Irregular Migration, Human Smuggling, and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jandl

This article examines the consequences of the latest round of EU-Enlargement in May 2004 on irregular migration across Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on a unique collection of both quantitative and qualitative data related to irregular migration and human smuggling, the article first presents some long-term trends in irregular migration across the region before taking up more recent developments in 2003 and 2004. While border apprehensions have broadly declined since about 2000 there is ample evidence for an increasing role of human smugglers in facilitating irregular migration. In addition, there are noticeable changes in the modus operandi of human smugglers.

Author(s):  
Emilios Avgouleas

This chapter offers a critical overview of the issues that the European Union 27 (EU-27) will face in the context of making proper use of financial innovation to further market integration and risk sharing in the internal financial market, both key objectives of the drive to build a Capital Markets Union. Among these is the paradigm shift signalled by a technological revolution in the realm of finance and payments, which combines advanced data analytics and cloud computing (so-called FinTech). The chapter begins with a critical analysis of financial innovation and FinTech. It then traces the EU market integration efforts and explains the restrictive path of recent developments. It considers FinTech's potential to aid EU market integration and debates the merits of regulation dealing with financial innovation in the context of building a capital markets union in EU-27.


2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor D. Bojkov

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.


Author(s):  
Anand Menon ◽  
Luigi Scazzieri

This chapter examines the history of the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European integration process. The chapter dissects the long-term trends in public opinion and the more contingent, short-term factors that led to the referendum vote to leave the European Union. The UK was a late joiner and therefore unable to shape the early institutional development of the EEC. British political parties and public opinion were always ambiguous about membership and increasingly Eurosceptic from the early 1990s. Yet the UK had a significant impact on the EU’s development, in the development of the single market programme and eastward enlargement. If Brexit goes through, Britain will nevertheless maintain relations with the EU in all policy areas from agriculture to energy and foreign policy. Europeanization will remain a useful theoretical tool to analyse EU–UK relations even if the UK leaves the Union.


Global Jurist ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Letizia Casertano

Abstract In recent years the phenomenon of the illicit trafficking in cultural assets has been addressed by international and European lawmakers as an important phenomenon within the complex criminal networks used for the financing of international terrorism. The factors that contribute most to its development include in particular the availability of advanced technologies for plundering archaeological sites and e-commerce, which has sped up trade by breaking down space-time barriers, along also with armed conflict, political instability and poverty. In order to bring about change and put an end to the phenomenon, some significant legislative choices have recently been implemented in the European Union. The aim is to create a regime that is as uniform as possible along with a network of standardised controls capable of intercepting illicit trafficking. The concerns of art market operators surrounding the introduction of new rules and regulations can be appreciated if it is considered that the vibrant lawful market of artworks operates in accordance with tried and tested arrangements. This article will seek to provide an account of the phenomenon in its full complexity, highlighting the most significant recent developments within the European Union. It will also discuss the role of information and digital technologies in the area of cultural heritage. In particular, the existing European legal framework represented by the main legal instruments adopted by the international community and by the European Union will be sketched out, including both civil law and criminal law responses to the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage. Within this context the importance of the issues of traceability within art transactions, which are mostly paper-based, will be investigated along with other related issues such as digital tracking of artworks (digital passports), art security systems and authentication technologies.


Author(s):  
Eli Gateva

Enlargement has always been an essential part of the European integration. Each enlargement round has left its mark on the integration project. However, it was the expansion of the European Union (EU) with the 10 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), Cyprus, and Malta, unprecedented in scope and scale, which presented the EU with an opportunity to develop a multifaceted set of instruments and transformed enlargement into one of the EU’s most successful policies. The numerous challenges of the accession process, along with the immensity of the historical mission to unify Europe, lent speed to the emergence of the study of EU enlargement as a key research area. The early studies investigated the puzzle of the EU’s decision to enlarge with the CEECs, and the costs and benefits of the Eastern expansion. However, the questions about the impact of EU enlargement policy inspired a new research agenda. Studies of the influence of the EU on candidate and potential candidate countries have not only widened the research focus of Europeanization studies (beyond the member states of the Union), but also stimulated and shaped the debates on the scope and effectiveness of EU conditionality. Most of the analytical frameworks developed in the context of the Eastern enlargement have favored rational institutionalist approaches highlighting a credible membership perspective as the key explanatory variable. However, studies analyzing the impact of enlargement policy on the Western Balkan countries and Turkey have shed light on some of the limitations of the rationalist approaches and sought to identify new explanatory factors. After the completion of the fifth enlargement with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, the research shifted to analyzing the continuity and change of EU enlargement policy and its impact on the candidate and potential candidate countries. There is also a growing number of studies examining the sustainability of the impact of EU conditionality after accession by looking into new members’ compliance with EU rules. The impact of EU enlargement policy on the development of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and comparative evaluations of the Union’s performance across the two policy frameworks have also shaped and expanded the debate on the mechanisms and effectiveness of the EU’s influence. The impact of the Eastern enlargement on EU institutions and policymaking is another area of research that has emerged over the last decade. In less than two decades, the study of EU enlargement policy has produced a rich and diverse body of literature that has shaped the broader research agendas on Europeanization, implementation, and compliance and EU policymaking. Comprehensive theoretical and empirical studies have allowed us to develop a detailed understanding of the impact of the EU on the political and economic transformations in Central and Eastern Europe. The ongoing accession process provides more opportunities to study the evolving nature of EU enlargement policy, its impact on candidate countries, the development of EU policies, and the advancement of the integration project.


1990 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger A. Sedjo

This paper examines the role of Canada in world forest resource production. A broad overview of global timber supply is presented together with an overview of likely future sources. The discussion covers both regions of supply as well as the nature of the forest resource — old growth, second growth, and plantation forest. Within this broad perspective some long-term trends and tendencies are identified. The growing role of plantation and intensively managed forestry is discussed. Canada's strengths and liabilities as a forest resource supplier are discussed within this context. It is argued that Canada cannot compete successfully with semi-tropical regions in intensive forest management. Rather, Canada appears to have the features necessary to compete in world wood markets using a strategy of extensive forestry that takes advantage of Canada's vast forest land areas.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-282
Author(s):  
Tomasz Łachacz ◽  
Sylwester Zagulski

Unemployment is classified today as one of the main threats to society. The phenomenon affects the lives of individuals, the functioning of families and society and development of the state. It is often the source of other social problems such as poverty, violence, or social pathologies. The article presents the scale and nature of unemployment occurring after 1989 in Poland and in selected European Union countries, i.e. the Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia and Latvia. It attempts to show the characteristic trends of the phenomenon over a period of more than two decades. Examples from the European countries analysed show that the situation in the labour market and the approach to employment are radically different. Individual countries are characterised by very different unemployment rates, which reflect their different size, economic and demographic potential, or are associated with the tradition of employment. The existence of differences seems to be normal, but their scale may give rise to concern. A characteristic feature of unemployment in the period analysed is its regional diversity, both in Poland and in the whole of the European community. Important factors that determine the level of unemployment are age, sex, education and people’s qualifications. The effects of long-term unemployment are very painful for the whole of society. Such a situation can lead to, amongst others, poverty, societal antagonism, violence and migration. The latter is an issue that the whole of Europe is currently struggling with. The uncontrolled influx of immigrants, including those migrating for economic reasons, causes fear of losing their job among Europeans, which in turn translates into the radicalisation of society. A role of the state and the EU institutions is to create an effective mechanism for the protection and support of the unemployed. This is a prerequisite for Europeans to continue the project which is a common united Europe.


Author(s):  
John R. Campbell

In sharp contrast to the sense of a “migrant crisis” which prevails in Europe, nation states in the Horn of Africa understand migration, including state-induced population displacement, as unexceptional. The chapter addresses this apparent paradox by contrasting European policy discourse on migration with the long-term political and structural processes in northeastern Africa that cause population displacement and migration. The chapter then examines the migration policies of governments in the Horn and concludes by arguing that the European Union misrepresents and misunderstands the factors responsible for large-scale migration and the role of states in exploiting migrants. For these reasons it is highly unlikely that the EU-Horn of Africa Action Plan/Khartoum process will bring about better border management policies and practices.


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