Suchergebnisse

Context: Obesityanddiabetes are epidemic in the European Union(EU). Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is increasingly recognized as a contributor, independent of diet and physical activity. Objective: The objective was to estimate obesity, diabetes, and associated costs that can be reasonably attributed to EDC exposures in the EU. Design: An expert panel evaluated evidence for probability of causation using weight-of-evidence characterization adapted from that applied by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Exposureresponse relationships and reference levels were evaluated for relevant EDCs, and biomarker data were organized from peer-reviewed studies to represent European exposure and burden of disease. Cost estimationas of2010utilized published cost estimates for childhood obesity, adult obesity, and adult diabetes. Setting, Patients and Participants, and Intervention: Cost estimation was performed from the societal perspective. Results: The panel identified a 40% to 69% probability of dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene causing 1555 cases of overweight atage10 (sensitivity analysis: 1555-5463) in 2010 with associated costs of£24.6 million (sensitivity analysis:£24.6-86.4 million). A 20% to 39% probability was identified for dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene causing 28 200 cases of adult diabetes (sensitivity analysis: 28 200-56 400) with associated costs of£835million (sensitivity analysis:£835million-16.6 billion).Thepanel also identifieda40%to69% probability of phthalate exposure causing 53 900 cases of obesity in older women and £15.6 billion in associated costs. Phthalate exposure was also found to have a 40% to 69% probability of causing 20 500 new-onset cases of diabetes in older women with £607 million in associated costs. Prenatal bisphenol A exposure was identified to have a 20% to 69% probability of causing 42 400 cases of childhoodobesity, with associated lifetime costs of £1.54 billion. Conclusions: EDC exposures in the EU contribute substantially to obesity and diabetes, with a moderate probability of >£18 billion costs per year. This is a conservative estimate; the results emphasize the need to control EDC exposures.

In order to adopt binding legislation in the Council of the European Union, a qualified majority is required in most policy fields. Due to this majority rule, individual Member States can be outvoted when adopting legislation that has to be implemented into national law. What are the specific effects of being outvoted in the Council on the transposition of Directives? Does oppositional behaviour in the Council (defined as a vote against or an abstention) actually induce Member States to transpose the respective Directive with a delay or not in compliance with the law? This doctoral thesis will answer these questions by using the example of Austria during the investigation period from 2000 to 2008. In order to answer the research questions, a mixed methods approach with the integration of both qualitative and quantitative elements was chosen. Initially, a comprehensive data set was generated which included information on all formally adopted Directives and the voting behaviour of Member States between 2000 and 2008. The analysis of this data set revealed – among other things – that out of 439 Directives, Austria voted against a new law five times and abstained from voting in seven cases. Only Belgium (with 19 oppositional votes) showed an oppositional attitude more often, while France was equal to Austria with 12 cases of oppositional voting. Austria's cases of opposition referred to the following Directives: Firearms Directive (2008/51), Critical Infrastructure Directive (2008/114), Timeshare Directive (2008/122), Directive laying down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production (2007/43), Directive for working conditions of mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border services in the railway sector (2005/47), Packaging Waste Directive (2004/12), Environmental Liability Directive (2004/35), Linking Directive (2004/101), Directive on the intra-Community trade in and imports of semen of domestic animals of the bovine species (2003/43), Directive as regards health requirements for animal by-products (2002/33), Tobacco Products Directive (2001/37) and Directive on measures for the control of classical swine fever (2001/89). These twelve Directives, the corresponding decision-making process at EU level, and the respective transposition at the national level were analysed qualitatively, which included 22 expert interviews. A survival analysis was then applied to calculate and compare the delays in the transposition of approved and opposed Directives. The number of initiated infringement procedures (including preliminary proceedings) was also assessed. The results demonstrate that, rather than a negative political attitude, other factors were crucial for delays and procedures when transposing Directives during the period under investigation. These factors included changes of government, domestic conflicts, federal structures, issue linkage (the linkup of EU-Directives with national reforms), the transposition deadline set by the Commission, uncertainties about the level of adaptation, and administrative difficulties. It is not common political practice in Austria to express an oppositional stance towards an EU-Directive by neglecting to implement the Directive. ; Grade: with the highest distinction

AbstractThis article analyzes personnel turnover in the Council of the European Union. It draws upon analysis of an original monthly database of ministers in EU Member States from 2004 to 2012. After surveying the literature on the negative effects of high legislative turnover, descriptive statistics are presented that demonstrate high levels of turnover in the Council as a whole and high levels of turnover across all nine sectoral Council configurations. A statistical model is then proposed that tests whether variations in levels of Council turnover affect the institution's bargaining success vis‐à‐vis other EU institutions. The finding, consistent with the broader literature's predictions, is that high levels of turnover hurt the Council vis‐à‐vis the European Parliament and the European Commission. The article concludes with general remarks about the implications of turnover for the Council system and for the EU more broadly.

Enthält Rezensionen von: Pardo, Sharon ; Peters, Joel: Uneasy neighbors : Israel and the European Union. - Lanham/Md. : Lexington Books, 2010 + Hanelt, Christian-Peter ; Möller, Almut: Bound to cooperate : Europe and the Middle East II. - Berlin : Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2008 + Musu, Costanza: European Union policy towards the Arab-Israeli peace process : the quicksands of politics. - Basingstoke : PalgraveMacMillan, 2010

This paper's goal is to highlight how happiness affects the level of shadow economy, by using many control variables within different types of potentially determining factors of shadow economy. Another main contribution consists in the systematic comparison between old and new European Union member states in terms of determinants of shadow economy, including happiness. Our findings consist in the fact that happier people are more likely to act honestly, thus causing a decrease in the size of shadow economy and this result is valid both for old and new European Union countries. In addition, we found that the quality of public governance and the richness of a country are associated with a lower propensity towards shadow economy for all the member states. However, the relationship between public governance and shadow economy are never sig-nificant when the happiness and richness variables vary simultaneously. Our research reveals that the shadow economy in European Union countries is explained in percent of about 62% by richness and happiness of the people. Contrary to our expectations, the fiscal pressure seems not to be a determinant for shadow economy in the European Union space. First published online 4 December 2016