Balkan Mini-Schengen is second-best to EU enlargement

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Second Best ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Economic Area ◽  
Regional Leadership ◽  
Energy Community ◽  
Border Controls ◽  
The Eu

Significance Meeting in Ohrid on November 10, the leaders of Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania pledged to abolish border controls and work towards an integrated economic area. Such regional cooperation is moving centre stage with the slowdown of the EU enlargement process. Impacts Serbia’s president is using Mini-Schengen and closer ties to his North Macedonian and Albanian counterparts to assert regional leadership. North Macedonia is likely to be a major beneficiary if the scheme delivers improved cross-border connectivity. The Zagreb EU-WB6 summit could lead to an upgrade of such existing organisations as CEFTA and the Energy Community.

Neither here, not there: Bulgaria and Romania in current European politics☆

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor D. Bojkov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Eu

The article analyses the process of EU enlargement with reference to the progress that Bulgaria and Romania have made within it. It is argued that leaving them out of the wave of accession finalised in May 2004 for ten of the candidate states, has placed them in a situation of double exclusion. Firstly, their geographical belonging to the region of Southeast Europe has been rendered non-essential by their advanced position within the EU enlargement process. Secondly, their achievement in economic and political transition has been removed from the progress of the ten states, which joined the EU in May 2004 by delaying the time of their accession. As a result, any efforts in regional cooperation and integration between Bulgaria and Romania on one hand, and other Southeast European states on the other, have been effectively cancelled. Moreover, in current European politics, the two countries have come to serve the unenviable role of exemplifying on the part of the European Union how progress is being awarded and hesitation punished.

COVID-19 vaccination in South Asia: a call for responsible leadership among SAARC countries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amlan Haque ◽  
Md Shamirul Islam
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Responsible Leadership ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The South ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Life Saving ◽  
Regional Leadership ◽  
Future Challenges

Purpose Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has presented an opportunity to set aside traditional regional collaborations and take responsible leadership to overcome difficult times. This paper aims to explore the current COVID-19 vaccination progress and pandemic status for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and suggests responsible leadership to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and to think beyond. Design/methodology/approach This paper offers a viewpoint of the current COVID-19 vaccination among eight SAARC nations. It scrutinises the recent COVID-19 vaccination statistics for the eight South Asian countries based on Web-based analytics and comparative analysis until 28 August 2021. Findings This paper calls for collaborative decisions and responsible actions for policymakers in the SAARC countries to deal with the COVID-19 vaccination crisis. When South Asian countries are fraught with the increasing number of populations with COVID-19 cases, deaths and acute shortage of life-saving vaccines, it is time for their national and SAARC leaders to strengthen regional cooperations and initiate collaborative actions. The paper demonstrates that implementing responsible leadership can result in favourable outcomes for individuals, organisations, regions and the world. Moreover, this paper suggests SAARC, through responsible actions, has the potentiality to overcome the current crisis of COVID-19 vaccination and enhance the regional sustainability of the South Asian nations. Originality/value This paper delivers information about the present developing situation of COVID-19 vaccination in SAARC countries, how the governments and regional leadership are handling and future challenges that have been raised and can be overcome effectively. This paper can be helpful for the policymakers and SAARC leaders for effective public health interventions in the region and to develop a recovery roadmap for the sustainable economic zone.

Economic impact of data localization in five selected African countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-357
Author(s):  
Mona Farid Badran
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
General Equilibrium ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Purpose The purpose of this study is to quantify the impact of laws and regulations that govern the cross-border flow of data on the economies of five selected African countries, namely, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius. Moreover, this study addresses the state of cloud computing in Africa. Finally, policy recommendations are provided in this respect. Design/methodology/approach To reach accurate finding the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) data was used, and then the computable general equilibrium (CGE) was computed to estimate the total cost on the economy. Using the three data regulations linkages indexes (DRLs), the increased administrative cost effect was analyzed on five to six major economic sectors in the target countries. This was followed by estimating the loss in sector-wide total factor productivity (TFP) (for the five to six shortlisted sectors). Using this data, the computable general equilibrium model (CGE) was computed, in order to estimate the economy-wide impact. Based on these findings, a set of recommendations were offered to the policy maker, reflecting the obtained results and conclusions and their implications on drafting data-related policies. Findings The obtained data indexes reveal that Mauritius is the country with the most laws and regulations governing the cross border flow of data, followed by South Africa Egypt to a lesser extent and finally Morocco and Kenya both showing an obvious lack of data regulations. The small value of the estimated elasticity of the selected countries compared to the value of the estimated elasticity in the EU-0.347 shows that the impact of data localization is less in the selected African countries than in the other set of EU countries examined in the research paper. This is because the former has smaller economies with fewer linkages to the global economy and are less reliant on sectors that are heavy users of data. Thus, the overall impact of data localization was not as profound on TFP as is the case in advanced economies. This research paper arrives at the conclusion that fighting the trend of data localization is crucial. In fact, data localization hinders the necessary and essential role of global trade in realizing economic development. Specifically, this is evident in the increase in production costs as reflected in the increase of the prices of goods, which would lead to a decline in incomes. Originality/value Global studies looked at the impact of data localization on the EU, as well as China, India, Korea and Vietnam, providing some data on Asia Pacific. However, no study has ever been conducted on the Middle East and Africa. This study aims to fill this gap. The approach of this study is to capture the extent of data localization mandates encoded in the laws of each of the selected five African countries showing how these mandates govern their cross-border data flow and, in turn, affect their economies. Furthermore, the policy recommendations section of this research paper makes a contribution to the existing literature.

Western Balkan states to feel EU Energy Union impact

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Policy ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Energy Union ◽  
South Stream ◽  
Eu Energy Policy ◽  
Union Impact ◽  
Energy Community ◽  
Balkan States ◽  
The Eu

Subject The implications of the EU's planned Energy Union for the Western Balkans. Significance The cancellation of the South Stream gas pipeline underlined the exposure of the non-EU countries in the Western Balkans to EU energy policy. The EU's planned Energy Union will have implications for these states, which are grouped in the EU-backed Energy Community. Impacts The Energy Union's over-focus on gas could hold back development of the Western Balkans's greater potential in renewables. The Energy Union's potential may not be fully realised if the EU and Western Balkan do not deepen and widen regional ties. Small markets will exacerbate lack of funding from both state and private sources for major infrastructure projects.

Environmental policy is shaping the EU’s energy market

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Incentives ◽  
National Level ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Single Market ◽  
Energy Market ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Trading Scheme ◽  
The Eu

Subject The EU's single market for energy. Significance Climate change targets, the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and direct emissions controls increasingly define the end-destination of the EU’s energy transition towards a single market, while the precise path of travel is determined largely by national-level policies. Differences in national approaches create distortions that hamper the increase in cross-border trade required to make the EU single energy market a reality. Impacts The EU will continue to resist capacity markets and strategic-reserve mechanisms, which create significant market distortions. Cross-border electricity trade requires significant new investment, but it is not clear that the financial incentives exist to support it. The long-term future of gas-fired generation is in doubt owing to increasing competition from low-carbon technologies.

Brexit will be damaging for UK-EU services trade

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Services Trade ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Trade Deals ◽  
The Eu

Significance Even if it succeeds, this will have a greater disruptive impact on the trade in services than goods, because the EU’s single market enables greater cross-border services trade than is typical of other free trade agreements (FTAs). This is likely to cut the volume of EU-UK services trade, in which the United Kingdom currently enjoys a substantial surplus. Impacts The United Kingdom’s departure from the EU will diminish its appeal for multinationals over the next few years, at least. The new UK immigration system could result in staff shortages in low-skilled services sectors. The imperative of tackling COVID-19 will likely delay the conclusion of new trade deals with non-EU countries.

Poor governance, weak institutions will dog eastern EU

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Good Governance ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Euro Crisis ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Member States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
East European ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
The Eu

Subject Instability in eastern EU. Significance The EU has long reinforced Central-East European (CEE) member states with regulations and constraints. As it became absorbed in the euro-crisis and the nationalist surge, these countries felt less constrained and freer to act. Consequently, short-term or incoherent policy goals and elite-driven illiberal agendas are impeding good governance, anti-corruption efforts and further democratisation in some of CEE; none are exempt from government instability and rising nationalism. Impacts Instability in CEE is likely to discourage bold decisions on EU enlargement to North Macedonia and Albania. Economic malaise will make CEE governments less choosy regarding Chinese investments. An increasingly disenchanted public will be even more susceptible to internal and Russian disinformation campaigns.

scholarly journals A Quarter-century of the Weimar Triangle: in Context of Europe’s Regions

2016 ◽  
pp. 122-131
Author(s):  
A. Martynov
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Member States ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Interregional Cooperation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The article considers the two vectors of the European integration process: closer integration among the EU member states and regionalization of the EU countries according to the criteria of close neighbourhood or deep cooperation. The author traces  development trends of regional cooperation of the EU member states at different stages of development of international relations i.e. the impact of the EU enlargement on regionalization process, competition and confrontation with Russia, the  complications in the field of European integration due to the negative outcome of the Dutch referendum on  ratification of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine, as well as the British referendum on withdrawal from the EU. It is stressed that  the interregional cooperation  is particularly important at this critical stage  of European integration.

scholarly journals IPA CBC FUND – TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE BRCKO DISTRICT

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-68
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Maksimović ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Tourist Industry ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Structural Funds ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Trained Staff ◽  
The Eu

The European Union in different ways and through the structural funds, helps countries to develop in the Western Balkans. Decision of the EU, the total amount that will be available in Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period since 2007. 2013. is 4 billion. One of the priority measures under the IPA Cros-border coopertion (CBC) programme is the development of tourism. These measures should help and contribute to the development of tourism. How and in what way to access and become a user of these programs can help or helps? Cross-border projects involve regional cooperation and require financial resources in the preparation of the project. Trained staff is needed for this job. Local communities, along with their capacities should take on the preparation of these projects, and as partners include the tourist industry (workers) and encourage and inspire other tourist capacities in their local community.

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