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Analysing the shifts in the global structure of power, leading European contributors reflect on how the EU can utilise collective strength to engage and compete with rapidly developing nations. They examine perceptions of the EU among the emerging powers and the true meaning and nature of any strategic partnerships negotiated. Finally they explore the shape and structure of the international system in the 21st century and how the EU can contribute to and shape it

This book comprehensively reviews one of the most salient on-going debates at the heart of the EU today, democratic reform. It provides an evaluation of how democracy might best be defined in the transnational context of the EU and explores the key strategies that have been deployed to enhance the EU's democracy.

"Emergencies are ubiquitous in 21st-century societal discourses. From the rise of emergency pronouncements since 9/11 accompanied by the associated violations of fundamental rights, through talks of 'crises' in the EU in relation to the economy, Putin's occupation of Crimea-recently amplified by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine-or refugees, to the long-neglected climate emergency, emergency discourses have been catapulted to the center of attention by the critical juncture of the COVID-19 pandemic. This volume presents and compares the existing regulations and practices of emergencies and human rights protection in the Visegrad (V4) countries. As such, the analysis covers Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Although these European countries share a common historical experience and are now members of the EU and NATO, they differ in some of their constitutional traditions and, also, in the dynamics of their political regimes. Divided into three parts, the first two comprehensively discuss the constitutional models of emergency and human rights protection in each of the V4 countries, while the third part illustrates how these models and the general framework of rights protection materialised in the limitations of the selected human rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. The volume provides a compass for more in-depth, comparative, and interdisciplinary inquiries into the forms and practices of emergencies in one of the EU regions that face illiberalisation and the consequences of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on its eastern borders. It will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Constitutional Law and Politics"--

In the context of the current economy, the concept of corporate social responsibility has gained momentum, and its significance derives from the attitude of companies that have understood the importance of the impact of their activity on the environment in which they conduct their operations. The present study emphasizes the fact that CSR has an equal importance for those companies of varying sizes that operate in developing countries, such as Romania. There are still a lot of challenges regarding their implementation. The study focuses on establishing the level of CSR report by the Romanian companies within the European Union framework by taking into account the extent to which they are familiar with the CSR reporting guidelines in order to identify the degree of applying the Global Reporting Guidelines (GRI) when designing the sustainability reports. The data regarding the acceptance of the voluntary report and its correlation to the sustainable development as a strategic focus of the management of entities, the usefulness, the necessity and the obstacles of voluntary reporting were gathered based on a questionnaire. Between 2015&ndash ; 2017, 61 Romanian companies of various sizes had to answer specific questions. The research is based on the descriptive statistics as well as the correlation analysis method. The findings of the research proved that the acceptance of the management in terms of the sustainable development is in a close relationship with implementing voluntary reporting and the willingness to develop a favorable image of the company within a competitive market. The study also identified the differences that exist between a company&rsquo ; s success on the market that is linked to their development and the economic factors that characterize each and every field of activity. The present study focuses on defining the term &lsquo ; social responsibility&rsquo ; from the point of view of its concepts. It also aims at presenting the social responsibility reporting methods used by the companies from the European Union countries. These can be a starting point for those companies that have not had the chance of applying them yet.

Unlike many other international trade regimes, the European Union forbids the use of inter-state retaliation to enforce its obligations, and rules out the use of common 'escape' mechanisms - such as anti-dumping - between its member states. How, then, is the European legal order, with the European Court of Justice at its centre, able to be so much more binding and intrusive than the legal obligations of other trade regimes? This book puts forward a new argument for these remarkable outcomes

This book examines the impact of increased legislative power and political authority on the internal development of the European Parliament and the supranational party group system. This is done through an analysis of changes in the hierarchical structures that regulate the internal organization of both the EP as a whole and the individual party groups. In addition, the changing pattern of coalition formation between party groups across time and legislative procedure is analyzed. The trends of internal development examined suggest that the increases in EP power that have occurred since the creation of the cooperation procedure by the Single European Act in 1987 have caused a fundamental shift in the character of the European Parliament as a legislative institution. Prior to 1987 the European Parliament, despite direct election and several small attempts to increase its powers, served primarily as a chamber of debate where much more was discussed than accomplished

Intro -- Preface -- Summary -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Focus and approach in this study -- Method -- 1. Framework and background for reflection periods -- 1.1 The international framework for reflection periods -- 1.2 Recommendations and opinions of the Group of Experts on Trafficking in Human Beings of the European Commission -- 1.3 The situation and needs of victims -- 2. Reflection periods and related TRPs in the Nordic countries, Belgium and Italy -- 2.1 Denmark -- 2.2 Finland -- 2.3 Iceland -- 2.4 Norway -- 2.5 Sweden -- 2.6 Belgium -- 2.7 Italy -- 3. Discussion -- 3.1 The factors that vary -- 3.2 Length and nature of the reflection period -- 3.3 Implementation of the permit -- 3.4 When protection is contingent on cooperation -- 3.5 Return of victims to countries of origin/residence -- 3.6 The main pros and cons of different types of reflection periods -- 3.7 Reflection periods and prosecution -- 4. Conclusion and recommendations -- 4.1 Striking the balance between protection and prosecution -- 4.2 The totality of victim assistance -- 4.3 Implementation of reflection periods -- 4.4 The importance of knowledge of policy consequences -- References -- Sammendrag.

In this paper, the authors identified key elements important for circularity. The primary goal of circularity is to eliminate waste and prove the constant use of resources. In the paper, we classified studies according to circular approaches and stated which of them get the highest attention. Further, we identified the principal elements, grouped them into four categories important for circularity, and presented scientific works dedicated to each of the above-mentioned categories. Further on, several core elements from the first category were investigated, aiming to connect different waste streams and provide a regression model. Finally, the methodological part reviewed the correlation between various types of waste and their recycling and selected suitable ones for developing a new panel regression model. The empirical research was delivered for the 27 European Union countries during the period between 2000 and 2019. We indicate that the recycling rate of municipal waste impacts the increase of recycling biowaste the same calendar year. The increase of recycling of municipal waste by one per cent means the increase of the recycling of biowaste by 0.6 per cent.

In this paper, the authors identified key elements important for circularity. The primary goal of circularity is to eliminate waste and prove the constant use of resources. In the paper, we classified studies according to circular approaches and stated which of them get the highest attention. Further, we identified the principal elements, grouped them into four categories important for circularity, and presented scientific works dedicated to each of the above-mentioned categories. Further on, several core elements from the first category were investigated, aiming to connect different waste streams and provide a regression model. Finally, the methodological part reviewed the correlation between various types of waste and their recycling and selected suitable ones for developing a new panel regression model. The empirical research was delivered for the 27 European Union countries during the period between 2000 and 2019. We indicate that the recycling rate of municipal waste impacts the increase of recycling biowaste the same calendar year. The increase of recycling of municipal waste by one per cent means the increase of the recycling of biowaste by 0.6 per cent.