Suchergebnisse

Die Autorin beschreibt und analysiert den mehr als dreißig Jahre währenden Koordinierungsprozeß der Vergabe öffentlicher Aufträge in der Europäischen Union. Zu Beginn werden die wirtschaftlichen Nachteile beschrieben, die durch die Beschränkung der Auftragsvergabe auf das eigene Hoheitsgebiet entstanden sind. Weiter beschreibt die Autorin Beginn und Fortgang des Koordinierungsprozesses. Eingehend werden die ergriffenen Maßnahmen in den Bereichen Bau, Liefer, Dienstleistungen sowie in den sogenannten ausgenommenen Sektoren beschrieben und vor dem Hintergrund des angestrebten Ziels - der Schaffung eines einheitlichen EU-Vergabemarktes - analysiert. Abschließend betrachtet sie Umsetzung und Durchsetzung der Richtlinien in ausgewählten Mitgliedstaaten der EU und kommt zu dem Ergebnis, daß trotz der Koordinierung eine spürbare Veränderung beispielsweise der Importraten für von öffentlichen Auftraggebern nachgefragte Güter und Dienste nicht eingetreten ist, sich demgegenüber jedoch der Verwaltungsaufwand erheblich erhöht hat

This chapter is an exercise in political theology exploring ways in which European Union citizens might think about political life. The chapter has four sections: first, a discussion of how people, especially Europeans, identify with their places and their politics – this section considers the chief threat to European peace, ethnocentrism; second, a discussion of two key civic tasks regarding the interrelation of European Union member-states, 'adequate identity' and 'sufficient agreement'; third, a conversation between contrasting political analyses of human motivation and civic participation concerning these tasks; fourth and finally, an account of the distinctive contribution of ecclesial identity to European consciousness.

& Strategy, The Atlantic Council. Hearing on "Strains on the European Union: Implications for American Foreign Policy"(Chapter 4; The European Union: Questions and Answers(; Summary; What Is the European Union?; How Does the EU Work?; How Is the EU Governed?; What Is the Lisbon Treaty?; What Is the Euro and the Eurozone Crisis?; Why and How Is the EU Enlarging?; Does the EU Have a Foreign Policy?; Does the EU Have a Defense Policy?; What Is the Relationship of the EU to NATO?; What Is Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)?; What Is the Schengen Area?; Does the EU Have a Trade Policy and Process?

The objective of this work is to determine the extent of the conformity of the Croatian energy sector with the conditions for membership in the EU. According to a comparative analysis an identification is made of the state of affairs in the energy sector in the EU, in the Republic of Croatia and in the applicant countries, the level at which the conditions for membership are fulfilled and the necessary measures that have to be implemented during the reform. The main conclusion is that the legal system itself in the area of the Croatian energy system is already mainly harmonised with the EU system. However, concrete application of the rules departs from the
way rules are applied in the EU. Since these rules obtain their final form only during application, and the manner of interpretation and application is much harder to change than the rules themselves, particular attention needs devoting to practice in the process of adjustment.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the EU economic position in 1995-2014 as well as the prospective growth potential in the global dimension up to 2025. The subject of the research is real and projected data including: GDP growth rate, main growth factors (labour, labour productivity and Total Factor Productivity), and their input to GDP growth, as well as data showing public debts and budget deficits. The analysis was conducted for the years 1995-2014 and 2015-2025. The authors' basic conclusions are: 1) the technological and economic gap between the European Union and the United States has been deepening; 2) the increasing polarisation of world economic powers and low GDP growth in the European Union limit the EU's chances of maintaining the position as the second centre in the world economy; 3) improving the situation in public finances in the European Union as compared to the US is a factor which could raise GDP growth rates in European countries, however, there are countries whose future is in doubt due to the dramatically poor state of public finances, such as Greece, Italy, Portugal or Ireland; 4) economic growth forecasts indicate a deepening of the economic gap between the largest EU countries and the US.

Trade is the most important integration link in the overall world production. After the Second World War it induced the establishment of economic integrations. In the last three decades international trade has been more dynamic than the growth of the world production. The data show that the commodity trade is the strongest component of the world purchase and sale, although the international trade in services has grown a bit faster than the commodity trade. However, the share of services in the world trade does not exceed 20 per cent. International trade has most developed among developed countries, keeping up the mutual development of foreign direct investments and know-how and technology transfer. The empirical research shows that apart from the benefits gained by capitalisation of comparative advantages the trade growth is also influenced by benefits resulting from the impact of the economy of scale, competition and spreading of knowledge. Reduction of tariff and elimination of non-tariff barriers constantly opens new opportunities to benefit from international trade in commodities and services. Commodity trade of OECD countries confirms that the volume of trade does not depend only on liberalisation of tariff and non-tariff barriers, but growth to a certain degree reflects the size of the country, geographic elements and transport costs. Therefore, the empirical works predominantly analyse the power of trade as an indicator of the manifested commodity trade, embracing the characteristics such as competition pressures, but not including some deeper political meaning. The previously mentioned factor is significant, since given the policy and competition small countries are naturally more dependent on foreign trade, although competition pressures among big countries largely result from competition inside themselves. A significant change in the trade structure has been recorded in the period of over two years. At first, intra-industrial trade became equal to traditional inter- industrial production, and afterwards it has even exceeded it. For a long time the factors of foreign trade growth have been disputable. The works of Baier and Berstrand show that income growth and reduction of customs produce the main impact on foreign trade growth. In their opinion liberalisation of trade within GATT and WTO is one of the main driving forces in international trade. Reduction of trade costs also produces some impact on foreign trade growth, while approximation of incomes is less significant. Badlinger and Breuss have explored the elements that in the last four decades of the last century made an impact on faster growth of inter-trade of EU-15 member countries. They have estimated the relative impact of the income growth, income equalisation as well reduction of tariffs and trade costs on the intra-trade of EU-15 member countries. The results show that the income growth increases by 70 per cent the intra-trade of these countries. Also, the European integration and liberalisation of GATT and WTO increase by 25 per cent the commodity intra-trade of EU-15.

Industrial fluctuations are closely related to the evolution of relative prices of produced goods and resources involved in production activity. Industrial fluctuations, as an expression of forces manifested in the real economy, are caused by changes in individuals' consumption and investment decisions, produced within expansionary monetary policies. The ease of obtaining a bank loan in the context of decreasing interest rates and of larger amounts of money caused an increase in individuals' demand for goods resulted from longer, capital intensive production processes. The rise in prices of intermediate and capital goods in a faster pace compared to the increase in prices of consumer goods is doubled by the increase of the share of higher order industries in the structure of production. The objective of this paper is to analyze changes in industrial structure of Eastern Europe countries within the policies of quick access to monetary resources. The analyzed states (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania) are part of the European Union and have autonomous monetary policies, meaning that they have not yet adopted the common currency. In all economies analyzed, we find approximately the same patterns of monetary expansion and industrial fluctuations.

THE ARTICLE RE-EXAMINES THE HERITAGE OF EU CONSTITUTIONALISM. IT DEVELOPS A PROCESS-BASED AND NON-TELEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF EU CONSTITUTIONALISM. THE EU IS UNDERSTOOD AS CONTESTED AND CONTESTABLE IN TERMS OF ITS EVOLUTION AND IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE OPEN-TEXTURED CONCEPT OF POSTNATIONALISM CAN USEFULLY CAPTURE SOME OF ITS "SUI GENERIS" ELEMENTS.

Sixten Korkman gives an overview of the economic policies and the economic policy regime of the EU, including EMU and the internal market. He provides analysis of policy issues in the light of economic theory and examines critically the rationale for policy intervention at the EU level

This comparative report on national care pathways for people with dementia living at home has been produced as part of the 2014 Work Plan of Alzheimer Europe, which has received funding from the European Union in the framework of the Health Programme. Decisions about the broad areas to be addressed were informed by a literature review on the topic. Agreement on the specific sections to be included for each area was reached in a meeting with 16 Alzheimer Europe (AE) member associations at the beginning of 2014. Based on this, a questionnaire was drafted and later reviewed by four members of the group. The final questionnaire was sent out to all AE members. In addition, in countries where AE has no member (i.e. Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), relevant informants were identified and invited to participate. 29 AE member associations and two external experts returned the questionnaires1. Questionnaires had been completed by the national organisation and, whenever necessary, with the aid of relevant national experts in the field of social policy, medicine and social support2. Organisations were contacted again when necessary to clarify certain issues and information was transferred into a database and analysed. The comparative report was sent to all participating organisations for final approval prior to publication. In addition to this comparative report, a national report for each country has been produced. These national reports are available to the public on the Alzheimer Europe website (http://www.alzheimer-europe.org). ; peer-reviewed

By reconsidering the definitions of human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced labour, Vladislava Stoyanova demonstrates how, in embracing the human trafficking framework, the international community has sidelined the human rights law commitments against slavery, servitude and forced labour that in many respects provide better protection for abused migrants. Stoyanova proposes two corrective steps to this development: placing a renewed emphasis on determining the definitional scope of slavery, servitude or forced labour, and gaining a clearer understanding of states' positive human rights obligations. This book compares anti-trafficking and human rights frameworks side-by-side and focuses its analysis on the Council of Europe's Trafficking Convention and Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. With innovative arguments and pertinent case studies, this book is an important contribution to the field and will appeal to students, scholars and legal practitioners interested in human rights law, migration law, criminal law and EU law.