scholarly journals Europe, public debts, and safe assets: the scope for a European Debt Agency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Amato ◽  
Everardo Belloni ◽  
Paolo Falbo ◽  
Lucio Gobbi

AbstractThe Covid-19 crisis has radically changed the game for world and EU-economies, and urged for a reappraisal of the guidelines for a healthy management of public expenditure. This requires a deep rethinking of the role of public debt in modern capitalistic economies and of efficient, equitable and politically viable ways of financing it. This paper outlines the main operating framework of a Debt Agency tasked with the management of the Eurozone sovereign debts and the creation of a truly European safe asset. The framework leverages on the potential irredeemable nature of sovereign debts in order to build a common bond. By structurally filtering liquidity risk, the Debt Agency can price the Member States’ funding costs by referring only to their credit risk, as defined by EU agreed rules. The common bond issued by the Debt Agency thus avoids mutualisation by design; hence, it can be directly bought by the ECB. Due to its structural intertemporal sustainability, the Debt Agency’s framework delineated in this paper can serve as a benchmark for institutional and political decisions. In this perspective, a counterfactual exercise has been conducted in order to evaluate the future potential impact of the Debt Agency as well as the past distortions in market pricing of Member States’ fundamental risk due to market mispricing of the liquidity risk.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 401-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenis Kembayev†

Abstract This article examines the coordinated energy policy of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the regulatory framework of the emerging Eurasian Common Energy Market as applied to its three major components: the Common Electric Power Market, the Common Gas Market and the Common Market of Petroleum and Petroleum Products. It aims to explore the issue of the potential impact of the EAEU energy policy and its associated regulatory framework on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The article argues that the operation of the Eurasian Common Energy Market will have a positive impact on the BRI project by harmonization and/or unification of energy-related regulations across a significant part of the New Silk Road as well as by the liberalization of the energy markets of EAEU Member States, bringing greater competition and abolishing barriers to trade between EAEU Member States in energy and related equipment, technology and services.


Author(s):  
Adrian Hyde-Price

Since the late 1990s, EU member states have committed themselves to deeper and more structured military cooperation, within the framework of the ESDP/CSDP. At the same time, European defence budgets have shrunk and military capabilities reduced. This chapter analyses the evolution of European military cooperation and identifies its key drivers and the changing strategic context to Europe’s east and south. The chapter argues that the emergence of a credible EU military capability will depend both on developing new defence synergies and on investment in critical military capabilities and infrastructure. Above all, however, it requires greater political cohesion and a common European strategic culture. Elements of a shared strategic culture have emerged, but substantial differences remain among EU member states. The chapter concludes by highlighting the crucial role of Europe’s major states in fostering defence and security cooperation, particularly the UK, France, and Germany.


2010 ◽  
pp. 561-565
Author(s):  
Edgar F. Castillo ◽  
Adolfo L. Gómez ◽  
Diego Cobo ◽  
Carlos Aguirre

Nowadays, the Colombian sugar industry is involved in an expansion process, mainly related to the diversification of final products. In this way, since 2005 five ethanol distilleries have been running, covering just 65% of total ethanol demand. The distilleries were designed coupled with a composting plant, based on vinasses and carbonatation sludge from the sugar factory. Both distilleries and composting plants show many features which make them a special case in the ethanol market, so they produce a maximum of 3 L vinasse/L ethanol. Besides, in all cases, the thermal and electrical power requirements in the ethanol plant are supplied by the sugar factory. In this paper, a brief description of technological features of the typical process configuration followed by the Colombian sugar industry is shown. It comprises the steam consumption distribution by sections, the common configuration of the heat exchanger network (HEN) developed for bleed vapor usage and the role of energy self-sufficiency of the factory played by the bagasse quality. A set of possible scenarios for improving energy efficiency in a selected sugar factory which comprises a modified HEN can be formulated, including a revamping of the existing boiler and finally a new boiler operating at higher pressure. Based on the previous information, the state of the main Colombian cogeneration projects based on sugarcane and its potential impact on the national energy supply is shown. Finally, the paper describes how Colombian governmental requirements for cogeneration plants are trying to establish a legal framework for this novel industrial activity in the country.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-76
Author(s):  
Andrey S. Zilber

The starting point of my study is Kant’s remark to the effect that Garve in his treatise on the connection between morality and politics presents arguments in defence of unjust principles. Recognition of these principles is, according to Kant, an inadvisable concession to those who are inclined to abuse it. I interpret this judgement by making a detailed comparison of the texts of the two treatises. I demonstrate that Garve’s work is an eclectic attempt to combine in one concept the lessons of historical experience with the ideas drawn from British empiricism and German rationalism. These ideas were criticised by Kant in his “critical” period. There is a consensus among researchers that Garve condoned the expansionist policy of Frederick II of Prussia, totally denied that legality in international relations was possible and in general deserved the reputation of an (ultra-)conservative. From that point of view the key values for Garve were the security and well-being of the state. I offer an alternative interpretation of Garve’s position because I believe that the value of political stability plays an important role in it. Such an interpretation makes it possible to treat Garve’s narrative as it was assessed by Kant, i.e. as a concession to the common principles of political practice as a result of a failure to find the guiding theory. My study has established that the role of Garve’s work in the writing of Kant’s treatise Toward Perpetual Peace was more significant than Kant’s own words suggest. Besides, I show that it was under Garve’s influence that Kant turned to the problem of excessive complexity of the principles involved in the search for concrete political decisions. Garve obviously laments this complexity and yet makes these principles still more complex. Kant offers a simpler solution of the problem on the basis of his theory of morals and right.


2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janina Witkowska

The aim of this paper is to examine the potential impact of foreign investors' activities on the environment of the new European Union's Member States and discuss a role of a common environmental policy and member states' policies towards foreign investors. The analysis embraces three new EU countries, namely the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. The scope of the analysis are years 1997- 2007. The subject of the analysis is the sector and branch structure of FDI stock in the new EU Member States with special reference to FDI located in pollution-intensive industries which are selected according to the UNCTAD classification. Both the OECD and national data base of statistics is used to calculate the share of foreign investors' involvement in pollution-intensive activities in the new UE Member States. The research results show that as yet there has been no empirical evidence that FDI has a particularly negative impact on the natural environment in the new EU Member States.


Author(s):  
JELENA JUVAN

Povzetek Dvaindvajset let po srečanju na vrhu v Kölnu, ki velja za zgodovinsko za SVOP, danes še vedno ne moremo govoriti o popolnoma funkcionalni in operativni SVOP. Prispevek analizira PESCO, CARD, CDP in EDF ter nekatere najpomembnejše težave evropskega obrambnega prizorišča, ki mu primanjkuje skladnosti in ostaja razdrobljeno v številnih vidikih. Države članice še vedno namenjajo veliko več finančnih sredstev za druge varnostne okvire, ki niso del EU, kot je na primer Nato. Prav tako države članice ohranjajo nacionalni fokus na področju obrambnega načrtovanja in v resnici zelo slabo izpolnjujejo dane obljube. Vprašanje je, kaj in koliko v trenutni evropski arhitekturi majhna država članica sploh lahko doseže. Prispevek osvetli vlogo majhnih držav skozi institucijo predsedovanja Evropskemu svetu. Ključne besede SVOP, Slovenija, PESCO, CARD, EDF. Abstract Twenty-two years after the EC meeting in Cologne where the CSDP came to life, we still cannot talk about a fully functional and operational CSDP. This article reflects on PESCO, CARD, the CDP and the EDF, and on some of the main issues in the European defence landscape today, which continues to be fragmented and lacks coherence in several aspects. Member States are still investing more in non-EU frameworks such as NATO, and still retain a national focus in their defence planning, showing very little discipline in meeting the commitments that they have undertaken. The question arises of what a small state can achieve in the current European architecture, if anything. The role of the small state is reflected through the Presidency of the European Council. Key words CSDP, Slovenia, PESCO, CARD, EDF.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (36) ◽  
pp. 124-136
Author(s):  
Dagmar Nováková

The paper is focused on the perspective of the common European army. There are several visions about the common European army in the speeches of the highest political representatives of Germany, France, and European Commission. The term European army can be understood in broader or narrower sense. Author proposes theoretical models of the common European army with their possible limitations and opportunities to prove successful. - the European Rapid Reaction Force, the European Battlegroups, single European intergovernmental army. These models differ according to the intensity of defense cooperation and integration of the Member States. The paper is aimed at the individual aspects of the supranational model of the common European army. The role of such common European army is significant in several areas.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrica Piccardo

This article intends to discuss complexity of assessment by presenting its several layers and dimensions as they are conceptualized in the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) and to show how the CEFR advocates an inclusive vision of assessment able to integrate several perspectives. After presenting the CEFR perspective of the nature and role of assessment, the article investigates some challenges practitioners are facing and their needs as to the assessment process. It also aims at casting light on the actual and potential impact of the CEFR on assessment cultures in different contexts. The data presented in this article, collected within the ECEP (Encouraging the Culture of Evaluation among Professionals) project of the Council of Europe and within its extension in the Canadian context, will help to understand why the CEFR can be seen as a relevant awareness-raising tool in the domain of assessment and beyond.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-205
Author(s):  
Viktor Kovalev ◽  
Diana Yakovenko

This article examines the role of customs regulation in the conditions of the functioning of the Eurasian economic integration, and also reveals the need for solving joint tasks brought to the supranational level and closely associated with the implementation of the common foreign trade policy of the EAEU member states.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document