support trade development in the world and remove barriers to trade, some protectionist tendencies were recorded in the time of the economic crisis. The last part of the paper gives emphasis to the EU trade policy and some trade measures which have been taken in the EU and its member states to support trade development or vice versa, to protect domestic industries. The results of the analysis show that, although some protectionist tendencies have been recorded both in extra and intra-EU trade, trade relations which are provided among member states are of significant importance all the time.

The EU's Normative Power in Changing World Politics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manners, Ian

2009-01-01

global order: 1) what is the concept of normative power in world politics?; 2) what is an effective EU toolbox for tackling new challenges?; 3) how does the EU go beyond self-perception and rhetoric?; 4) what is the raison d'etre of the EU?; and 5) how might normative power in EU external policies lead...

Europe, the EU and its 2050 Energy Storylines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Jong, J.; Weeda, E.

2007-12-01

This paper seeks to explore some of the conditions under which energy policy could be formulated in and by the European Union (EU) over the next 40 years. The development of energy policy at the EU level is addressed from a wider historical perspective, taking into account a number of factors that influence both the EU project and its energy supply security. These factors include the EU's international orientation and cooperation; the EU 'economic community of law' paradigm; the EU's (failing?) external leadership role; the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall; and Europe's talents for creativity and improvisation. These factors are discussed in somewhat greater depth in the context of the formulation of an all-EU energy policy. The global energy policy environment is briefly discussed, indicating that energy resources for the world are less at stake than their access. On this basis, a closer look is taken at the theoretical and practical aspects of using scenarios as a tool for energy policy-making. A few examples are presented, and it is argued that scenarios should basically be addressed on the basis of storylines. Storylines do require a set of specific parameters, and in this case the choice was made to use the various roles played by stakeholders for intervening in markets and in the world order. This choice is argued on the basis of the global interrelations that are currently influencing resource policies in general and energy in particular. Market efficiency, climate change, poverty issues, geopolitics and global coordination mechanisms are considered, leading to the two policy dimensions of 'nationalism' versus 'globalism' and 'heavy' versus 'light' government as the axes for the scenarios and storylines. This paper develops four storylines that are conceivable and inherently consistent. They are labelled with names that refer not only to their content, but also to the political and societal climate prevailing in the region. The first, 'l'Europe des

Biofuels cost developments in the EU27+ until 2030. Full-chain cost assessment and implications of policy options. REFUEL WP4 final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Londo, H.M.; Lensink, S.M.; Deurwaarder, E.P.; Wakker, A.; De Wit, M.; Junginger, M.; Koenighofer, K; Jungmeier, G.

2008-02-01

With the rapid developments in the biofuels domain comes the need for biofuel policies that spur their introduction in a responsible way. The REFUEL project, supported by the EU Intelligent Energy Europe programme, develops a road map for biofuels in the EU27+ up to 2030. This WP4 report shows the results of a full-chain analysis of the costs of different biofuels. Effects of different levels of biofuel target setting were analysed, and also the impact of different additional policy measures, such as the introduction of a CO2 pricing mechanism and specific subsidies

The creation of economic policy after the entrance to EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vodzinská Vladimíra

2004-06-01

Full Text Available The Slovac republic, analogous to other countries which came in the Europe Union this year, is standing before solving the problem of real integration to the economic and monetary system.Submitted article shows, that preliminary transformation process of national economy, specially the privatization process of national property was remarked by influencies, which has led to the creation of social excessively high losts and very negative affected also for the creation and realization the economis policy of the state.In this signification remarked also bargaining position of Slovac republic in so called before entrance negotiations with the representants from Europe union as well the character of risks related to urgency subserve the main liability in conection with the entrance to the EU, i.e. the convergency criterias specified by maastrichts agreement.In this continuity becomes the cardinal problem of the economic policy of the state alternative modeling of exercitation its fiscal and monetary tools, which permits of such time and general harmonising of real and nominal processes convergency, which will have tenable social character.Videlicet, the entrance fixation of the Slovac republic to the ERM2 for the year 2006 and to the eurozone for the year 2008, or 2009 involves to assert the tools of economic policy as, that the economic increase couched in expected long tenable development of GDP, balance of payments, inflation and unemployment was social effective.In this signification are intraducing some risks and factors, which can work against these development.

Cohesion Policy Contributing to Territorial Cohesion – Future Scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Faludi

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The Barca Report advocates for developmental policies to be ‘place-based’: integrated as far as they affect ‘places’. The debate on territorial cohesion is equally concerned with integrating relevant policies and actions. This requires well-established democratic institutions and adequate responses to the demands of technical systems and of markets. Following Lisbeth Hooghe and Gary Marks, the respective arrangements are described as Governance Type I and Type II. All levels of government, including that of the EU, partake in both types, but relations between them are problematic, particularly in the context of Europe 2020: Will this EU strategy be mainly a matter for Directorate-Generals and their various clients pursuing their policies (Governance Type II, or will Cohesion policy, with its more integrated and decentralised approach, involving many levels of government and stakeholders (Governance Type I form platforms for integrating them? This paper presents four scenarios; each based on a combination of strong/weak Governance Type I and Type II, which are labelled as the ‘Anglo-Saxon’, ‘Saint-Simonian’, ‘Rhineland’ and the ‘European’ Scenarios. The authors prefer the latter, but the best one can hope for in the short term is for this option not to fall by the wayside.

Studies in Convergence? Post-Crisis Effects on Corporate Rescue and the Influence of Social Policy: The EU and the USA

OpenAIRE

Gant, JLL

2016-01-01

The financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis that it precipitated in a number of peripheral EU Member States heralded massive changes in insolvency, corporate rescue and employment protection policies. The US and the EU both suffered greatly in the wake of the crisis, but their recoveries have occurred along very different tracks. The US has managed to regain much of its position in terms of relative growth and the UK has outpaced the recoveries of those European countries that are memb...

REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND COMPETITION POLICY. CASE STUDY: EU, ASEAN AND NAFTA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fora Andreea-Florina

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The large number of regional trade agreements notified to the World Trade Organization (WTO significantly influenced the flow of world trade. By April 2014 there had been notified 583 regional trade agreements to the WTO, of which only 379 are in force. The objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of regional trade agreements in world trade, especially the importance of establishing a regional competition policy in these agreements. The research methodology used is the analysis of legislation governing preferential trade agreements at the level of WTO, the collection and interpretation of statistical data provided by the WTO Secretariat, the case study, namely the study of literature. The paper is structured in three parts. The first part of the paper examines the basic laws based on which regional trade agreements are notified to the WTO and the evolution of these agreements in the period 1958-2013. The second part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of competition policy in regional trade agreements. In this part of the paper, to highlight the patterns of competition policy adopted under these agreements was analyzed by three case studies of competition policy in the EU, ASEAN and NAFTA. The three case studies have revealed that the three preferential trade agreements present regional competition policies with varying degrees of integration. The most complex form of competition policy is found in the European Union, because we are talking about a centralized model of competition policy. ASEAN presents a partially decentralized model, while NAFTA scrolls with a decentralized model of competition policy. The last part of the paper presents the characteristics of the four models of competition policy identified in the preferential trade agreements in force. It should be emphasized that if the initial preferential trade agreements have not put a great emphasis on the rules of competition policy, practice has shown the importance

The Foreign Policies of European Union Member States

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foreign Policies of EU Member States provides a clear and current overview of the motivations and outcomes of EU Member States regarding their foreign policy-making within and beyond the EU. It provides an in-depth analysis of intra-EU policy-making and sheds light, in an innovative and understan......Foreign Policies of EU Member States provides a clear and current overview of the motivations and outcomes of EU Member States regarding their foreign policy-making within and beyond the EU. It provides an in-depth analysis of intra-EU policy-making and sheds light, in an innovative...... prerogative exercised by all EU Member States is to construct their own foreign policies on everything from trade and defence with the rest of the world. This combination of clarity, thematic structure and empirical case studies make this an ideal textbook for all upper-level students of European foreign...

The Power of Economic Ideas: A Constructivist Political Economy of EU Trade Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel Siles-Brügge

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The European Union’s (EU’s 2006 Global Europe communication established an offensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA agenda premised on serving the interests of the EU’s upmarket exporters at the expense of the EU’s remaining “pockets of protection”. This has remained in place with the advent of the 2010 Trade, Growth and World Affairs strategy. Such a development defies both rationalist International Political Economy (IPE explanations – which emphasise the protectionist bias of societal mobilisation – and accounts stressing the institutional insulation of policy-makers from societal pressures because the recent economic crisis and the increased politicisation of EU trade policy by the European Parliament have coexisted without leading to greater protectionism. Adopting a constructivist approach, we show that this turn of events can be explained by the neoliberal ideas internalised by policy-makers in the European Commission’s Directorate-General (DG for Trade. We then deploy a novel heuristic to illustrate how DG Trade acted upon these ideas to strategically construct a powerful discursive imperative for liberalisation.

Designing the emerging EU pesticide policy: A literature review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Skevas, T.; Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.; Stefanou, S.E.

2013-01-01

A European Union (EU) wide pesticide tax scheme is among the future plans of EUpolicy makers. This study examines the information needs for applying an optimal pesticidepolicy framework at the EU level. Damage control specification studies, empirical results from pesticide demand elasticity, issues

The EU vs. Russia in the foreign policy discourse of Armenia: the fragility of normative power or the power of Russian coercion?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aram TERZYAN

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Constructivist-driven conventional wisdom posits that ideas and beliefs are pivotal to shaping foreign policy trajectories. Thus, the explanatory power ascribed to material forces falls back on ideas and cultural practices (Wendt, 1999. Whereas the case of Armenia, characterized by the co-existence of European foreign policy identity with Russia-led foreign policy preferences suggests that identity and beliefs may well be outweighed by material forces. This paper seeks to explain the evolution of how the European Union (EU and Russia have been conceptualised within the foreign policy discourse of Armenia. The study relies on the critical discourse analysis of relevant speeches and statements of Armenia’s foreign policy-makers and, particularly, on those of the President. It scrutinizes the core notions and discursive structures, employed in the Armenian foreign policy discourse for justifying the choice of the Russia-led path. It suggests that Armenia’s deviation from the identity driven path towards the EU has been broadly justified in terms of the country’s economic and, particularly, security needs, which prompted to treat Russia as an indispensable ally. Yet, a closer scrutiny of external constraints indicates that Russian coercive policy left little room for Armenia to achieve a Russian-European balance.

Europe, the EU and its 2050 Energy Storylines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Jong, J.; Weeda, E.

2007-12-15

This paper seeks to explore some of the conditions under which energy policy could be formulated in and by the European Union (EU) over the next 40 years. The development of energy policy at the EU level is addressed from a wider historical perspective, taking into account a number of factors that influence both the EU project and its energy supply security. These factors include the EU's international orientation and cooperation; the EU 'economic community of law' paradigm; the EU's (failing?) external leadership role; the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall; and Europe's talents for creativity and improvisation. These factors are discussed in somewhat greater depth in the context of the formulation of an all-EU energy policy. The global energy policy environment is briefly discussed, indicating that energy resources for the world are less at stake than their access. On this basis, a closer look is taken at the theoretical and practical aspects of using scenarios as a tool for energy policy-making. A few examples are presented, and it is argued that scenarios should basically be addressed on the basis of storylines. Storylines do require a set of specific parameters, and in this case the choice was made to use the various roles played by stakeholders for intervening in markets and in the world order. This choice is argued on the basis of the global interrelations that are currently influencing resource policies in general and energy in particular. Market efficiency, climate change, poverty issues, geopolitics and global coordination mechanisms are considered, leading to the two policy dimensions of 'nationalism' versus 'globalism' and 'heavy' versus 'light' government as the axes for the scenarios and storylines. This paper develops four storylines that are conceivable and inherently consistent. They are labelled with names that refer not only to their content, but also to the political and

Regime Adaptability and Political Reconfigurations following the “Arab Spring”. New Challenges for EU Foreign Policies towards the Mediterranean

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seeberg, Peter

2015-01-01

The article discusses the post-Arab Spring scenario in the MENA region and the EU policies in relation to the changing realities. I contend that the authoritarian states have demonstrated abilities to adapt to the new challenges. Through political reconfigurations the Arab states are able...... with the situation. The article concludes that an EU consensus in connection with the recent significant developments in the Arab Mediterranean states is only partly a reality and that to some degree this can be explained by the constant changes in the situation of several MENA states, all of which effectively seem...

BOOK REVIEW - Sieglinde Gstöhl and Simon Schunz (eds., Theorizing the European Neighbourhood Policy, Abingdon: Routledge, 2017

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristian NITOIU

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Since its inception at the beginning of the 2000s, the approach of the European Union (EU towards its neighbourhood has been afforded significant attention by the academic literature. Many research projects and studies have presented significant empirical insights regarding the way the EU has developed its approach towards its southern and eastern neighbourhoods (Theuns 2017; Ademmer, Delcour, and Wolczuk 2016; Nilsson and Silander 2016; Edwards 2008; Bechev and Nicolaïdis 2010; Beauguitte, Richard, and Guérin-Pace 2015. At the same time, the success and effectiveness of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP has been debated and reviewed by official institutions, think tanks or scholars, with the EU almost always lagging behind its ambitious goals and commitments (Schumacher 2015.

The Policies Concerning the Strength of Intellectual Property Rights Protection: The Choices for Estonia in Wider Context of EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tõnu Roolaht

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The foreign direct investment (FDI can be substitute for the contractual transfer of intellectual property rights in a situation where these rights are weakly protected. Hence, stronger intellectual property rights protection may reduce incentives for FDI. This is, however, only one line of reasoning. Stronger intellectual property protection can also increase motivation to invest into completely new products and processes. Thus, from the slightly different perspective FDI and strength of intellectual property protection can be seen as complementary. This duality of impact makes the search for efficient protection very difficult and complex. The aim of this paper is to outline the policy choices open for Estonia in influencing the relative strength of intellectual property rights protection and its impact on FDI. The vital secondary research agenda by this concerns the influence of EU-membership on the autonomy of such policy choices. Given the fact that there exist European patents and patent registry, certain intellectual property rights protection measures and legislative practices are undoubtedly pre-determined by this embeddedness into EU-wide protection systems. The national level policies and enforcement issues may still vary.

EU External Relations Law and the European Neighbourhood Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Vooren, Bart

-historical context of political Union, this thesis first argues why coherence is an issue at all in EU external relations, and why law is integral to attaining the ever-enigmatic single voice of the European Union. Subsequently, the text examines the role of EU external relations law in attaining a coherent...

Antidumping duties, undertakings and foreign direct investment in the EU

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belderbos, R.A.; Vandenbussche, H.; Veugelers, R.

2004-01-01

We study the effects of EU antidumping policy when foreign firms can ‘jump’ antidumping duties through foreign direct investment (FDI) in the EU. We show that duty jumping or duty pre-empting FDI occurs if the EU administration has broader objectives than protecting EU industry's profitability and

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.)

New dawn for electricity? EU policy and the changing decision space for electricity production in Sweden; a CANES Working Paper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nilsson, Maans

2009-11-15

The European Union has taken an increasing interest in governing the energy sector in its Member States. However, EU still competes with national-level policies as well as sectoral organizational fields with sticky institutions, norms and knowledge. Therefore, despite its high ambitions in the energy field, for instance in the promotion of renewables and market reform, it is not clear whether the EU really exerts a strong influence, and if there is such an influence, the processes of influence and 'filtering' through to national political and industrial structures are not well understood. This paper examines a recent strategic change amongst national actors in Sweden in the energy sector; the decision space for investment in electricity. It examines the influence of European policy change, national political and policy change and organizational field-level developments on this decision space. It finds that European policy has rarely been very coercive, partly because Sweden has been a forerunner both on electricity market reform and renewable energy promotion, but that its influence is notable both directly through its emissions trading directive and more indirectly through signalling its intentions and long-term goals. Still, it appears that domestic developments, both cognitive and normative structures in the organizational field, and national policy change remain more instrumental determinants of the changed decision space. (Author)

Monitoring and evaluation of policy instruments to support renewable electricity in EU Member States. Summary; Monitoring und Bewertung der Foerderinstrumente fuer Erneuerbare Energien in EU Mitgliedsstaaten. Kurzfassung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ragwitz, M.; Held, A. [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany); Resch, G.; Faber, T.; Huber, C.; Haas, R. [Technische Univ. Wien (AT). Energy Economics Group (EEG)

2006-09-15

Policy strategies for the promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources differ significantly among the Member States of the European Union with respect to the amount of additional installed capacity as well as concerning the country-specific support costs. The present report aims to assess the effectiveness and the economic efficiency of the support policies in the EU based on both historical experiences and prospective model-based analysis. The main message of the investigation is that the most effective policy instruments tend to be cost-efficient at the same time. In particular, feed-in tariff systems were identified as a successful instrument for supporting renewable energies in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, whereas quota systems still have to prove themselves in practice. (orig.) [German] Bezueglich des Erfolges bei der Foerderung erneuerbarer Energietraeger im Stromsektor bestehen deutliche Unterschiede zwischen den Mitgliedsstaaten der Europaeischen Union. Dies betrifft sowohl den Zubau an installierter Kapazitaet als auch die laenderspezifischen Foerderkosten des Ausbaus. In diesem Projekt erfolgte eine vergleichende Betrachtung der Wirksamkeit und der oekonomischen Effizienz der Foerderpolitiken in den Laendern der EU basierend auf historischen Erfahrungen als auch auf prospektiven modellbasierten Analysen. Es zeigt sich, dass die wirksamsten Systeme auch haeufig die kostenguenstigsten sind. Insbesondere wird ersichtlich, dass garantierte Einspeisetarife ein sehr erfolgreiches Instrumentarium zur Foerderung erneuerbarer Energien im Stromsektor darstellen, nicht allein bezueglich des generierten Marktwachstums sondern auch im Hinblick auf die oekonomische Effizienz, wogegen Quotensysteme ihre Praxistauglichkeit bezogen auf die genannten Kriterien noch nachweisen muessen. (orig.)

The need and necessity of an EU-wide renewable energy target for 2030. Discussion paper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Vos, R.; Winkel, T.; Klessmann, C. [Ecofys Netherlands, Utrecht (Netherlands)

2013-04-15

In 2020, some leading EU energy and climate policies will expire. At present, the EU and its Member States are discussing the design of a post-2020 policy portfolio. In a discussion paper commissioned by the European Copper Institute, Ecofys shows that an EU-wide renewable energy target is a necessary part of a 2030 portfolio. The paper analyses, in detail, two realistic policy portfolio options for renewable energy, target-setting in particular: one 'decarbonisation-only' EU target with voluntary national targets for renewable energy, and one that includes an EU-wide renewable energy target, broken down into binding national targets. The analysis shows that the latter option, when supported by appropriate and improved EU and Member States' policies and measures, is most suitable in facilitating a European low-carbon economy.

Technical support for an enabling policy framework for carbon dioxide capture and geological storage. Task 3. Incentivising CO2 capture and storage in the EU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Coninck, H.; Groenenberg, H.

2007-03-01

To date CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is not deployed at a commercial scale, and a range of policy instruments could be used to provide adequate incentives for large scale deployment of CCS in the European Union. Five groups of incentives are discussed: (1) the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (weak and strong version); (2) Member-State-based public financial support through investment support, feed-in subsidies or a CO2 price guarantee; (3) an EU-level low-carbon portfolio standard with tradable certificates; (4) an EU-wide CCS obligation for all new fossil-fuel-based power capacity, and (5) public-private partnerships for realizing a CO2 pipeline infrastructure. The nature of the policy, mainly in case the scale of the instrument matters and much public financial is involved, determines whether it will be implemented by the EU or at the Member-State level. Support for CCS projects at the Member-State level, however, will require amendment of the Community Guidelines for State Aid for Environmental Protection

Public health within the EU policy space: a qualitative study of Organized Civil Society (OCS) and the Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Franklin, P K

2016-07-01

This article reviews how Organized Civil Society (OCS) groups in the field of public health work across the boundaries between European institutions and policy areas. In particular, it explores 1) how the Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach is conducted by these groups informally within the formal governance structures, and 2) how this advocacy work creates space for public health within the broader political determinants of health. A qualitative mixed-methods framework. Political ethnography, including 20 semi-structured interviews conducted with EU health strategy stakeholders and participant observations in public health events (n = 22) in Brussels over a three-year period (2012-2015), as well as four interviews with EU Member State representatives. Three additional semi-structured interviews were conducted with World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe staff members who had been involved in the drafting of the Health 2020 framework and strategy and the accompanying main implementation pillar, European Action Plan for Strengthening Public Health Capacities and Services (EAP-PHS). The findings provide an insight into OCS work in the field of European public health, offering an account of the experiences of HiAP work conducted by the research participants. The OCS groups perceive themselves as communicators between policy areas within European institutions and between local and supranational levels. The structures and political determinants of health that impose limitations on a public institution can at points be transcended by stakeholders, who conduct HiAP work at supranational level, thus negotiating space for public health within the competitive, globalized policy space. Copyright © 2016 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The new legal basis of the EU's energy policy; La nouvelle base juridique de la politique energetique de l'UE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farantouris, N.E. [Universite du Piree, Dept. d' Etudes Internationales et Europeennes (Greece)

2011-01-15

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)

A new robustness analysis for climate policy evaluations: A CGE application for the EU 2020 targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermeling, Claudia; Löschel, Andreas; Mennel, Tim

2013-01-01

This paper introduces a new method for stochastic sensitivity analysis for computable general equilibrium (CGE) model based on Gauss Quadrature and applies it to check the robustness of a large-scale climate policy evaluation. The revised version of the Gauss-quadrature approach to sensitivity analysis reduces computations considerably vis-à-vis the commonly applied Monte-Carlo methods; this allows for a stochastic sensitivity analysis also for large scale models and multi-dimensional changes of parameters. In the application, an impact assessment of EU2020 climate policy, we focus on sectoral elasticities that are part of the basic parameters of the model and have been recently determined by econometric estimation, alongside with standard errors. The impact assessment is based on the large scale CGE model PACE. We show the applicability of the Gauss-quadrature approach and confirm the robustness of the impact assessment with the PACE model. The variance of the central model outcomes is smaller than their mean by order four to eight, depending on the aggregation level (i.e. aggregate variables such as GDP show a smaller variance than sectoral output). - Highlights: ► New, simplified method for stochastic sensitivity analysis for CGE analysis. ► Gauss quadrature with orthogonal polynomials. ► Application to climate policy—the case of the EU 2020 targets

Decision-making in the Dark? - Autonomous EU Sanctions and National Classification

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eckes, C.

2012-01-01

In the past decade, the European Union (EU) has taken an active role in counter-terrorism. Amongst the EU’s counter-terrorist policies, sanctions (asset freezing) remain the cornerstone. The EU runs two different regimes of counter-terrorist sanctions: autonomous EU sanctions and EU sanctions

Understanding the differing governance of EU emissions trading and renewable: feedback mechanisms and policy entrepreneurs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boasson, Elin Lerum; Wettestad, Joergen

2010-04-15

This paper presents a comparative study of two central EU climate policies: the revised Emissions Trading System (ETS), and the revised Renewable Energy Directive (RES). Both were originally developed in the early 2000s and revised policies were adopted in December 2008. While the ETS from 2013 on will have a quite centralized and market-streamlined design, the revised RES stands forward as a more decentralized and technology-focused policy. Differing institutional feed-back mechanisms and related roles of policy entrepreneurs can shed considerable light on these policy differences. Due to member states' cautiousness and contrary to the preferences of the Commission, the initial ETS was designed as a rather decentralized and 'politicized' market system, creating a malfunctioning institutional dynamic. In the revision process, the Commission skillfully highlighted this ineffective dynamic to win support for a much more centralized and market-streamlined approach. In the case of RES, national technology-specific support schemes and the strong links between the renewable industry and member states promoted the converse outcome: decentralization and technology development. Members of the European Parliament utilized these mechanisms through policy networking, while the Commission successfully used developments within the global climate regime to induce some degree of centralization. (Author)

Separated and unaccompanied children in the EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca O’Donnell

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A growing body of EU law, policy and practical measures address the situation of separated and unaccompanied children who arrive in the EU. However, in the current sensitive political climate, there is a risk of attention and resources being diverted from building on progress.

Ex-ante evaluation of EU ETS during 2013–2030: EU-internal abatement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu, Jing; Crijns-Graus, Wina; Lam, Long; Gilbert, Alyssa

2015-01-01

This study investigates CO 2 emission reduction within the EU resulting from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) up to 2030. This is performed by constructing a baseline scenario without the ETS and assessing the impacts of the ETS, as currently designed. The results indicate that the ETS will start to impact emissions primarily after 2025 due to the prevalence of a sizable allowance surplus. The impact of approved (i.e. back-loading and 2.2% linear reduction factor (LRF)) and proposed (i.e. market stability reserve (MSR)) policy interventions and the inclusion of aviation, could accelerate the exhaustion of surplus and increase emission reductions during the investigated period. However, these measures would be insufficient to restore the scarcity of allowances and the corresponding carbon price before the start of ETS Phase IV, and the effectiveness of EU-internal abatement cannot be guaranteed until 2023. The effectiveness could be further reduced in the case of the economic shocks or the exclusion of international aviation. To restore the scarcity of allowances, other reform options are necessary. This paper extends the reasoning for the early removal of the back-loaded 900 Mtonne allowances by 2020 and broadening the scope of ETS to other sectors with potential high demand for allowances. - Highlights: • Quantification of CO 2 emission abatement in the EU resulting from the ETS up to 2030. • The impact of policy interventions and the inclusion of aviation is quantified. • The effectiveness of EU ETS in EU-internal abatement is limited until 2023

How EU Employment Rights are Experienced in Different-Sized Enterprises and Why It Matters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Copeland, P.; ter Haar, B.; Ales, E.; Basenghi, F.; Bromwich, W.; Senatori, I.

2016-01-01

This paper analyses the experiences of employees in different-sized employment units for 10 EU member states in three EU policy areas. Each of the policy areas represents a different EU governance tool: directives (health and safety); education and training (the Open Method of Communication); and

EU emissions trading: Distinctive behavior of small companies

OpenAIRE

Naegele, Helene; Zaklan, Aleksandar

2016-01-01

The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the cornerstone of the European Union's climate policy and covers just under half of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions. More than ten years since the EU ETS was first introduced, there continues to be substantial research interest regarding its functioning and the behavior of participating companies. DIW Berlin conducted three econometric studies based on microdata at company and/or installation level. The findings suggest that, overall, there are o...

Implementing European climate adaptation policy. How local policymakers react to European policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Hartmann

2015-04-01

Full Text Available EU policy and projects have an increasing influence on policymaking for climate adaptation. This is especially evident in the development of new climate adaptation policies in transnational city networks. Until now, climate adaptation literature has paid little attention to the influence that these EU networks have on the adaptive capacity in cities. This paper uses two Dutch cities as an empirical base to evaluate the influence of two EU climate adaptation projects on both the experience of local public officials and the adaptive capacity in the respective cities. The main conclusion is that EU climate adaptation projects do not automatically lead to an increased adaptive capacity in the cities involved. This is due to the political opportunistic use of EU funding, which hampers the implementation of climate adaptation policies. Furthermore, these EU projects draw attention away from local network building focused on the development and implementation of climate adaptation policies. These factors have a negative cumulative impact on the performance of these transnational policy networks at the adaptive capacity level in the cities involved. Therefore, in order to strengthen the adaptive capacity in today’s European cities, a context-specific, integrative approach in urban planning is needed at all spatial levels. Hence, policy entrepreneurs should aim to create linkage between the issues in the transnational city network and the concerns in local politics and local networks.

Tackling Dependency: The EU and its Energy Security Challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Larsson, Robert L

2007-10-15

Europe is facing a future of augmenting energy demands, domestic depletion, high prices and other energy-political challenges. Climate change, infrastructure resilience, producers' coercive energy policy and the EU's internal market failures have put stress on the EU's emerging energy policy and inspired the union to address its challenges with greater enthusiasm than before. Some of the EU's challenges call for strategic choices of a magnitude that EU is not used to handle. The aim of this report is therefore to identify, analyse and assess the political side of Europe's energy predicament and import dependency. Against the background of increasing dependence on energy imports, the report tries to answer questions: what are the key dimensions of Europe's energy security and what are their consequences?

Tackling Dependency: The EU and its Energy Security Challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larsson, Robert L.

2007-10-01

Europe is facing a future of augmenting energy demands, domestic depletion, high prices and other energy-political challenges. Climate change, infrastructure resilience, producers' coercive energy policy and the EU's internal market failures have put stress on the EU's emerging energy policy and inspired the union to address its challenges with greater enthusiasm than before. Some of the EU's challenges call for strategic choices of a magnitude that EU is not used to handle. The aim of this report is therefore to identify, analyse and assess the political side of Europe's energy predicament and import dependency. Against the background of increasing dependence on energy imports, the report tries to answer questions: what are the key dimensions of Europe's energy security and what are their consequences?

Insights into the Dialogic Communication on the ‘Debating Europe’ Internet Channels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra Bardan

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This article aims to provide an overview of the online interaction of the ‘Debating Europe’ platform using the theoretical framework of dialogic communication. A brief historical approach of the notion “Web 2.0” further informs about the functions of the ‘Debating Europe’ platform and its mission statement. Related work opens an interrogation on the ‘Debating Europe’ platform as a virtual space meant to connect European citizens and politicians in online debates concerning EU matters. The empirical study regards the use of dialogic principles on the ‘Debating Europe’ platform, focusing on a cross comparison of its three Internet channels: the website, the Facebook page and the Twitter account. The results indicate the website as the main dialogic channel, while Facebook and Twitter fulfill mainly information dissemination purposes.

Frames in the Ethiopian Debate on Biofuels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brigitte Portner

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Biofuel production, while highly contested, is supported by a number of policies worldwide. Ethiopia was among the first sub-Saharan countries to devise a biofuel policy strategy to guide the associated demand toward sustainable development. In this paper, I discuss Ethiopia’s biofuel policy from an interpretative research position using a frames approach and argue that useful insights can be obtained by paying more attention to national contexts and values represented in the debates on whether biofuel production can or will contribute to sustainable development. To this end, I was able to distinguish three major frames used in the Ethiopian debate on biofuels: an environmental rehabilitation frame, a green revolution frame and a legitimacy frame. The article concludes that actors advocating for frames related to social and human issues have difficulties entering the debate and forming alliances, and that those voices need to be included in order for Ethiopia to develop a sustainable biofuel sector.

Optical measurements on iron pnictides containing Eu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neubauer, David; Baumgartner, Andreas; Merz, Johannes; Zapf, Sina; Dressel, Martin [1. Physikalisches Institut, Universitaet Stuttgart (Germany); Aswartham, Saicharan [University of Kentucky, Lexington (United States); Wurmehl, Sabine [IFW, Dresden (Germany); Jiao, Wen-He; Cao, Guang-Han [Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (China)

2015-07-01

The interplay of magnetism with superconductivity is a fascinating, highly debated field of research and many questions still remain unsolved. Members of the EuFe{sub 2}As{sub 2} family are a perfectly suited playground for investigations concerning this topic, due to the peculiarity of strong local magnetism of the europium (T{sub N}∼ 20K), which is a unique feature among the 122 iron pnictides. Optical studies of the parent compound have already revealed that the spin density wave formation deviates from the other 122 pnictides. To get more insight into the superconducting properties of the EuFe{sub 2}As{sub 2} family we carried out an optical study on differently doped samples. We compare Eu(Fe{sub 1-x}Ir{sub x}){sub 2}As{sub 2} where electron doping takes place directly in the conducting iron layer, with EuFe{sub 2}(As{sub 1-x}P{sub x}){sub 2} which corresponds to isovalent substitution at atomic positions out of the Fe-plane. The influence of the Eu is furthermore investigated by placing data we obtained on Ba{sub 0.6}Eu{sub 0.4}(Fe{sub 1-x}Co{sub x}){sub 2}As{sub 2} in juxtaposition to the already highly investigated pure Ba analogue.

Removing EU milk quotas, soft landing versus hard landing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouamra-Mechemache, Z.; Jongeneel, R.; Réquillart, V.

2008-01-01

This paper analyses EU dairy policy reforms and mainly focus on EU milk quota removal scenarios. The model used to evaluate the scenario is a spatial equilibrium model of the dairy sector. It integrates the main competitor of the EU on world markets, Oceania, as well as the main importing regions in

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

Individual employment, household employment and risk of poverty in the EU: a decomposition analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Corluy, V.; Vandenbroucke, F.

2013-01-01

This Working Paper explores the missing links between employment policy success and social inclusion policy failure. The focus is on individuals in the 20 to 59 age cohort and empirical analyses are relying on the EU Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) and the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions

The EU anti-dumping policy against Russia and China - The quality of products and the choice of an analogue country

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller

2004-01-01

This paper uses the theory of international trade in vertically differentiated products in order to evaluate if the EU, since 1992, in its anti-dumping policy against the two non-market economies, Russia and China, has calculated higher dumping margins, when the level of economic development and ...

The EU anti-dumping policy against non-market economies - The choice of an analogue country and the quality of products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller; Rutkowski, Aleksander Jerzy

2003-01-01

This paper uses the theory of international trade in vertically differentiated products in order to evaluate if the EU, since 1992, in its anti-dumping policy against the two non-market economies, Russia and China, has calculated higher dumping margins, when the level of economic development and ...

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.

The next generation(s) of Europeans facing nuclear weapons: forgetful, indifferent but supportive? EU Non-Proliferation Consortium, Non-Proliferation Papers No. 56 March 2017

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pelopidas, Benoit

2017-04-01

The post-cold war generation of citizens is forgetting nuclear weapon-related dangers and becoming indifferent to the issue. At the same time, the absence of mass grassroots, anti-nuclear protest suggests tacit support for current nuclear weapon policies. These three common diagnoses are potentially contradictory and, more importantly, are only assumptions. This paper is the first systematic attempt at assessing the attitude of the under 30's generation of European Union (EU) citizens with regard to nuclear weapons. It is based on a poll of over 10 000 citizens across the 28 EU member countries. The paper finds that none of these assumptions holds. Except for the cases of near nuclear use, the lack of knowledge about nuclear danger is not that widespread; it only increases slowly and not uniformly. Similarly, the lack of popular engagement in the nuclear weapon debate does not mean support for existing policies. In this paper, the sentiment of support is assessed with a set of three criteria: the feeling of safety attained from nuclear weapons; satisfaction with policies taken in one's name; and acceptance of vulnerabilities arising from the possession of nuclear weapons. This paper finds that overall support in these areas is below 30 per cent in every country for which there was a representative sample of respondents. Neither do the youth express a lack of concern, but rather a strong feeling of inability to affect the outcome. This suggests the need for both a research agenda and a reform of EU educational policies aimed at this generation on nuclear weapons

Tackling Dependency: The EU and its Energy Security Challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Larsson, Robert L.

2007-10-15

Europe is facing a future of augmenting energy demands, domestic depletion, high prices and other energy-political challenges. Climate change, infrastructure resilience, producers' coercive energy policy and the EU's internal market failures have put stress on the EU's emerging energy policy and inspired the union to address its challenges with greater enthusiasm than before. Some of the EU's challenges call for strategic choices of a magnitude that EU is not used to handle. The aim of this report is therefore to identify, analyse and assess the political side of Europe's energy predicament and import dependency. Against the background of increasing dependence on energy imports, the report tries to answer questions: what are the key dimensions of Europe's energy security and what are their consequences?

The Artilect Debate

Science.gov (United States)

de Garis, Hugo; Halioris, Sam

Twenty-first-century technologies will allow the creation of massively intelligent machines, many trillions of times as smart, fast, and durable as humans. Issues concerning industrial, consumer, and military applications of mobile autonomous robots, cyborgs, and computer-based AI systems could divisively split humanity into ideological camps regarding whether "artilects" (artificial intellects) should be built or not. The artilect debate, unlike any before it, could dominate the 21st-century political landscape, and has the potential to cause conflict on a global scale. Research is needed to inform policy and individual decisions; and healthy debate should be initiated now to prepare institutions and individuals alike for the impact of AI.

Balancing economic freedom against social policy principles: EC competition law and national health systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Mossialos, Elias; Lear, Julia

2012-07-01

EU Health policy exemplifies the philosophical tension between EC economic freedoms and social policy. EC competition law, like other internal market rules, could restrict national health policy options despite the subsidiarity principle. In particular, European health system reforms that incorporate elements of market competition may trigger the application of competition rules if non-economic gains in consumer welfare are not adequately accounted for. This article defines the policy and legal parameters of the debate between competition law and health policy. Using a sample of cases it analyses how the ECJ, national courts, and National Competition Authorities have applied competition laws to the health services sector in different circumstances and in different ways. It concludes by considering the implications of the convergence of recent trends in competition law enforcement and health system market reforms. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emission abatement: Untangling the impacts of the EU ETS and the economic crisis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bel, Germà; Joseph, Stephan

2015-01-01

In this study we use historical emission data from installations under the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to evaluate the impact of this policy on greenhouse gas emissions during the first two trading phases (2005–2012). As such the analysis seeks to disentangle two causes of emission abatement: that attributable to the EU ETS and that attributable to the economic crisis that hit the EU in 2008/09. To do so, we use a dynamic panel data approach. Our results suggest that, by far, the biggest share of abatement was attributable to the effects of the economic crisis. This finding has serious implications for future policy adjustments affecting core elements of the EU ETS, including the distribution of EU emission allowances. - Highlights: • We untangle the effects of the EU ETS from those of the economic crisis on industrial emission abatement. • The empirical analysis uses verified emission data instead of estimated emission data. • Abatement of emissions in EU in the last years has been mainly due to the impact of the economic crisis. • Low level of abatement attributable to the EU ETS suggests that important changes must be made in environmental policy

Support for international trade law: The US and the EU compared.

Science.gov (United States)

Eckhardt, Jappe; Elsig, Manfred

2015-10-01

In this article we compare US and EU support for bilateral and multilateral international trade law. We assess the support for international law of both trading blocs by focusing on the following four dimensions: leadership, consent, compliance and internalization. Although we find strong support for international trade law from both the US and the EU in general, we also witness some variation, most notably in relation to the design of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) law. Turning to explaining these (moderate) differences, we argue that outcomes in US trade policy can best be explained by a domestic political factor, namely the direct influence of interest groups. Although the involvement of societal interests also goes a long way in explaining EU behavior, it does not tell the entire story. We posit that, in EU trade policy, institutions are a particular conditioning factor that needs to be stressed. Moreover, we suggest that foreign policy considerations in managing trade relations have characterized EU's support for international trade law.

A Point of View on the UK Energy Policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lescoeur, Bruno

2017-02-01

The United Kingdom chose to leave the European Union at a crucial moment for the Energy Union, and in a period when the necessity of leading a coherent energy transition is strongly shared by EU countries. In the light of this conjunction of events, this study analyses the determining factors of the UK energy policy. The industrial revolution started in England, a country endowed with abundant coal supplies but also with robust policies and the right technical, economic and social conditions for making the most out of these natural resources. Likewise, the UK developed effective domestic and foreign policies in the first half of the 20. century and successfully managed the second industrial revolution, which was based on the use of oil and electricity. The UK energy system has gone through significant changes over the past forty years, with the gradual phase out of coal, the development of oil and gas production in the North Sea, the transformation of the electricity system, the re-building of a credible nuclear strategy and the rise of a low-carbon economy. These changes have been implemented at a reasonable cost, at least compared to the cost incurred by the other EU energy systems. The consistency and stability of the UK energy policies are striking, and one must admit that they are driven by a great sense of pragmatism. They are developed through trial and error and their results are openly debated and confronted to the three objectives of having secure, affordable and sustainable energy supplies. There is no doubt about who is the main beneficiary from these policies: it should always be the UK national community. Its interests are well-defended, government after government, and this national focus is probably the main reason why the UK energy policy appears to be very consistent. The EU has often tried to replicate the UK initiatives in the field of energy, but probably without taking proper account of the specificities of the UK context

Imported palm oil for biofuels in the EU: Profitability, greenhouse gas emissions and social welfare effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saikkonen, Liisa; Ollikainen, Markku; Lankoski, Jussi

2014-01-01

We examine the social desirability of renewable diesel production from imported palm oil in the EU when greenhouse gas emissions are taken into account. Using a partial market equilibrium model, we also study the sectoral social welfare effects of a biofuel policy consisting of a blend mandate in a small EU country (Finland), when palm oil based diesel is used to meet the mandated quota for biofuels. We develop a market equilibrium model for three cases: i) no biofuel policy, ii) biofuel policy consisting of socially optimal emission-based biofuel tax credit and iii) actual EU biofuel policy. Our results for the EU biofuel market, Southeast Asia and Finland show very little evidence that a large scale use of imported palm oil in diesel production in the EU can be justified by lower greenhouse gas emission costs. Cuts in emission costs may justify extensive production only if low or negative land-use change emissions result from oil palm cultivation and if the estimated per unit social costs of emissions are high. In contrast, the actual biofuel policies in the EU encourage the production of palm oil based diesel. Our results indicate that the sectoral social welfare effects of the actual biofuel policy in Finland may be negative and that if emissions decrease under actual biofuel policy, the emission abatement costs can be high regardless of the land use change emissions. - Highlights: • We study the social desirability of renewable diesel production from palm oil in EU. • We also study sectoral social welfare impacts of actual biofuel policy in Finland. • Life cycle GHG emission costs of diesels are included in the economic analysis. • Extensive use of palm oil diesel in EU is difficult to justify by climate benefits. • The social welfare effects of the actual biofuel policy in Finland can be negative

COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY FROM HEALTH CHECK DECISIONS TO THE POST-2013 REFORM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niculescu Oana Marilena

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The paper proposed for being presented belongs to the field research International Affairs and European Integration. The paper entitled Common Agricultural Policy from Health Check decisions to the post-2013 reform aims to analyze the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP from the Health Check adoption in November 2008 to a new reform post-2013. The objectives of the paper are the presentation of the Health Check with its advantages and disadvantages as well as the analysis of the opportunity of a new European policy and its reforming having in view that the analysis of Health Check condition was considered a compromise. The paper is related to the internal and international research consisting in several books, studies, documents that analyze the particularities of the most debated, controversial and reformed EU policy. A personal study is represented by the first report within the PhD paper called The reform of CAP and its implications for Romanias agriculture(coordinator prof. Gheorghe Hurduzeu PhD, Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, Faculty of International Business, research studies in the period 2009-2012. The research methodology used consists in collecting and analysis data from national and international publications, their validation, followed by a dissemination of the results in order to express a personal opinion regarding CAP and its reform. The results of the research consist in proving the opportunity of a new reform due to the fact that Health Check belongs already to the past. The paper belongs to the field research mentioned, in the attempt to prove the opportunity of building a new EU agricultural policy. The challenges CAP is facing are: food safety, environmental and climate changes, territorial balance as well as new challenges-improving sustainable management of natural resources, maintaining competitiveness in the context of globalization growth, strengthening EU cohesion in rural areas, increasing the support of CAP for

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.

EU Strategic Culture and the 2011 Libyan War

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kahlke Hansen, Lea; Nielsen, Kristian L.

Since the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1992, the EU has sought to enhance its capacity as an actor within security policy. An important step in this process was the 2003 European Security Strategy, which introduced the EU goal of developing a common European strategic culture. The conflict...... in Libya in many ways seemed an ideal opportunity for the EU to manifest itself as an important security actor, and to fullfill its strategic ambitions as they are described in the 2003 European Security Strategy. Instead, due to internal disagreements on the use of force, the EU was unable to forge...... a common position of any importance and therefore once again remained peripheral. This article examines the strategic culture of the European Union and what the conflict in Libya, 2011, tells us about the emergence of such a strategic culture and the EU’s capacity as an actor in security policy. It argues...

Economic integration in NAFTA and the EU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bislev, Sven

This te×t critically analyzes the institutions of the EU and NAFTA. It covers both the general problems of building new and integrated markets, and several policy areas that are related to economic integration. The institutions established in both Europe and America are seen as deficient in several...... of the market economies institutions upon the integration process itself depends. This te×t analyzes the institutions of the EU and NAFTA. It covers both the general problems of building new and integrated markets, and several policy areas that are related to economic integration. The institutions established...

Reduction emissions from transport sector - EU action against climate change

Science.gov (United States)

2009-08-01

This paper explores and discusses the initiation and development of the EU's policies and strategies against climate change and the share experiences in the EU transport sector to reduce CO2 emission.

Advocacy Coalitions involved in California’s Menu Labeling Policy Debate: Exploring Coalition Structure, Policy Beliefs, Resources, and Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Payán, Denise D.; Lewis, LaVonna B.; Cousineau, Michael R.; Nichol, Michael B.

2017-01-01

Advocacy coalitions often play an important role in the state health policymaking process, yet little is known about their structure, composition, and behavior. In 2008, California became the first state to enact a menu labeling law. Using the advocacy coalition framework, we examine different facets of the coalitions involved in California’s menu labeling policy debate. We use a qualitative research approach to identify coalition members and explore their expressed beliefs and policy arguments, resources, and strategies by analyzing legislative documents (n=87) and newspaper articles (n=78) produced between 1999 and 2009. Between 2003 and 2008, six menu labeling bills were introduced in the state’s legislature. We found the issue received increasing media attention during this period. We identified two advocacy coalitions involved in the debate—a public health (PH) coalition and an industry coalition. State organizations acted as coalition leaders and participated for a longer duration than elected officials. The structure and composition of each coalition varied. PH coalition leadership and membership notably increased compared to the industry coalition. The PH coalition, led by nonprofit PH and health organizations, promoted a clear and consistent message around informed decision making. The industry coalition, led by a state restaurant association, responded with cost and implementation arguments. Each coalition used various resources and strategies to advance desired outcomes. PH coalition leaders were particularly effective at using resources and employing advocacy strategies, which included engaging state legislators as coalition members, using public opinion polls and information, and leveraging media resources to garner support. Policy precedence and a local policy push emerged as important policymaking strategies. Areas for future research on the state health policymaking process are discussed. PMID:28161674

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...

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

The argument for pharmaceutical policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Traulsen, Janine Morgall; Almarsdóttir, Anna Birna

2005-02-01

Pharmaceutical policy is a global concern. It has become a hot political topic in most countries--developed as well as developing--and can be found on the agenda of international organizations such as WHO, OECD, EU, WTO and even the World Bank. Pharmaceutical policy affects everyone in the world of pharmacy and it is therefore imperative that it be understood, discussed and debated within the pharmacy profession and included in the curriculum of schools of pharmacy. This, the first article in a series, argues for the importance of the academic discipline of pharmaceutical policy analysis and the involvement of pharmacists in this endeavour. The aim of the authors is to stimulate an informed and critical appreciation of this field. The authors begin with an introduction to the field of pharmaceutical policy, introducing several important concepts and current trends including: medicines regulation; how pharmaceutical policy is made; pharmaceutical policy as a dynamic process; and the new public health as a global issue. The article ends with a short description of the remaining five articles in the series which will deal with important aspects of pharmaceutical policy. The topics include: economic pressures on health care systems; drug utilization from the clinical viewpoint (rational use of medicines); the impact of pharmaceutical policy on patients and the patient impact on pharmaceutical policy; the professional perspective; and finally the last article which deals with studying and evaluating pharmaceutical policy.

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

The emerging EU quality of care policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vollaard, Hans; van de Bovenkamp, Hester M.; Vrangbæk, Karsten

2013-01-01

initiatives regarding the quality systems of the Member States and the quality of services, this paper shows how the depth of EU interference has increased from sharing information to standardization and even to the first signs of enforcement. We argue that at this stage, reflection on the feasibility...

Aktuální daňová politika EU

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