Suchergebnisse

The interplay among intergovernmental and supranational actors is a defining feature of the institutional life of the European Union (EU). Too often, however, these actors are considered independent of each other, and their autonomy is assessed in a vacuum. This is problematic because if there is such a thing as "endogenous preferences" in the EU, it appears exactly through this interdependence of intergovernmental and supranational actors. None of the institutionalist approaches to the EU has come to grips with this fact yet. Based on some very simple gametheoretic ideas, I offer in this article a rationale for "endogenous preferences" and discuss their impact on issues of delegations. Some cursory empirical evidence supports the claims that the preferences of supranational actors are related to those of the actors who select or appoint them. Similarly, the analyses presented here suggest that preferences over delegation to supranational actors are influenced by differences in policy views between principals and agents.

Malta is at the helm of the EU between January and June 2017. The Maltese Presidency intends to continue to build on the work of previous Presidencies to tackle important priorities for which there is clear added value for action at EU level. To this end Malta has identified childhood obesity and structured cooperation between health systems as its two main thematic priorities. HIV, eHealth, Rare Diseases, medicines, cancer and antimicrobial resistance will also be on the agenda. Through a series of expert and political meetings, the Maltese Presidency aims to bring forward specific actions on the identified health priorities. ; peer-reviewed

This paper presents a reappraisal of unemployment movements in the European Union. Our analysis is based on the chain reaction theory of unemployment, which focuses on (a) the interaction among labor market adjustment processes, (b) the interplay between these adjustment processes and the dynamic structure of labor market shocks, and (c) the interaction between the adjustment processes and economic growth. We divide the shocks into institutional variables, price variables, and growth drivers. Estimating a system of labor market equations for a panel of EU countries, we derive the dynamic unemployment responses to each shock. Our analysis permits us to distinguish between the short- and longrun effects of the shocks. Different shocks generate different degrees of 'unemployment persistence' (responses to temporary shocks) and 'unemployment responsiveness' (responses to permanent shocks). We find that the growth drivers play a dominant role in accounting for the main swings in EU unemployment.

This paper presents a reappraisal of unemployment movements in the European Union. Our analysis is based on the chain reaction theory of unemployment, which focuses on (a) the interaction among labor market adjustment processes, (b) the interplay between these adjustment processes and the dynamic structure of labor market shocks, and (c) the interaction between the adjustment processes and economic growth. We divide the shocks into institutional variables, price variables, and growth drivers. Estimating a system of labor market equations for a panel of EU countries, we derive the dynamic unemployment responses to each shock. Our analysis permits us to distinguish between the short- and longrun effects of the shocks. Different shocks generate different degrees of "unemployment persistence" (responses to temporary shocks) and "unemployment responsiveness" (responses to permanent shocks). We find that the growth drivers play a dominant role in accounting for the main swings in EU unemployment.

This paper presents a reappraisal of unemployment movements in the European Union. Our analysis is based on the chain reaction theory of unemployment, which focuses on (a) the interaction among labor markets adjustment processes, (b) the interplay between these adjustment processes and the dynamic structure of labor market shocks, and (c) the interaction between the adjustment processes and economic growth. We divide the shocks into institutional variables, price variables, and growth drivers. Estimating a system of labor market equations for a panel of EU countries, we derive the dynamic unemployment responses to each shock. Our analysis permits us to distinguish between the short- and long-run effects of the shocks. Different shocks generate different degrees of "unemployment persistence" (responses to temporary shocks) and "unemployment responsiveness" (responses to permanent shocks). We find that the growth drivers play a dominant role in accounting for the main swings in EU unemployment.

The article deals with the analysis and implementation of the EU common economic policy in relation to approaches for ensuring economic growth. The objective of maintaining sustainable GDP growth rates of European countries has become especially important for the EU institutions since the mid-1980s, when the EU began to lag behind the United States and the newly industrialized countries. Despite the large-scale projects such the ambitious multiannual economic growth strategies, the higher growth rates have not been achieved. Against the backdrop of growing criticism in the scientific discourse regarding the GDP as an indicator to assess the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies, the question arises about a paradigm shift related economic growth. The article examines the GDP, which might turn out to be incompatible with the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as the EU top priority at the moment. Therefore a question arises whether the EU is going abandon economic growth in favour of the implementation of the environmental priorities. The author explores the motives and evolution of the economic policy of the EU aimed at stimulating economic growth and finds out how the very concept of assessing the results of the policy has changed. It's been revealed that the EU institutions began to focus less on the idea of achieving economic growth. One can expect that economic growth will become secondary to addressing environmental and social issues, and the GDP might be supplemented by alternative indicators for measuring economic achievements.

Literaturverz. S. 236 - 248

The Euro Plus Pact was approved by the European Union countries in March 2011. The pact stipulates various measures to strengthen competitiveness with the ultimate aim of preventing accumulation of unsustainable external imbalances. This article uses Granger causality tests to assess the short-term linkages between changes in relative unit labour costs and changes in the current account balance for the period 1995-2011. The main finding is that changes in the current account balance precede changes in relative unit labour costs, while there is no discernible effect in the opposite direction. This suggests that capital flows from the European core to the periphery contributed to the divergence in unit labour costs across Europe prior to the global financial crisis. The results also suggest that the measures to restrain unit labour costs may have only limited effect on the current account balance in the short term. Adapted from the source document.

There is a growing consensus among both economists-academics and policymakers that there was at least one missing element of the financial safety net during the Global Financial Crisis. This element, which will probably improve financial stability (or protect against financial instability), is the macroprudential orientation in regulatory and supervisory frameworks. The main scope of the paper is the institutional dimensions of macroprudential policy. The principal purpose of the paper is to identify and assess, on a comparative, cross-EU-country basis, existing practices and developments in structuring a new dimension of the financial stability policy, i.e., a macroprudential one. The paper builds on existing theoretical considerations and the author's own empirical survey of country practices in applying a macroprudential framework. A comparative, cross-country analysis and a comparison of different sub-indices and overall index values are the basis for verifying hypotheses and empirically disentangling the institutional differences between macroprudential policy regimes in European Union countries. The paper sheds light on recent trends in macroprudential policy governance and qualitative aspects (democratic accountability and transparency), with special attention to the position of a central bank across the European Union countries. The conducted research is a basis for constructing ratings of macroprudential authority accountability and transparency across the EU countries, which gives an indication of the overall quality of the institutional arrangements.

The hidden federal features of the European Union help explain the challenges of legitimacy, democracy and freedom that face an unfinished political community. Ideas about federalism and the reality of existing federal states cannot be sharply divided in an analysis of the EU's multilevel political order, but so far, both scholars and major decision makers have shown interest only in the normal functioning of federal systems: ignoring the dilemma of the federation's legitimate authority has resulted in an existential crisis for the EU which has become ever more manifest over recent years. This book employs a combination of political philosophy and political science, of federal philosophic ideas and their traces in real federal institutions, in order to achieve the task of understanding the federal features of the EU governance system. The first part of the work focuses on building an appropriate theoretical framework to explain the new meanings attached to familiar notions of democracy, legitimacy and citizenship in the context of a political community like the EU. In the second part the federal features of the EU's political system are examined in comparison to other current and historical federal perspectives like the US, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Germany. Through an analysis of the hidden federal aspects of the EU and the links between hidden federalism and the EU's legitimacy crisis, this book reveals the patterns that should be avoided and gives us guidelines that should be followed if the EU is to become democratic and politically united without jeopardising the state character of its members.--