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A study of European co-operation and transatlantic relations in the 1950s as well as on the changes these relations underwent during the early postwar period.The European Productivity Agency (EPA) was created in 1953 as a semi-autonomous organization within the framework of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) and wound up eight years later, in 1961, when the United States and Canada joined the OEEC countries and founded the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It was initially designed as a means to "Americanize" Western Europe through the transfer of American techniques, know-how and ideas to the Old Continent, but, as Boel demonstrates, it increasingly became a framework within which the member countries sought "European" solutions to their problems. The EPA was the product of American ideas, actions and money, and embodied the merger of two of the United States' main foreign policy goals after World War II, namely increasing productivity and furthering integration among the countries of Western Europe. The agency was conceived as a major instrument for the "politics of productivity" which would enable Western European societies to overcome their social and political problems resulting from scarcity, particularly in countries such as France and Italy with strong communist parties. During its short-lived existence the EPA acted as an operational arm of the OEEC, accounting on average for over 40 percent of the overall OEEC expenditures. It implemented a vast array of activities aimed at improving productivity in industry, commerce, agriculture and distribution. Among its endeavours were efforts to develop management education, improve labor-management relations, and assist underdeveloped areas in the member countries. Many of its projects met with contrasted reactions and thus highlighted conflicts between trade unions and employers, differences amongst the OEEC countries as well as transatlantic squabbles.Bent Boel, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at the University of Aalborg

A study of European co-operation and transatlantic relations in the 1950s as well as on the changes these relations underwent during the early postwar period.


The European Productivity Agency (EPA) was created in 1953 as a semi-autonomous organization within the framework of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) and wound up eight years later, in 1961, when the United States and Canada joined the OEEC countries and founded the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It was initially designed as a means to "Americanize" Western Europe through the transfer of American techniques, know-how and ideas to the Old Continent, but, as Boel demonstrates, it increasingly became a framework within which the member countries sought "European" solutions to their problems.


The EPA was the product of American ideas, actions and money, and embodied the merger of two of the United States' main foreign policy goals after World War II, namely increasing productivity and furthering integration among the countries of Western Europe. The agency was conceived as a major instrument for the "politics of productivity" which would enable Western European societies to overcome their social and political problems resulting from scarcity, particularly in countries such as France and Italy with strong communist parties. During its short-lived existence the EPA acted as an operational arm of the OEEC, accounting on average for over 40 percent of the overall OEEC expenditures. It implemented a vast array of activities aimed at improving productivity in industry, commerce, agriculture and distribution. Among its endeavours were efforts to develop management education, improve labor-management relations, and assist underdeveloped areas in the member countries. Many of its projects met with contrasted reactions and thus highlighted conflicts between trade unions and employers, differences amongst the OEEC countries as well as transatlantic squabbles.

As the relevant European Union directives require in-depth sustainability reporting from large institutions, banks are among the concerned with disclosure obligations. Several institutions prepare self-structured recommendations by which companies are indirectly fostered to make their operation more sustainable through reporting and to help compliance with the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) regulations. However, in the preparation period, differences can be found in the actual sustainability disclosure practices across Europe (primarily by a western–eastern European relation). To examine this issue, this study aimed to investigate if there was any variation in the reporting compliance with aspects (key performance indicators—KPIs) of three reporting guidelines (Global Reporting Initiative—G4, Financial Services Sector Disclosures—GRI; Alliance for Corporate Transparency—ACT; ISO 26000:2010—ISO) between top European and Hungarian banks according to their 2021 sustainability/ESG reports, using content analysis-based disclosure scoring. The results revealed no significant differences among the general (aspect-pooled) scores for different guidelines, while the differences were significant for each guideline between the two bank groups. In the aspect-level evaluation, the European banks had higher scores in most cases, with the Hungarian banks receiving higher scores in 4 of 49 GRI, 1 of 16 ACT, and 2 of 37 ISO aspects. Significant correlations were indicated in disclosure score values between the two bank groups, which suggested similar preferences for the aspects demonstrated; however, elaboration levels differed. These findings showed that the European and Hungarian banks could be differentiated by their sustainability disclosure patterns. The results suggest a better CSRD-level preparedness of the top European banks than of the Hungarian ones, with the latter being introduced as a model group of the region. This reflects the need for more efficient adoption of best practices by financial institutions in the eastern parts of Europe.

Abstract
Are the stars finally aligned as far as corporate tax reform in the European Union (EU) is concerned? Tax reform in the EU has always been a contentious issue, as taxation was always considered one of the last bastions of national sovereignty. This article examines whether this is still the case or whether, in light of recent initiatives and proposals in this area, conditions are now ripe for comprehensive reform. The article begins by reviewing the historical trajectory of EU corporate tax law. It is shown that whilst early harmonization proposals were very ambitious, the overall constitutional set-up and the fiscal veto were not conducive to comprehensive reform. What followed these early initiatives was an era of pragmatism and slow progress, which, nevertheless, laid the foundations for important developments. Apart from the ad hoc legislative tax instruments that were agreed upon in the last 30 years to further the internal market and remove obstacles to cross-border movement, this article focused on the Commission's ongoing work on a common tax base and consolidation, as well as other recent legislative initiatives such as the now enacted Directive on a Minimum Effective Tax Rate and the Unshell proposal. In light of these crucial developments, with all their strengths and weaknesses, it is argued that what was once considered as far too ambitious a proposal indicative of a federal Europe, now has high chances of materializing in the context of the BEFIT initiative (Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation). This is to be welcomed, as it is the next organic step to take in the process of EU integration. Whilst the stars may not yet be fully aligned, it is argued that what is needed at this point in time, is a change of mindset and a realization that Member States' tax sovereignty has long been eroded.

The development of technology and the Internet has made virtual space a place for the exchange of various information and data. In addition to benefits it provides to users, there are unwanted side effects, including digital violence. The main problem is the establishment of a legal framework for the fight against digital violence directed against individuals or groups, because there are no temporal or geographical boundaries in virtual space, which makes it difficult to define national jurisdictions, as well as a great number of types of this violence. The subject of the research in this paper is the prevention of gender-based digital violence due to the importance and impact it has on society, and also the fact that violence which begins as digital one often culminates in physical violence and leads to serious injuries or death of persons affected by it. Successful combating this type of violence requires the cooperation of various actors in order to show that violence against women and girls is not acceptable. The Council of Europe and the bodies of the European Union simultaneously fight against digital violence in Europe by adopting various documents that are mandatory for member states. The Republic of Serbia harmonises its legislation with European acts. The method of content analysis and historical method have been used in writing this paper, and the objective has been to answer the following question: which international documents prohibit digital violence and what mechanisms are available to state authorities to fight against it. It has been concluded that it is necessary to ensure the implementation of adopted documents and the cooperation of state authorities and bodies with companies that are the owners of the platforms and applications used for conducting violence, as well as the constant improvement of the services and officers who fight against this type of violence.

Tolerance has long been identified as a crucial feature of liberal democracies. Although the limits of tolerance are debated, the extent to which citizens are open and willing to accommodate others who are different from them is often regarded as a sign of a healthy and well-functioning liberal democracy. The goal of this paper is to empirically investigate the state of political tolerance in Europe today. The main questions we ask are: What explains the different levels of tolerance across individuals in various countries? Which groups in society are the most likely targets of intolerance? We understand political tolerance as the willingness to allow the free articulation of interests and ideas in the political system of groups one opposes. Previous research emphasizes education, civic activism and threat perceptions as important determinants of tolerance. We redirect the debate to a set of novel correlates of tolerance. We argue that conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism are critical factors that explain levels of tolerance among Europeans. The analysis employs original survey data collected as part of a mass survey conducted in 2017 in 10 European Union member states: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Our descriptive analysis shows that far-right groups (i.e., fascists and neo-Nazis) and Muslims are the most disliked groups in Europe. When it comes to the level of tolerance towards these groups, we find that more than half of the respondents in each country are willing to deny their most disliked group parliamentary representation. Moreover, we find that even after controlling for traditional determinants of tolerance, conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism emerge as the most important predictors of political tolerance. Our analysis suggests that the recent rapid spread of various conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have far-reaching implications for tolerance as well.

Dziennikarz Jiří Lederer (1922–1983) to znacząca postać w historii Czech i opozycji demokratycznej w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej. Rzecznik porozumienia polsko-czeskiego i znawca spraw polskich, publicysta okresu Praskiej Wiosny. Należał do grona tych, którzy podpisali Kartę77 jeszcze przed końcem 1976 roku. W połowie stycznia 1977 trafił do więzienia na trzy lata. We wrześniu 1980 roku został zmuszony do wyjazdu z Czechosłowacji. Osiadł w RFN, gdzie rozwinął szeroką działalność publicystyczną. Nawiązał też ponownie współpracę z czeskimi czasopismami emigracyjnymi, paryską "Kulturą" i Radiem Wolna Europa; obserwował sytuację wewnętrzną w PRL i innych krajach bloku wschodniego. Artykuł z jednej strony stanowi przegląd wypowiedzi Lederera na temat NSZZ "Solidarność", wygłoszonych w różnych mediach emigracyjnych i zachodnioeuropejskich. Z drugiej – zawiera odpowiedzi na pytania o to, jak pojawienie się masowego ruchu zawodowego zostało przyjęte przez Lederera i w jaki sposób wpłynęło na jego polityczne zapatrywania.


Czech dissident and emigrant Jiří Lederer regarding Solidarity movement (1980–1983)

Jiří Lederer (1922–1983), a journalist and writer, has left a permanent mark on the history of Czech culture and democratic opposition in Central and Eastern Europe. In the 1960s he became one of the spokespersons of the Polish-Czech agreement and an expert on Polish affairs. From the 1967 he was already a dissident, he secretly collaborated with the centres of Czech emigration in the West (Free Europe Radio Station, "Svědectví"). He was one of the champions of the Prague Spring and one of the first victims of the so called normalization (deprived of the possibility of publishing and removed from public life). A signatory to Charter77, he was condemned in 1977 for three years jail. The focus of the article is the analyse of the texts concerning the Polish independent trade union Solidarity, which were written by Lederer after 1980, when he lived in exile in Germany. During his forced stay abroad the journalist was trying to integrate Czech, Polish and Slovak political émigré centres.

AbstractTolerance has long been identified as a crucial feature of liberal democracies. Although the limits of tolerance are debated, the extent to which citizens are open and willing to accommodate others who are different from them is often regarded as a sign of a healthy and well‐functioning liberal democracy. The goal of this paper is to empirically investigate the state of political tolerance in Europe today. The main questions we ask are: What explains the different levels of tolerance across individuals in various countries? Which groups in society are the most likely targets of intolerance? We understand political tolerance as the willingness to allow the free articulation of interests and ideas in the political system of groups one opposes. Previous research emphasizes education, civic activism and threat perceptions as important determinants of tolerance. We redirect the debate to a set of novel correlates of tolerance. We argue that conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism are critical factors that explain levels of tolerance among Europeans. The analysis employs original survey data collected as part of a mass survey conducted in 2017 in 10 European Union member states: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Our descriptive analysis shows that far‐right groups (i.e., fascists and neo‐Nazis) and Muslims are the most disliked groups in Europe. When it comes to the level of tolerance towards these groups, we find that more than half of the respondents in each country are willing to deny their most disliked group parliamentary representation. Moreover, we find that even after controlling for traditional determinants of tolerance, conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism emerge as the most important predictors of political tolerance. Our analysis suggests that the recent rapid spread of various conspiracy theories related to the COVID‐19 pandemic is likely to have far‐reaching implications for tolerance as well.

Research and innovation (R&I) feature high in both the African Union's and the European Union's agenda. While the African Union "Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024" (STISA-2024) places science, technology and innovation at the epicentre of Africa's socio-economic development and growth, European investments in R&I are seen as a means to help Europe to compete globally and improve the daily lives of people.Under the AU-EU partnership, both continents have also confirmed their commitment to strengthen R&I collaboration and partnership to address common or complementary society challenges. The EU's main tool to support such collaborative efforts is the Horizon Europe Framework programme which will run over the period 2021-2027. This programme, which builds on the previous R&I framework programmes, also integrates new instruments such as "missions" and "European partnerships" which aim at finding new R&I research funding instruments and innovative ways of collaboration involving all stakeholders (from consumers to industry) as partners. In this context, it will be important to understand how new joint research and innovation (R&I) mechanisms can support research and development activities.Through an online survey, African and European partners were invited to share their experience with LEAPAgri and the lessons learned in order to develop suggestions for a strategy that would promote the partnership forward by evaluating and identifying mechanisms to sustain collaboration and innovation in the FNSSA field. All 24 partners of the LEAP-Agri consortium were asked to share their opinion which is highly valuable since,apart from being partners in the project, most of them also represent national agencies or funding bodies with solid experience in financing FNSSA's R&I activities. The participants shared their own experience in the field, either through LEAP-Agri or other similar co-funded projects such as ERAFRICA. On this basis, they provided inputs regarding the ...

Background Palliative care involves the care for patients with severe and advanced diseases with a focus on quality of life and symptom management. Integration of palliative care with curative and/or chronic care is expected to lead to better results in terms of quality of life and reduced costs. Although initiatives in different countries in Europe choose different structures to integrate care, they face similar challenges when it comes to creating trust and aligning visions, cultures and professional values. This paper sets out to answer the following research question: what roles and attitudes do palliative care professionals need to adopt to further integrate palliative care in Europe? Methods As part of the European Union (EU)-funded research project InSup-C (Integrated Supportive and Palliative Care). (2012-2016), 19 semi-structured group interviews with 136 (palliative) care professionals in 5 European countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary) were conducted. A thematic analysis was conducted. Results Integration of palliative care calls for diplomatic professionals that can bring a cultural shift: to get palliative care, with its particular focus on the four dimensions (physical, psychological, social, spiritual), integrated into historically established medical procedures and guidelines. This requires (a) to find an entrance (for telling a normative story), and (b) to maintain and deepen relationships (in order to build trust). It means using the appropriate words and sending a univocal team message to patients and being grateful, modest, and aiming for a quiet revolution with curation oriented healthcare professionals. Conclusion Diplomacy appears to be essential to palliative care providers for realizing trust and what can be defined as normative integration between palliative and curative and/or chronic medicine. It requires a practical wisdom about the culture and goals of regular care, as well as keeping a middle road between assimilating with values in regular ...

16 Pág. ; Background: Antibiotics used to treat livestock species enter agricultural fields when they are excreted by grazing animals or are present in manure that is added to fields as fertiliser. In the European Union, the potential effects of such antibiotics on terrestrial plants must be evaluated following the standardised OECD 208 method, which specifies the crop and wild species that should serve as "sentinels" for assessing antibiotic exposure. The present study aimed to compare this approved list of sentinel species against crop and wild plant species actually present in agricultural and pasture lands in Mediterranean Europe in order to identify the most appropriate sentinel plants for the region. The study focused on Spain as a region representative of Mediterranean Europe. Georeferenced layers for wild plant species and cultivated areas (crops), livestock density and land cover were combined, and then selection criteria were applied, leading to the identification of sentinel crop and wild species for crop land and pasture scenarios. Results: In the crop land scenario, the sentinel crop species were barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), wheat (Triticum spp.), corn (Zea mays L), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), dried pea (Pisum sativum L.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), vetch (Vicia sativa L.), oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) and sugar beet (Saccharum officinarum L.), all of them listed in the OECD 208 method with the exception of alfalfa; the sentinel wild species were Papaver rhoeas L., Galium aparine L. and Chenopodium album L. In the pasture scenario, sentinel wild species were Bromus tectorum L., Agrostis capillaris L., Trifolium pratense L., Lotus corniculatus L. and Galium aparine L. The following common weed species in field boundaries or in pasture lands also emerged as potential sentinel species for risk assessment, even though they are not listed in the OECD 208 method: Sonchus oleraceus L., Avena sterilis L., Dactylis glomerata L., Hordeum murinum L. and Lolium rigidum Gaudin. Conclusions: The ...

International wildlife trade is a major driver of species extinction and biological invasions. Anticipating environmental risks requires inferences about trade patterns, which are shaped by geopolitics. Although the future cannot be predicted, scenarios can help deal with the uncertainty of future geopolitical dynamics. We propose a framework for generating and analyzing scenarios based on four geopolitical storylines, distinguished by combinations of international trade barrier strength and domestic law enforcement degree across countries supplying and demanding wildlife. We then use historical data on bird trade to classify countries into geopolitical profiles and confirm that trade barriers and law enforcement allow predicting bird trade patterns, supporting our scenarios' plausibility and enabling projections for future global bird trade. Our framework can be used to examine the consequences of geopolitical changes for wildlife trade and to advise policy and legislation. Reducing demand for wildlife and ameliorating global inequality are key for curbing trade related risks. ; This study received funding from FEDER Funds through the Operational Competitiveness Factors Program COMPETE and by National Funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) within the framework of project PTDC/BIA-ECO/30931/2017-POCI-01–0145-FEDER-030931. Joana Ribeiro acknowledges the support from INTERREG Europe through a postdoc grant within project INTERREG Europe INVALIS: Protecting European Biodiversity from Invasive Alien Species (grant no. PGI05271), funded by the European Union and through project UNRAVEL (grant no. PTDC/BIA-ECO/0207/2020), financed by National Funds through the FCT. Joana Santana was supported by project ALIENTRADE (grant no. PTDC/ BIA-ECO/30931/2017). César Capinha and Luís Reino were supported by Portuguese National Funds through FCT, public institute (IP), under the Stimulus of Scientific Employment: Individual Support contracts no. CEECIND/02037/2017 and no. CEECIND/00445/2017, respectively ...

Via various directives, the European Union is progressively opening up the rail transport and electricity markets to competition in Europe. As a result, railway undertakings (RUs) that operate trains on the French rail network can obtain their electrical energy from the supplier of their choice. The correct allocation to RUs of the energy consumed by their fleet of vehicles requires on-board energy meters that communicate with a data collection and billing system.In view of the financial stakes, RTE and SNCF Réseau must guarantee reliable energy metering to RUs, despite energy meter malfunctions that do not allow for exhaustive measurements of the actual consumption.In order to address the issue of the energy meters' reliability, validation bounds for the consumption read by the energy meters based on physical models have been developed. These bounds increase the reliability of the metering data by eliminating outliers from the physical point of view.In order to improve the availability of metering data, estimators are developed in this thesis with the objective of estimating the consumption of a train for a given journey, using a database composed of energy meter measurements, performed over one or more years, validated by the previously defined bounds. The various estimators also use various sources of information (time, weather, consumption measured in supply substations, etc.) in order to improve the consumption estimation. The most relevant sources of information are identified, allowing to eliminate sources of noise.The impact of the evolution of the railway network towards a railway smart grid on railway consumption and energy metering is addressed at the end of the thesis. ; A travers différentes directives, l'Union Européenne impose progressivement en Europe l'ouverture à la concurrence du transport ferroviaire et du marché de l'électricité. Ainsi, les Entreprises Ferroviaires (EF) qui affrètent des trains circulants sur le réseau ferré Français, peuvent s'approvisionner en énergie électrique auprès du ...

Research and innovation (R&I) feature high in both the African Union's and the European Union's agenda. While the African Union "Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024" (STISA-2024) places science, technology and innovation at the epicentre of Africa's socio-economic development and growth, European investments in R&I are seen as a means to help Europe to compete globally and improve the daily lives of people.Under the AU-EU partnership, both continents have also confirmed their commitment to strengthen R&I collaboration and partnership to address common or complementary society challenges. The EU's main tool to support such collaborative efforts is the Horizon Europe Framework programme which will run over the period 2021-2027. This programme, which builds on the previous R&I framework programmes, also integrates new instruments such as "missions" and "European partnerships" which aim at finding new R&I research funding instruments and innovative ways of collaboration involving all stakeholders (from consumers to industry) as partners. In this context, it will be important to understand how new joint research and innovation (R&I) mechanisms can support research and development activities.Through an online survey, African and European partners were invited to share their experience with LEAPAgri and the lessons learned in order to develop suggestions for a strategy that would promote the partnership forward by evaluating and identifying mechanisms to sustain collaboration and innovation in the FNSSA field. All 24 partners of the LEAP-Agri consortium were asked to share their opinion which is highly valuable since,apart from being partners in the project, most of them also represent national agencies or funding bodies with solid experience in financing FNSSA's R&I activities. The participants shared their own experience in the field, either through LEAP-Agri or other similar co-funded projects such as ERAFRICA. On this basis, they provided inputs regarding the ...

BACKGROUND: Empirical evidence informing policies aiming at ensuring affordability of long-term care (LTC) costs is limited. Combining system-level with individual-level data, we quantify the burden of out-of-pocket costs of LTC services on households in 13 European countries and the USA and explore how social protection systems impact affordability of care. METHODS: In this observational study, we use harmonised data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), collected between 2012 and 2016, and from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, collected between 2013 and 2017. We assess the severity of LTC needs of older adults (65+) on the basis of self-reported limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). We classify countries' social protection systems in terms of affordability and progressivity using information obtained from country officials. We examine variation in individual-level out-of-pocket LTC costs by social protection systems' affordability and progressivity. FINDINGS: Out-of-pocket LTC costs are heterogeneous across countries and increase with individuals' needs. In countries where LTC is more affordable and social protection systems less progressive, older adults incur significantly lower levels of LTC costs. Within Europe, not only are costs lower where systems are characterized by higher affordability and lower progressivity, but they also represent a lower share of households' disposable income. INTERPRETATION: Our findings indicate that the social protection systems significantly affect the level of out-of-pocket costs faced and reported by older adults with LTC needs as well as the share of their income that is devoted to pay for care. FUNDING: We received funding from the National Institute on Aging (grant number R01 AG030153). The OECD programme of work on ageing and long-term care is partly funded by the European Union.