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In the context of the prevalence of anti-gender politics in Europe, political institutions such as parliaments have become arenas of political struggles around gender and gender equality. While feminist scholarship has studied anti-gender politics, less attention has been paid to feminist responses to such opposition. The contribution of this article is to conceptualize feminist responses to anti-gender politics within political institutions, which we name feminist institutional responses. This conceptualization entails proposing a set of analytical categories for capturing forms of feminist institutional responses – namely, knowledge, coalition building, rule making, and everyday pragmatic engagement. We analyze 50 plenary debates on gender equality and two plenary debates on the State of the Union, as well as 135 interviews with members of the European Parliament and political staff during two terms that witnessed a rise in anti-gender politics, 2014–2019 and 2019–2024. The conceptualization of feminist institutional responses to anti-gender politics in parliaments is important for identifying how institutional actors are countering the destructive potential of anti-gender politics and safeguarding parliaments as democratic sites for the advancement of gender equality policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on enforcing compliance with the European Union's (EU's) rule of law value has focused on the roles of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice of the EU. However, the Council of the EU has attracted less attention. Existing scholarship has convincingly established that the rotating Presidency can crucially influence the functioning of the Council, and, accordingly, this paper examines the discretionary impact the Presidencies have towards Art.7 procedures. Drawing on official documents and statements, this paper compares how the various Presidencies from 2018 to 2022 have used their privileged position on the Council's agenda to decide whether to move forward with hearings. In doing so, they selected appropriate agenda‐shaping strategies, shaped the Commission's perceived opportunities to exercise its agenda prerogatives, avoided compromises on the trios' agendas and, sometimes, benefited from not dealing with Art.7 to pursue other agenda priorities. The Presidency's wide room for manoeuvre hinders the Council's activity in scrutinising backsliding governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Euroscepticism has become prominent across the European Union, also in countries that were originally seen as pro‐integrationist such as the Netherlands. Based on a qualitative analysis of claims in three major Dutch newspapers, I examine the mainstreaming of Euroscepticism in the Netherlands in the context of the 2009, 2014 and 2019 European Parliament elections. Mainstreaming refers to a process in which an idea becomes an integral part of debates in the public sphere. I examine the mainstreaming of Euroscepticism through a two‐part analysis that centres around a fourfold typology, which distinguishes between supportive, Euroalternative, soft Eurosceptic and hard Eurosceptic claims. I find that Euroscepticism has indeed become mainstream, in debates revolving around arguments for and against the European Union. Furthermore, Euroscepticism has not just become more prominent but has also moved from an outsider to an insider perspective. Yet, it often remains unclear what Euroscepticism actually entails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the narratives of the European Council, European Commission, and European Parliament regarding the European refugee crisis. Although the relevant scholarly research suggests that the EU Institutions held different perspectives about the refugee crisis, this paper argues that there was no such a clash of perspectives. This paper builds on the Copenhagen School's securitization framework as complemented with subsequent methodological tools to support the author's arguments. The findings suggest that despite the similarity in the views held by the main EU Institutions considering the refugees' influx, there was a variation in the intensity of their securitizing narratives. Theoretically, this study develops an understanding of the importance of the securitization narratives' intensity. Methodologically, this study introduces the Securitization Narratives Continuum, a research tool that facilitates the assessment of securitization. Empirically, this is the first study to interview and take into account the opinions of the securitizing actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the pervasive digitalisation of industry, the disruption of global supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a geopolitical race for the development of artificial intelligence models, the European Union has pivoted towards promoting 'digital sovereignty' across the technological stack. The paper looks more specifically at the cloud layer and analyses the draft European Union Cloud Services Scheme (EUCS) launched by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity in December 2020. While EUCS is a highly technical scheme, the attempt to include digital sovereignty provisions in it provoked unexpected controversies around who pushes for 'digital sovereignty', why, and how feasible it is. The paper argues, first, that distributive conflicts between member states have led to strong objections towards including digital sovereignty provisions in EUCS. Second, diverging national preferences have also played out in horizontal inter-institutional conflicts around competences between the European Commission and the European Parliament. All in all, the paper makes a novel empirical contribution by studying the overlooked case of EUCS. Theoretically, it bridges the growing literature on digital sovereignty with classic theories of EU integration to identify key factors hindering the translation of digital sovereignty discourses into policy within a broader context of limited technological capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the 2024 European Parliament elections in Spain as an element of national and European political pro-cess. The purpose of the study is to reveal key factors that in-fluenced voting outcome in Spain, as well as its possible im-plications for national political development and country’s role in the European Union. The research is based on the of-ficial data on the election results in Spain and the European Union, Spanish national statistics, Russian and Spanish think tanks’ and news agencies’ publications. The factors that shaped the campaign course and election results include spe-cific features of Spain's administrative territorial structure; na-tional rules for the European Parliament elections; character-istics of the Spanish party system and national political pro-cess dynamics. The voting results were also influenced by the growing political appeal of national-conservative ideas and candidates’ reliance on unconventional methods of campaign-ing. The political and ideological balance among Spanish members of the newly-elected European Parliament reflects stronger presence of the right-wing, including far-right politi-cal forces, which is in line with general European trends. However, the traditional political competitors, the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and the center-right People’s Party, which consistently take a pro-European stance, have retained their leading positions. This draws a conclusion about the probable continuity of Spain's course in the new European legislature and its further pursuit of greater integration.

The study discusses the significant role of the European Parliament, particularly with the rise of right-wing parties in the 2024 elections. It reveals that shaping effective policy-making and actual decisions related to the EU's foreign affairs is different from the missions of this parliament. It emphasizes that foreign political decision-making and position-taking on international developments are primarily expressed by the European Council, the meetings of European foreign ministers, and the European Commission or European External Policy Commissioner. The study suggests that while issues such as immigration to Europe, maintaining energy supplies, and resolving internal crises will likely be the European Parliament's primary concerns, the results of the 2024 elections could still lead to significant changes in the EU's relations and positions towards the Arab world and the Palestinian issue. It would be clearer if these results affected the political elections in the EU member states. As such, it is more likely to affect the shaping of the EU's foreign policy through its executive bodies. The potential for an expanded scope of confrontation at the regional level in the Middle East necessitates the EU to adopt certain common positions, and the EU parliament would play some role in that situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Europarecht (05312485) is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG 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 Conference on the Future of Europe, launched by the European Union in 2021, aimed to engage citizens in a dialogue and serve as a key platform for EU institutions to discuss the future direction of the European Union. Hungary actively participated in the process, and the objective of our study is to shed light on the contributions of Hungarian citizens and the conclusions drawn from them. The study also explores the post-Conference landscape, tracing the evolution of the proposals arising directly or indirectly from the debates on the future of Europe, with a reflection to their possible implications on the revision of the EU Treaties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of increasingly capable artificial intelligence (AI) systems has raised concerns about the potential extreme risks associated with them. The issue has drawn substantial attention in academic literature and compelled legislators of regulatory frameworks like the European Union AI Act (AIA) to readapt them to the new paradigm. This paper examines whether the European Parliament's draft of the AIA constitutes an appropriate approach to address the risks derived from frontier models. In particular, we discuss whether the AIA reflects the policy needs diagnosed by recent literature and determine if the requirements falling on providers of foundation models are appropriate, sufficient, and durable. We find that the provisions are generally adequate, but insufficiently defined in some areas and lacking in others. Finally, the AIA is characterized as an evolving framework whose durability will depend on the institutions' ability to adapt to future progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, the European Union has faced multiple crises that have affected the direction and the nature of the integration process. This study focuses on the challenges posed by the Belarusian-EU border crisis (2021) and the proposed travel restrictions towards Russian citizens (2022) in the context of the Nordic-Baltic EU member states. The study addresses their impact through the double prisms of regionality and level of governance. The study looks at how national elite narratives on borders and the movement of people travel to the supranational context, in this case the European Parliament. While the Parliament is often overlooked in favour of the Council or the Commission, this study regards it as an effective analytical bridge between domestic and supranational decision-making levels. To achieve its empirical goals the study relies on governments' official communiques, while the parliamentary analysis is based on pre-vote debates and Parliament's roll-call votes. The article finds that, while the national narratives highlight a growing convergence of governmental narratives in adopting or justifying restrictive bordering measures, the EP debates and votes highlight the relevance of ideology and partisanship when it comes to the issue and the growing significance of the gap between mainstream and non-mainstream forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last 20 years, the European Union has been mired in crisis after crisis. At the same time, the number of infringement procedures, the formal requests from the European Commission to member states for compliance, decreased dramatically, despite the addition of 10 member states in 2004. Yet, the link between crises and Commission enforcement activity has not been systematically examined. In this article, I theorize about the role of time, and demonstrate that crises limit the Commission's ability to act as guardian of the treaties. However, crises are not deterministic in nature – the European Parliament and European Union citizens can alter the costs of Commission enforcement. I find that as Euroscepticism increases, the Commission's demand for compliance decreases, in part due to the steep reputational costs to the Commission when member states refuse compliance, especially after sanctions. The number of infringements is also positively correlated with European Parliament action, suggesting that even without formal sanctioning power, the European Parliament plays a role in European Union law enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Computer und Recht 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.)

The Act of 5 July 2018 on the National Cybersecurity System and its accompanying executive regulations have introduced into Polish law the provisions of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2016 concerning measures for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union (UE) 2016/1148. The fundamental reason for these regulations was to establish a coherent system to ensure the cyber security of the Republic of Poland with accordance to standards adopted for European Union Member States. This paper presents the legal situation of operators of essential services and digital service providers that was created by the provisions of the ANCS. The ANCS not only identifies operators of essential services, digital service providers, and their assigned obligations, but also addresses the competent authorities' tasks of supervising, inspecting and imposing penalties within the cyber security system. The findings, assessments and conclusions presented here are based on the interpretation of the provisions of the ANCS and are supported by prominent claims of academic representatives. The analyses contained within this paper aim to show that despite the comprehensible and contemporary ratio legis -- which falls within the framework of pursuing the state of digital safety -- the provisions of the ANCS require adjustments that acknowledge the legal situation of operators of essential services and digital service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union's AI Act as adopted by the European Parliament on 13 March 2024 contains two provisions of particular relevance for copyright. According to Art. 53(1)(c) and (d), providers of general-purpose AI models shall (1) put in place a policy to comply with Union copyright law, and in particular to identify and comply with, including through state of the art technologies, a reservation of rights expressed pursuant to Art. 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790, and (2) draw up and make publicly available a sufficiently detailed summary about the content used for training of the general-purpose AI model. This article summarizes the history of these provisions, explains that the EU legislature has merged two different types of laws, identifies the addressees of the copyright-related obligations, and gives an overview of their legal nature, content and enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nachhaltigkeitsrecht is the property of Verlag Oesterreich GmbH 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 absence of an electoral connection is a widely held assumption in the scholarship on the European Parliament (EP) and a cause of serious normative concern about the functioning of the European Union. Weak individual legislator accountability is part of this assumption, even if we still know little about the extent to which legislative performance matters for citizens in EP elections that allow preferential voting. This study is the first to analyse how legislative performance influences the preference vote shares of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and whether this is moderated by their parties’ EU salience and incumbent intra-party competition. It draws on an original dataset that combines candidate and electoral data from three rounds of EP elections held between 2004 and 2014 under open or flexible list rules with information on individual legislative activity (i.e., number of reports, parliamentary questions and speeches) and leadership positions at EP and committee level. One dimension of legislative performance, report writing, is associated with a larger share of preference votes but only for incumbents of parties assigning high salience to the EU. While MEPs win a higher share of preference votes when they face limited co-partisan incumbent competition, this factor does not moderate the electoral connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, voter turnout among young Portuguese citizens in the European Parliament election was the lowest across the European Union. This article aims to identify youth mobilization strategies for the 2024 European elections. To this end, this article provides a descriptive typology that distinguishes between short- and medium/long-term mobilization strategies. This typology was tested in three focus groups, totalizing twenty-one young Portuguese citizens. The results indicate a convergence in support for some mobilization strategies and a divergence regarding others. The article concludes with some recommendations aimed at promoting the participation of young Portuguese citizens in the upcoming European elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Europarecht (05312485) is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG 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 article provides an overview of the agenda for the new EU institutional cycle and the challenges and opportunities facing the European Union. It covers topics such as climate change, digitalization, migration and asylum policy, and the war in Ukraine. The article also mentions the Eleventh International Conference of the European Studies Department at Sofia University, which focuses on discussing the achievements, perspectives, and challenges of the European Union. The conference panels cover various topics related to the EU, including the future of the Eurozone, European identity, EU enlargement, and EU media policy. The conference brings together academics and researchers from different institutions to discuss current topics in European integration. [Extracted from the article]

The implementation of artificial intelligence as a medical decision support tool for triage, such as the SmED system in Germany, raises its potential application as a medical decision support for the use of telemedicine. The use of this self-learning artificial intelligence system (machine learning) raises the question of who is liable for damages in the event of an erroneous prediction by the system. This paper explores the answer to this question in line with the proposed new regulatory framework for AI in the European Union: the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on adapting non-contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence [AI Liability Directive-COM (2022) 496 final] and the Proposal for a Directive on liability for defective products [COM (2022) 493 final]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates member state influence on the making of EU counter-terrorism policy. Crucially, member states have not been viewed as major drivers of change in EU counter-terrorism, despite their experience of attacks, policy expertise, and the domestic salience of the issue. To address this gap, I show how member states acted as policy entrepreneurs during EU Passenger Name Records (EU-PNR), on which final agreement was reached in 2016. Specifically, I demonstrate that the UK Home Office was a prominent, long-term actor in the development of the EU's counter-terrorism policy and worked with the Commission to build an alliance in favour of EU-PNR. However, it was only with the 'window of opportunity' presented by jihadi terrorist attacks between 2015 and 2016 that members of the French government were finally able to pressure critical elements of the European Parliament into agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the EU Directive (EC) No 128/2009 (SUD) was approved by the European Parliament, the establishment of a general framework aimed at securing the sustainable use of pesticides was laid down, and European Union (EU) Member States adopted National Action Plans in accordance with this Directive. Specifically, for EU Member States, pesticides, objectives and quantitative targets were created. Therefore, the EU Commission provided a methodology for risk assessment as the derivation of two harmonised risk indicators: HRI_1 and HRI_2. The present study focuses on HRI_1, as this can be implemented at the country level. Each EU Member State delivers annual harmonised risk indicators values to the Commission based on calculations using their own data and results. However, only the EU Commission can derive this HRI_1 (concatenated) indicator at the EU level. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to shed some light on the modus operandi used by the EU Commission to compile this HRI_1, and it also aims to clarify these calculations. Data originating from twenty-seven EU Member States were analysed. These data were compared to data published on the EU Commission website over time. Possible virtual developments including the modification and evolution of active substance statuses are envisaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present action comes as a result of some recent legislative changes, at the level of Romania, more precisely the criminalization of "revenge pornography", but not as a distinct act, according to the provisions of the Criminal Code, but as a variant of committing the crime of violation of private life. Taking into account the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to private life, we want to analyse to what extent and how the national legislator of other Member States of the European Union understood to criminalize the behaviour mentioned above. Moreover, considering the criminalization of child pornography, from the European Council Convention on Computer Crime, as well as from the Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 13, 2011, we want to analyse the opportunity of the existence in Romanian legislation of a distinct criminalization, with the name of "revenge pornography", in the same title of the special part of the Criminal Code as the crime of child pornography, taking into account the protected social value, while observing whether such an orientation is found in the criminal legislation of other Member States. Another aspect that will be considered from the perspective of applying the law to different cases brought to justice is that related to international judicial cooperation when the object of criminal protection is private life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of WISTA Wirtschaft und Statistik is the property of Statistisches Bundesamt 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 concept of Work-Life Balance (WLB), which involves finding a harmonious equilibrium between work and personal life, has gained considerable importance across the European Union. In 2019, the European Parliament adopted a directive that requires all member states to integrate the principles of WLB, aiming to promote gender equality and fair treatment in the labor market (Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union and Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers). This perspective offers significant opportunities and potential, while also posing challenges for entrepreneurs. An analysis of the literature on the subject indicates that the issue of WLB should be analyzed in the context of company size. The main objective of the research is to analyze and evaluate WLB among employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises in Poland. The main results reflect that employees of companies in Poland (both SMEs and large enterprises) indicate a wide range of tools as having, in their opinion, an impact on WLB. Companies in Poland most commonly utilize tools such as flexible working hours and hybrid work. Findings confirm that WLB is less frequently implemented in the SME sector compared to large enterprises, and that employees in large enterprises have a better maintained WLB compared to employees in the SME sector. Implementing WLB is a challenge for the SME sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the dynamics of the upcoming 2024 European Parliament elections, focusing on the anticipated rise of far-right parties and its potential impact on European politics. Topics include the unique structure of the European Parliament, the historical context of European elections, and the projected electoral outcomes in light of recent geopolitical events and ideological shifts.

The 2014–2019 European Parliament (EP) contained an unprecedented number of Eurosceptic Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). These changes reflected a growing politicisation of European integration in which conflicts between those opposing the process and those favouring it became more pronounced. Using a unique time series of surveys of the European parliamentarians, we examine how far the policy preferences of the MEPs responded to this politicisation. MEPs' preferences over general policy questions as well as European Union (EU)‐specific issues have traditionally been described by a multi‐dimensional space: with a left‐right dimension, incorporating both economic and socio‐cultural issues, distinct from a pro‐/anti‐Europe dimension. We find that the political space in the EP evolved in the 2014–2019 parliament, with MEPs' preferences more strongly aligned along a single dimension, which captures economic, socio‐cultural, and EU integration issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The water and sewage sector is responsible for approximately 3.5% of energy consumption in the European Union (EU). Leaks causing water losses in water distribution systems (WDSs) are responsible for approximately 24% of water consumption in the EU, which contributes to additional energy losses and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The implementation of the Directive of the European Parliament and the EU Council on the quality of drinking water (Directive (EU) 2020/2184) introduces the obligation to report water losses by large water utilities in EU Member States. The reported indicator will be the infrastructure leakage index (ILI) which is the ratio between current annual real loss (CARL) and unavoidable annual real loss (UARL). The paper presents a comparative analysis of selected water loss performance indicators calculated for 12 Polish WDSs. Results show that values of calculated indicators were diverse. The overestimation of both the reported value of operating pressure and total length of service connections may lead to the overestimation of UARL and thus to the underestimation of ILI. Obtaining a satisfactory, but incorrect, value of ILI may result in the abandonment of activities aimed at water loss reduction. Water losses in water distribution systems (WDSs) contribute to a significant increase in both energy consumption and GHG emissions. Total approximated electrical energy related to CARL consumed in 2021 by eleven utilities (except for one company) amounted to 3.276 GWh and total approximated carbon emissions amounted to 2807.84 MgCO2eq. In the case of four WDSs, reduction of ILI to the value of 1.5 may reduce GHG emissions by 31–54%. It can be concluded that the implementation of Directive (EU) 2020/2184 will require unification of methodology for calculation of parameters used in ILI evaluation in all EU Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of Directive 2014/95 (hereafter, 'the Directive') issued by the European Union (EU) that mandates the disclosure of ESG information on ESG decoupling behaviour by EU‐listed firms and whether the strength of national enforcement systems of member states plays a moderating role in this relationship. Using a difference‐in‐differences design and employing a propensity score matched sample of 3020 firm‐year observations from the EU and the United States, we find that both the passage of the Directive in 2014 and the implementation of the Directive in 2017 have a mitigating effect on ESG decoupling. We also find that the strength of national enforcement systems has no impact on the relationship between the Directive and ESG decoupling. Furthermore, our additional analysis indicates that the effect of the Directive is less pronounced for firms that have their ESG information independently audited. Additionally, we find that the impact of the Directive is more pronounced for firms operating in non‐controversial industry sectors. While the Directive is under ongoing revision by the EU Parliament and Commission to be replaced by the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), our study provides timely insights into the effectiveness of the Directive and its impact on ESG information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is at stake in these elections.

The article discusses various laws, topic includes the E.U. Commission Implementing Decision 2024/389, which renews the authorization for genetically modified oilseed rape products, in accordance with Regulation 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and Council. It reports that E.U. Decision 2024/391 permits the market placement of genetically modified maize products, following Regulation No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and Council.

The division of powers in the federally structured European Union, the lack of fixed political coalitions, the absence of effective control of voting behaviour in the European Parliament by parliamentary group leaderships and the structure of European political parties as alliances of national parties make European elections systemically specific. In the 2024 European elections, the lead candidate system for the President of the European Commission is back. This may contribute to increased voter participation and be successful if the informal preconditions for the candidates are met during nomination. During the phase leading up to the election of the President of the Commission, the Parliament achieves maximum leverage. Political forces that endanger the existing conditions of the system itself, should be categorized as extreme and be opposed by the political mainstream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global development of electromobility and the innovation of life are becoming increasingly noticeable. A direct implication of this is the increase in demand for modern products and services, their components and thus the raw materials necessary to produce them (e.g. cobalt, lithium, rare earth metals). In the European Union (EU), raw materials related to strategic sectors – renewable energy, electric mobility, defense and aerospace and digital technologies – show a very strong dependence on import throughout the entire value chain. In the case of eleven out of thirty of the so-called critical raw materials (CRM), necessary for the energy transition, the EU’s dependence on import exceeds 85%. Global supply chains, which had already been strained, were further affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the exacerbated geopolitical situations leading to even greater shortages of critical raw materials in Europe and leaving the industry facing challenges in securing access to resources. An implication of this was the European Parliament’s position on critical raw material legislation in September 2023, which called on the EU to increase its processing capacity across the value chain and enable the production of at least 40% of the annual consumption of strategic raw materials by 2030. Growing importance in the transition to a low-emission economy is attributed to cobalt (Co), which is an essential component both in the production of electric vehicles (EV), stationary energy storage and in the developing sectors of wind energy, fuel cell systems and hydrogen storage technolo)gies, robotics, unmanned vehicles (drones) and 3D printing as well as in digital technologies. Securing the supply of such raw material is crucial for the European Union’s economic resilience, technological advantage and strategic autonomy. The purpose of this article is to present and analyze the concept of value chains as strategic mo)dels of long-term development and ensuring efficiency from a sustainable perspective. According to the authors, a detailed analysis of value chains may enable defining strategic directions of action and identifying the risks of their disruption or interruption. To give a practical dimension to the presented analyses, the example of the cobalt value chain is provided and the determinants of its functioning on the current market along with development prospects are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union is a unique political and legal construct. The role it plays in developing and safeguarding the fundamental values and principles underpinning democracy and the rule of law is immense for every Member State. Unfortunately, the challenges it has had to face in recent years have multiplied and intensified: from the Covid-19 pandemic to economic crises, migration, EU-scepticism, and the war in Ukraine. The European decision-makers have had to respond quickly to all these crises with concrete and viable solutions. At the end of the upcoming election, we will see whether they succeeded or not in dealing with all the crises. The 2024 European elections will be opening a new page in the history of the European democracy. They elections will be a test, both for those who will stand as candidates and for the European citizens who will vote. For the Union and its citizens, „the achievement of peace", which is one of the key objectives in Robert Schuman's Declaration2, remains to be fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon increase both the role of the European Parliament and the national parliaments in the decision-making mechanism of the European Union. This process, by which greater importance is given to the competences of the European Parliament, is viewed, both by Eurosceptic, but also by those who support the theory of the dissolution of the concept of sovereignty in the process of European integration, through the lens of scenarios inconsistent with legal reality. The present study aims to argue, starting from the principles of organization and operation of the European Union, as they are codified by the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, that the integration process not only does not diminish the importance of national parliaments, but brings nuances and advances regulations to ensure efficient and effective democratic control in the European integration process and also to propose appropriate solutions to overcome said issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Española de Derecho Internacional is the property of Asociacion Espanola de Profesores de Derecho Internacional y Relaciones Internacionales (AEPDIRI) 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.)

Copyright of KritV, CritQ, RCrit. Kritische Vierteljahresschrift für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft / Critical Quarterly for Legislation & Law / Revue critique trimestrielle de jurisprudence et de législation is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG 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.)

866 The Polish regulation concerning a limited joint-stock partnership has been in force since the date of entry into force of the Commercial Companies Code (CCC). The CCC divides commercial companies into "partnerships" and "capital companies". Each of those two types of commercial companies is governed by separate rules. The completion of twenty years of Polish CCC in force prompts us to analyse the juridical model adopted by the legislature, according to which limited joint-stock partnership is classified as a partnership. During this period, there have been significant events making the verification of the validity of this model possible, including Poland's accession to the European Union (EU), which has resulted in the need to adapt national regulations to EU law – both in the field of private law (including commercial law) and public law (including tax law). The need to amend the domestic law in connection with the implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/2121 of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 27, 2019 amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (as regards cross-border conversions, mergers, and divisions of companies) – is a direct motivation for undertaking research on a Polish limited joint-stock partnership. 867 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU has always struggled to convince its member states for more security powers. The European Commission Presidents often use the State of the Union address to build a narrative on the need for the European Union to become a security player. The State of the Union address was established with the Lisbon Treaty and serves to highlight the priorities of the Commission. This makes it one of the most important addresses in political terms. Such a speech draws attention to the function of narratives and their role in shaping human communication which can be used by politicians to transfer ideologies, beliefs and information to a wider audience [Shenhav, S. R. (2005). Concise narratives: A structural analysis of political discourse. Discourse Studies, 7 (3), 315–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605052189; Della Sala, V. (2018). Narrating Europe: The EU's ontological security dilemma. European Security, 27(3), 266–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2018.1497978]. This paper will evaluate issues of security as tackled in the State of the Union addresses from the first delivered by Jose Manuel Barroso in 2010 to the last speech delivered by Ursula von der Leyen in 2021. This will serve to evaluate the evolving narrative concerning European Security as the Commission attempted to build a stronger case for transforming the EU into a security player. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Parliament elections are frequently held to be insufficient for conferring democratic legitimacy on the EU's policy process. This has led a growing number of actors to suggest that deriving legitimacy from national parliaments offers a suitable remedy for the EU's democratic deficit, following the principles of 'democratic intergovernmentalism'. Yet little attention has been paid to the effect such reforms might have on representation in practice. This article presents a novel way of visualising the problem by recalibrating the balance of power in the European Parliament between 2009 and 2024 to reflect the composition of national parliaments and the results of national elections. It finds that actors within the Greens/EFA group would be particularly vulnerable to a loss of influence. This raises important questions about the potential representative costs associated with democratic intergovernmentalist approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes Anti-Romani sentiment and strategies to combat it at a multilevel level in Europe, Spain, and the Basque Country. It highlights the commitment of the European Parliament in 2017 with the resolution on the fundamental rights of Roma communities in the European Union. It focuses on the progress in Spain through the State Pact against Anti-Romani sentiment and reflects on the processes of fighting against anti-Romani sentiment in the Basque Country, paying attention to the intersection between ethnicity and gender. The text talks about anti-Romani sentiment in Spain, especially during Franco's regime and in the present day. Measures have been taken at the European and state levels to combat Anti-Romani sentiment, such as the approval of a State Pact against Anti-Romani sentiment and the inclusion of it as a hate crime in the Penal Code. In the Basque Country, a study has been conducted revealing discriminatory attitudes towards Roma people in areas such as housing and employment. The article reports on the First International Congress on Gender Antigypsyism that took place in Bilbao in October 2022. During the congress, the commitment to move towards a "Basque pact against antigypsyism" and the promotion of a comprehensive Basque law on equal treatment and non-discrimination were announced. The article highlights the importance of addressing anti-Romani sentiment from an intersectional perspective and the need for the participation of the Roma associative movement and the commitment of institutions in the fight against this form of racial oppression. [Extracted from the article]

Volt is a pan-European, Eurofederalist party that seeks to deepen and democratize European Union integration. It participated in elections in nine European countries and won representation in the Dutch Parliament and German constituency for the European Parliament. We examine Volt Netherlands, which studies the possibilities of a pan-European party. We look at the importance of its pro-European positions for voting for this party; this is an issue that all national branches of Volt share. We also examine the specific political opportunity structure of the Netherlands, where pro-nuclear environmentalism was an open niche. In this way, we weigh the importance of the party's pan-European appeal and the country-specific political opportunity structure. We show the importance of the country-specific factors for new party support and thus cast doubt on the ability of pan-European parties to mobilize voters all over Europe with the same message. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections produced remarkable gains for Green parties throughout the European Union (EU). We analyse in how far different national electoral contexts can explain the electoral success of Green parties in EU member states. On the theoretical side, we argue that an increased salience of EU environmental politics has led to 'green issue voting'. However, the relevance of environmental issue preferences depends on the electoral context in which Green parties compete for votes. Specifically, we expect 'green issue voting' to be most relevant for the smaller Green parties who own the environmental issue. On the empirical side, we test our argument by combining survey data collected by the European Election Study with information on party positions provided by the Comparative Manifestos Project. Our findings strongly suggest that the relevance of 'green issue voting' in the 2019 EP elections was conditionally dependent on the national electoral context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]