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The accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union (EU) is assessed from the perspective of market integration in key agricultural sectors. An empirical investigation is conducted using monthly data for two periods: from 1975:01-1994:12 (the pre-EU period) and 1995:01-2004:12 (post-EU period). The existence of market integration both within the countries and within the EU is tested using time-series methods. A long-run equilibrium between prices for the same good in different markets does not exclude the possibility of short-run deviations in the individual data, so part of this analysis consists of estimating an econometric model (error correction) to uncover long-run effects of price deviations. Only a subset of agricultural prices moves together after EU integration. Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v2i1.164

In September 2021, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution to phase out animal use for research, testing, and education, through the adoption of an action plan. Here we explore the opportunity that the action plan could offer in developing a more holistic outlook for fundamental and biomedical research, which accounts for around 70% of all animal use for scientific purposes in the EU. We specifically focus on biomedical research to consider how mapping scientific advances to patient needs, taking into account the ambitious health policies of the EU, would facilitate the development of non-animal strategies to deliver safe and effective medicines, for example. We consider what is needed to help accelerate the move away from animal use, taking account of all stakeholders and setting ambitious but realistic targets for the total replacement of animals. Importantly, we envisage this as a 'phase-in' approach, encouraging the use of human-relevant NAMs, enabling their development and application across research (with applications for toxicology testing). We make recommendations for three pillars of activity, inspired by similar efforts for making the shift to renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions, and point out where investment—both financial and personnel—may be needed.

This paper offers a comparative account of how the European Union and the United States surveil dominant internet players in light of recent enforcement efforts by U.S. antitrust agencies and ongoing discussions about regulating digital giants in both jurisdictions. After setting out themes for comparative analysis, the paper turns to the two actions initiated in the United States against Google: the one filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) is similar in focus to the European Commission's Android decision and the one led by the State of Texas focuses on advertising markets in a manner similar to the European Commission's AdSense decision. We observe that while there are similar intuitions about anticompetitive conduct in the manner both jurisdictions address the issues, the framing of the competition problem by the U.S. agencies is more sophisticated in relation to the understanding of the markets, the theories of harm, and the design of forward-looking remedies. The paper then compares the Commission's proposal for a Digital Markets Act with several Bills proposing platform regulation presently discussed in the United States, examining what the two systems have in common, what they may learn from each other, and what regulatory gaps remain.

Background: Countries all over the world are experiencing a shortage of registered nurses (RNs). Therefore, some countries, including Sweden, have tried to solve this by recruiting internationally educated nurses (IENs). Countries offer bridging programs as educational support to qualify IENs for nursing work in the destination country. However, there is little research on IENs' experiences of bridging programs in European countries and how these programs facilitate their integration into the world of work and their new society. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of nurses, originally educated outside the EU (European Union)/EES, of the Swedish bridging program and of the program's role in facilitating their integration into the nursing profession in Sweden. Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used to explore the topic based on 11 informants' perspectives and experiences. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants at one university in Sweden. Data were collected by individual interviews using a semi- structured interview guide during the year 2019 and were analysed using an interpretative thematic approach. Results: Two main themes emerged from the analysis: 1) Return to nursing, and 2) The bridging program as a tool for transition to nursing in Sweden. The first theme includes conditions and experiences such as personal motivation and determination, and support from others that the participants described as important in order to achieve the goal of re-establishing themselves as registered nurses in Sweden. Furthermore, the second theme describes the participants' experiences of the bridging program as mostly positive because it led to new learning and achievements that were valuable for the transition to nursing in Sweden; however, the participants also emphasised the challenges of their transition into the nursing profession, which were related to instances of misrecognition of their professional competence and the uncertain outcome of the program. Conclusions: This study found that the bridging program facilitated integration into the nursing profession for nurses educated outside the EU/EES, especially knowledge gained in clinical-based training. Thus, it is important to recognise and value the IENs' experience and previous knowledge and training when developing the bridging program's curriculum.

Der Europäische Integrationsprozess schreitet auf politischer Ebene trotz und aufgrund der internationalen Wirtschaftskrise weiter voran, nicht jedoch in den Köpfen zahlreicher Europäer. Die Arbeit analysiert aus der Perspektive junger Bürger im ländlichen Gebiet sowie mit kurzer Ausbildungsphase ein Identifikationsdefizit mit der EU, das eng mit einem Öffentlichkeits- und Demokratiedefizit verbunden ist. Die Autorin rekurriert dabei auf eine Gruppe junger Europäer, die der EU als politischer Institution besonders kritisch beziehungsweise indifferent gegenüber steht. Wie sehen diese jungen Menschen – die in Analysen häufig außen vor sind – die EU und was verbinden sie mit ihr? Dies sind Fragen, die die Arbeit aufwirft und mittels Fokusgruppeninterviews zu beantworten sucht

The main goal of the article is to study both advantages and disadvantages of the approaches of the European Union (EU) states to criminal law prevention of land pollution. As a result of this an optimal legislative model should be developed to protect this element of the environment from criminal encroachment, which can be further used by the EU states in improving existing or creating new rules aimed at criminal law protection of land resources from pollution or the creation of new rules aimed at criminal law protection of land resources from pollution. The following research methods have been used to study criminal law provisions of the selected countries, to prove the stated hypotheses and to formulate conclusions: comparative law, system analysis, formal-logical, dialectical and modeling method. As a result of the study of various models of criminal law protection of land resources embodied in the legislation of nineteen European Union states, it has been proved that: 1) such protection should be carried out by a single universal rule on criminal liability for pollution not only of land but also of other components of the environment (water, air, forest); 2) only such land pollution shall be considered criminal, which has led to real (non-potential) damage to the environment, human health or property damage; 3) liability for land pollution should be differentiated depending on: a) weather guilty person's act was intentional or negligent; b) what the consequences of land pollution have been.

The European Union set a new record in its last year as EU-15. According to Eurostat, banana consumption exceeded 4.1 million tonnes in 2003. This is 50 000 tonnes more than in 2002, that is to say growth of hardly 1.2%. The modest increase hides marked trends by type of origin. Cameroon gained new market shares while Caribbean ACP countries continued to lose ground. Ecuador went down while Costa Rica gained ground. Colombia and Panama maintained their positions. Community production decreased a little. The market supply balance remained much the same: dollar origins 63%, ACP origins 19% and community origins 18%. Per capita consumption was very slightly up at just under 11 kg.