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Malta joined the EU on 1 May 2004 and the eurozone on 1 January 2008. Its second EP elections to elect five MEPs took place on Saturday 6 June 2009. These were the first elections since joining the eurozone. With the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, a sixth MEP will be added. Just over a thousand electors (1044) could vote a week earlier due to particular commitments but Malta still does not allow its overseas citizens to vote, not even in its own embassies. ; peer-reviewed

How did the three Nordic European Union member states approach their periods as holders of the European Union (EU) Council Presidency? Two radically different predictions about the impact of the Presidency on member state behaviour can be found in the literature. Some maintain that the position functions as an amplifier, strengthening the already existing tendency to propagate national concerns. Others argue that the Presidency functions as a silencer, subordinating national material interests to the benefit of common European concerns. In this article we analyse the ways in which Finland, Sweden and Denmark actually performed the Presidency role. Which of the competing interpretations is most appropriate? Was the Presidency role performed differently by the three countries? Our main finding is that the Presidency generally functioned as an amplifier during the Nordic presidencies. There are, however, interesting differences between the three states, Denmark being the least constrained in using the Presidency to further national interests whereas Finland was most anxious not to violate norms of impartiality and neutrality, even in cases where such behaviour ran contrary to national interests.

The existing evidence suggests that ethnic minority and especially Roma women are the most vulnerable to multiple discrimination and present higher risks of social exclusion and poverty than the women of the native population and minority men. There are, however, differences in the social and economic conditions of women among and within ethnic minorities and across European countries that should be considered in order to frame suggestions for policymaking. This comparative report presents the socio-economic conditions and perspectives of women belonging to disadvantaged ethnic minorities, with special attention to Roma women. The analysis focuses on those ethnic minorities that suffer the most disadvantages in a given national context, mainly in terms of access to education, housing, healthcare, social benefits, and to employment and financial services. The report also presents the main legislative and policy responses developed at the national level to target their social inclusion with some good practice examples. The information in this report is provided by the national experts of the EGGSI Network of experts in gender equality, social inclusion, healthcare and long-term care and covers 30 European countries (EU and EEA/ EFTA) (1 ). The report is organised in two parts: Part 1 (from Chapter 1 to 4) presents the situation of women belonging to disadvantaged ethnic minorities in general, while Part 2 (from Chapter 5 to 8) focuses on Roma women. Some overall conclusions are presented in the final chapter. ; peer-reviewed

The role of civil society organisations in Brussels is debated. Some view them as representatives of their members and thus as legitimising agents for policy-making in the European Union. Others see them as being elitist and out of touch with their membership bases, therefore ill-suited to promote democracy at the EU level. Taking civil society organisations in the EU's external relations as an example, Meike Rodekamp submits these controversial views to a reality check. Interviews with representatives of civil society organisations in Brussels and their member organisations in the EU show that the Brussels offices have not lost contact with their members. However, member organisations differ substantially in their participation in internal decision-making processes, which raises doubts about the legitimacy gains through civil society participation in EU policy-making.

Досліджено необхідність формування нової системи боротьби з економічними злочинами в Україні, яка об'єднає однією метою, вчасне виявлення і справедливе покарання порушників законодавства, як правоохоронні органи та органи державної влади, так і приватних суб'єктів господарювання. Проаналізовано зарубіжний досвід, який доцільно використати у процесі трансформації методики проведення фінансових розслідувань економічних злочинів в Україні. Окреслено перспективи створення і діяльності служби фінансових розслідувань в Україні, а також використання форензіку як сучасного методу проведення фінансових розслідувань корпоративних шахрайств ; The necessity of forming a new system of combating economic crimes in Ukraine, which unites one purpose, timely detection and fair punishment of violators of law, as law enforcement bodies, state authorities and private entities, is investigated. The foreign experience, which it is expedient to use in the process of transformation of the method of conducting financial investigations of economic crimes in Ukraine, is analyzed. The prospects for the establishment and operation of the Financial Investigations Service in Ukraine, as well as the use of forensic as a modern method of conducting financial investigations of corporate fraud are outlined

Досліджено необхідність формування нової системи боротьби з економічними злочинами в Україні, яка об'єднає однією метою, вчасне виявлення і справедливе покарання порушників законодавства, як правоохоронні органи та органи державної влади, так і приватних суб'єктів господарювання. Проаналізовано зарубіжний досвід, який доцільно використати у процесі трансформації методики проведення фінансових розслідувань економічних злочинів в Україні. Окреслено перспективи створення і діяльності служби фінансових розслідувань в Україні, а також використання форензіку як сучасного методу проведення фінансових розслідувань корпоративних шахрайств ; The necessity of forming a new system of combating economic crimes in Ukraine, which unites one purpose, timely detection and fair punishment of violators of law, as law enforcement bodies, state authorities and private entities, is investigated. The foreign experience, which it is expedient to use in the process of transformation of the method of conducting financial investigations of economic crimes in Ukraine, is analyzed. The prospects for the establishment and operation of the Financial Investigations Service in Ukraine, as well as the use of forensic as a modern method of conducting financial investigations of corporate fraud are outlined

Cooperation for innovation is understood as an essential element in the innovation process of European firms. The aim is to compare how the different sources of information (external and internal) and cooperation for innovation are used in manufacturing and services in Europe using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data for 15 European countries. The empirical study uses a sample of firms included in the CIS (2008), which covers 15 European countries and applies multivarious data analysis techniques to extract results. The results of this research suggest that firms use simultaneously different sources of information for cooperation, revealing different patterns of cooperation according to the activity sector in Europe. This paper brings some important insights about cooperation for innovation and suggests some patterns in Europe useful to design public policies, due de similar behavior of some countries grouped according with geography, development status or other economic features. Thus, this article seeks to frame the subject based on a literature review that raises a set of study hypotheses and presents an empirical study applied to cooperation for innovation in Europe using the CIS for 15 European countries. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

JEL Classifications: O33, O30, O47 ; This study examines the relationship between technological innovation and economic growth in European Union countries over the period 1993-2011. Using Blundell and Bond (1998) generalized method of the moments estimation technique, the study provides evidence that R&D expenditures and patent activities differ in terms of fostering economic growth between EU-15 and EU-13 countries. The main results indicate that there is no significant impact of R&D expenditures on the economic growth and that patent activities determine economic growth in EU-13 subsample and EU-28 as a whole. The study suggests that there may be no one particular recipe for growth for all EU countries and put into question whether setting common numerical targets in EU's innovation policy makes economic sense.