Suchergebnisse

First published online: 12 December 2017 ; The point of departure for the special collection is provided by the observation that the growing complexity of the crises in the neighbourhood and the internal ones faced by the Union provides a sense of urgency to any type of strategic thinking that the EU might embrace. Against this backdrop, the recent shift towards geopolitics and strategic thinking is contextualized and the understanding of key aspects of ways in which the shift is translated into strategies by EU actors is put forward. The analysis recognizes the recent developments within the institutional dimension of EU's foreign and security policy, yet it confirms the fundamental meaning of the member states' willingness to invest resources and harmonize their foreign policy strategies at the EU level.

Development cooperation will be central to the external policy of the post-Lisbon Treaty EU. Measuring up to the letter and spirit of the Lisbon Treaty requires strengthening the European Union (EU) as a development actor, while ensuring that development policy is flexible enough to respond to – but not be dominated by – the demands of a changing foreign policy environment. The new European External Action Service (EEAS) will be the key EU external policy institution and will play an important role in EU development policymaking. Public debates accompanying the EEAS' roll-out have highlighted four crucial areas where the new Service can help improve the effectiveness of EU development policy: promoting policy coherence for development, facilitating coordination among actors, fostering professionalism and building legitimacy. All these elements require member states to continue to support the EU external policy integration process, stronger institutional measures to protect development objectives, and strong involvement from the European Commission and Parliament. Improving the coherence, coordination, professionalism and legitimacy of development policy has great potential for increasing the EU's global influence, both as a development actor and as a foreign policy actor.

The impacts of European agricultural and trade policies on agricultural development and food security in Africa are analyzed in this study. The research is prompted by the pending further development of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2020. The proposal for the new CAP is based on higher ambitions with regard to environmental protection and climate change through mandatory ecological programs and an enhanced linkage of direct payments to the greening rules. The methodological approach comprises: (i) an examination and critical review of existing studies; (ii) an analysis and assessment of agricultural trade flows between the EU and Africa as a whole and in the context of case studies on meat and milk; (iii) a systematic consultation of leading experts in European and African agricultural and trade policy on trends and impacts of the CAP; and (iv) model simulations of the effects of possible reform projects on production in and trade flows with Africa. The study finds that direct payments to EU farmers continue to account for up to 50% of total farm income in the EU, but EU spending on agricultural development in Africa is rather small in comparison. The current EU agricultural subsidy policy hampers the development of African agriculture much less than it did before export subsidies and coupled subsidy payments were largely abolished. However, these earlier effects cannot be corrected quickly because agricultural productivity depends on longstanding favorable framework conditions and long-term investments in innovation. According to the expert consultation carried out for this study, a stronger environmental and climate orientation of the CAP is considered likely and would have a dampening effect on European agricultural exports to Africa. The model simulation estimates that European food exports to Africa would decrease under the expected EU policy changes. However, this reduction in European exports would be mainly taken over by other exporters. Investments in African agricultural development should be expanded by the EU. Although African raw agricultural material exports to the EU are largely free of duties, the access of processed products to the EU market is still limited due to complicated rules of origin and social and hygiene standards for goods imported into the EU. These standards are necessary but must be more transparent. The EU should provide more support to improve standards in Africa; otherwise, the export potential of African countries cannot be fully exploited.

This cumulative dissertation contains four self-contained articles which are related to EU regional policy and its structural funds as the overall research topic. In particular, the thesis addresses the question if EU regional policy interventions can at all be scientifically justified and legitimated on theoretical and empirical grounds from an economics point of view. The first two articles of the thesis ("The EU structural funds as a means to hamper migration" and "Internal migration and EU regional policy transfer payments: a panel data analysis for 28 EU member countries") enter into one particular aspect of the debate regarding the justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy. They theoretically and empirically analyse as to whether regional policy or the market force of the free flow of labour (migration) in the internal European market is the better instrument to improve and harmonise the living and working conditions of EU citizens. Based on neoclassical market failure theory, the first paper argues that the structural funds of the EU are inhibiting internal migration, which is one of the key measures in achieving convergence among the nations in the single European market. It becomes clear that European regional policy aiming at economic growth and cohesion among the member states cannot be justified and legitimated if the structural funds hamper instead of promote migration. The second paper, however, shows that the empirical evidence on the migration and regional policy nexus is not unambiguous, i.e. different empirical investigations show that EU structural funds hamper and promote EU internal migration. Hence, the question of the scientific justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy cannot be readily and unambiguously answered on empirical grounds. This finding is unsatisfying but is in line with previous theoretical and empirical literature. That is why, I take a step back and reconsider the theoretical beginnings of the thesis, which took for granted neoclassical market failure theory as the starting point for the positive explanation as well as the normative justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy. The third article of the thesis ("EU regional policy: theoretical foundations and policy conclusions revisited") deals with the theoretical explanation and legitimisation of EU regional policy as well as the policy recommendations given to EU regional policymakers deduced from neoclassical market failure theory. The article elucidates that neoclassical market failure is a normative concept, which justifies and legitimates EU regional policy based on a political and thus subjective goal or value-judgement. It can neither be used, therefore, to give a scientifically positive explanation of the structural funds nor to obtain objective and practically applicable policy instruments. Given this critique of neoclassical market failure theory, the third paper consequently calls into question the widely prevalent explanation and justification of EU regional policy given in static neoclassical equilibrium economics. It argues that an evolutionary non-equilibrium economics perspective on EU regional policy is much more appropriate to provide a realistic understanding of one of the largest policies conducted by the EU. However, this does neither mean that evolutionary economic theory can be unreservedly seen as the panacea to positively explain EU regional policy nor to derive objective policy instruments for EU regional policymakers. This issue is discussed in the fourth article of the thesis ("Market failure vs. system failure as a rationale for economic policy? A critique from an evolutionary perspective"). This article reconsiders the explanation of economic policy from an evolutionary economics perspective. It contrasts the neoclassical equilibrium notions of market and government failure with the dominant evolutionary neo-Schumpeterian and Austrian-Hayekian perceptions. Based on this comparison, the paper criticises the fact that neoclassical failure reasoning still prevails in non-equilibrium evolutionary economics when economic policy issues are examined. This is surprising, since proponents of evolutionary economics usually view their approach as incompatible with its neoclassical counterpart. The paper therefore argues that in order to prevent the otherwise fruitful and more realistic evolutionary approach from undermining its own criticism of neoclassical economics and to create a consistent as well as objective evolutionary policy framework, it is necessary to eliminate the equilibrium spirit. Taken together, the main finding of this thesis is that European regional policy and its structural funds can neither theoretically nor empirically be justified and legitimated from an economics point of view. Moreover, the thesis finds that the prevalent positive and instrumental explanation of EU regional policy given in the literature needs to be reconsidered, because these theories can neither scientifically explain the emergence and development of this policy nor are they appropriate to derive objective and scientific policy instruments for EU regional policymakers. ; Diese kumulative Dissertation umfasst vier eigenständige Artikel zur EU-Regionalpolitik und ihren Strukturfonds als dem übergreifenden Forschungsthema der Dissertation. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Fragestellung, ob sich aus ökonomischer Sicht die EU-Regionalpolitik überhaupt wissenschaftlich, sowohl empirisch als auch theoretisch, begründen lässt. Die ersten beiden Artikel der Dissertation ("The EU structural funds as a means to hamper migration" und "Internal migration and EU regional policy transfer payments: a panel data analysis for 28 EU member countries") greifen einen bestimmten Aspekt der Debatte um die Rechtfertigung von Eingriffen der EU-Regionalpolitik in den EU-Binnenmarkt auf. Die beiden Artikel analysieren theoretisch und empirisch, ob die Regionalpolitik oder die freien Marktkräfte in Form von freier Migration im europäischen Binnenmarkt besser geeignet sind, um die Lebens- und Beschäftigungsbedingungen der EU-Bürger zu verbessern und anzugleichen. Basierend auf der neoklassischen Theorie des Marktversagens, argumentiert das erste Papier, dass die Strukturfonds der EU Migration, die einen wesentlichen Mechanismus zur Erreichung von Konvergenz der europäischen Mitgliedsstaaten darstellt, verhindern. Es wird deutlich, dass die EU-Regionalpolitik, welche auf Wachstum und Konvergenz der EU-Mitgliedsstaaten abzielt, nicht gerechtfertigt werden kann, wenn die Strukturfonds Migration in der EU behindern, anstatt sie zu fördern. Der zweite Artikel zeigt jedoch, dass die empirische Evidenz bezüglich des Zusammenhangs von EU-Regionalpolitik und Migration nicht eindeutig ist, d.h. verschiedene empirische Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Strukturfonds Migration behindern aber auch fördern. Daher ist die Frage der wissenschaftlichen Rechtfertigung der EU-Regionalpolitik auf empirischer Grundlage nicht einfach und eindeutig. Dieses Ergebnis ist unbefriedigend, steht aber im Einklang mit der bisherigen theoretischen und empirischen Literatur. Daher geht die Arbeit an dieser Stelle einen Schritt zurück und überprüft die zu Beginn unterstellte theoretische Grundlage ihrer Analyse der Erklärung und Rechtfertigung der EU-Regionalpolitik, die in der vorherrschenden neoklassischen Marktversagenstheorie zu sehen und zu finden ist. Der dritte Artikel ("EU regional policy: theoretical foundations and policy conclusions revisited") behandelt die theoretische Erklärung und Rechtfertigung, als auch die Politikempfehlungen an EU-Regionalpolitiker, welche aus der neoklassischen Marktversagenstheorie abgleitet werden. Der Artikel führt aus, dass das neoklassische Marktversagenskonzept normativ ist und die EU-Regionalpolitik dadurch mit Hilfe eines politischen und damit subjektiven Werturteils rechtfertigt und legitimiert. Dieses Konzept kann jedoch keine wissenschaftlich positive Erklärung der EU-Strukturfonds liefern, noch können daraus objektive und praktisch anwendbare Politikinstrumente abgeleitet werden. Diese Kritik an der neoklassischen Marktversagenstheorie gegeben, stellt das dritte Papier konsequenterweise die vorherrschende Erklärung und Rechtfertigung der EU-Regionalpolitik, welche in der statisch-neoklassischen Gleichgewichtsökonomik geliefert wird, in Frage. Es wird argumentiert, dass eine evolutorische Nicht-Gleichgewichtsperspektive auf die EU-Regionalpolitik wesentlich geeigneter erscheint eine realistische Erklärung für eine der größten Politiken der EU zu geben. Allerdings heißt dies nicht, dass die evolutorische Ökonomik unvoreingenommen als Allheilmittel für eine positive Erklärung und die Ableitung objektiver Politikinstrumente herangezogen werden kann. Warum dies so ist, wird im vierten Artikel der Dissertation ("Market failure vs. system failure as a rationale for economic policy? A critique from an evolutionary perspective") diskutiert. Dieser Artikel greift die Erklärung von Wirtschaftspolitik, die aus evolutorischer Perspektive gegeben wird, neu auf. Die neoklassischen Gleichgewichtsvorstellungen des Markt- und Staatsversagens werden mit den vorherrschenden evolutorischen neo-Schumpeterschen und Österreichisch-Hayekiansichen Vorstellungen die Wirtschaftspolitik betreffend verglichen. Auf diesem Vergleich aufbauend kritisiert das Papier, dass neoklassisches Versagensdenken in der evolutorischen Nicht-Gleichgewichtsökonomik weiterhin zu finden ist, wenn wirtschaftspolitische Fragestellungen erörtert werden. Dies ist sehr überraschend, da die Vertreter der evolutorischen Ökonomik ihren Ansatz normalerweise als inkompatibel zu ihrem neoklassischen Pendant ansehen. Der letzte Artikel argumentiert deshalb, dass der Gleichgewichtsgedanke eliminiert werden muss, um die ansonsten sehr fruchtbare und wesentlich realistischere evolutorische Ökonomik vor der Unterminierung ihrer eigenen Kritik an der Neoklassik zu schützen und einen konsistenten als auch objektiven evolutorischen Analyserahmen für wirtschaftspolitische Fragestellungen zu schaffen. Fasst man das Resultat der Dissertation zusammen, bleibt festzuhalten, dass die EU-Regionalpolitik und ihre Strukturfonds aus ökonomischer Sicht weder theoretisch noch empirisch rechtfertigt und legitimiert werden können. Darüber hinaus kommt die Arbeit zu dem Schluss, dass die vorherrschende positive und instrumentelle Erklärung der EU-Regionalpolitik, die in der Literatur gegeben wird, neu gedacht werden muss, da mit Hilfe dieser Theorien weder das Aufkommen und die Entwicklung dieser Politik erklärbar sind, noch geeignete objektive und wissenschaftliche Politikinstrumente für EU-Regionalpolitiker abgeleitet werden können.

"The present study works out the central elements of the EC's budget support concept, examining it in terms of the objectives envisaged for and the risks entailed by budget support. The study furthermore looks into whether and to what extent the concept is in fact being implemented in the EC's budget-support programs. The study's aim is to assess the EC's performance as a donor in the provision of budget support." (author's abstract)

The aim of this deliverable is to monitor the development of policies affecting rural areas and rural dwellers in the start of the 2020-2027 period. It provides an overview of the main negotiations and development of the rural policy framework at the EU level to the various stakeholders who will take part in the SHERPA Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs). The objective that underpins this calendar overview is to identify opportunities for contributing to EU level discussions and negotiations, and national implementation.

'Mit der Entwicklung der Europäischen Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik (ESVP) hat die EU den Anspruch verbunden, gewaltsame Krisen und deren Folgen auf ganzheitliche Weise zu bewältigen. Der Verfasser der vorliegenden Studie geht der Frage nach, inwiefern es der Europäischen Union gelungen ist, die zivilen und militärischen Instrumente im Zusammenhang mit ESVP-Missionen kohärent und effektiv zum Einsatz zu bringen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei die Erfahrungen in Bosnien-Herzegowina und der Demokratischen Republik Kongo. Die Analyse verdeutlicht, dass die Union weiterhin große Schwierigkeiten hat, ihrem Anspruch gerecht zu werden, als zivil-militärischer Akteur zu handeln. Dabei treten zwei zentrale Problembereiche zutage. Erstens ist die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Polizei und Militär im Krisenmanagement und beim Aufbau des Sicherheitssektors in Nachkriegssituationen eine große Herausforderung. Zweitens kann das EU-Handeln nicht langfristig wirken, solange Rat und Europäische Kommission bei militärischen ESVP-Mandaten und -Aufgaben nur kurzfristig oder gar nicht kooperieren. Mit einer mutigen Umsetzung der im Lissabonner Vertrag angelegten Reformen lassen sich die festgestellten Defizite teilweise abbauen. Dennoch sind die Probleme in ihrem Kern politischer und nicht institutioneller Natur. Soll etwa der Sicherheitssektor in Nachkriegsgesellschaften gemäß dem ganzheitlichen Ansatz aufgebaut werden, müssen die EU und ihre Mitgliedstaaten den politischen Willen aufbringen, die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Rat und Kommission auch bei den militärischen Aspekten der ESVP-Einsätze auf eine dauerhaftere Grundlage zu stellen.' (Autorenreferat)

Implemented by a joint initiative of ARL and DATAR (Délégation à lÁménagement du Territoire et à lÁction Régionale) an international group of experts reflected regional development policies. Due to a variety of reasons, economic development is accompanied with different regional performances in terms of income, employment, growth etc. Empirical studies and theoretical works in modern regional economics indicate that even in relatively homogeneous groups of countries like the EU economic convergence need time and this is certainly true after EU enlargement, because new Member States with a lower economic performance joint the community. To enhance efficiency and reduce disparities across regions, different approaches have been proposed as a framework for regional development policy; among them are the growth pole concept, spatial economic corridors, and recently, spatial economic networks. This last one emphasizes the role of cooperation among regions and provides a new spatial policy framework. Instead of considering the individual problem regions (as the traditional approach does) trans-national networks and European macro-regions constitute the new typology of the spatial policy framework. Within this new paradigm of regional policy there is a greater tendency to see regions in terms of spatial economic networks and to see the EU as a part of a global competitive innovation system. Due to the economic and political structure of the new Member States and the Candidate Countries regional policies should concentrate on infrastructure, human and social capital, network formation to facilitate the transfer of innovation technology, on areas affected by industrial conversion and on the role played by interregional, international and trans-border cooperation. They should support the modernisation of the institutional system in Central and Eastern Europe and the process of decentralization not only institutional, but also financially. They should enhance local administrative competencies and promote the periphery of the new Member States and the Candidate Countries and increase the cross-border cooperation. These measures together with a substantial reform of EU regional policy and their funds are necessary to make the enlargement to a success story.

Bioenergy is the EU's leading renewable energy source at present. Understanding bioenergy's contribution to the future EU energy mix is strategically relevant for mid to long term climate targets. This review consolidates recent projections of both supply and demand dynamics for EU bioenergy to 2050, drawing from resource-focused, demand-driven and integrated assessment approaches. Projections are synthesised to identify absolute ranges, determine cohesion with policy and draw insights on the implications for the scale of development, trade and energy security. Supply side studies have undergone methodological harmonisation efforts in recent years. Despite this, due to assumptions on key uncertainties such as feedstock yields, technical potential estimates range from 9 to 25 EJyr-1 of EU domestically available biomass for energy in 2050. Demand side projections range between 5 and 19 EJyr-1 by 2050. This range is primarily due to variations in study assumptions on key influential developments such as economic competitivity of bioenergy, EU energy efficiency gains within the power sector, flexibility for meeting mitigation targets and technological portfolios. Upper bound technical supply estimates are able meet future demand wholly from the domestic resource base, holding the potential to reduce total EU primary energy import dependency 22% points from the current EU roadmap trajectory. However, due to part of this domestic resource base being deemed economically inaccessible or of insufficient quality, interregional imports are projected to increase from current 4% to 13–76%. Emergence of non-energy applications are projected to compete for at least 10% of the biomass needed to fulfil bioenergy demand in 2050.

"Climate policy is today a significant area of EU governance, providing important framework conditions for many industries. But how has EU climate policy developed? This book offers structured, comparative case studies of the development of four central climate policies: emissions trading systems, renewables, carbon capture and storage, and energy policy for buildings, examining the intriguing similarities and differences in how these have taken shape. Combining sociological New Institutionalism and political science theories in a novel and engaging way, Elin Lerum Boasson and Jørgen Wettestad explore and explain the history of EU climate policy. What emerges are fascinating stories - of skilled entrepreneurs who have managed to create and exploit political windows of opportunity, and of more long-term path-dependent developments."--Publisher's website.

Protection of the environment was not a specific importance to the Community although the Treaty of Rome expressly specified that "health, safety environmental protection" shall be based on "a high level of protection". In deciding upon a framework for a European environmental policy, the Community was also responding to increased public awareness of the problem and concerns about the state of the natural and man-made environment. During the past years, competitiveness concerns have dominated the EU policy debate, in the course of which a growing consensus is being developed on the importance of eco-innovations and resource efficiency for EU competitiveness and on the market opportunities they offer. There is an increasing evidence that environmental policy and eco-innovations can promote economic growth, as well as maintain and create jobs, contributing both to competitiveness and employment. Environmental constraints to rapid economic growth are increasingly recognized by countries, leading to a rising awareness of the need for sustainable development. Implementation of an environmental policy however, generates significant implications for competition among countries.