Suchergebnisse

When it comes to formulating foreign and pan-European policies, the European Union faces myriad challenges. The Domestic Sources of European Foreign Policy is an incisive study of these difficulties and their origins. It pays particular attention to the ways internal EU debates are influenced by domestic politics and political actors who legitimize or constrain support for shared policies. Ultimately revealing whether a democratic deficit exists in EU foreign policy, this book will be required reading for scholars and policy makers interested in European affairs and international relations.

This book examines the evolution of Spanish foreign policy since 1975, through five different presidencies, spanning its transformation from a dictatorial political system and backward economy to a modern European state, fully democratic and with a well-functioning market economy, under strain from the Eurozone Sovereign Debt crisis. It explains how domestic developments and external factors have combined to shape Spain's international relations, assessing the impact of EU membership and providing an example of how middle powers can pursue their foreign policy objectives in the inter.

Using real-time data, we examine whether fiscal policy has been counter- or procyclical in a panel of 27 European Union (EU) member states over the period 2000–2015. We also investigate whether fiscal rules and government efficiency improve the cyclical reaction of fiscal policy. Our results suggest that even though fiscal plans in EU countries have an acyclical stance, budgetary outcomes are procyclical. Government efficiency and fiscal rules seem to reduce fiscal procyclicality. Further analysis also reveals that fiscal policy seems to be more procyclical in non-euro area countries and in times of economic prosperity.

Less than a year after the Commission's proposal for a Directive on the market access for port services was rejected in the European Parliament, the submission of a revised version of the 'port package' by outgoing EU Commissioner Loyola de Palacio in October of 2004 was met by a widespread lack of enthusiasm by the European port industry and by dockers unions. Many people fear that if there is inadequate consultation this revised draft Directive will have the same fate as its predecessor. At the same time, the advent of the ISPS code has put in place an impressive array of regulations to safeguard EU ports from acts of terrorism and other unlawful acts. Also, the 'Prestige' tanker disaster has triggered important legislation that may affect ports, on top of existing safety and environmental protection policies and other measure. This paper takes stock at the broad spectrum of both current and proposed port safety, security, and environmental protection legislation, vis-à-vis the general policy thrust of the EU in the area of transport and discusses the situation faced by the port sector and EU intermodal transport in the new regime. Specifically, this paper tackles the following question: If one takes all important port-related policy initiatives under consideration, would he or she conclude that things are going well for the European ports sector? The impressive array of regulations that are in place or are planned for the EU port sector warrant an attempt to make an analysis of the collective effectiveness of such instruments. Without being encyclopedic, such an attempt is made in this paper, by trying to identify problems, challenges and opportunities, along with recommendations on how to improve the current situation. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group.

In order to promote economic and social progress European Union (EU) developed cohesion policy in both national and supranational levels. The developments are examined under three headings: growth, cohesion and the budget. More specifically attention is paid to the single market aims removing border controls for goods, services and capital, and policies influencing the growth. The European Union competition, trade and research and technological development policies developments are explored in terms of growth. Reducing income disparities among Member States is matter of priority in the enlarged European Union. Cohesion policy can become an effective tool of economic convergence if it is accompanied by a set of financial and non-financial elements such as labour market situation, investment opportunities, etc, which are the results of national policies.

The authors of the article analyze the effect of corruption on foreign direct investments in most corrupt European Union countries. Corruption in the context of the analysis is understood as an act where government officials enter into an agreement with a foreign investors against the interest of society. It takes place when illegal payments for government are made. Such payments acts as an additional tax on investments in foreign country, thus decreasing attractiveness of investment for foreign investors. There are various types of corruption, but most common classification include grand corruption, petty corruption and public sector corruption. However, this article focuses on the effect of grand corruption, because it directly affects FDI inflows in particular country. Results of the research made by the authors shows that corruption has adverse effect on FDI inflows, however particular corrupt actions may postively effect FDI inflows. In order to determine corruption effect on FDI in corrupt EU countries statistical analysis of 2000–2014 period has been implemented and conceptual model of effect on FDI created.

"Europe's towns and cities remain its primary source of wealth creation and the centre of its social and cultural development. However there are rising problems relating to rapid economic adjustments. It is clear that new efforts are necessary to strenghten or restore the role of Europe's cities as places of social and cultural integration, as sources of economic prosperity and sustainable development, and as bases of democracy" ["Towards an urban agenda in the European Union", European Commission, 1997]. The environment of cities has become increasingly competitive and complex. Cities need to anticipate and respond quickly to opportunities and threats that influence their position structurally. Although city governments develop policies and strategies to meet the challenges, at the same time higher layers of government pursue policies that influence the position of cities. National governments draw up financial and policy frameworks and create conditions in which cities have to manoeuvre and design their own policies. At the European level the interest for the strategic position of cities within regional development policy is growing. This harmonises with a major objective of the association of large European cities ('Eurocities') to bring the position of the large cities as engines of economic growth and at the same time as concentrations of social problems to the attention of the Europan Commission. Although the Commission recognises the important role of cities for European regional development, until now European urban policy initiatives have been blocked by a majority of national governments, as a consequence of the principle of subsidiarity. The objective of our contribution is to compare current developments as far as explicit national urban policies in the member states are concerned. However the scope will not be limited to explicit policies alone. National policies with a substantial impact on urban development will be dealt with too. The framework for the investigation is made up of four parts. The first two parts compare national urban patterns and structures (the urbanisation pattern and the administrative structure), while the remaining parts deal with the questions: (1) what do national authorities consider to be main issues for, and challenges to their (larger) cities?; and (2) how do national governments respond to these issues and challenges by policies targeted to the role and function of cities? The results of our investigation into current national urban policies are for an important part based on fifteen national case studies produced by colleagues from each of the member states according to the framework mentioned before. This contribution summarises the results of the comparison. The results might give ingredients for a future urban policy at the European level.