Suchergebnisse

The working paper examines the decision-making process of what has most likely been the most contentious European environmental policy-item in 2009: the regulation 443/2009 setting carbon dioxide emission performance standards for new passenger cars. In contrast to the empirical trend of rather stringent protection levels, where environmental front-runner countries, encouraged by the Commission and the European Parliament, are able to set the pace, the regulation in question was largely shaped by the most reluctant member state – Germany with its high-volume, premium car manufacturers.By process-tracing the legislative decision-making, the paper accounts for this lowest-common-denominator outcome. Commission and EP had "greener" preferences than the Council. Yet, both actors suffered from a of lack internal consistency, with national differences leading to strong in-fights between Commissioners and limiting the voting coherence of EP party-groups. The issue was therefore already highly politicized at the agenda-setting stage. This, and the fact that the dossier was handled in a fast-track procedure, curtailed Commission influence. In the Council negotiations, Germany was able to muster a potential blocking minority together with those, mostly east-European countries, were subsidiaries of German car companies are located. "Greener" member states were, however, not prepared to veto down the regulation although they criticized its lack of ambition.

The need for truth -- The emergence of a right to the truth -- Content of the right to the truth -- The public aspect of the right to the truth -- The right to the truth in different fora -- The Inter-American Court & UNHCR -- The right to the truth at the European Court of Human Rights -- Truth commissions and the right to the truth -- International criminal trials -- The right to the truth and the International Criminal Court.

Das neu verhandelte Freihandelsabkommen mit den Ländern des südamerikanischen Wirtschaftsblocks Mercosur ermöglicht der Europäischen Union, sich in Lateinamerika geoökonomisch und -politisch gegenüber den USA und China zu behaupten und den regelbasierten Welthandel zu verteidigen. Die künftige EU-Kommission und die Bundesregierung sollten nun für eine schnelle Verabschiedung werben. Die EU-Mitglieder müssen ihr geostrategisches Interesse als Europäer über nationale und Partikularinteressen stellen.

"Fog in channel - continent cut off" was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s. Is there fog between Britain and mainland Europe now? Metaphorically yes. This book seeks to clear it away through a series of fascinating essays. Is the continent cut off from Britain? Read the lively debates contained in this unique anthology to decide for yourself. Contributors come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including politicians from Charles Kennedy to John Redwood, Tony Benn to Michael Howard, as well as noted people from the worlds of education, business, journalism, science and the arts, including Simon Woodroffe, Judge Jules, Bill Deedes, Gerry Robinson, Zoe Readhead, Chas Hodges and many more. They investigate the issues of history, culture and changing value systems rather than offering any detailed analysis of political mechanisms. It is a balanced and accessible book exploring issues of human interaction and experience which will encourage readers to engage more fully and think more constructively about how the people of the UK address the future of Europe.

"Im Laufe des letzten Jahrzehnts haben die meisten OECD-Länder grundlegende Reformen ihrer Agrarpolitik in Angriff genommen. Die Frage, inwieweit politische Maßnahmen auf internationaler Ebene den Anstoß für diese Reformen gegeben haben, wird derzeit kontrovers diskutiert. Diese Diskussion wirft wichtige theoretische Fragen darüber auf, wie das Ausmaß der Interdependenz zwischen internationalen, regionalen (EU) und nationalen Politikänderungen theoretisch erfasst und empirisch bestimmt werden kann. Wir bieten das Konzept autonomer, miteinander verbundener Spiele als theoretischen Ansatz an, der zur Lösung dieser Fragen beitragen könnte. Dieser Ansatz könnte auch eine stringentere theoretische Analyse der Rolle internationaler Organisationen bei der Politikgestaltung ermöglichen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt insbesondere auf der Europäischen Kommission und dem GATT-Sekretariat. Auf der Grundlage unseres Ansatzes argumentieren wir, daß Politikreformen in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten in beträchtlichem Maße geprägt wurden von den Vorschlägen und Ergebnissen der internationalen Agrarverhandlungen während der Uruguay-Runde des GATT." [Autorenreferat]

The EU FDI Screening Regulation (the Regulation) is an interesting application of the 'integration by stealth' theory to the sphere of investment screening. The Regulation leads to integration in the sense that, for the first time, the Commission is granted a role in the process of investment screening within the EU. However, Commission involvement comes at the cost of simultaneously strengthening the hands of the Member State screening authorities, leading to a suboptimal policy outcome whereby neither the Commission nor the Member States may have at their disposal the necessary tools to screen investments quickly and thoroughly, as is required to maintain an open investment environment. The shortcomings of the Regulation are likely to trigger calls for further reform. To develop this argument, this article (1) legally examines the main features of the Regulation and (2) explores the interplay of the Regulation with EU free movement rules. The article explains how the Regulation is likely to contribute to an uptake in national screening decisions, but not to a concomitant increase in enforcement opportunities for the Commission or the Court of Justice of the EU. This creates an enforcement gap, which may put pressure on the existing free movement framework and may risk encouraging Member States to develop a national as opposed to a common EU conception of public security and order.
European Union law, European integration, foreign direct investment screening, free movement of capital, freedom of establishment, investment liberalization, functionalism, neo-functionalism, Court of Justice of the European Union, common commercial policy, rule of law, judicial protection, enforcement

Economic events, particularly the energy crisis, inflation, & recession, have had an impact on both the successes & failures of the European Community (EC) in the 1970s. Accomplishments, eg, the 1973 enlargement & the evolution of a global development cooperation policy, contrast with setbacks in forming joint economic, monetary, & energy policies. The record of contemporary EC policy, with its disagreements & inaction, reflects both worldwide economic disorder & growing divergent views within the Nine. Europe has moved from a relatively insignificant status in international affairs to that of a global power, utilizing the partnership concept embodied in the pioneering Lome agreement, the world's largest regional economic organization. New cooperative "foreign policies" (with the Arab & Mediterranean zones) are the outgrowth of new German influence, Commission initiative, & Third World global significance. The achievements are limited by the recurrent inability to construct common Community policies &/or bring about structural reform. To liberate the Nine from a state of disunity, there has emerged a drive to make the European Parliament more powerful & directly elected, which may break the deadlock, but will not achieve the mandatory coherence between the internal & external policies & procedures of the Community. Modified HA.

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the differentiated paths followed by firms to innovate in business models, among four different strategic postures and also to determine the innovation interactions between business model components, among strategic postures. The authors intend to highlight the differentiated patterns of business model innovation (BMI) in each strategic posture and provide guidance to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) managers regarding the suitable alignments of business model components when they innovate in their business model.Design/methodology/approachThe research model developed and tested in this work uses a composite model that borrows from the logic of Miles and Snow's cycle of adaptive strategic choices as well as Demil and Lecocq's perspective of permanent change within and between components of a business model. The authors' model is designed first to encompass the differentiated patterns characterizing the relationships between the strategic posture of defender, prospector and analyzer profiles and the related innovation attributes of their business model components. The study was conducted with independent French manufacturing SMEs ranging from 10 to 250 employees in size and having revenues below €50m (European Commission, 2007). The analysed sample includes 169 firms from 14 sectors representative of French manufacturing SMEs.FindingsResults confirm the differentiated propensity to adopt specific BMI behaviours among strategic postures. The authors also highlight the differentiated interactions between and within BMI components. These results suggest that SMEs tend to leverage specific BMI components related to their entrepreneurial, engineering and administrative choices. Thus, firms tend to evolve in a posture-specific, path-dependent dynamic consistency in which BMI attributes interact towards a limited set of alternatives, thus anchoring the new business model into strategic choices. It has been shown that the predictability of strategy–BMI alignment is contingent on the level of fit between empirically derived strategic profile attributes and Miles and Snow's ideal profile attributes.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper investigates strategy–BMI alignments without addressing such alignments from the standpoint of firm performance. Still, performance from a BMI perspective lies in the ability of the firm to sustain the dynamic consistency of its business model components by identifying the effects of change in interactions between and within components on overall BM performance. Further studies should explore dynamic consistency as a means for firms to generate and maintain performance by innovating in their business model when facing specific contingencies. The conceptual framework designed for the present research seems appropriate for conducting such an investigation on the performance implications of strategy–BMI fit.Practical implicationsThis research offers insights regarding manufacturing SMEs seeking guidance when changing business strategy. Indeed, by combining Miles and Snow's configurational framework of strategic postures with Demil and Lecocq's RCOV BM framework, the authors provide insights that can bridge the gap between intended strategy and realized strategy. The authors suggest that when realizing new strategic choices, SMEs should favour behaviours of BMI that are likely to fit the new intended strategic posture. Accordingly, the authors introduce a set of field-based BMI alignments specific to firms' strategic posture to support the strategic management of innovation in SMEs.Originality/valueBy unravelling the alignments between strategic posture and business model innovation, this work contributes to enlightening the dynamics of Miles and Snow's adaptive cycle. Indeed, viewing Miles and Snow's typology from the configurational perspective of BMI provides a clearer picture of the adaptive cycle through which BMI reflects the path-dependent process of the formation of the firm's strategic posture through the transformation of its business model.

An endogenous trade policy approach is used to determine the motivations behind the national protectionist trade barriers against non-EC (European Community) member countries allowed by Article 115 of the EC Treaty of Rome. The hypothesis that political & bureaucratic self-interests (ie, national governments & EC commissions) are responsible for the discretionary procedures permitted by the article is supported by empirical results from an analysis of applications forwarded by national governments & their approval rates at the EC level. Implications for the post-1992 EC trade policy are presented, including more external trade barriers. 3 Tables, 1 Figure. M. Malas

Engaging with recent claims of increased intergovernmental dynamics, this article asks what exactly is intergovernmental about the EU's major crisis-induced reforms. Drawing on central claims of both New Intergovernmentalism and Liberal Intergovernmentalism, it is demonstrated that the Eurozone reform and the asylum reform differ significantly regarding the role played by the European Council (NI) and the role of institutional expertise provided by supranational actors (LI). While the European Council played a central facilitating role in the Eurozone crisis and worked effectively with the Commission, which provided important technical expertise, expertise in the area of asylum still largely lies with the member states. The Commission therefore acted as a political stakeholder, thus estranging the European Council that subsequently acted as a reform blocker. This article is a first attempt to assess empirically the micro-level foundations of different types of intergovernmentalism and to nuance claims on the weakened role of supranational institutions.

Police complaints are a developing area of European human rights law and criminal justice policy. In response to the risk of cultures of police impunity emerging in some European states the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights launched a police complaints initiative in 2008. Written by the consultant to the Commissioner this paper examines his recently published Opinion concerning independent and effective determination of complaints against the police. Firstly, an overview is presented of the different types of complaints mechanism currently operating across Europe. This is followed by an outline of the five police complaints principles developed in the jurisprudence of European Court of Human Rights and explanation of the two-tiered citizen oversight approach advocated in the Commissioner's Opinion. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance of the principles as a means for ensuring that every police complaint is handled appropriately and proportionately. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.