Suchergebnisse

This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the new EU-Japan free trade agreement (FTA), the biggest bilateral deal that both the EU and Japan have concluded so far. It employs a generalized variant of the Eaton-Kortum (2002) model, featuring multiple sectors, input-output linkages, services trade, and non-tariff barriers (NTBs). It uses the results of an econometric ex-post analysis of a related FTA, the one between the EU and Korea, in force since 2011, to approximate the expected reductions in the costs of NTBs. This approach yields long-run welfare effects for Japan of about 18 bn. USD per year (0.31% of GDP) and of about 15 bn. USD (0.10%) for the EU. On average, the agreement does not appear to harm third countries, but the Americas, Africa and MENA countries slightly lose. 14% of the welfare gains inside the FTA stem from tariffs, the remaining 86% from NTB reform, and the services sector accounts for more than half. In the EU, value added in the agri-food sector goes up most, while in Japan the manufacturing and services sectors gain.

ABSTRACTThe European Commission wants to create a favourable policy environment for supporting the establishment and development of farmers' cooperatives and other producer organizations. This paper – for the first time – presents the results of an effectiveness measurement of the existing support measures for farmers' cooperatives throughout the EU (in eight agricultural sectors). More in particular, it is investigated whether the cooperatives market share is positively or negatively influenced by policy measures. The study identifies general trends, strengths, and weaknesses among the policy measures applied in the EU and the cooperatives' performance.

I nostri risultati evidenziano la presenza di una relazione non lineare tra le dimensioni dell'operatore pubblico (misurate dalla quota di spesa pubblica sul PIL) e il tasso di crescita economica per l'Italia. In linea generale, a prescindere dai dati utilizzati [qui, quelli di Forte (2011), in altre analisi quelli della Commissione Europea] e dalle suddivisioni temporali proposte, comunque emerge la presenza di un andamento parabolico tra le variabili. ; http://www.strategicstudies.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Policy-ROI_IL-TRADE.pdf

"With EU membership, politicians as well as citizens in the accession countries hope to achieve improvements in living conditions and - at least in the long run - to catch up with the West European societies. Catch-up modernization of the less advanced member states is also an 'official' goal of EU policy. Expert opinions about the prospects for success, however, vary widely. In this paper, a general model for how EU policy influences quality of life in less well-off member countries is presented. An analysis of former enlargements - the cohesion countries Ireland, Greece, Portugal, and Spain - reveals that EU integration obviously facilitates processes of catch up but does not guarantee them. This is demonstrated by using indicators covering different aspects of quality of life, per capita income (material living conditions), social protection ratios (general quality of society), and life satisfaction (subjective well-being). Bearing in mind their particular economic and social conditions and their heterogeneity, the prospects of the future member states are discussed." (author's abstract)

The Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI) address one of the central social-policy questions facing the highly developed states of the OECD and the European Union at the outset of the 21st century: How can we achieve sustainable policy outcomes and ensure that political decision-making target long-term objectives? Its ]intention is .to highlight examples of successes and governance innovations, and to initiate international learning processes, acting in accordance with founder Reinhard Mohn's guiding principle of "learning from the world." Many countries belonging to the OECD and the EU now apply the SGI to their own performance management, thus breathing life into Reinhard Mohn's central idea. Lead author of the section on Portugal was Thomas Bruneau of the Naval Postgraduate School.

The most important items on the agenda were: the constitutional treaty & the debate on the future of the Union; enlargement, foreign policy, crisis management; energy policy, growth & employment, internal market; finances of the Union; area of freedom, security & justice; sustainable development. The domestic agenda of the semester was marked by a series of horizontal issues including growth & employment, energy, migration & security -- solid routine work rather than watershed decisions. In terms of foreign policy the semester was characterized by a series of unexpected challenges, all of which suggest that the EU's role at the international stage is likely to remain an issue of paramount importance. New ground was broken with regard to energy policy & crisis management. References. Adapted from the source document.

Two years after the climate summit in Paris, the euphoria over the diplomatic break-through and adoption of new targets - holding the temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably even to 1.5 degrees - has largely evaporated. There has been little sign of additional ambition in climate change mitigation since. One fundamental problem is the global nature of temperature targets, which are little suited for generating concrete national action plans and not at all suited for evaluating emissions reduction measures implemented by governments or businesses. Starting with the "facilitative dialogue" being prepared at the Bonn climate summit for 2018, it is the third Paris mitigation target that should be the benchmark: namely to attain greenhouse-gas neutrality in the second half of the century. The European Commission and member states of the European Union (EU) should make the zero emissions target their central reference point in reformulating the Climate Roadmap 2050 and in adopting a long-term decarbonisation strategy. This could provide the opportunity to redesign the EU's climate policy so as to make it both more ambitious and more pragmatic. (author's abstract)

"Mit der Veröffentlichung der sogenannten road map des Nahost-Quartetts (USA, EU, Rußland und die Vereinten Nationen) und dem Gipfel von Aqaba im Juni 2003 ist Hoffnung auf eine Wiederaufnahme des Friedensprozesses in Nahost geweckt worden. Erste wichtige Schritte zur Beendigung der gewalttätigen Auseinandersetzungen sind getan: die Verkündung einer dreimonatigen Waffenruhe seitens der militanten palästinensischen Gruppierungen und der Abzug israelischer Truppen aus dem nördlichen Gaza-Streifen und aus dem Stadtgebiet von Bethlehem. Die road map könnte in der Tat ein Instrument darstellen, um den Friedensprozeß wiederzubeleben. Ob dieser erfolgreich sein wird, wird nicht nur vom Verhalten der Konfliktparteien abhängen, sondern auch von einem intensiven und nachhaltigen Engagement der internationalen Gemeinschaft. In diesem Zusammenhang wird es eine Herausforderung für die EU sein, ein nachhaltiges amerikanisches Engagement einzufordern. Gleichzeitig kann die EU direkt zu einer Konfliktlösung beitragen. Dabei sollten die Herbeiführung einer dauerhaften Waffenruhe, die Unterstützung einer Verhandlungslösung und der Aufbau eines lebensfähigen palästinensischen Gemeinwesens im Vordergrund stehen. Die Studie analysiert Zielsetzung, Ansatz und Maßnahmen der EU-Unterstützung für den Friedensprozeß seit 1993, zeigt Problemfelder auf und formuliert auf der Basis der bisherigen Erfahrungen Empfehlungen. Die Studie wird durch eine Materialsammlung ergänzt, die einen Überblick über die finanzielle Unterstützung der EU, Texte wichtiger EU-Deklarationen sowie internationaler Friedensinitiativen enthält. Zudem findet sich im Anlageband ein Rückblick, der die wichtigsten Entwicklungen des mit der Konferenz von Madrid 1991 eingeleiteten Nahost-Friedensprozesses rekapituliert." (Autorenreferat)

PUBLISHED ; With transformative evolution involving crypto-assets, machine learning applications and data-driven finance models, complex regulatory and policy issues are emerging. Inadequate frameworks in FinTech markets create regulatory friction and regulatory fragmentation. These limitations continue to feature when piecemeal regulatory transition occurs. The danger of EU Member States being left behind in the FinTech innovation race if the regulatory landscape is cumbersome or incomplete for new business models is real. Regulatory lag and regulatory friction also act as a 'disenabler' for ease of cross-border FinTech trade in the EU. This article critically engages with the manner in which the regulatory sandbox has rapidly gained critical mass in Member States as a valuable adaptive measure supporting a route to market for FinTech entrepreneurs. Against the backdrop of the European Commission's Digital Finance Strategy, the article further advances scholarship on FinTech in the EU by probing the EU's resulting regulatory dilemma, undertaking a systematic evaluation of the continuum of complex policy options available to the European Union in response to the spreading regulatory sandbox phenomenon.

This article considers the character of EU social policy and in particular the linkages between the EU's economic and social strategies. Arguably, the most recent enlargement of the EU represents a turning point for the future of EU social policy, though there is disagreement about its future if not so much about the causes of this crisis. The article concludes that the future political economy of EU social policy and indeed of the EU itself may be subject to fundamental changes.