scholarly journals The Use of Conformity Assessment of Construction Products by the European Union and National Governments: Legitimacy, Effectiveness and the Functioning of the Union Market

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Neerhof
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Conformity Assessment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Construction Products ◽  
National Governments

The ‘Pillared-Privatisation’ of Pension Provision in the European Union: The Case of the United Kingdom

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Ring ◽  
Roddy McKinnon
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
World Bank ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Means Testing ◽  
The Road ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
National Governments

Across the European Union, national governments are re-assessing the institutional mechanisms through which pension provision is delivered. This articles sets the debate within the wider context of the ‘pillared’ structural analysis often adopted by international institutions when discussing pensions reform. It then sets out a detailed discussion of developments in the UK, arguing that the UK is moving towards a model of reform akin to that promoted by the World Bank – referred to here as ‘pillared-privatisation’. The themes of this model indicate more means-testing, greater private provision, and a shift of the burden of risk from the government to individuals. An assessment is then made of the implications of UK developments for other EU countries. It is suggested that while there are strong reasons to think that other countries will not travel as far down the road of ‘pillared-privatisation’ as the UK, this should not be taken as a ‘given’.

scholarly journals State industrial policy in conditions European integration of Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-153
Author(s):  
Valeriі Rіeznikov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Conformity Assessment ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Industrial Products ◽  
Market Surveillance ◽  
Mutual Recognition Agreement ◽  
The Eu

Since the beginning of 2020, there have been crisis phenomena around the world due to the global slowdown in economic growth and the introduction of quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic. In this situation, the most vulnerable are developing countries with a small margin of safety, which, unfortunately, also applies to Ukraine, whose economy is open and highly dependent on external markets. Due to the slowdown in the growth of the global economy, the situation in one of the main export industries of Ukraine – industry is deteriorating first of all. The European Union has become one of the important export markets for Ukraine’s industrial products in recent years, which has raised the issue of shaping a relevant state industrial policy in today’s challenging environment. The purpose of the article is to determine the directions of formation and implementation of state industrial policy in the conditions of European integration of Ukraine in modern conditions. In 2020, due to the economic crisis and the pandemic of the coronavirus, the Ukrainian industry may lose even more due to low demand for ferrous metals in world markets, including in EU countries. The Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products is a way of eliminating technical barriers to trade between Ukraine and the EU. The Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products is a type of mutual recognition agreement that requires a partner country to align its legislation, practices and infrastructure with EU rules.It is envisaged that in the sectors covered by this Agreement, Ukrainian exporters will be able to label their products with the CE mark and to sell them freely on the EU market without additional EU certification. Potentially, the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products could cover up to a fifth of Ukraine’s exports to the EU, notably mechanical engineering products. The formation and implementation of state industrial policy in the conditions of European integration of Ukraine should take place using the following algorithm:1. Study of the new EU Regulation 2019/1020 of 20.06.2019 on market surveillance and conformity of products and elaboration of relevant amendments to the legislation of Ukraine.2. Concentration of the function of legal coordination of draft regulatory acts (including technical regulations) aimed at implementing the Association Agreement and preparation for the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products in one state instance, equipped with specialized personnel with adequate knowledge of EU law and languages.3. Strengthening the requirements for the accreditation and oversight process for accredited bodies, as well as the process of designating and monitoring conformity assessment bodies to ensure that their technical competence is adequate and to prevent fraud and the use of fraudulent practices.4. In the absence of a rapid prospect of concluding an Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products, the harmonization of procedures and requirements that are too burdensome for exporters and importers, first and foremost.5. Paying particular attention to capacity building of state market surveillance authorities.6. Raising awareness of business entities and enhancing the role of business associations in raising such awareness.7. Increasing the EU’s interest in providing Ukraine with effective technical assistance for the development of legislation and the proper functioning of quality infrastructure and market surveillance authorities. Introduce the position of Deputy Prime Minister for Industry and launch support programs for the real economy. Thus, Ukraine’s further integration with the European Union is largely linked to the formulation and implementation of relevant industrial policy, which should be to continue reforming all sectors of the economy, in particular, to modernize the industrial complex. And the signing of the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products in the three priority sectors («industrial visa waiver») in the medium term should become one of the main foreign economic priorities of Ukraine’s European integration in the face of the current challenges of today.

Integration-Led Capitalism in the EU

2019 ◽  
pp. 142-186
Author(s):  
Thomas Kalinowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Monetary Union ◽  
Distinct Form ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Regional Dynamics ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Global Economic Governance ◽  
The Eu

The global role of the European Union and its position in the trilemma triangle differ substantially from the global–hegemonic approach pursued by US finance-led capitalism. This chapter first explores the historical choices that countries in Europe made after the collapse of the BWS and the internal, regional dynamics of an emerging integration-led euro capitalism. We show that the EU (and until 1992 the European Economic Community) developed a distinct regional solution for the challenges of globalization with the creation of the single market and the European Monetary Union. This growth model is based economically on a specific European complementary specialization production system and politically on a distinct form of euro-corporatism. This does not mean that national governments and national political economies have become irrelevant, but rather that there is a convergence towards a common EU position when it comes to global economic governance.

Independence: In or Out of Europe? An Independent Scotland and the European Union

2000 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Happold
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Union Member ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Level ◽  
Question Mark ◽  
National Governments ◽  
European Union Member States ◽  
The Eu

There is a question mark over the future of the nation-state in Europe. National monetary policy has been transferred to the European level in most European Union member States. Over the next ten years the EU will have a stronger role in defence and foreign policy, immigration and law enforcement. The very policies that supposedly define the concept of national sovereignty are no longer the exclusive domain of national governments.

scholarly journals Criteria for Defining Tax Evasion as Tax Terrorism

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Māris Jurušs
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Tax Revenues ◽  
Tax Fraud ◽  
Illegal Activities ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Eu

Abstract There are significant losses in tax revenues across the European Union (EU). National governments lose billions of euros in the revenues from non-paid taxes and other illegal activities. The fight against aggressive tax planning, tax fraud and illegal activities is on the agenda of the EU, OECD and all the national governments. However, due to the size of tax losses it should not be treated just as tax evasion, but rather as tax terrorism! Therefore, the author has set criteria when tax evasion should be named as “tax terrorism” as well as designed the principles for tackling tax terrorism and other ways of non-payment of taxes. The tax evasion could be treated as “tax terrorism” in case of international evasion from taxes by organized groups of persons for criminal purposes as well as when it creates significant losses in government revenues. The term “tax terrorism” would have impact to communication and cause response of society and politics, therefore it would have more social and political consequences.

scholarly journals Passive European Union Influence

2021 ◽  
pp. 134-157
Author(s):  
Tobias Lenz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Member State ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Statistical Association ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Primary Documents ◽  
National Governments

This chapter traces the European Union’s passive influence in the establishment of the Mercosur Permanent Review Tribunal in 2004. This is an useful case to study passive EU influence because the Tribunal’s establishment constitutes an unlikely case from the perspective of existing explanations of dispute settlement design and it is representative of a statistical association presented in Chapter 4. Through a detailed process tracing exercise that reconstructs the institutional preferences and strategies of national governments and the process of international bargaining on the basis of primary documents, interviews with policy-makers and secondary sources, it shows how the European Union, through its passive influence on the institutional preferences of Uruguay, the bloc’s smallest member state, shaped the design of the Tribunal. In the absence of passive EU influence, the chapter concludes, the Tribunal would have been less institutionalized.

Political Parties in the European Union

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Magnus Johansson ◽  
Tapio Raunio
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Level ◽  
Member States ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Commission President ◽  
National Governments

Media often portrays European Union (EU) decision-making as a battleground for national governments that defend the interests of their member states. Yet even the most powerful individuals, such as the German chancellor, the French president, or the Commission president, are party politicians. At the same time the consistent empowerment of the European Parliament (EP) means that the party groups of European-level “Europarties”—political parties at European level—are in a key position to shape EU legislation. The Parliament has also become more directly involved in the appointment of the Commission, with the results of EP elections thus influencing the composition of the Commission. Examining the “partyness” of European integration, this article argues that scholarly understanding of the role of parties in the EU political system has taken great strides forward since the turn of the millennium. This applies especially to the EP party groups, with research focusing particularly on voting patterns in the plenary. This body of work has become considerably more sophisticated and detailed over the years; it shows that the main EP groups do achieve even surprisingly high levels of cohesion and that the left–right dimension is the primary axis of contestation in the chamber. It nonetheless also emphasizes the continuing relevance of national parties that control candidate selection in EP elections. Considering that most votes in the Parliament are based on cooperation between the two largest groups, the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the center-left Party of the European Socialists (PES), future research should analyze in more detail how these groups build compromises. Actual Europarties, however, remain relatively unexplored. Case studies of treaty reforms or particular policy sectors reveal how individual Europarties have often wielded decisive influence on key integration decisions or key appointments to EU institutions. The Europarty meetings held in conjunction with European Council summits are particularly important in this respect. The regular, day-to-day activities of Europarties deserve more attention, both regarding decision-making and vertical links between national parties and their Europarties. Overall, it is probably more accurate to characterize Europarties as networks of like-minded national parties or as loose federations of member parties, especially when compared with the often centralized and strongly disciplined parties found in the member states.

The European Union’s Industrial Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 620-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Landesmann ◽  
Roman Stöllinger
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Structural Funds ◽  
Catching Up ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
The Subject ◽  
National Governments

This chapter reviews the industrial policy in the European Union in the light of the revived interest in the subject and the most pressing challenges ahead. In the current global context these challenges are (i) to keep pace at the technology frontier with the technologically most advanced economies; (ii) to meet the challenges of fast catching-up emerging economies; (iii) to contribute to the convergence and cohesion processes within the European Union; and (iv) to deal with climate change and environmental sustainability issues more generally. A quantitative exercise that makes use of the European Union’s budget data, including the structural funds, and member states aid expenditures, is used to identify the European Union’s current industrial policy priorities. The results are the basis for an assessment of the extent to which the key challenges are addressed at the supranational level and which aspects are primarily dealt with by national governments.

Stages of Forming a Common Immigration Policy of the European Union

2017 ◽  
pp. 95-101
Author(s):  
Yevhenia Blazhevska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Illegal Immigration ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Asylum Policy ◽  
Economic Needs ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Different Levels

The article analyzes the stages of the formation of a common immigration policy of the European Union. The article argues that the elimination of the stages is due to the need for answers to the challenges of both economic needs and the circumstances of the environment caused by regional and global threats. On the whole, it can be assumed that an increase in the role of the institutions in the area of immigration policy under the Lisabon Treaty will help to strengthen the protection of the rights of immigrants and deepen European integration. At the same time, it can be stated that certain areas of the Unions immigration policy will continue to be at different levels of harmonization: from the most „communitarization” (asylum policy, the fight against illegal immigration), to a large extent remaining in the competence of national governments (economic immigration). Keywords: EU, immigration, migration, communitarization, pillars, treaties

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document