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The purpose of the study presented in the article is to determine the level of energy poverty in households of the European Union (EU) and associated countries, pronounced on the basis of the household's inability to supply its dwellings with adequate heat levels. The method of systematic literature review was applied. An analysis based on Statistics Poland and Eurostat data included the results of the EU-SILC research conducted in the years 2009-2018. The analysis indicated that the average number of households unable to sufficiently heat their homes is decreasing in Europe. However, in some countries, such as Macedonia, Lithuania or Bulgaria, the number of households experiencing energy poverty is still high. In Poland, the scale of this problem is smaller than the EU average. In order to conduct an in-depth analysis for Poland, an assessment was made of the correlation between the energy poverty rate and the average income per person in a household and the level of economic poverty. For this purpose the r-Pearson correlation coefficient was applied.

The economies of the 21st century countries operate on the principle of connected vessels. A significant element of changes in economies is the growth of the financial sector. The process of financial sector growth is often referred as financialization. The significant impact of this sector on economic development was shown during the financial crisis of 2008. Financialization is more visible in highly developed countries. Undoubtedly the founding countries of the European Union belong to highly developed countries. It is possible that the financialization is higher in bigger countries like France, Germany, Italy or United Kingdom, which can also have bigger financial sectors. From the other side there is also country, which economy is based on banks. The aim of the article is to indicate the growth of the financial sector in the founding countries of the European Union. To determine the growth of the financial sector, the author used the indicators appearing in the literature of subject. There are indicators relating to functioning of the economy and banking sector. The second method helps to determine in which country financialization is higher. To made the research there was used zero unitarization method. The results of the study allows to determine in which of the subjects the financial sector is at a higher level of development. It is possible, that during researched period there were changes in financializiation of researched countries.

Our study aims at defining the reasons of a downward trend of remittances in Albania lately. We mainly adopted the method of the questionnaire to study such a topic. Our questionnaire covers Albanian migrants in Greece and Italy. The analyses of the data provided by our questionnaire defines such factors influencing the level of the remittances: - The economic crises i.e. the economic situation in the host country; - Job insecurity and wage lowering; - Living cost increase as well as rising costs of children's education; - Family reunion; - Weaker links of the migrants and his family members in Albania. Our study attempts that using rather simple methods to rank the factors influencing the money flow of the remittances based on their importance. There is quite a host of methods to analyze the main factors yet we adopted one of the simplest methods that of the contingences tables and Log-Linear Models for Contingency Tables as the data offered by the questionnaire are subjective ones and not so massive, too. The data on the money flow of the remittances are rather few and unstable ones thus all the predictions based on all other methods offer similar results. We stress the fact that it is beyond any doubt that the remittances follow a downward trend every year. Judging by the models there is a very law probability to this series that it changes its trend (i.e.it increases). The main factors influencing the flow of the remittances to Albania are the economic crises and the family reunion. DOI:10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n2s1p193

Articles on commercial and political relations between the European Union and Central America by 17 regional scholars. Includes crisis and economic balance, history, European priorities, Central American political change, negotiations and impact

M.A.BIOETHICS ; Biosimilar medicines are considered by governments as a solution to increase accessibility to very expensive biological medicines. This dissertation attempts to identify the ethical and regulatory issues related to biosimilar medicines through an in-depth literature review. The first chapter involves literature related to biological medicines and intellectual property regulations in Europe. The second chapter covers the literature on regulation of biosimilar medicines in Europe. In the third chapter, the literature covers an analysis on the expenditure of biologicals and their economic burden, the different models of switching and substitution, their implementation within the public health care system, and the success of biosimilar uptake strategies. Chapter 4 focuses on the literature on the emerging ethical issues. It is concluded that a 'knowledge gap' of the cell line and the manufacturing process of originator biological medicines hinders other manufacturing companies from producing copies. The extensive intellectual property protection regulations in Europe contribute to the low number of biosimilars authorised in Europe and their delay from reaching the market. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) was at the forefront to set up a regulatory framework for biosimilars, which however are not therapeutically equivalent and therefore not interchangeable. The EMA leaves the decision of interchangeability to Member States. The safety concerns on switching to biosimilars are pronounced. Governments set different policies to improve the uptake including mandatory switching, but there is no coherent policy framework which could lead to inequality whilst the uptake of biosimilars remains low. Globalisation of the pharmaceutical industry led to the need for harmonisation and convergence of regulations which is the 21st century best regulatory practice. From the ethical perspective, good governance is required to ensure impartiality in decision taking at all levels to improve access to biosimilars and ensure fair competition. Safety is the main ethical issue related to biosimilars, where safe regulation is recommended through physician-led prescribing. Mandatory switching presents further ethical concerns. A holistic policy framework is required by governments which should be based on the principles of justice, solidarity, precaution and integrity so as to ensure equitable access to medicines on a national, European and global level. Biosimilars may be part of the solution through harmonised regulation and public health care systems that are built on the principle of solidarity. ; N/A

The Handbook of European Security Law and Policy offers a holistic discussion of the contemporary challenges to the security of the European Union and emphasizes the complexity of dealing with these through legislation and policy. Considering security from a human perspective, the book opens with a general introduction to the key issues in European Security Law and Policy before delving into three main areas. Institutions, policies and mechanisms used by Security, Defence Policy and Internal Affairs form the conceptual framework of the book; at the same time, an extensive analysis of the risks and challenges facing the EU, including threats to human rights and sustainability, as well as the European Union's legal and political response to these challenges, is provided. This Handbook is essential reading for scholars and students of European law, security law, EU law and interdisciplinary legal and political studies.

The paper analyses the environmental Kuznets curve relationship between greenhouse gases and chosen indicators of economic development based on the panel data of 20 countries of the EU in the period 2006–2013. Besides the typical variables, such as the share of a particular polluting industry, environmental taxes, energy taxes, research and development, the dummy variable of the crises and enterprise's sustainability score were also included in the model. The fixed effect panel model was used as a framework for the analysis. The original contribution of this paper is that the factor referring to the enterprises' sustainability was empirically tested in the expanded model. Higher energy taxes, research and development and the number of sustainable enterprises decrease the level of greenhouse gases. The size of agriculture, production and construction has a positive sign, which means that a higher value of the indicator is associated with a higher level of greenhouse gases. This implies that the analysed set of factors can be applied to adjust the trend in the region and might be useful for the climate change policy adjustment.

The paper analyses the environmental Kuznets curve relationship between greenhouse gases and chosen indicators of economic development based on the panel data of 20 countries of the EU in the period 2006–2013. Besides the typical variables, such as the share of a particular polluting industry, environmental taxes, energy taxes, research and development, the dummy variable of the crises and enterprise's sustainability score were also included in the model. The fixed effect panel model was used as a framework for the analysis. The original contribution of this paper is that the factor referring to the enterprises' sustainability was empirically tested in the expanded model. Higher energy taxes, research and development and the number of sustainable enterprises decrease the level of greenhouse gases. The size of agriculture, production and construction has a positive sign, which means that a higher value of the indicator is associated with a higher level of greenhouse gases. This implies that the analysed set of factors can be applied to adjust the trend in the region and might be useful for the climate change policy adjustment.

The paper analyses the environmental Kuznets curve relationship between greenhouse gases and chosen indicators of economic development based on the panel data of 20 countries of the EU in the period 2006–2013. Besides the typical variables, such as the share of a particular polluting industry, environmental taxes, energy taxes, research and development, the dummy variable of the crises and enterprise's sustainability score were also included in the model. The fixed effect panel model was used as a framework for the analysis. The original contribution of this paper is that the factor referring to the enterprises' sustainability was empirically tested in the expanded model. Higher energy taxes, research and development and the number of sustainable enterprises decrease the level of greenhouse gases. The size of agriculture, production and construction has a positive sign, which means that a higher value of the indicator is associated with a higher level of greenhouse gases. This implies that the analysed set of factors can be applied to adjust the trend in the region and might be useful for the climate change policy adjustment.

The paper analyses the environmental Kuznets curve relationship between greenhouse gases and chosen indicators of economic development based on the panel data of 20 countries of the EU in the period 2006–2013. Besides the typical variables, such as the share of a particular polluting industry, environmental taxes, energy taxes, research and development, the dummy variable of the crises and enterprise's sustainability score were also included in the model. The fixed effect panel model was used as a framework for the analysis. The original contribution of this paper is that the factor referring to the enterprises' sustainability was empirically tested in the expanded model. Higher energy taxes, research and development and the number of sustainable enterprises decrease the level of greenhouse gases. The size of agriculture, production and construction has a positive sign, which means that a higher value of the indicator is associated with a higher level of greenhouse gases. This implies that the analysed set of factors can be applied to adjust the trend in the region and might be useful for the climate change policy adjustment.

The monograph evolves around the sociological understanding of steering the discourses surrounding the implementation of grand strategies. The authors conceptualise understanding complex social processes through the active steering of communication. They offer a solution for the struggles of the EU's inefficacy in implementing grand strategies.

1. EU power and its adjectives -- 2. Power/play -- 3. The viral trace -- 4. Innovation -- 5. Power/play's transformation into form -- 6. In knowing anticipation -- 7. The sound of power -- 8. EU exceptionalism, EU resentment -- 9. The tinkerer, destroyer of worlds -- 10. Europe anti-power.