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This paper attempts to investigate how the Maastricht criteria and the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) have impaired the capacity of Euro Zone (EZ) national authorities to conduct discretionary fiscal policy. We estimate fiscal determinants for the structural (discretionary) public deficit over the period of 1981-2010, estimating panel data equations in order to increase the strength of the test by enhancing the time series dimension of the data by the cross section. We find that the degree of the countrecyclicality of discretionary fiscal policy has been reduced significantly after the Maastricht Treaty. Also, there is empirical evidence that national fiscal rules have a significant positive impact in budgetary outcomes. Regarding the recent reform of the European governance framework, we consider that the context of the reform seems incapable of dealing with the factors which are responsible for the sovereign debt crisis. We stress the need for reforms in the financial sector which seem necessary to ensure in association with sound fiscal policies the stability in euro area. ; peer-reviewed

Cover -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Table of Cases -- Table of Legislation -- Introduction -- 1 The Convention, the Court, and the Heart of the Matter -- I. What is Legitimacy? -- II. How Does the Court Operate? -- III. How Are Judges Appointed? -- IV. The Other Relevant Bodies -- Conclusion -- Further Reading -- 2 Sovereignty and Authority -- Debate 1: Who has the final word in human rights cases: the court or the contracting parties? -- Debate 2: What is the relationship between the EU and the ECHR? -- Debate 3: Should the EU accede to the ECHR? -- Debate 4: What is the relationship between the ECHR and other sources of international law? -- Conclusion -- Further Reading -- 3 Admissibility -- Debate 1: How do admissibility criteria affect the Court's legitimacy? -- Debate 2: Who can apply to the Court? -- Debate 3: How significant must disadvantage be? -- Debate 4: How much discretion should the Court have in deciding admissibility? -- Debate 5: How does admissibility relate to effectiveness? -- Conclusion -- Further Reading -- 4 Evolution or Revolution? -- Debate 1: Is evolutive interpretation of the Convention necessary? -- Debate 2: How does the Court determine the moment of evolution? -- Debate 3: Is evolution necessarily progressive? -- Conclusion -- Further Reading -- 5 Accounting for Difference: Proportionality and the Margin ofAppreciation -- Debate 1: Do we need a proportionality analysis for rights adjudication? -- Debate 2: Should national authorities have a margin of appreciation in respect of human rights protection? -- Debate 3: What are the boundaries of the margin of appreciation? -- Conclusion -- Further Reading -- 6 The Convention in Times of Insecurity -- Debate 1: Does the ECHR apply in war? -- Debate 2: Does the ECHR have extraterritorial effect?.

Including several contributions from an international group of historians and experts of international relations, this book analyses the relationship between the United Nations and European integration. The book, which covers from 1945 to the present, is organised into three sections, each dedicated to a different phase of the integration process, during which EU-UN relations had a different character. The essays of the first section deal with the 1950s and 1960s and show the active part play...

Using a DSGE model calibrated to the euro area, we analyze the international effects of afiscal devaluation (FD) implemented as a revenue-neutral shift from employer's socialcontributions to the Value Added Tax. We find that a FD in 'Southern European countries'has a strong positive effect on output, but mild effects on the trade balance and the realexchange rate. Since the benefits of a FD are small relative to the divergence incompetitiveness, it is best addressed through structural reforms

Part I: lawmaking in EC law -- Setting the scene -- Sources of EC law and EC legislation -- Guiding principles for legislation -- Part II: Community soft law instruments -- Introduction to the concept of soft law in EC law -- Categories and functions of soft law -- Part III: legal issues of Community soft law -- Legally binding force -- The competence to adopt soft law -- Indirect legal effects for the legislature -- Indirect legal effects for the judiciary -- Indirect legal effects for the executive -- Part IV: summary, conclusions and recommendations -- The use of Community soft law evaluated.

Sustainable development is suggested by environmentalists as the solution for confronting the intense environmental, social and economic problems that emerge globally in the last decades. This study presents the recent features and trends of the associated concepts, like the green economy, green entrepreneurship, green professions and labour-market, with a particular reference to European Union countries. In the course of transforming the current economic model towards a green direction, vocational education appears as a fundamental prerequisite that will prepare the future workforce of green economy. In this respect, a small-scale research is also presented, recording the relevant opinions of senior high-school students in Western Attica (Greece), being an area of acute environmental, social and economic problems.