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In the European Monetary Union, the estimation and analysis of preference parameters in its members is of special interest because possible differences could help us to understand why a common monetary policy could have different effects on the different economies involved. In this paper we have focused our attention on the elasticity of intertemporal substitution, one of the key preference parameters in intertemporal macroeconomic models.
Different studies have shown a possible underestimation of such elasticity for different countries. It is common practice to estimate the parameter using only non-durable goods and service consumption data, without referring to the service flows generated by durable consumption. This is only admissible if the intratemporal utility can be separated among the different consumption components. Our priority objective is therefore to test the assumption of intratemporal separability for a selection of European countries (Germany, Spain and France), and then to analyse the effect of durable consumption on the estimated values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution of these countries, our ultimate goal. Knowledge of such elasticity will enable us to characterise how saving in these economies reacts to variations in the real interest rate.

This article argues that cooperation to tackle the consequences of large asylum migration inflows is possible only among fairly symmetrical countries. Highly asymmetric countries have no incentives to join and remain in a stable coalition. The distinction between cost and spillover asymmetries shows that financial transfers may release constraints on participation, and thus make asylum cooperation feasible, only if they are focused on tackling this asymmetry. This result becomes relevant when applied to the context of the enlarged European Union. I argue that there is the potential for a future cooperative burden-sharing regime for asylum, particularly if unanimity is replaced by the double majority principle in European Council votes, as suggested in the EU reform treaty.

AbstractChanges in different aspects of euroscepticism developed at different paces and in varying directions in the regions and countries of the European Union (EU) from 1994 to 2004. Using Eurobarometer data, along with data on country and region characteristics, information on the positions of the political parties and media attention paid to the EU, it is tested in detail whether opposite developments in euroscepticism were associated with opposite developments in influencing contextual characteristics. The authors found that the Netherlands became systematically more sceptical towards the EU, whereas the opposite trend was found in Spain. The introduction of the Euro partially explains these divergent trends, but the direction of this effect varies with countries' GDP. Changes in media attention on the EU further explain the changes in the public's attitude. However, this effect is contingent upon specific circumstances. Growing media attention increases political euroscepticism in countries with a negative EU budget balance, whereas it decreases such scepticism in countries with a positive balance. The effect of left‐right ideological placement is contingent upon the EU budget balance as well. Finally, the effect of education on euroscepticism is found to be smaller in countries with a higher GDP.

"This article first describes the European Union's idea of gender equality and its im-plementation into European policies. The second section analyses the extent to which citizens of different European countries support the idea of gender equality. The em-pirical basis for our analysis is the "Eurobarometer 63.1" from 2005. The descriptive findings show that while a majority of European citizens support the idea of gender equality, there are substantial differences between individual countries. In the third section we explain these differences by referring to the country's level of moderniza-tion and degree of politically institutionalised gender equality, as well as the respon-dents' religious orientation and level of education, among other factors." [author's abstract]

Abstract: In a five–part, broad legal study, the author has analyzed the enforcement of foreign and domestic arbitral awards in three European countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Croatia – two of which have already entered the European Union successfully. The goal of the study has been to familiarize the professional legal public as well as independent readers not only with the legal regulation of enforcement of arbitral awards in the aforementioned countries, but with the real practice of national enforcement courts as well. Furthermore, the author has focused on providing the reader with a comparative insight into the enforcement of arbitral awards in all three European states in its entire complexity. Finally, evaluating the current specifi c position of Croatia as a country that still has not acceded to the European Union, the author introduced an explanation of various reasons for including Croatia in the submitted study.
Résumé: L'auteur a analysé, dans une étude en 5 parties au spectre juridique large, l'exécution des sentences arbitrales étrangères et nationales dans trois pays européens – la République Tchèque, la Slovaquie et la Croatie – deux d'entre eux ayant déjà rejoint avec succès l'Union Européenne. L'objet de cette étude a été de familiariser autant les juristes professionnels que les lecteurs indépendants non seulement avec la règlementation de l'exécution des sentences arbitrales dans les pays susmentionnés mais aussi avec la pratique effective des tribunaux nationaux d'exécution. De plus, l'auteur s'est concentré à donner au lecteur dans toute sa complexité le point de vue comparatif vis–à–vis de l'exécution de sentences arbitrales dans les trois pays européens. Enfi n, évaluant la situation actuelle spécifi que de la Croatie en tant que pays n'ayant pas encore approché l'Union Européenne, l'auteur a présenté une explication des différentes raisons l'ayant amené à inclure la Croatie dans l'étude soumise.
Zusammenfassung: In einer in fünf Teilen aufgebauten rechtswissenschaftlichen Untersuchung hat der Autor die Vollstreckung von ausländischen und nationalen Schiedsentscheidungen in drei europäischen Ländern (Tschechien, Slowakei und Kroatien), von denen zwei als Mitglieder der Europäischen Union aufgenommen sind, untersucht. Das Ziel dieser Untersuchung ist, die professionale juristische Öffentlichkeit sowie auch andere Interessierte nicht nur mit den Regelung der Vollstreckung von Schiedsentscheidungen in den genannten Ländern vertraut zu machen, sondern auch mit der Praxis der nationalen Vollstreckungsgerichte in diesen Ländern. Darüber hinaus beabsichtigt der Autor, den Lesern einen rechtsvergleichenden Überblick über die gesamte Komplexität der Vollstreckung von Schiedsentscheidungen in diesen drei europäischen Ländern zu geben. Abschließend begründet der Autor, warum es angemessen ist, die Rechtslage in Kroatien in dieser Untersuchung darzustellen, trotz der derzeitigen besondern Stellung Kroatiens als nicht Mitgliedstaat der Europäischen Union.

This article provides an overview of the study of the European Union since the doldrums of the 1970s. We focus on three debates that have helped to shape the field. Has European integration centralised state control or is European integration part of a process of dispersion of authority? What is the role of identity in framing preferences over European integration? And, finally, is European integration part of a new political cleavage? We observe that the European Union is a moving target. It has a habit of throwing up new and unexpected facts which wrong-foot extant theories. We have no grounds for believing that this will not continue. Adapted from the source document.