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The article discusses collateral security and the proposed establishment of a Capital Market Union for all 28 Member States of the European Union (EU) as of 2015, and it mentions the content of the European Commission's Green Paper entitled "Building a Capital Markets Union." EU law and collateralisation are mentioned, as well as the harmonisation of legislation and rules. Conflicts of laws, financing for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Europe, and change are examined.

The article discusses the problems involved in the integration of European countries into the European Union from the philosophy for educology perspective. Integration is possible on the basis of primary interests particularly the interests that determine the will to dominate. Europe's integration around the objectives of cooperation become a historical necessity resulting from the human instinct for self-preservation. A significant factor delaying European integration is the fight for domination in the sphere of culture.

This paper analyzes the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Article 17(1) of the 1999 Montreal Convention (MC99) regarding the liability of international air carriers for death or bodily injury to passengers. The interpretational principles and methods applied by the CJEU are examined, accounting also for the particularities of the EU legal order. Furthermore, the results reached by the CJEU are compared with the case law of other jurisdictions, mainly the US, and doctrinal writings. Nonetheless, this paper does not explore the pertinent issues from a de lege ferenda perspective. The paper concludes that the judgments of the CJEU on Art. 17(1) MC99 have interpreted the notions of “passenger,” “accident,” and “bodily injury” broadly, in a passenger-friendly way. Although the interpretation of ‘passenger’ does not differ from the established case law in other jurisdictions, some aspects of the interpretation of “accident” and the interpretation of “bodily injury” significantly depart from the view currently prevailing among courts internationally. The CJEU has yet to rule on the scope of the exclusivity of the MC99, under Art. 29 thereof, regarding personal injury of passengers. However, the expansive interpretations of “accident” and “bodily injury” by the CJEU limit the practical effect of Article 29 compared to other jurisdictions. Given the regulatory influence that the EU exercises worldwide, the CJEU judgments might guide courts also outside the EU. Although this would bolster passenger protection, it would exacerbate the already fragmented application of the MC99 internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes how European paper companies established a business operations in North America. Importance of consolidation in the pulp and paper industry; General performance of the companies in the region; Identification of the U.S. as a major market for pulp and paper.

The purpose of the present study is to analyse the current state of the Bulgarian capital market within the framework of the strategic priorities for deepening of its integrational links to the European capital markets. The paper presents results from correlation analysis of indicators of integration of the Bulgarian capital market to the Eurozone. The results point to medium degree of integration of the Bulgarian capital market. Irrespective of the high degree of harmonization of the regulatory framework and market practices on the Bulgarian capital market still exist various barriers at micro and institutional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses two main questions: (1) how far do the activities of fiscal councils in the EU countries help promote transparency and accountability in the management of public finances and (2) how could fiscal councils enhance the impact of those activities? The analysis is based on a questionnaire collected in 2016 from fiscal councils in 18 EU countries. The questionnaire looked at how the councils themselves assessed their impact on the management of public finances, and how they communicated their findings to the wider public. The councils see some benefits of their work; and their monitoring of adherence to fiscal rules and legislative regulation, as well as their warnings about excessive government spending, seem to get noticed in the media. This activity informs the public, and may in turn influence politicians' ratings, thereby helping to contribute to greater accountability in the management of public finances. The paper consequently argues that fiscal councils may promote fiscal transparency and accountability and proposes several ways to enhance the effectiveness of their influence on media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European Union countries, diets are characterized by high levels of meat, dairy products and eggs. This type of diet, as is well-known, is responsible for an intake of saturated fat and red meat in quantities that exceed dietary recommendations. In addition, the associated livestock production requires large areas of land and leads to high nitrogen and greenhouse gas emission levels. The aim of this paper is to identify the connections, the differences and the parallels between the 28 EU states with regard to the structure of their food supplies and the impact of farming practices on the environment. The paper analyzes data from FAOSTAT relating to the year 2013. The results of the application of Principal Component Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis reveal new and important details about the differences and the analogies between the 28 states. The findings show that, on the one hand, there are similarities in the structure of the food supply relating to the quantity of products of animal origin. On the other hand, there are many differences in the average use per area of cropland of nutrients and pesticides, in the density of livestock farming in the agricultural area, in the intensity of emissions from the production, in the rearing of livestock for meat and in the quantity of products of animal origin. The major conclusions are that, the environmental impact of agriculture varies, depending on the different structures of the food supply and on the diverse agricultural practices employed across the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By 2020, the EU road transport sector is poised to deploy a host of advanced Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), including connected and autonomous vehicles (AVs), that are expected to significantly ‘disrupt’ the automotive sector. This vision of the future is fuelling a virtual ‘arms race’ among automakers (OEMs), who are forging unconventional alliances and investing heavily in R&D, in anticipation of a radically changed industry. Car travel seems set to undergo a paradigm shift, evolving from a privately-owned asset into mobility as a service; a metamorphosis that will have significant implications for policymakers and industry stakeholders alike. This paper therefore seeks to address existing gaps in knowledge, by using primary qualitative interview data from industry experts and policymakers to examine the early-stages of the AV transition within the EU automotive industry. This paper also assesses the major policy challenges that face industry regulators tasked with underwriting this radical and dynamic transition to autonomous driving. This paper's focus is on the sociotechnical transition to AVs, which contributes to better understandings about the future role and regulation of Intelligent Transport Systems in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the harmful effects of the exclusivity clause on so-called dormant agreements, a relevant but relatively unstudied legal problem that arises in the EU´s fisheries agreement practice with third States. The paper focuses on the situation which arises when a fisheries agreement lacks an operational application protocol for years but, due to the exclusivity clause of the treaty, which continues to be in force, the EU's external fleet cannot access the coastal third State's EEZ via another kind of legal arrangement such as a private licence or a charter contract. Here, the scope and implications of this legal problem are reviewed and some possible solutions assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses issues related to the impact of information and communication technologies in the sphere of public administration that lead to rapid and multiple transformations. The fundamental objective of the paper was to highlight the role of digitization in the governance process as a generating element of public value. We have developed the concept of e-government, which has the effect of modernizing central and local public administrations to deliver public services to citizens and to business environment in an integrated, transparent and secure manner. In deeper research, we analyzed the E-Governance Development Index (EDGI) at European Union level and highlighted Romania's position, which is below the European Union average and hence the need to accelerate the digitization process for a faster and more sustainable development. Another relevant indicator was the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which looks at the evolution of the EU member states in five main dimensions: connectivity, human capital, internet use, digital technologies integration, digital public services. The investigative method was the documentary and comparative analysis of data and information on the role of information and communication technologies provided by reports, statistics, and specialized articles available on the EU websites. We have also highlighted the strategic development lines of the government, which in our country are reflected in the following: Providing improved public services through the use of e-government, Promoting the adoption of eGovernment services, Optimizing the use of ICT in governmental operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have studied the efficiency of research in the EU by a percentile-based citation approach that analyzes the distribution of country papers among the world papers. Going up in the citation scale, the frequency of papers from efficient countries increases while the frequency from inefficient countries decreases. In the percentile-based approach, this trend, which is uniform at any citation level, is measured by the e p index that equals the P top 1% /P top 10% ratio. By using the e p index we demonstrate that EU research on fast-evolving technological topics is less efficient than the world average and that the EU is far from being able to compete with the most advanced countries. The e p index also shows that the USA is well ahead of the EU in both fast- and slow-evolving technologies, which suggests that the advantage of the USA over the EU in innovation is due to low research efficiency in the EU. In accord with some previous studies, our results show that the European Commission’s ongoing claims about the excellence of EU research are based on a wrong diagnosis. The EU must focus its research policy on the improvement of its inefficient research. Otherwise, the future of Europeans is at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integration of relatively new policy tasks like climate adaptation into established higher-level policy fields is insufficiently understood in the academic literature. This paper proposes a framework to evaluate the integration of climate adaptation into the sectoral policy-making of the European Commission, particularly following the publication of the EU Adaptation Strategy (in 2013). The paper uses a framework of micro, meso and macro-level institutional behaviour drawing strongly on new institutionalism perspectives to identify and explain factors enabling and hindering policy integration. It focuses on integration in the coastal and marine policy sector, which is expected to be particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, and draws from data collected through a document review and interviews with key informants. The findings show that the integration of climate adaptation is still at an early stage. The integration process appears to be largely dependent on institutional dynamics at the EU-level combined with how member states and wider sectoral stakeholders engage with adaptation concerns. In particular, the ambivalence of some member states and a lack of urgency among sectoral stakeholders has hampered the integration of adaptation goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Relations / Uluslararasi Iliskiler is the property of International Relations Council and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The European Union is recognized as an exponent of the international action in the field of environmental protection, being committed to promoting sustainable development at a global scale. Combating climate change is one of the main elements of the EU's environmental protection policy, this fact being demonstrated by the measures adopted to lead the achievement of the EU's objectives in this field of action. The present paper analyses the main aspects of the Union's strategy on combating climate change and in promoting energy from renewable sources. In the first part of the paper, the EU targets for the 2020, 2030 and 2050 horizon are presented. In the second part is analyzed the development stage of energy from renewable sourses, as the Commission's leaders aim to transform the Union into the world leader in the field of renewable energy. At the same time, the 'Clean Energy for all Europeans' package, which aims to maintain the competitiveness of the European Union having in mind that the transition to clean energy is has an influence on the world energy markets, has as its central element promoting energy from renewable sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, results from receptor modelling performed on a well-characterised PM 1 dataset were combined to chemical light extinction data (b ext ) with the aim of assessing the impact of different PM 1 components and sources on light extinction and visibility at a European polluted urban area. It is noteworthy that, at the state of the art, there are still very few papers estimating the impact of different emission sources on light extinction as we present here, although being among the major environmental challenges at many polluted areas. Following the concept of the well-known IMPROVE algorithm, here a tailored site-specific approach (recently developed by our group) was applied to assess chemical light extinction due to PM 1 components and major sources. PM 1 samples collected separately during daytime and nighttime at the urban area of Milan (Italy) were chemically characterised for elements, major ions, elemental and organic carbon, and levoglucosan. Chemical light extinction was estimated and results showed that at the investigated urban site it is heavily impacted by ammonium nitrate and organic matter. Receptor modelling (i.e. Positive Matrix Factorization, EPA-PMF 5.0) was effective to obtain source apportionment; the most reliable solution was found with 7 factors which were tentatively assigned to nitrates, sulphates, wood burning, traffic, industry, fine dust, and a Pb-rich source. The apportionment of aerosol light extinction (b ext,aer ) according to resolved sources showed that considering all samples together nitrate contributed at most (on average 41.6%), followed by sulphate, traffic, and wood burning accounting for 18.3%, 17.8% and 12.4%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is an important improvement and development element in all areas of economic and social life, business environment as well as regional processes. EU Regional policy has a significant impact on many areas of economic and social life throughout the European Communities. Investments in terms of innovation being executed through different tools help EU achieve the EU objectives within the particular type of policies in the fields of education, employment, energy, environment, single market, research and innovation. This paper will analyze how innovation is implemented into EU Regional policy processes, how important role it plays within the regional development to assure sustainable economic growth in European Communities and enhance the EU competitiveness within the international economics environment. By means of analysis, comparative analysis methods followed by logical deduction the main goal of this paper is to figure out how and in what way the technology and innovation implementation processes in EU Regional policy can affect the sustainable economic growth in terms of the social and economic development promotion measurements. The aim of the European regional policy is to contribute to the development of backward regions in particular, the restructuring of declining industrial areas, and revitalization of deprived neighborhoods. The emphasis is focused on creating sustainable jobs and improving the economic, social and territorial 'cohesion' of the Union. It is necessary to highlight that the EU Innovation policy implemented into European Union's regional policy plays very important role within the current financial framework 2014-2020 and Europe 2020 Strategy to assure sustainable economic growth in the EU and enhance its competitiveness within the environment of the world economy triad. Innovations and innovation policies and strategies implementations are one of the most important aspects of current international economics and business development issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Commission has acknowledged the significance of local and regional communities in its effort to tackle climate change. In this respect a number of initiatives and programmes (e.g. Covenant of Mayors, Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, CONCERTO, CIVITAS, etc.) have been set up in order to engage European cities in the effort towards a low carbon future and an improved quality of life through sustainable economic development. These initiatives have been generally successful and have resulted in the commitment of an increasing number of European cities towards sustainable development goals. At the same time, however, it has been revealed that there is a critical need for improved comprehensive city planning driven by an integrated and strategic approach, focused on cost benefit assessment towards sustainable energy use. This paper presents an innovative city planning approach developed within the EU FP7 project InSMART. It brings together four European municipalities – Evora (Portugal), Nottingham (UK), Trikala (Greece) and Cesena (Italy) –, academics, industries and technical consultants in order to establish a common methodology for enhancing sustainable planning for both the current and future city needs through an integrative and multidisciplinary approach. The methodology develops and employs a number of tools to assess the optimum mix of medium term measures (up to 2030) for a sustainable energy future, addressing the efficiency of energy flows across various city sectors with regards to economic, environmental and social criteria and paving the way towards actual implementation of priority actions. This paper presents the key concepts around this methodology and some selected results of the project (still ongoing). The results refer to the four city partners, all actively involved in developing a more sustainable energy system. Further on, the proposed approach may be replicable to other cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptation of environmental policies to often unexpected crises is an important function of sustainable governance arrangements. However the relationship between environmental change and policy is complicated. Much research has focused on understanding institutional dynamics or the role of specific participants in the policy process. This paper draws attention to interest groups and the mechanism through which they influence policy change. Existing research offers conflicting evidence in regards to the different ways in which interest groups may affect change. This paper provides an in-depth study of the 2013 European Union Common Fisheries Policy reform − a policy change characterized by active interest group participation. It traces the activity of interest group coalitions to understand how they achieved influence under a changing policy context. The study involves interviews with interest group representatives, policy experts and decision-makers, document analysis of interest group statements and EU legislative documents. Findings identify the important role of coalition-building and informational lobbying for environmental interest group success in exploiting favorable sociopolitical conditions and influencing reform outcomes. An insight on interest group influence and its conditions contributes to our understanding of the complex dynamics of the environmental policy process as well as its implications for policy adaptation to environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents in a specific way the issue of increasing interdependence between countries, which is an important feature of the contemporary stage of development in the world and in European economy. The article argues that these interdependencies are adjusting and moving in relation with changes in the production factors in each country. Most vulnerable to these adjustments are small economies, the development model of which is "marked" among other things by European leadership crisis, increasing the gap between rich and poor countries, slowing integration processes, etc. To solve these issues, the article proposes and argues a development concept for countries with small economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) based on a comprehensive process of industrialization resulting in an export-oriented economy. The paper highlights that industrialization, from the beginning of the process, must be export oriented. The knowledge and information society establishment, as well as the transition from an economy based on inputs to one based on investment and innovation, requires an extensive process of industrialization based on low-cost manufacturing value added. The concept of economic growth for small European countries, proposed in this article, is attempting to combine the pressing need of industrialization and social security of citizens so characteristic for European model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green Infrastructure within urban areas has become increasingly important in recent years. There has been the development of a European Commission green infrastructure strategy and a range of initiatives identifying the importance of green infrastructure. This paper explicitly identifies the cultural ecosystem benefits gained from urban and peri-urban green infrastructure drawing on studies undertaken in different European countries. The paper utilises the cultural ecosystem services framework developed in a United Kingdom National Ecosystem Assessment project. A review of literature identified studies from fifteen different countries and explores linkages between the types of green infrastructure, the practices undertaken in these spaces and the cultural ecosystem benefits gained. The results show that there are few detailed linkages made between the types of green infrastructure and the practices and benefits associated with these. The cultural ecosystem framework provides an important conceptual approach and this paper is one of the first to populate the framework in greater detail. Further research is needed to assess the differences in benefits and practices associated with different types of green infrastructure. A key message is that the cultural ecosystem benefits identified are wide ranging, diverse and multiple. The typologies and conceptual matrix developed in this paper could be utilised by green infrastructure practitioners to assist them in taking account of cultural ecosystem benefits in their management decision making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Migration & Ethnic Themes: MET / Migracijske i Etničke Teme is the property of Institut za istrazivanje migracija / Institute for Migration Research (IMIN) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper is a research done on the strategy had by the European Union and the development of its Demand and Supply regarding the gas market. The paper is built as an analysis tool that shows an overview of the entire resource structure on the „old continent" known as Europe and on how the market should extrapolate its successes developed in strategies regarding the energy markets and what could be streamlined in the gas market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores the amount of support received by the new member states and the effects of this support in addressing the challenges these economies face and on the regional competitiveness of these countries. The paper analyzes the relation between the absorption of structural funds and the evolution of regional competitiveness level in Romania and Bulgaria. After creating the competitiveness profiles of the selected countries, a correlation analysis between the funds received and several competitiveness indicators is performed. The research of this relation helps us to underline the critical role of cohesion policy and structural funds on the economies of the selected new member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry in the European Union is turning increasingly in the direction of sustainable building. A particular important component of sustainable construction strategy is represented by the reduction of operational energy in buildings. One popular solution for the reduction of heat losses through the exterior envelope is the thermal insulation with polystyrene panels, frequently used in composite systems (ETICS – External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems). These solutions are efficient for operational energy savings, contributing in the same time to the reduction of environmental pollution and degradation due to the current energy production systems. Still, they present some reliability problems, being vulnerable to wind actions. The paper proposes an alternative solution for fixing the polystyrene panels by replacing the adhesive mortar with anchors and regular mortar to compensate the flatness. The paper presents experimental results for adhesive bonding strength of adhesive and regular mortar to various substrates. The results were embedded into numerical models for determining the response to wind actions both for the classical and proposed solution. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the mechanical and economic performance for the two fixing solutions. Finally are discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the mechanical fixing solution proposed and are identified the main areas of application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiscal decentralization brings certain economic benefits, but also meets certain inconveniences. If the process of decentralization is realized in the mode, that the decentralization of expenditure and decentralization of revenue are divided, the success of its implementation is endangered. Excessive expenditure decentralization without adequate decentralization of revenues creates a gap, which is under the soft-budget constraints conditions completed by intergovernmental transfers. Intergovernmental transfers present a move of public financial resources from central level of government to local levels of government creating vertical fiscal imbalance. The theory is not clear about the eligibility of soft-budget constraints and vertical fiscal imbalance. The economic reality supports their existence and considers them as an integral part of local resources. In this paper vertical fiscal imbalances in the EU countries are analyzed. Using the panel regression with time effects for a sample of new and old EU member states, determinants of vertical fiscal imbalance are identified. Significant negative effect of public deficit and revenue decentralization is observed in all two samples. The impact of time effects differs according to the sample. This paper is published within the project VEGA no.1/0559/16. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of financial inclusion has gained increased attention, on the background of international frameworks and policies devoted to inclusive societies, inclusive financial systems, sustainable and inclusive growth. However, existing literature and practice lack a generally accepted, reliable and easy to interpret quantitative measure of financial inclusion. The novelty of our paper relies on developing a financial inclusion index, comprising an updated set of indicators which account for current developments of the financial industry and the continuous diversification and complementarity of financial products people have access to. It is the first study comprising all the 28 EU countries and covering a large, recent time horizon (2008-2013). The index has been computed for each year considered and a ranking has been provided to comparatively assess the evolution of a given country on the financial inclusion scale. Our findings revealed that one-third of EU countries show moderate financial inclusion, while the remaining ones depict low financial inclusion, with different degrees of severity. A constant presence at the bottom limit of financial inclusion, in each of the six years, has been Romania. This result reflects a reality, namely the lack of official concern from authorities and financial institutions in respect of monitoring, measuring and stimulating financial inclusion. We believe that the index proposed in this paper could act not only for assessing the degree of inclusion at a given moment of time, but also as a tool for monitoring and signaling the imperative involvement of regulators, financial institutions and civil society in designing and implementing policies and programs for enhancing inclusive financial products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of bilateral trade between Serbia and EU countries in the period 2001-2015 on the basis of a gravity model. So far in research papers the gravity model has been used for the evaluation of effects of trade among different countries. The gravity model, which combines the cross-section data and the time-series data, has been estimated to the panel data. Estimated results based on a sample of 28 countries reveal that the economic size of foreign countries, the market size of trading partners (the number of inhabitants), and the geographical distance produce altogether huge effects on Serbia's total trade and exports. Border and language factors have also been taken into account. The research leaves room for further scientific analyses and provides guidance for trade policy creators in analyses for directions of the Serbian trade. This research is based on complex econometric analyses and a recognised model, and shows that there is considerable room for the growth of bilateral trade between Serbia and EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging is a process that shapes the economic environment in most of the developed economies. Thus, understanding the dynamics between public finance and the demographic variables enables policy-makers to adapt and to ameliorate their medium-term budgetary frameworks. The aim of this paper is to examine the fiscal implications of the demographic shift using panel data on 25 EU countries in the period from 1995 until 2014. In order to qualify the findings of previous literature, this paper considers the demographic variables as endogenous and applies the system GMM estimator to obtain the elasticity of several public finance categories with respect to population aging. The results indicate significant and positive impacts of the elderly share on expenditure for pensions and social protection. The higher positive impact on overall public expenditure compared with total government revenue confirms the negative effect of population aging on budget balance. An increase in the young population has a significant impact only on health expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the paper is to explore the unconventional (non-standard) measures of the European Central Bank's monetary policy, undertaken in response to the global financial crisis. This research puts emphasis on the key instruments of the ECB's unconventional monetary policy, such as follows: first, conduct of accommodative monetary policy at nominal interest rates, close to zero or even below zero; second, implementation of measures of enhanced credit support policy for commercial banks through the Еxpanded Asset Purchase Programme (APP). The latter presently includes the following programmes: Asset-backed securities purchase programme (АBSPP), Covered bond purchase programme (СBPP), Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP) and Тargeted longer-term refinancing operations programme (TLTRO II). With this regard, in the paper is also investigated the ECB's practice on expanding credit assessment framework for eligible assets used for the Eurosystem credit operations. Moreover, the limitations against the measures for provision of liquidity to financial markets and banking system in the euro area are explored. Special attention in the paper is attached on the ECB's monetary policy started in June 2014, which has gone beyond the zero bound on nominal interest rates, in particular the interest rate on deposit facility, as well as the effects stemming from the negative interest rate levels on lending and real economy in the euro area. This analysis is associated with the study on banking lending in the euro area as a result from the ECB's expanded asset purchase programme and the negative deposit facility rate - in particular, the credit standards on loans to enterprises and households, banks' net interest income, their liquidity ratio and credit margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews governance and public governance related to an emerging area of policy interest – social innovation. The European Commission’s White Paper on European Governance (2001) focused on openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence in public policy as characteristics of good governance. The EC has prioritised social innovation to address policy problems. Yet, the extant literature and research on social innovation is sparse. The paper questions whether it is a new mode of governance which contributes to good governance or a continuum of neoliberal reforms of the state which alters the relationship between the state, market and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the taxation of labour income in Croatia, Belgium, Estonia, Germany and Slovakia. Having presented an outline of tax system rules, the paper shows the decomposition of the net average tax wedge for different family types and different income levels based on the OECD methodology. The results show that all observed countries apply a progressive tax schedule, apart from Germany where taxation for higher gross wages is not progressive due to a cap on the SIC base. When it comes to a taxpayer earning an average gross wage, a Croatian single worker without children has the lowest tax burden, followed by Estonia, Slovakia, Germany and Belgium. However, as regards taxpayers earning 400% of AGW, Estonia has the smallest tax wedge, followed by Slovakia, Germany, Croatia and Belgium. Similar results are obtained by analyzing the tax wedge for couples with two children where one spouse is out of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing restructuring of the global energy scene necessitates both national governments and energy associated institutions to reconfigure their agenda, reconsider their priorities and even undergo internal reforms in order to adapt to the current and future energy trends. The prospect of global energy governance, within a reformed institutional framework, emerges as a pivotal issue for global politics. The purpose of this research paper is twofold; to analyze the evolution of global energy governance and energy institutions around two key topics: the expansion of renewable energy (RE) sources and technologies and the climate change mitigation. Besides, to identify the role of the European Union (EU) as global energy and environmental actor. The research paper will focus on the EU’s positioning in the international energy and environmental initiatives and the role of renewable energy (RE) in its energy policy configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of migration is attracting significant media and political attention in Europe. Migration has been one of the causes of the rapid rise in the number and proportion of foreigners in national prisons. In response to this problem, the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers in 2012 adopted a recommendation concerning the treatment of foreign prisoners. This article analyses the penological and human rights implications of this recommendation in relation to its objectives to reduce the number of foreigners in custody, improve the regime experienced by foreign offenders and enhance the prospects for their successful reintegration. While the 2012 Recommendation makes important contributions to regional penal policy, it also contains notable gaps and limitations. The paper discusses the significance of omissions in relation to the (potential) role of consular representatives, dealing with nationals detained abroad and the use of inter-state transfers. Despite these criticisms and political resistance to some proposals in this field, there appears to be wide spread support for the recommendation at a practitioner level. It may also have significance beyond domestic policy. There is a new and growing sub-category of foreign prisoners in Europe: the international prisoners convicted by international criminal courts that are serving their sentences in the prison systems of cooperating states. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential influence regional penal policy can have on the implementation of international custodial sanctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the integration process into the European Union a continuous discourse has evolved about what characterizes 'Europe' and whether there is a common 'European identity'. Most recently, this discourse has tended to define the European 'Self' in contrast to a 'foreign' Muslim 'Other'. The debate is taking place against the background of new Muslim arrivals in Europe. However, the presence of Muslim citizens in Europe is not a recent phenomenon. This empirical research paper explores the effects this discourse has had on the perspective of Muslim youths in Kosovo on European identity. Kosovo is seen as a European country with a centuries-old Muslim presence. It seeks to further 'Europeanize' itself in order to connect with the EU. By means of qualitative in-depth interviews with young practicing Muslims in Prishtina the paper reveals that the participants have not started to view 'Europe' in any negative way. Instead, they use their positive understanding of European identity which they associate with diversity and freedom of religion for Muslims. The respondents heavily criticize their own government for misunderstanding the concept as denoting 'un-Muslim', which leads to an oppression of practicing Muslims in Kosovo in light of the country's attempt to 'be European'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the largely acknowledged fact that attitudes towards the European Union are multidimensional (Hobolt 2014; Harteveld et. al. 2013), this paper aims at exploring the relationship between three important and presumably related dimensions: trust in national institutions, trust in the European Union, and confidence regarding the future of the European Union. Based on some relevant questions from the Standard Eurobarometers implemented between 2007 and 2015, I pose that Romanians (still) perceive the European Union as a "lifebuoy", as a better potential alternative to the national system of governance. I argue that the source of the Romanians' Euro-enthusiasm has national, rather than European, roots. This phenomenon -- which I call rational extrapolation is emblematic for the countries where citizens see the European Union as a panacea for domestic problems that cannot be effectively addressed within the nation state. One important implication of this paper is that national proxies play a leading role in shaping EU-related opinions and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current paper has focused on the capital structure management theories. The theoretical part of the study firstly highlights the differences between trade-off theories and pecking order theories. In the empirical part there are then proved some significant relationships between financial indicators (debt/equity ratio and return on equity) of homogenous data sample from the Czech branch of building area. The aim of the study is to prove the differences between the capital structure development that are based on the type of the Czech companies' ownership in the selected NACE industrial branch and to point out some other particularities. The contribution of the paper is a comparison of the theory as well as practice of this issue in the Czech Republic. For pooled sample there are used selected financial indicators of 57 building companies, all with turnover of more than CZK 1.5 billion. The choice of this criterion was a result of a change in efficiency in Czech economy observed in the selected period. We can assume that this factor will have low influence on the selection of financial resources of large corporations. We may even say that for large companies the availability of financial resources remain unchanged. We have obtained annual data from 2004 to 2011. Due to such short estimation period, but the width of pooled sample on the other hand, it is used generalized method of moments (GMM) panel regression. There are also arguments of motivation to analyse business branch of building specifically. Moreover, an analysis is split according to ownership of companies into two categories, for the Czech and foreign owners. Based on the recent literature there has been made and tested three hypotheses. Results of the article have clearly proved the separation of managers from owner's positions. On the top of that, domestic companies are not pushed to distribute the realized profit so much as foreign owners that prefer the return of their means invested into business. There is also a suggestion of future interests in research focused on other Czech business branches, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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On the international scene, the study of commercial competitiveness is an excellent tool in order to gain an understanding of the market behaviour of a given product. This methodology can be implemented on goods with a significant influence on total exports, in addition to others having a lower impact, such as honey, which has interesting production characteristics. This paper aims to study the behaviour of the main competitiveness indices (RXA, RMA and RTA) relating to the European Union honey market, as the UE acts as an important trade hub for primary sector products, with a separate focus on the Italian performance. The results show that the EU is not very competitive in relation to honey exports and is strongly oriented towards imports. The analysis of the disaggregated data, on the other hand, has revealed that the eastern regions of the EU, currently important producers of honey, are the areas with the highest performance and degree of specialisation in honey exports. Italy's behaviour is similar to the rest of the EU, showing a substantial comparative disadvantage in the trade of this product when compared to countries such as Romania or Spain, which produce greater quantities, or Germany, that is highly specialised in trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights an analysis of the information security management system and the General Data Protection European Regulation. The main objectives of this paper were to study the common aspects between an information security management system and the General Data Protection European Regulation and to identify the advantages of the implementation of this management system in the context of the application of the European Regulation for data protection. A study on twenty companies from various industries has been performed to assess to what extent an information security management system can be useful in the application of the General Data Protection European Regulation. These companies have been studied further to identify the common aspects between this management system and the European Regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probably one of the most important aspects of Europe's efforts to become more sustainable is the establishment of a long lasting, dependable energy supply, without fossil fuels. To achieve this, the development of resilient energy systems is increasingly becoming the priority of governments and organizations focusing on sustainable management. The reduction of energy consumption is of particular strategic importance in this context, especially in view of rising energy prices. Particularly in the case of energy-intensive products, increased energy efficiency often leads to competition-relevant cost differences. Energy Efficiency Networks, which have their origin in Switzerland in the 1980s, can support organizations in the energetic evaluation and optimization. They have the potential to save both: time, and resources. This paper will provide an insight into the history of Energy Efficiency Networks (EEN) and their goals. Furthermore, it will explain their organization, and procedures pointing out the roles of the network participants. In a next step, the pro-and-contra of taking part in an EEN has been summarized. This is especially valuable information for managers considering participating in an Energy Efficiency Network. In order to achieve this, energy efficiency networks were examined in their historical development as well as in their current implementation. In addition, a questionnaire-based survey of participants was carried out, which enabled a better understanding of their expectations and experiences. For this purpose, closed but also open questions were asked, which enabled a better insight into the emotional backgrounds in relevant aspects. The results obtained by means of qualitative and quantitative methods are a valuable help for management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]