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With trade in industrial products between the EU and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) now essentially free of tariff and non-tariff restrictions, the principal impact of accession to the EU on trade flows will be through access to the single market of the EU. A key element of this will be the removal of technical barriers to trade. In this article we try to highlight the potential importance of technical barriers to trade between the EU and the various CEECs, distinguishing between sectors according to the different approaches to the removal of these barriers in the EU: mutual recognition, detailed harmonization (old approach) and minimum requirements (new approach). We use two sources of information on technical regulations: a sectoral classification from a previous study of the impact of the single market and our own detailed translation of EU product-related directives into the relevant tariff codes. The analysis suggests that the importance of technical barriers varies considerably across the CEECs. The adjustment implications of access to the single market are likely to be greatest for those most advanced in their accession negotiations. (Journal of Common Market Studies / FUB)

Crisis after crisis has beset the European Union: the financial chaos of the euro and Greek sovereign debt; the conflicts with Russia over Crimea and Ukraine; unprecedented levels of refugees and migrants from across the Mediterranean; not to mention the turmoil created by Brexit and the threat of a trade war with Trump's America. A Europe, originally designed to regulate and enforce rules about fishing, wheat quotas, or product standards has found itself flung onto the global stage to grapple with problems of identity, sovereignty and solidarity without a script or prompt. From Paris to Berlin and London to Athens, European leaders have had to improvise on issues threatening to engulf their unique political entity. In a candid portrayal of a Europe improvising its way through a politics of events and not rules, Luuk van Middelaar gives us the insider's view of the EU's political metamorphosis.

This volume provides the most comprehensive account to date of the foundations, evolution, and nature of the treaty-making practice, known as the practice of mixed agreements, whereby the European Community and its Member States enter into international agreements with one or more other subjects of international law. Covering policy areas from external economic relations to the environment, from development cooperation to the law of the sea, the practice of mixed agreements occupies a highly prominent position in the external relations of the EU. Rather than focusing upon any particular agreement or subject area, the book seeks to identify, through analysis of the respective interests of the Community, the Member States and other parties, as they are reflected in actual practice, the general parameters for the conclusion and application of mixed agreements. The basic thesis defended is that there are mediating strategies whereby mixed agreements can be turned into an effective technique for manifesting the Community's position in external relations whilst nevertheless safeguarding the vital interests of the Member States and the other, non-EC parties. Rather than a `necessary evil', mixed agreements should be regarded as a natural way of organizing the international relations of the EC and its Member States. Of individual treaties, the most thorough examination is made of the Community and the Member States' participation in the Law of the Sea Convention, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), as well as the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO). As regards the WTO, for instance, the book offers a comprehensive account of the dispute settlement practice under the GATS and TRIPS Agreements

Contemporary common characteristics of education in European Union countries were studied in the article. Main topics such as educational objectives, curriculum, teacher training and work in class were studied. Also ways of psychological, emotional, educational and vocational assistance for pupils in these countries were under review. Some important comparisons accordingly to Lithuania education could be done but it requires a special investigation. ; Europos Sąjungai (ES) priklauso gana skirtingos savo istorija, socialiniu ir ekonominiu lygiu bei švietimo tradicijomis ir laimėjimais. Pastaruoju metu jos vis labiau telkia pastangas ieškodamos bendrų sprendimų aktualiosioms vaikų ir jaunimo ugdymo problemoms spręsti. Straipsnyje apžvelgiamos bendriausios pastarųjų poros dešimtmečių švietimo kaitos ypatybės ir tendencijos ES šalyse. Ypač daug dėmesio skiriama švietimo tikslų, mokymo turinio, mokytojų veiklos ir rengimo, bei pagalbos moksleiviams klausimams.

"The Politics of the Eurogroup provides an intriguing look inside the euro crisis and the secretive forum of finance ministers that came to dominate it. The history of the European Union is a history of crises and the leaps of integration they triggered. As the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and global power competition are clouding the prospects of the European economies, the member states are looking for solutions. Yet they find their options highly constrained by the economic and political realities created in the decade of the euro crisis. This book fuses a critical political economy perspective on structural relations within the Economic and Monetary Union with a power-based approach to its institutions. It explains why a political project of European austerity emerged from the Eurogroup and side-lined alternative policies, with repercussions still felt today. The author introduces a series of interviews with key decision-makers - ministers, central bankers, EU officials - as well as leaked audio recordings from Eurogroup meetings to give an authentic report of the power struggles between finance ministers. The book retraces how the Eurogroup rose to prominence in the crisis and how a few northern countries - led by the German and Dutch finance ministries - were able to exploit the group's informal processes to shape the Economic and Monetary Union to their advantage. With its interdisciplinary and investigative approach, this book will be of great interest for scholars and students concerned with European integration, international political economy, economics, institutionalism, and governance. It will also be of value for policy makers in the fields of European politics and economic governance"--

In a short period of time, the World Wide Web (the Web) has had a huge impact on our society and lives. The Web provides access to news, email, online purchasing, fun activities, etc. However, the Web is often a barrier to access to information and services for some groups of disabled users. To support the accessibility of web sites, different accessibility guidelines and standards have been introduced for the last ten years. Unfortunately, web developers often lack sufficient knowledge to meet these guidelines. To assure and certify the fulfilment of web accessibility guidelines, various automatic accessibility evaluation tools have been developed. In this paper, a comparative study of the web accessibility of official websites from countries of the European Union is presented. Two automatic evaluation tools have been used to perform the comparison: the W3C Markup Validation Service to check the source code of the web pages, and eXaminator to test the accessibility. ; Partly supported by the EU Tempus Project ERAMIS 159025-TEMPUS-1-2009-1-FR-TEMPUSJPCR.

Intro -- Title page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Contributors to this book -- Texts -- Abdelmalek Alaoui -- Frank Baasner -- Arnaud de Basquiat de Mugriet -- Véronique Cayla -- Corinne Deloy -- Isabelle Duvaux-Béchon -- Mariya Gabriel -- Jean-Dominique Giuliani -- Francisco Juan Gómez Martos -- Françoise Grossetête -- Pascale Joannin -- Alain Lamassoure -- Mathilde Lemoine -- Andi Mustafaj -- Florence Parly -- Jean-Claude Piris -- Pierre Vimont -- Thomas Weissenberg -- Maps -- Pascal Orcier -- Preface - Decisive Choices -- 1 - European issues at stake in 2019 - Pascale JOANNIN -- Elections under high tension -- Low turnout -- A rise in the "populists" -- New political balances -- A new majority -- A new redistribution -- Which governance for the institutions of Europe? -- An equation with several unknowns -- A male/female ticket -- Redistributed competences -- "Put that budget away! Out of my sight!" - Alain LAMASSOURE -- Europe and Disinformation - Mariya GABRIEL -- Disinformation, the European approach to a global phenomenon -- A European Approach -- A code of good practice to tackle disinformation -- Increased fact-checking -- In support of quality journalism -- Educating for greater discernment -- An action plan to tackle disinformation -- Stronger Europeans for a stronger Europe -- New audiovisual consumption habits - Véronique CAYLA -- Offering ARTE programmes where possible, on condition that it grows and renews our audiences -- This inevitable delinearization of television provides us with a specific responsibility -- Our responsibility is still to widen our audience's field of vision -- ARTE's role is also to rally people around sensitive experiences which lead to shared emotions. -- We aim to turn ARTE into a key educational hub in Europe.

Background and Aims The World Health Organization recommends increasing alcohol taxes as a 'best‐buy' approach to reducing alcohol consumption and improving population health. Alcohol may be taxed based on sales value, product volume or alcohol content; however, duty structures and rates vary, both among countries and between beverage types. From a public health perspective, the best duty structure links taxation level to alcohol content, keeps pace with inflation and avoids substantial disparities between different beverage types. This data note compares current alcohol duty structures and levels throughout the 28 European Union (EU) Member States and how these vary by alcohol content, and also considers implications for public health. Design and Setting Descriptive analysis using administrative data, European Union, July 2018. Measurements Beverage‐specific alcohol duty rates per UK alcohol unit (8 g ethanol) in pounds sterling at a range of different alcoholic strengths. Findings Only 50% of Member States levy any duty on wine and several levy duty on spirits and beer at or close to the EU minimum level. There is at least a 10‐fold difference in the effective duty rate per unit between the highest‐ and lowest‐duty countries for each beverage type. Duty rates for beer and spirits stay constant with strength in the majority of countries, while rates for wine and cider generally fall as strength increases. Duty rates are generally higher for spirits than other beverage types and are generally lowest in eastern Europe and highest in Finland, Sweden, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Conclusions Different European Union countries enact very different alcohol taxation policies, despite a partially restrictive legal framework. There is only limited evidence that alcohol duties are designed to minimize public health harms by ensuring that drinks containing more alcohol are taxed at higher rates. Instead, tax rates appear to reflect national alcohol production and consumption patterns.

Intro -- Contents -- Cover -- Title -- Foreword -- CONTRIBUTORS xv -- 1. Overview 1 -- 2. Public Policies and Economic Geography 19 -- 3. Regional Policies and EU Enlargement 33 -- 4. Discussion of "Regional Policies and EU Enlargement" by Boldrin and Canova, and "Public Policies and Economic Geography" by Martin 95 -- 5. Issues and Constraints of Regional Convergence 107 -- 6. European Integration, Regional Policy, and the Nonintervention "Handsoff" Approach: Some Comments on the Boldrin and Canova Study 119 -- 7.Regional Policy Experience in Southern Italy129 -- 8. European Union Regional Aid and Irish Economic Development135 -- 9. Does Cohesion Policy Work? Some General Considerations and Evidence from Spain153 -- 10. Do Structural Actions Contribute to Reduced Regional Disparities in the European Union?167 -- 11. Impact of Regional Aid on Catalonia177 -- 12. Real Convergence in the Slovak Republic and European Union Regional Funds183 -- 13. The Role of EU Regional Aid in Economic Convergence in Slovenia 195 -- 14. Managing European Union Funds in the Candidate Countries: Administrative Organization and Resource Distribution 201 -- 15. Managing European Union Regional Aid in Central and Eastern European Countries: Do the Countries Need Development Aid? 219 -- 16. Managing Regional Aid in Latvia 225 -- 17. Discussion Notes 227 -- 18. What Future for EU Regional Policy? 231 -- 19. Discussion Notes 241 -- 20. Conclusions of the Conference 249 -- INDEX 255 -- BOX -- TABLES -- FIGURES -- MAPS.

Defence date: 29 February 2016 ; Examining Board: Professor Loïc Azoulai, European University Institute; Professor Bruno De Witte, European University Institute; Professor Giuseppe Martinico, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna - Pisa; Professor Laurent Pech, Middlesex University London. ; The dissertation aims at studying the historical institutional evolution of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the judicial arm of the supranational European community. The Court has been largely analysed, in the multidisciplinary field of European studies, particularly because of its central role in the process of continental integration, for the role played for the evolution of the European Union legal order. The perspective I would like to suggest and to develop in this work tries to differentiate itself by taking a somehow reverse standpoint. First, I will focus on the evolution of the Court itself, more than on the impressive evolution of the EU legal order and its judge-made nature. Naturally, this last aspect will be the background of my analysis. In this respect, I will not be much concerned with the evolution of case law, jurisprudence or the interpretative activity of the European Court but more on the structure and the organization of the Court itself, taken as an institution. Finally, I will try to develop this approach by making use of the precious insights provided by the comparative analysis of law. I will select some specific yet central aspects of the structural, organizational, institutional development of the Court in the decades since its foundation and will do this with a purpose. My aim is to show, through a comparative analysis, how the development and institutional evolution of the Court of Justice of the European Union can be considered mimetic - able to engage and somehow internalize the solicitations which came from EU Member States influences of different legal traditions (with increasing strain as the EU grew dimensionally) and responding to global challenges in relation to the increasing role of the international forms of judicial review and of the international judicial review bodies. This proved decisive, I argue, for strengthening the authority of the Court of Justice in its federal judicial architecture.