Suchergebnisse

This paper surveys and evaluates the corporation tax (CT) systems of the Member States of the European Union on the basis of a comprehensive taxonomy of actual and potential regimes, which have as their base either profits, profits and interest, or economic rents. The current regimes give rise to various instate and interstate spillovers, which violate the basic tenets – neutrality and subsidiarity – of the single market. The trade-offs between the implications of these tenets – harmonization and diversity, respectively – can be reconciled by a bottom-up, reversible strategy of strengthening source-based taxation and approximating tax rates. The strategy starts with dual income taxation, proceeds with final source withholding taxes and rate approximation, and is made complete by comprehensive business income taxation. Common base taxation, if desired, should probably be left to the Member States themselves.

The European Union has evolved into a system of multilevel governance. EU actions have facilitated the involvement of regional/subnational authorities in EU policy formulation and implementation, thus enabling a downward shift in competencies toward subnational authorities. In this article, I argue that regional attachment facilitates support for European integration. Specifically, I show that individuals holding inclusive regional attachment sentiments perceive EU policies that result in the empowerment of subnational authorities in a positive light. In the process, these individuals are more likely to be supportive of European integration. This article's findings contribute to the literature on public opinion and European integration by exploring regionalist sources of support for European integration. Moreover, these findings contribute to the growing research on the emergence of a 'Europe of the regions.'

Recent macroeconomic and demographic trends have resulted in new challenges for pension systems. One of these challenges is to create a sustainable pension system while simultaneously providing adequate pension benefits for current and future pensioners. This research explores how similar are pension systems of eleven European Union countries by using hierarchical cluster analysis for year 2016. Variables representing pension systems, as well as demographic, macroeconomic and labour market data were used to cluster these economies. Three clustering solutions were generated using hierarchical clustering approach, one for each variable group. Given the number of observed countries, only two cluster solutions were considered. According to the characteristics of the pension systems, countries that have greater problems of unsustainability are recognized. A similar group of countries also forms the cluster characterized by unfavourable demographic trends that make it more difficult to maintain sustainability. Romania stands out from other economies, based on macroeconomic indicators, as it recorded faster economic growth, greater labour productivity growth and lower unemployment rate in 2016. The findings of this study provide a guideline for future pension reforms, since they indicate which countries' experience could be valuable in defining certain policy measures.

A consideration of the use of grain sales to the USSR as a lever in SALT, detente, & other bargainings leads to a formulation of two potential policies: (1) a demand for Soviet political commitments in exchange for increased future grain shipments made necessary by declining Soviet grain production & (2) the creation of linkages by US bargaining teams which would tie easier credit arrangements for grain sales to greater Soviet cooperation in the areas of arms reduction or reduced interference in Africa. Careful monitoring of Soviet production & weather patterns may result in the creation of an attractive bargaining position for the US, a position which could be exploited to benefit world peace & stability. M. Cain.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)1 is often criticized for judicialization of politics and at times, the CJEU is called into the terrain of megapolitics. The posting of workers in the European Union (EU) is such a terrain of mega-politics, characterized by deep conflicts between EU free movement principles and national social protection. A "posted worker" is employed in one EU member state, but temporarily sent by his or her employer to another EU member state to provide a service. Since posted workers do not migrate permanently, they principally remain subject to the law of their sending country. They are also entitled to a core of rights in the receiving country. This constellation triggers fundamental questions about social justice between and within EU member states, which are mega-political in all three respects theorized in the introduction to this special issue.2 At the inter-state level, the basic question is which country's labour and social regulation applies to posted workers. At the societal level, the opportunity for firms to rely on workers governed by foreign rules may call into question domestic compromises between capital and labour, like wage levels and social security. Finally, conflicts about the posting of workers invoke sovereignty concerns, begging the question of how to balance the freedom to provide services, protected by EU rules, and the regulation of labour relations, regarded as a matter of national sovereignty by EU member states.