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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]

Working-age households where no-one is in work have become an increasing focus of policy concern even before the economic crisis, and the European Union (EU) has included household joblessness in its new poverty reduction target for 2020. This paper focuses on the variation across EU countries in the prevalence of household joblessness and its impact on income poverty and deprivation, and on the implications for the new EU poverty reduction target. It highlights first that there are some divergences across key data sources in the extent of joblessness. The prevalence of household joblessness varies substantially across EU countries, but there is little evidence of a consistent pattern among groupings of countries often categorized together in terms of welfare regime or geographically. In aggregate there is little association between the overall extent of household joblessness in a country and the percentage in relative income poverty or above a material deprivation threshold. At a micro level, being in a jobless household has a substantial impact on the likelihood of being in relative income poverty or deprived, but the scale of these impacts is shown to be very much greater in some countries than in others, and to vary between single-adult and multiple-adult households. In most EU countries little more than half the working-age adults in jobless households are either income-poor or deprived, so including joblessness in the poverty reduction target does make a difference, without a clearly articulated rationale. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu 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.)

Despite the frequent insistence in EU policies on corporate social responsibility (CSR) being voluntary, this paper argues that under EU consumer law CSR can be interpreted as legally binding. CSR is a strategic form of market communication as well as an inherent aspect of the market behaviour of companies. Since EU consumer law regulates the market communication and the market behaviour of traders, this area of law can be used to interpret CSR as a legally binding obligation, resulting in remedies available to consumers. This paper uses the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) to show how the ECJ could, in a suitable case, consider the breach of a CSR policy either as a form of misleading market communication or as unfair trading behaviour. This interpretation would allow for the additional regulation of CSR by the UCTD, which overlaps with the UCPD in terms of scope, interpretation and remedies. Once CSR is subject to EU market regulation laws, it can result additionally in contract regulation through EU consumer sales law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of a 'no deal' or 'hard' Brexit on the recognition of insolvency proceedings commenced in the UK by the remaining Member States of the European Union (EU) post‐Brexit. The paper considers the framework currently implemented by the Recast European Insolvency Regulation and the possible approaches when it will cease to apply to proceedings commenced post‐Brexit. The paper identifies that there will be no overarching framework in the event that 'no deal' is reached between the UK and the EU for post‐Brexit arrangements, resulting in reliance on individual Member States' domestic laws to determine recognition of insolvency proceedings commenced in the UK. The paper sets out the contrasting approaches of five of the UK's key trading partners in the EU: France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. The paper concludes that UK insolvency proceedings will not be recognised in a consistent manner in these Member States, which will be detrimental to stakeholders in, and ultimately the economies of, the UK and these Member States. In doing so, the paper underlines the importance of an agreement being reached between the UK and the EU on the recognition of cross‐border insolvency proceedings for the benefit of all parties. Copyright © 2018 The Authors International Insolvency Review published by INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency policy is expected to play a key role for meeting the European Union's energy targets (particularly for reduced energy demand and reduced CO2emissions) using a range of policy instrument combinations. However, most analyses undertaken so far have focused on single-policy measures rather than developing a more generic framework for assessing to what extent a particular policy mix is effective and under which specific conditions. This paper both contributes to the theoretical literature on policy mixes and undertakes an empirical analysis of the current policy mixes in buildings efficiency policy in 14 European Union countries. Building on the existing literature, and using expert knowledge, an assessment of the interaction of 55 pairs of policies is presented. This identifies policy mixes likely to deliver more, less or the same energy savings in combination than singly. The theoretical assessment is compared with actual policy mixes present within the European Union, highlighting that combinations of multiple financial incentives may need further investigation. By bringing these forms of knowledge together, the paper suggests how buildings policy mixes could be made more effective, shows gaps in current knowledge and highlights key research needs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A popular topic in the assessment of the functioning of municipally-owned enterprises is the corporate governance (CG) of such organizations. The results of the comparative study presented in this paper indicate that European Union initiatives on gender diversity and executive directors' pay are often not implemented in public CG codes and in practice in municipally-owned enterprises in Germany and The Netherlands. The paper proposes that EU initiatives should specifically target municipally-owned enterprises and shows concrete hard and soft regulation options for national and international policy-makers and future research perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its early efforts to create a migration regime, the EU passed the 2003 Directive on the Right to Family Reunification. This directive has long been considered controversial, in part because of the directive's treatment of migrant women. In 2011, the EU published a Green Paper on the right to family reunification as a way to begin to assess interest in revisiting this directive. While one could consider this a positive step due to the initial uproar over the 2003 directive, it is clear that the EU's interest in reopening the debate on family reunification is problematic for many reasons. This paper explains the consultation process in the EU to expose the concerns of various constituencies and uncovers the ways in which family reunification and integration policy in the EU are still conceived of as "gender neutral" policy areas. While reopening the 2003 family reunification Directive could have been a positive move for migrant women, this paper underscores the ways in which the EU, and even parts of the nongovernmental community, continue to fall short in crafting gender sensitive policies that would benefit migrant women, their families, and the EU a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses some of the policy and research implications of lifelong learning in the European Union (EU). Incremental development of policies toward education and training; Emergence of lifelong learning on the policy agenda of the EU since 1990; Analysis of the 1995 White Paper on education and training.

This paper explores the relationship between flexibility in spatial governance partnerships and their legitimacy. While partnerships have become increasingly prevalent, questions have been raised about their accountability or ‘input’ legitimacy. However, recent research highlights how multiple norms of legitimacy exist and how flexible delivery of aspired outcomes may confer ‘output’ legitimacy to governance processes. This paper explores these issues through examining the delivery of a major urban extension at the edge of Cambridge City, in the East of England. It makes the case that a particular dimension of flexibility, namely flexibility in resource deployment, has been crucial to delivering outcomes underpinned by the shared vision of sustainable communities. This suggests that future research on partnerships could benefit from a more refined analysis of the different ways in which flexibility is exercised and how these may enhance or detract from the legitimacy of partnership arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including government debt of Japan, effect of bank capital regulations on bank lending and firm borrowing in Great Britain and the TARGET2 eurozone electronic payments system.

The article presents an editorial where the author discusses the economic implications of the elections in various countries in the European Union and also on the economic development in the U.S. and the European Union and the failure of globalization and the reasons for the failure and the migration policies.

The United Kingdom's BREXIT decision on June 23, 2016 triggered a movement to relocate the European Medical Agency (EMA)--the EU's market gatekeeper and overseer entrusted with the mission to ensure the safety and efficacy of prescription medications--from its London base. Several EU countries have begun vying to become the new home of the EMA, and existing skilled and experienced EMA staff are relocating and leaving positions that linger as unfilled. The biopharmaceutical sectors and enormous related professional infrastructure that towers over the EMA, anchored in London from its beginning, now stands on shifting soil. Among the enormous EU human health and economic implications, this paper focuses on an immediate concern: ensuring no disruption of ongoing regulatory oversight of prescription medications available to patients across Europe for treatment with EMA assurances of safety and efficacy. This paper proposes that the EU prioritize and implement regulatory reform measures to protect this particular mission and function of the EMA during the Agency's state of post-BREXIT transition. The paper proposes that pharmacovigilance is distinguishable and should be prioritized given the ongoing reliance of health care providers and their patients on these products under the regulatory assurances of safety, efficacy, and ongoing oversight that have made them available for treatment use. The paper introduces a law and policy proposal to accomplish this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge 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.)

Regional development agencies (RDAs) have been established in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, where the development of economically underdeveloped areas primarily targeted the federal republics and autonomous provinces. The role of RDAs has been underpinned by the EU due to significance of the cohesion policy for new EU member states (Slovenia and Croatia), the process of association and negotiations on regional policy and the coordination of structural instruments for candidate and potential candidate countries. The paper elaborates on whether and to what extent the RDAs are expected to enhance national administrative capacities for programming, coordination and implementation of financial assistance. On the basis of a normative analysis of policy documents, relevant legislation and desk-research of the core competences and activities of the RDAs, the paper aims to portray the institutional arrangements for regional development, in particular the role of RDAs in the promotion of productivity and growth. Although regional partnerships have emerged as new collaborative governance structures, the principle of partnership is not fully respected as a result of strong centralization, the multitude of actors with overlapping roles and the underdeveloped systemic communication with stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European countries need to expand employment among older individuals. Many papers have examined this issue from different angles. However, very few seem to have considered its gender dimension properly, despite evidence that lifting the overall senior employment rate requires significantly raising that of women older than 50. The key issue examined by this paper is whether employers are willing to employ more older workers, in particular older women. The answer depends to a large extent on the ratio of older individuals' productivity to their cost to employers. To address this question we tap into a unique firm-level panel of Belgian data to produce robust evidence on the causal effect of age/gender on productivity and labour costs. We take advantage of the panel structure to identify age/gender-related differences from within-firm variation. Moreover, inspired by recent developments in the production function estimation literature, we address the problem of endogeneity of the age/gender mix, using a structural production function estimator (Olley and Pakes in Econometrica 64(6):1263-1297, ; Levinsohn and Petrin in Rev Econ Stud 70(2):317-341, ) alongside IV-GMM methods where lagged value of labour inputs are used as instruments. Our results indicate a small negative impact of larger shares of older men on the productivity-labour cost ratio. An increment of 10%-points of in their share causes a 0.17-0.69%-point contraction. However, the main result is that the equivalent handicap with older women is larger, ranging from 1.3 to 2.0%-points. This is not good news for older women's employability. And the vast services industry does not seem to offer working conditions that mitigate older women's disadvantage, on the contrary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which Cohesion Policy is perceived by citizens is a crucial issue for the process of European identity-building. Based on the idea that citizens' perceptions depend on the local socioeconomic context in which Cohesion Policy is implemented, the paper seeks to define alternative combinations of the economic, social and institutional features of different local policy implementation settings, and to identify them empirically in European NUTS-2 regions. The results highlight a broad variety of policy settings, whose characteristics are relevant to the outcome of Cohesion Policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing dominance of neoliberalism as the key steering mechanism of the European Union (EU) since the early 1990s has implied the competitiveness-oriented reshaping of cohesion policy. The aim of this paper is to initiate a debate from a critical political economic perspective on the implications of this shift for Central Eastern European (CEE) member states. To this end, the paper discusses the formation of EU centre-periphery relations from a CEE point of view and formulates some preliminary suggestions as to how cohesion policy would need to be rethought in order to ensure the better integration of lagging CEE regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will present and discuss the farmers' rights to seeds and all the main legal issues related thereto. It will deal with the legal aspects of the IP rights of the breeders and corporations who own patented seeds or registered plant varieties as opposed to the farmers' historical and customary right to set aside, sow and share those protected seeds for future harvests, thus also ensuring crops' resilience to climate change and biodiversity. The contribution will present the current international, EU and national legislations on the farmers' right to seeds and the conflicting IP rights of breeders to prohibit farm saved seeds, or to claim endless royalties on successive harvests. The border between these two rights is very controversial and faces two categories of economic operators (farmers and breeders) having uneven contractual, economic and political powers, thus raising not only complex legal issues but also a tremendous impact on social aspects of rural life, especially in developing countries' communities. The scope of the paper is to examine whose rights shall prevail and to explore whether the legal concept of abuse of right may be used as discernment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: European Union (EU) environmental policy can only work in practice when it is implemented by and within the member states. Yet, despite its importance, we still lack a solid and cumulative understanding of the practical implementation of EU environmental policies, mainly because of the dominance of case‐specific empirical insights and the dichotomous conceptualization of compliant implementation. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for analysing implementation performance, which is built around three dimensions: substance, scope and effort. The framework's relevance and analytical quality are substantiated by a systematic review of empirical studies on practical implementation of 18 EU environmental directives. We find evidence of three types of knowledge deficits: there is neglect of the ‘scope’ and ‘effort’ dimensions of implementation; disproportionate attention to the Water Framework Directive, and the Northern and Western European member states. The proposed conceptual framework aims to inform future research on EU environmental implementation. © 2017 The Authors. Environmental Policy and Governance published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to evaluate internships in terms of governance structures. Internships are being promoted as a European Union policy lever to address high youth unemployment. However, concerns exist that internships often have few developmental opportunities and poor employment outcomes, something this conceptual paper examines. Design/methodology/approach - The authors develop a conceptual framework for distinguishing between different types of internships based on "dimensions of governance" (contract, agreed duration and partnership).Adistinction is made between "open market", "educational" and "active labour market policy" internships, drawing on examples and evidence from Spain and Portugal. Findings - The authors argue that "governed" internships, linked to educational programmes or genuine active labour market policies, are much more likely to have beneficial outcomes than "open market internships". This is because they provide the positive governance conditions relating to contract, duration and partnership arrangements under which employers, interns and third parties understand how they can benefit from the internship and what their responsibilities are. Research limitations/implications - The strength of the paper lies in outlining an analytical framework for future research. The evidence presented from Spain and Portugal provides support for the conceptual framework; future comparative internship research should further test the propositions made across a range of countries and contexts. Social implications - By increasing understanding of internship governance, employers, policymakers and educationalists will be in a better position to design successful internships. Originality/value - The paper broadens the focus beyond educational internships alone and proposes a conceptual framework for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of two popular second-best clean energy policies are analysed using an extended Hotelling-type resource extraction framework. This model features, first, heterogenous energy sources and, second, a capacity-constrained backstop technology. This setup allows for capturing the following two empirical observations. First, different types of energy sources are used simultaneously despite different production cost. Second, experiences from various European countries show that a further expansion of the use of climate friendly technologies faces substantial technological as well as political constraints. We use this framework to analyse if under two policy scenarios a so-called 'Green Paradox' occurs. A subsidy for the clean energy as well as an expansion of the capacity of the clean energy are considered. The analysis shows that under plausible parameter values both policy measures lead to a weak Green Paradox; however a strong Green Paradox is only found for the capacity expansion scenario. In addition, the subsidy is found to be welfare enhancing while the capacity increase is welfare enhancing only if the cost of adding the capacity is sufficiently small.We also show the effects of the policies crucially depend on the initial capacity and that under certain scenarios even an 'extreme' Green Paradox is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant integration is a cross-sectional policy issue and its governance involves a network of actors operating on different regional and government levels. Its emergence as a distinct policy area in many European democracies has reinvigorated the role of state actors, particularly at the national level. National governments face a growing need to coordinate formerly disparate domestic integration measures, yet they are also encouraged by increasing activities and resources that have evolved at the EU level. From an institutional perspective, this spread of both norms and resources is likely to result in the emergence of new governmental actors assigned with these tasks. Yet, little scholarly attention has so far been dedicated to the comparison of ministerial competences for migrant integration across Europe and their relation to integration policies. The paper addresses this gap in a comparative study, presenting data on the ministerial competences in 27 EU member states and Switzerland between 2010 and 2014 and linking them to data on migrant integration policies using the MIPEX dataset. The findings show no general European trend towards top-level institutionalisation and instead reveal substantial differences between Western and Eastern European democracies associated with the respective patterns of integration policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study connections between interest rate risk and credit risk and investigate the inter-risk diversification benefit due to the joint consideration of these risks in the banking book containing sovereign debt.Design/methodology/approach The paper develops the historical derivative-based value at risk (VaR) for assessing the downside risk of a sovereign debt portfolio through the integrated treatment of interest rate and credit risks. The credit default swaps spreads and the fixed-leg rates of interest rate swap are used as proxies for credit risk and interest rate risk, respectively.Findings The proposed methodology is applied to the decade-long history of emerging markets sovereign debt. The empirical analysis demonstrates that the diversified VaR benefits from imperfect correlation between the risk factors. Sovereign risks of non-core emu states and oil producing countries are discussed through the prism of VaR metrics.Practical implications The proposed approach offers a clue for improving risk management in regards to banking books containing government bonds. It could be applied to access the riskiness of investment portfolios containing the wider spectrum of assets beyond the sovereign debt. The approach represents a useful tool for investigating interest rate and credit risk interrelation.Originality/value The proposed enhancement of the traditional historical VaR is twofold: usage of derivative instruments’ quotes and simultaneous consideration of the interest rate and credit risk factors to construct the hypothetical liquidity-free bond yield, which allows to distil liquidity premium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge 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.)

Local governments in the EU play a major role in the development of local public policies. Local governments provide public services in the public interest, funding them for public resources. The paper deals with the role of the local public sector and the comparison of competences of sub-national governments (local, intermediate, regional) in EU countries and the financial dimension of local and regional governments for development of services. The areas assessed include spending capabilities of local governments in 28 EU countries, with a particular focus on total expenditures of local and regional governments, fiscal decentralisation of expenditures, and local government expenditures by selected function (social protection, health, education, culture and recreation), including the rate of their decentralisation of expenditures. The empirical research renders a comparison of spending capabilities of local and regional governments by selected function in EU countries, making use of cluster analysis and the evaluation of similarities and differences in the individual countries. The most marked differences in EU countries were observed in expenditures of the local public sector on health. Conversely, the least marked differences in all countries are seen in the expenditures of the local public sector on recreation and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of IoT appears to be based on trading off security for convenience. The futuristic technology brings with it a landscape scattered with vulnerabilities. The paper traces the exponential growth of IoT and its business potential. It then journeys into the dark alleys of IoT exposing the real and present dangers that the technology poses to all demographics and Nation- States. The paper then explores the cyber policy landscape in the USA, the EU and in India and analyses the procedural hazards for enforcement emanating fromthe principle of territoriality, which the cyber domain clearly poses a challenge to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the potential impact of the European Union’s Environmental Liability Directive (ELD)1 on the nanotechnology (NT) sector. In terms of risk governance the ELD represents a new paradigm, affording the environment an enhanced status both in legal and indeed ontological terms. However, the nature of the NT industry itself is such as to create complexity in the implementation of the ELD. Whilst the field of nano-toxicology is making advances, debate still prevails around issues pertaining to exposure, (eco)-toxicity, metrics, potential impact and legal causation. Levels of uncertainty remain high and hence measuring environmental impact is problematic. The paper addresses the potential environmental liability exposures of NT manufacturers and producers pursuant to the provisions of the ELD and by extension highlights the importance of the insurability of the liability risk all of which bears significance for the sustainability of the industry. It also examines the legal and regulatory challenges of the application of the ELD in the context of the NT industry, highlighting the challenges which this pervasive technology presents for regulatory policy. A cursory discussion of the legal theoretical underpinning of the directive helps to explain the rationale of the directive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Management Issues / Problemy Zarządzania is the property of Problemy Zarzadzania 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 studies the effects of changes in the level of product market regulation on the industry-level innovation intensity in the EU electricity sector during years 1990–2009. In order to test the impact of deregulatory policies on the propensity to innovate in energy technologies, we match data on R&D budgets and European Patent Office patent applications from International Energy Agency and Eurostat Databases with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development indexes of product market regulation. The analysis addresses innovations in the traditional electricity-related technologies, but keeping aside renewable energy technologies. Findings show an increase in patenting activities following market deregulation, measured along three factors: entry barriers, public ownership and vertical integration. In particular, econometric results suggest that policies aimed at reducing vertical integration – i.e. to unbundle networks from energy generation and supply – have a positive impact on innovation activity. Results are robust to the introduction of controls for country-level public R&D expenditures in the electricity field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Transformations in Business & Economics is the property of Vilnius University 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 provides insight into the transposition in Belgium of six EU social policy directives adopted during the 1990s. Arguing that domestic politics matter for understanding transposition of EU policies in this country, it addresses the discordant findings concerning propositions about misfit, administrative inefficiencies and difficulties, as well as veto players. On the basis of an in-depth country analysis, it shows how these concepts can be clarified by taking into account factors that have typically been omitted in quantitative research and by analysing more directly mechanisms that are not easily captured by quantifiable proxies. The paper concludes by describing the efforts that have been undertaken in Belgium to adjust specific features of the national political system so as to cope better with adaptation requirements, which again reinforces the relevance of domestic politics for implementation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the extent of euro area policy convergence during the third stage of EMU. The policy convergence hypothesis from international political economy posits that euro zone national economies should become more similar over time in terms of economic growth, employment and inflation outcomes as a result of using a common currency and taking the same regional monetary policy. Yet the descriptive data show little evidence of euro area policy convergence post-1999. One possible explanation for the lack of macroeconomic convergence within the euro zone is advanced (fiscal policy divergence), and the implications of policy divergence for the long-term viability of EMU are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Trust" is a versatile instrument which is suitable for a great variety of purposes. Many scholars believe, that the original form of this institution appeared in common law, while in the 20th century the process of globalization stipulated the "internationalization" of the trust mechanism. The starting point of this process was the conclusion of the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition. Initially, the civil law jurisdictions were unable to adopt "trust" structure in which common-law power and equity power belonged to separate entities. Despite this fact, in the recent years, trust-like devices have been introduced in certain economic-juridical systems of Europe. Their rapid implementation raised the question of the establishment of innovative policies. This paper will discuss the latest achievements and existing challenges based on the example of the German juridical-economic system. The aim is to make useful proposals for the successful planning of the European entrusting processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport systems of Macedonia and European Union in historical retrospective were formed partly on equal and partly on divergent principles, interests and influences. As a candidate country for entry to the EU, Macedonia is adapting its transport policy to that of the EU. Institutional adaptation will not be controversial, but practical implementation of the policy compliant with the European one can be subject to delays due to historical heritage and present limitations. The paper presents the problems between transport policy in the Republic of Macedonia and transport policy of European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to fulfil gaps in knowledge regarding food packaging practices in Southeast Asia by examining the informational content of food labels on a variety of packaged foods. Design/methodology/approach – Using local and imported food products found in supermarkets in Singapore, a quantitative content analysis of food label claims in a wide range of packaged food products was conducted. A codebook was developed to capture the attributes of the food labels and claims, content categories, product names, food categories, sources of manufacture and countries of brand origin. The three main regions of analysis of country of manufacture were the USA, European Union (EU) and Southeast Asia. Findings – Analysis of food products manufactured in five Southeast Asian countries revealed the presence of various claims in food products, and a number of specific claims exceeded the percentages found in products from the USA or EU. The results showed that a significant proportion of products from Southeast Asian countries display nutrient content and nutrient function claims, as well as general marketing claims and non-nutrient claims. However, there were variations in practice amongst the five Southeast Asian countries. Research limitations/implications – The sample was limited in being collected from one geographic location. Future research needs to expand data collection both geographically and longitudinally. Practical implications – The findings are valuable for the national health authorities in addressing policies on food package labelling, and homogenization efforts pertaining to regional/international labelling policies. These in turn could influence food marketing practices. Social implications – The findings are useful in crafting educational programming and guidelines for health and nutrition education. Originality/value – This research is the first to explore food labelling practices in multiple Southeast Asian countries and compare them cross-sectionally with EU and US practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OECD purchasing power parities (PPPs) are used regularly in strategic governmental policy papers to compare the performance of construction industries among countries. These PPPs suggest that the relative competitiveness of the Dutch construction sector is fairly weak compared with surrounding countries. This contradicts the general view that the Dutch construction industry is very productive and efficient, especially in house-building. For the member countries of the European Union the OECD uses data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In this paper the methodology followed by OECD/Eurostat in their calculation of PPPs for construction is reviewed. The data for five European countries (Netherlands, Belgium, UK, France and Germany) are analysed. Next, the Eurostat results are placed alongside the results of other international building cost comparisons. The differences are observed and the conclusion is that the Eurostat PPPs do not reflect the real construction price or cost differentials among the five EU countries. It appears that the basic construction price data used by Eurostat are not very accurate, that the comparison methodology applied by Eurostat itself is insufficient to express and explain building cost differences among countries, and that the Eurostat figures for construction are the result of a complex statistical weighting and processing procedure in which corrections are not applied for extreme deviations. The conclusion is that the Eurostat data cannot be used for comparison purposes. Proposals for improvement of the comparison methodology are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU is clearly in the process of developing an external dimension to the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). This paper focuses on ex. Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJCCM) provisions. These developments pose specific legal basis issues for the EU, given its complex EU–member state legal relationship, and the inter-institutional balance, all reflected in the treaty framework post-Lisbon. New Court of Justice rulings are now emerging which will assist in this issue. Equally the approach to be taken in developing these relationships will be crucial. This paper proposes the adoption of an Onuf style constructivism in order to best capture the reality of the process that is developing, and has developed for the ex. PJCCM measures internally. This then needs to be allied with a constitutionalism model to ensure a balanced development of all three aspects of the AFSJ. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The construction of EU security actorness has been accompanied by a narrative on security nexuses (internal-external, security-development, civilian-military, public-private) associated with the so-called 'comprehensive approach'. The end of the Cold War enabled the explicitness of EU security actorness. The post 9/11 facilitated the reinforcement of previous trends (transnational threats, externalisation of 'internal security', interpillarisation) and the introduction of innovative tendencies (comprehensive approach, internalization of the Common Security and Defence Policy, interconnection of security nexuses). This paper focuses on the internal-external security nexus declared by the EU in the post-Cold War, and reflects about the rationale and effects of the European narrative and practices on the configuration of a post-Westphalian security actor. Based on the analysis of three expressions of the nexus, it is argued that the latter reflects a securitising move of the European actor explained by the convergence of opportunity (redefinition of security, prioritization of transnational threats in a globalized world, soft power enhancement in the post-Cold War), capacity (legal, organic and operational in the field of security, after the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union), and (ambition to have a) presence. The holistic approach underlying the logic of the nexuses is the result of a co-constitutive adequacy: appropriation of policies and instruments of a multifunctional actor for security purposes (security of the EU and of European citizens); securitization of issues in order to promote the policies and the actor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tracks Greece’s engagement with the European Defence Agency (EDA). Greece has been an EU member state involved in setting up EDA. Indeed, its pro-integration stance on defence matters, at large, and EDA, in particular, can be traced back to its set of external security threats, and its belief that EU institutions and mechanisms can provide a protection layer against these threats. The chairing of important European defence preparatory groups (POLARM) and the Presidency of the Council provided normative agenda-setting procedures to uphold this objective. Significantly, Greece’s positions altered as EDA assumed operational status. Purely external security considerations were coupled with domestic, economic and political considerations, such as the protection of its defence industrial base, and disproving widely-held assumptions about political corruption in relation to defence procurement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The year 2014 was the year for restricting EU nationals' access to benefits in the UK, with a series of measures introduced since 1 January. This paper assesses each measure's compatibility with EU law, examining the legal texts and the accompanying guidance, which may lead to infringements by administrative decision makers. The paper then analyses the cumulative programme of reforms, and identifies three societal concerns. First, the programme represents a departure from EU Treaty principles. Second, the effects of the new measures are felt by all EU migrants, not just the ‘economically inactive’, since they are subject to extra tests and delays, face amplified xenoscepticism, and are placed in a more precarious position, with greater risks attendant upon loss of work. Third, the measures represent a pure form of an individualist ideology, potentially lowering our resistance to child poverty and destitution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

After the global financial crisis, the European Union has adopted a new regulatory approach towards foreign countries by making use of equivalence rules in finance. Why? This paper argues that it is the EU’s attempt to restore financial stability in its territory and maintain the competitiveness of its financial industry. However, this ‘old’ dilemma between stability and competition in financial regulation is further complicated in a regional jurisdiction, such as the EU, because different regulatory paradigms play off in the dilemma. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Objective The tobacco industry spends large sums lobbying the European Union (EU) institutions, yet whether such lobbying significantly affects tobacco policy is not well understood. We used novel quantitative text mining techniques to evaluate the impact of industry pressure on the contested EU Tobacco Products Directive revision. Design Policy positions of 18 stakeholders including the tobacco industry, health NGOs and tobacco retailers were evaluated using their text submissions to EU consultations and impact assessments. Using Wordscores to calculate word frequencies, we developed a scale ranging from 0-tobacco industry to 1-public health organisations, which was then used to track changes in the policy position of the European Commission's 2010 consultation document, its 2012 final proposal and the European Parliament and Council's approved legislation in March 2014. Results Several stakeholders' positions were closer to the tobacco industry than that of health NGOs, including retailers (ω=0.35), trade unions (ω=0.34) and publishers (ω=0.33 and ω=0.40). Over time the European Commission's position shifted towards the tobacco industry from ω=0.52 (95% CI 0.50 to 0.54) to ω=0.40 (95% CI 0.39 to 0.42). This transition reflected an increasing use of words pertaining to business and the economy in the Commission's document. Our findings were robust to alternative methods of scoring policy positions in EU documents. Conclusions Using quantitative text mining techniques, we observed that tobacco industry lobbying activity at the EU was associated with significant policy shifts in the EU Tobacco Products Directive legislation towards the tobacco industry's submissions. In the light of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, additional governance strategies are needed to prevent undue influence of the tobacco industry on EU policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]