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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 European Union took its first strategic step on the topic of climate adaptation in 2009 with publication of a White Paper on Adaptation. Since its publication, many researchers and analysts have criticized the White Paper for its lack of concrete and enforceable actions. In this paper, we analyse the White Paper as an instrument of soft law. First, we provide background on the theory of soft law, its terms of applicability, and the standards by which to judge its success. Second, we analyse the content and context of the White Paper according to soft law principles. We find that the conditions under which the White Paper was adopted were exactly those suited to a soft law approach and highly determined by the European multi-level governance context. As such, the White Paper has managed to achieve several of the common objectives of soft law in particular in setting up processes allowing information-sharing and subsidiarity. However it has failed to achieve several others especially in fostering the commitment of the states, and in moving the European Union in the direction of binding regulation. Further strategy development will be required to fix these deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this contribution is to discuss the extent of the Union's competence to adopt a comprehensive instrument of substantive contract law in light of the options set forth in the Commission's 2010 Green Paper on European contract law, with a view to exploring the limits of, and the relationship between, certain prominent Treaty provisions in the debate -- namely, Articles 114, 115, 81, 169 and 352 TFEU (ex Articles 95, 94, 65, 153 and 308 EC, respectively) -- and the roles played by the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality in guiding the exercise of Union competence inside, as well as outside, the EU decision-making process. Moreover, given the reference to certain American techniques in the Green Paper, this contribution seeks to facilitate discussion of the comparative dimensions of the constitutional assessment of contract law in the European Union and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although based on academic background and literature, my answer to the questions posed by the European Commission turns out to be rather political as from my point of view it is impossible to address those questions in a purely technical way. Although there are other, probably more relevant, obstacles to the internal market, I consider that there is enough evidence to assume that different legislation is an obstacle well worth looking at. I begin with the discussion of goals, strictly connected to the scope of application, and move to the debate on formal/informal harmonisation of contract law. As on one side there is not enough evaluation to sustain solidly that harmonisation or unification is better that diversity that meets local preferences, and on the other side liberty, subsidiarity and proportionality claim for parties' freedom to opt for their better solution, I support the view that Member States must be able to maintain their internal law but at the same time must wide the parties' scope of options with the approval of a Regulation on European contract law. In any case, a lot of assessment should still take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the New Skills for New Jobs initiative, the European Commission wants to (1) promote better anticipation of future skills needs, (2) develop better matching between skills and labour market needs and (3) bridge the gap between the worlds of education and work. With relatively little effort, the use of lingua receptiva can contribute significantly towards achieving these goals. Including it in the Skills Agenda as a "transversal skill" could: - enhance the key competence "Communicating in and learning a foreign language"; - refine the European Qualification Framework (EQF); and, - strengthen the Europass. This position paper1 elaborates on the arguments for including Lingua Receptiva in these policy papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2009 the European Commission published the art. 102 guidance regarding abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings. The guidance is based on the more economic approach to competition policy. This paper investigates the welfare implications of the more economic approach to loyalty rebates. First, the paper presents an economic framework linking weights attached to probabilities of false positives and negatives and the legal norm. After that, the paper discusses cases before the guidance paper (i.a. Hoffmann-La Roche), the guidance paper itself, and cases after the guidance paper (i.a. Intel). In the period after the guidance paper, we observe a non-linear increase in the weight attached to preventing false positives. The paper concludes that to further limit welfare losses due to false positives, the category of rebates that is assumed to be abusive should be defined in a restrictive way. Furthermore, in law enforcement priority should be given to cases that, considering all the circumstances, can be expected to be most harmful to consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common energy policy of the European Union is a current topic on the agenda of European institutions, reflected in package "Clean Energy for All Europeans", proposed by the European Commission. Despite several harmonization attempts, the consensus needed for a common policy and for an Energy Union has not been reached yet. One possible element why we still do not have a common energy market is the lack of competition in the energy sector. In this context, the present research paper analyzes to what extent competition can be a key-factor in ensuring the modernization of the energy sector. Aspects of competition law which are relevant for building a common energy market are highlighted in the present research paper. Furthermore, the present article raises the question how important cooperation is, searching the proper balance between competition and cooperation. The present article uses an interdisciplinary research method, combining the analysis of primary and secondary European law, of legal instruments and provisions, considering the teleological method, with the assessment from a business and economics point of view. Case law and case studies from Member States of the European Union provide best practice models for the energy sector and present an international comparative perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Capital Markets Union (CMU) is one of the flagship policy initiatives of the Juncker Commission. The Commission's strategy for realizing a CMU is set out in its White Paper on building a CMU. Besides describing the Commission's vision of a CMU, the white paper includes an action plan which details the measures that are needed to build a CMU. The aim of this article is to consider the Commission's measures in one particular area of the action plan. Specifically, this article examines the Commission's strategy for overcoming information barriers to SME investment. By acting in this area, the Commission's objective is to facilitate access to finance, but also to diversify sources of funding for SMEs, which are traditionally heavily dependent on bank-based finance. This article evaluates the Commission's strategy and its prospects of success. After assessing the relevant policy measures, it will argue for a paradigm shift which is based on three pillars: a greater emphasis on market building measures; a greater emphasis on information sharing duties as one mechanism that can help to address information barriers; and a market correcting strategy to dovetail greater market building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the White Paper on Modernization of Rules Implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the European Community (EC) Treaty of May 1999, which proposes the reorganization of existing responsibilities between the European Commission, national anti-trust authorities and national courts involved in implementing anti-trust policies. It also suggests reform to combat restrictions of competitions, as well as maintaining consistency in competition policy throughout the Community. A preferred option considered by the EC is through a legislative solution.

The article focuses on the political aspects of the Action Plan for Capital Markets Union (CMU) as well as legislative proposal related to securitization proposed by the European Commission. Topics discussed include the goal of the proposed CMU which include reduction of fragmentation in the financial market, strengthening crossborder capital, and improvement on the access to finance, the significant of the CMU in the single market considering financial market integration, and the financial market integration in the European Union (EU).

Copyright of European Review of Contract Law is the property of De Gruyter 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.)

An introduction is presented in which editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including actions of European Commission for damages under national law for infringements of competition law, public enforcement of European Union (EU) merger control and competition policy of EU.

This paper analyses the process that led the European Commission to the decision to develop European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) for harmonizing public sector accounting practices within the European Union. The paper finds that there was limited scope in terms of stakeholder participation in the public consultation that served as a basis for the decision. In addition, the decision to adopt EPSAS for EU member states raises questions on the relationship between regional and global governance in the area of public sector accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to assess whether the European Commission or the European Council shaped the European Union's response to the sovereign debt crisis through their respective agenda-setting powers. The paper uses process tracing complemented with interviews to demonstrate the influence of the European Commission and the European Council in this regard. Theoretically, the paper is anchored by a framework of agenda-setting dynamics which is used to assess the European Commission and European Council's influence in reforming the European Union's economic governance framework. A systematic analysis of the negotiations of these reforms between 2010 and 2013 indicate that the European Council wielded policy influence through its agenda-setting powers. Conversely, the European Commission exercised less influence in those negotiations, despite its position as the European Union's de facto agenda-setter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the 'making' of Capital Markets Union (CMU) through the theoretical lens of 'actor-centred constructivism', by considering the 'policy narratives' that bureaucratic actors have employed strategically to promote the project. It is argued that two main narratives were articulated by the European Commission in order to mobilize the political support necessary to push forward CMU and reduce potential opposition to it. The first narrative was to boost the size and internal and external competitiveness of European Union capital markets. The second narrative was the increased funding to the real economy, especially to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and infrastructural projects. The Commission used these narratives instrumentally in 'framing' CMU as a positive-sum game, rather than a zero-sum game with potential winners and losers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 8 years of investigation, the European Commission decided that Google has abused its market dominance by giving prominent placement in its search results to its own comparison shopping service, whilst demoting rival services. This paper discusses the first of these conducts. The paper will assess the harm arising from Google's conduct on consumers and merchants, and will discuss the importance of causality in proving that a conduct is abusive. The paper will also briefly present the remedies for Google's conduct. The argument made herein is that the Commission's decision enters uncharted territories in unilateral conduct enforcement and the decision is subject to criticisms which will be analysed herein. The paper shall assess the implications of the Commission's approach and remedies in this case for future enforcement in unilateral conduct cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU’s initial reaction to the Arab uprisings in the field of energy cooperation was yet another proposal for creating an integrated Euro-Mediterranean energy market, despite the moot success of previous efforts. This paper investigates the policy frame underpinning the EU’s persistent focus on market-regulatory harmonization since the late 1990s and enquires into whether it has experienced any change in the post-uprising context. While the paper finds an enduring dominance of themarket-liberal frame, it also identifies signs of its erosion through processes ofreframingandmisframing, affecting also the EU’s practical engagement with the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the possible impact of TTIP's so-called regulatory cooperation on the implementation of the precautionary principle in the EU. The European Commission argues that regulatory cooperation will not impinge on the application of the precautionary principle because, first, it does not change the legislative framework of precautionary legislation and, second, the right to regulate will be safeguarded by the TTIPs horizontal chapters. On the contrary, I argue in this paper, that these guarantees are insufficient. Given the methodological and institutional constraints presented by the TTIP's institutional design, in the long run, regulatory cooperation will undermine the precautionary approach to regulation in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a brief reminder of the genesis of Regulation 1/2003, and a short overview of its main results, as apparent ten years later.As far as the national competition authorities and the functioning of the European Competition Network are concerned, the new enforcement system has been a major success, beyond expectations.The impact of Regulation 1/2003 on the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU in litigation between private parties has been as expected.The impact of Regulation 1/2003 on the activity of the European Commission has mostly also been as expected.However, the prediction in the 1999 White Paper on Modernisation that, following the abolition of the notification system, the number of individual prohibition decisions could be expected to increase substantially may have been too optimistic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Double tax conventions on income and capital (DTC) build bridges between the economies of the contracting States. This paper discusses the position of DTCs in the EU based on two questions: (1) What was, is, will be, should have been, and should be the role of DTCs in the EU? (2) How did affect, does affect, will affect, should have affected, and should affect EU law DTCs? To answer these questions, the paper will look back, at the state of the art, and to the future. After setting a benchmark, it will discuss the past, starting with Art. 220 EEC Treaty (repealed in 2009), the Neumark Report (1962), the preliminary draft EC Multilateral Tax Convention on Income and Capital (1968), the Ruding Report (1992) and the European Commission's initiative on EC law and tax treaties (2005). The current position will primarily be discussed based on a number of issues addressed by the CJEU. The future will be discussed based on the recent Commission's communication on double taxation and the internal market and the instrument of a redeveloped EU Model Tax Convention. After fifty years of talk after the Neumark Report, it is now time for real and accurate actions within the EU in respect of DTCs. The paper ends with a call to the Commission and the Council to take the lead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of German Policy Studies/Politikfeldanalyse is the property of Southern Public Administration Education Foundation 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.)

Purpose In light of the recent European Commission decisions that clearly favour the maintenance of a four-network structure in European mobile markets, the purpose is to provide an empirical examination of the case for and against such a structure.Design/methodology/approach A table of concentration ratios in 35 sample European markets is constructed and is followed by a detailed analysis of all relevant merger/takeover cases since 2012. These are then used to provide a general analysis of the desirability of further consolidation in the European mobile sector.Findings Although the relevant investigatory bodies claim to have made out a watertight case for the maintenance of existing structures, the paper explains why these claims should be met with some scepticism, especially in light of the development of “quad-play” in all markets.Research limitations/implications When a decision is made on a market structure, it is pointless to pursue the “but what if?” alternatives any further. However, it should be possible in a few years’ time to assess whether the Commission’s predictions have come to pass.Originality/value As the UK decision has only just been delivered, the only commentary so far has had a narrow focus, whereas this paper seeks to provide useful and relevant background data about the structure of markets and technological developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent complexity of the Europe 2020 Strategy, focused on areas where the European Commission has not full jurisdictional competence, increases the relevance of a timely and precise monitoring system and of effective and efficient institutional settings. This paper performs a quantitative evaluation of countries' performances, using the Europe 2020 Index (Pasimeni in Soc Indic Res 110(2): 613-635, . doi:). We observe differences among countries and across time, and investigate their determinants by means of a model including potential explanatory variables, such as level of wealth, growth, sustainability of public finances and institutions. We refer to institutions in the sense of North (J Econ Perspect 5(1):97-112, ), and apply the distinction between formal and informal ones. The analysis confirms the importance of formal and informal institutions, both in absolute and in relative terms, compared with the other factors considered. Institutional variables, such as good governance and social capital, are the most significant ones and have the strongest estimated effects on countries' performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current system of exemptions from the cartel prohibition (Article 101(3) TFEU) is a veritable tower of Babel. For one, there is a considerable confusion of tongues between jurists and economists on the goal of competition law. Moreover, the European Commission's Guidelines on the application of the cartel prohibition explain the law differently from what is apparent from the case law. This economic paper aims to reduce the confusion of tongues by answering questions such as: what is consumer welfare, what is public interest, and should non-competition public interests be included in the assessment of competition cases? Actual cases are used to show the terminology of competition and other public interests. We develop a framework for balancing the economic benefits produced by restrictive agreements against the restrictive effects of these agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe has a long history of cartels, but the changes in the scale and geography of collusion in the European market from the post-war decades until the present have not been systematically investigated. Using network analysis methods and an original dataset based on decisions in EU cartel cases, this paper maps the developments in detected collusion in the European market from 1958 to 2008 and tentatively explains these developments. It appears that collusive activities increased during the 1960s and after the mid-1980s and that a long decline in the scale of collusion began in the mid-1990s. Moreover, the geographical spread of collusive activities in Europe increased considerably from 1969 to 1993. To facilitate an explanation of these and other findings, the paper presents a three-dimensional analytical framework that emphasises the importance of anti-cartel regulation, major changes in the business environment and the size of national economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper documents the failure of the EU's current merger control architecture to address the misallocation problem and proposes changes to the architecture which would virtually eliminate this major concern. This will streamline the working of the architecture by removing the need for correctives to either prevent misallocation or reassign cases that have been misallocated. Moreover, and just as importantly, the resolution of this problem will improve the application of the principle of subsidiarity in merger cases and bring to an end the multiple notification issue, thereby strengthening the operation of the one-stop shop approach. The changes to the architecture and how they interact to virtually end the misallocation problem and thereby bring about the aforementioned benefits are revealed. More specifically, it demonstrates how the use of the three or more Member state notification rule and the distinct market test, the retention of the existing two Community Dimension tests and the two-thirds rule, as well as the shared competence of the Competition Directorate and Member state regulators to apply EU merger law, albeit intentionally in different situations, reinforce each other to resolve the stated problem. Moreover, this limited sharing of the right to apply EU merger law-currently the EU Commission has the exclusive right-allied with other forms of envisaged cooperation between the regulators is not just simply a reinterpretation of the Commission's most appropriate authority goal but also the possible beginnings of a more cooperative architecture, relative to the current architecture of separate jurisdictional zones, aimed at improving the efficacy and efficiency of merger control within the Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Commission's open consultations of stakeholders are a central mechanism of the attempt to practice participatory governance at the European level and to open the political process to contributions from the societal sphere. This paper analyses the current practice of open consultations as one important operationalisation of participatory governance and as an implementation of Article 11 of the Treaty of the European Union ( TEU). It asks whether consultations can be a means to give voice to the citizens and to increase the legitimacy of European institutions. The paper presents an empirical analysis of the field of participants in the consultations. A main finding is that business and industry organisations dominate the consultative process while the participation of citizens and not-for-profit organisations is generally weak. The paper explores to which extent the consultations can, considering the empirical findings, be seen as a suitable way for direct or representative citizen participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thematic concentration is a key element in the European Commission's reform of cohesion policy for the 2014-2020 period. This principle and the related regulatory requirements have the purpose of aligning cohesion policy with the Europe 2020 Strategy, in an effort to integrate EU regional policy with the larger policy framework of the EU and aiming to improve its added value. This paper looks retrospectively at the programming period 2007-2013, analysing the strategic concentration in the main priority areas of operational programmes. The analysis shows that the structure of most operational programmes in 2007-2013 was already quite focused, from a thematic standpoint, on the areas of the Europe 2020 Strategy. As a consequence, many operational programmes were already consistent with the new thematic concentration approach. These findings are in line with the evolution of cohesion policy, as well as being consistent with its targets, although further thematic concentration might not fit with the evolution of specific regional needs. In the context of the crisis, some regions were particularly hit and are struggling now to recover suffer from limited fiscal space for public investment, also in basic public services. Hence, these regions might benefit from a larger scope of interventions leaving margin of manoeuvre, at least in the short run and on localised actions or horizontal measures which are in line with the European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds' aims and meet local demand, but which are not necessarily fully aligned with the main Europe 2020 objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to assess the proposals of taxation of the financial sector and to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each proposal. This paper is based on the actual reports of international economic organizations (International Monetary Fund, European Commission), statistical data and a number of analyses carried out by economists across a number of geographies. This paper identifies the most common types of taxation imposed upon the financial sector, and provides discussion of their costs and the revenues they are likely to bring. Such estimates can be seen as valuable research material, and they often justify the conceptual reasoning for application of such tax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines the European Commission's commitment to employing a more "effects-based" approach to enforcing Article 101 TFEU. It finds that, while the Commission has developed an impressive theoretical framework for assessing the effects of agreements on competition, there has in fact been very little effects analysis in its decisional practice since 2005. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the anticompetitive effects of prohibited agreements have instead been presumed on the basis of the "object rule". This paper explores possible reasons for this development, and examines whether alternative forms of enforcement are addressing the void that the focus on object restrictions has left. It concludes that Article 101 is currently not being enforced effectively against restrictions of competition by effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: First embodied by the European Supervisory Authorities in 2010, agency governance in the financial sector has gained momentum with the creation of the Single Resolution Board (SRB) – an EU agency with considerable competencies in banking prudential policy. Within a short period, backed by the ‘ESMA‐Short Selling case’ judgment, agencies have progressed from supporting the European Commission with their quasi‐rule making, to a more prominent role in the decision‐making process, potentially influencing policy‐makers' agenda. By engaging in a qualitative analysis of legal documents, official texts and relevant scholarship, this research note examines the formal framework and practical aspects of SRB's governance, in order to substantiate whether its establishment presents a ‘qualitative increase’ in financial sector agencification. At the same time, the research note highlights problematic issues arising because of the limitations set by the Meroni doctrine arguing that the Board's wide powers ‘on paper’ may prove challenging to implement in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of the national institutional setting in explaining Single Market non-compliance regarding non-tariff barriers in intra-European Union (EU) trade. Using data on infringements to Single Market law we show that the quality of domestic institutional characteristics is relevant to explain non-compliance among EU countries. While government independence from political pressures and higher levels of representativeness and accountability reduce the propensity of member states to infringe upon Single Market laws, better regulatory quality increases the probability of non-compliance at industry level, suggesting that increases in competition may generate protectionist measures that violate Single Market law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using process tracing, this paper charts the history of the changes in the EU's revenue since 1970, including package deals and the unforeseen consequences of change, comparing the positions of the Council to those of the European Commission and European Parliament. Those revenue decisions allowed European integration to proceed though without a fully autonomous budget as Member States became more careful to calculate their net benefits or costs in relation to the budget. In December 2013, the European Union's institutions established a High Level Group to recommend changes to the revenue base of the EU's budget. This reported in January 2017, proposing to resolve the effect of sub-optimal revenue and budget decisions made by the European Union over many years, to reduce direct national contributions, to minimise the risk of unforeseen consequences, and to combine revenue flows with steering effects to discourage certain forms of economic behaviour in line with the wider policy agenda of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the White Paper on Transport 2011 the European Commission stressed the concept of green transport corridors, i.e. transshipment routes with concentration of freight traffic between major hubs and by relatively long distances of transport marked by reduced environmental and climate impact while increasing safety and efficiency with application of sustainable logistics solutions. Green transport is based on inter-modality, powerful logistics hubs and advanced ICT-systems improving traffic management, increase efficiency and better integrate the logistics components of a corridor. Sustainable hub development along the transshipment routes of green corridors is one of the major tasks of green corridors in order to safeguard and meet the necessary corridor performance for the current and future transport demand. The main corridor hubs represent logistics clusters in the sense of Yossi Sheffi, comprising ports, logistics centers and other transshipment nodes. The paper will present results about the development of core logistics clusters representing hubs in green transport corridors and it will indicate actions for hub development with a future-oriented compilation of sustainable development measures of infrastructural, legal or organizational nature. Since the author took part in some important green transport corridor initiatives around the Baltic Sea, including "East-West Transport Corridor (EWTC II)" initiative, representing the first European project which delivered a green corridor manual formulating recommendations and requirements of green transport corridors to European level, some case studies from EWTC project will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. he 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. his 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban logistics seem to be a quite difficult issue, as it contains several levels of complexity. It consists of planning, coordination and controlling of logistic processes, and resources' flows within the urban areas. Besides, what is also very important, city logistics involve various stakeholders. Among them can be listed authorities, transportation operators, and retailers. Often these stakeholders have different aims and priorities. Local authorities are mostly interested in reducing pollution, noise or congestion, transport operators' aims focus on minimising costs while maintaining service levels. This may lead to enforcement of partial interest solutions concerning urban flow strategies. The possibility of success for an appropriate city logistics strategy depends on the specific city features and its characteristics and needs. The objectives of the article are: to systematize methods rationalizing goods' flows within the cities, to show the practical solutions for improving urban delivery of goods within the city logistics and indicate the best potential freight logistics measures that could be applied in Tri-city area (Poland). The methodological approach: the research is mostly based on the analysis of practical solutions in the field of city logistics in European urban areas, documents of the European Commission, and the publications prepared by industry association. Moreover, studies were carried out on the basis of investigating city board representatives and public road administrators in looking for the best solutions in freight logistics within the city area. The theoretical part of the paper is based on the existing materials from public resources and author's research experience. The results of the paper are: the analysis of effectiveness of the applied solutions in city delivery of goods, which shows the way of considering the right set of regulations and successfully implementing the most appropriate urban logistic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been some uncertainty among legal practitioners and commentators as to the legal effect that the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union will have on the conduct of merger control proceedings then pending before the European Commission under the EU Merger Regulation. In this paper, the authors outline their views as to how the law as it presently stands ought to be interpreted and applied in respect of cases that are ongoing at the time of “Brexit”, and what measures (if any) may be required to ensure that there is legal certainty, administrative efficiency, and comprehensive application of merger control rules during that transitional phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we take an incomplete contract approach to Eurozone Fiscal Governance between the European Commission (EC) and any heavily debt member state, Greece in particular. Incomplete contract approach makes possible to put a long process of Eurozone Fiscal Governance into an extensive form game in which a renegotiation procedure is incorporated. We theoretically reveal the conflict of interests between the EC (Germany) and Greece over the Greek debt repayment plan proposed in 2015. We show that the Greek’s position is consistent with incomplete contract theory, but that the EC (Germany) does not allow the renegotiation for restructuring for growth-oriented debt repayment program proposed by the Greek government because the EC (Germany) judges that the commitment effect (on fiscal austerity) is greater than the flexibility one (pro-growth effect). This will undoubtedly provide a novel and interesting approach to Eurozone Fiscal Governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2014, Commission President Juncker was elected because he was Spitzenkandidat of the winning party in the European elections. Observers agree that the procedure’s impact on the turnout was low, but that it had an effect on the inter-institutional power play. This paper investigates whether the more legitimised Commission President and the European Parliament (EP) had a greater influence on the constitution of the Commission, understood as the selection of Commissioners and the internal organisation. It is based on the classic debate between supranational and intergovernmental approaches. The paper analyses data on Commissioners, press reports and official documents. It concludes that the Spitzenkandidaten procedure had mixed effects. The selection of Commissioners still follows national logics. Member states aim to maximise their interest by sending loyal politicians, who might secure an important portfolio. The selection of Commissioners follows national, rather than European party-politics. Juncker exerted a limited influence on the selection of Commissioners regarding his quest for more female candidates. The President’s power is limited to the influence prescribed by the Treaty, namely the organisation of the Commission and the allocation of portfolios. Here, his close relation to the EP and his legitimacy derived from his role as Spitzenkandidat played a significant role. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Jacques Delors’ presidency of the European Commission (1985–1994) is a major example of transformative leadership at a moment of significant innovation in a transnational institution. Leadership by the president involves both leading the supranational Commission, and exercising leadership in the intergovernmental setting of the European Council, which takes key decisions about major innovations for the European Union. This analysis uses a typology developed by Oran Young to analyse Delors’ successes and failures both in mobilizing the Commission for the major projects of the decade and in promoting them in the intergovernmental context of the Council. After reviewing his early career in French politics and the resources it provided, the article analyses Delors’ successes, beginning with the 1985 Single Market program, an exercise that presented innovative win–win proposals to member states that unleashed energy that could be invested in new projects. As Franco-German preferences diverged over monetary union and member states grew wary of his ‘Russian Dolls’ strategy, Delors’ capacity for transformative leadership dwindled. Following the 1992 Maastricht treaty, as the EU turned toward issue areas central to national power and identity, member states began retreating towards intergovernmentalism. The decline of Delors’ leadership became clear when member states refused to support his 1993 White Paper onGrowth, Competitiveness, and Employment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]