The Instrumental Use of European Union Conditionality: Regionalization in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Brusis
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

Numerous Central and Eastern European countries have restructured their regional level of public administration in the context of their accession to the European Union. Focusing on the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the article studies how the EU has influenced the institutionalization of regions and regional self-government. Regionalization may have been driven mainly by EU conditionality or, as a competing explanation suggests, more by domestic factors. The article argues that the EU altered the opportunity structure faced by domestic actors but that its role was more complementary than decisive. Czech and Slovak governments instrumentalized a perceived EU conditionality to promote their own political objectives. These findings demonstrate that a top-down concept of conditionality lends itself to fallacies and should be substantiated by reconstructing the domestic politics of Europeanization.

The integration of central European countries into the western European economy from 1988 to 1998

2002 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
F. Festoc-Louis
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Central European ◽  
The Third ◽  
Western European ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

In 1998, the European Union (EU) entered into negotiations with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia concerning the enlargement of the Union. At the end of 1999, the European Commission decided that six other countries could join the negotiations in 2000 (Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Malta and Romania), and it was suggested that a decision concerning the date of membership would be taken in 2002 for these applicants fulfilling all the criteria. Many questions still remain on both sides, in particular regarding institutional reform of the EU (Festoc, 1998), and the ability of the Central and Eastern European countries to adopt the “acquis”. In this article, we shall evaluate the ways in which the Central European countries (Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic — the CECs) have already integrated to the Western European economy, using trade data over the last ten years. First, we show that since the beginning of the transition, a feature of the foreign trade of the CECs has been a strong reorientation from East to West, in particular to Germany, together with a rapid growth in trade between the EU and the CECs. Second, we describe the trade structure, focussed on foreign direct investment as a mean of developing new exports. The third and fourth sections study the development of the specialisations of the CECs and the nature of trade between the CECs and the EU respectively.

scholarly journals Entry Into the Common Market of the European Union in Terms of Czech Republic’s Foreign Trade with Dairy Products

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 605-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivo Zdráhal ◽  
Věra Bečvářová
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Dairy Products ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Milk Product ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Eu

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the development of the Czech foreign trade in milk and milk products and specify the typical features and consequences within its territorial and commodity structure using a specific system of indicators intended to show a relevant image on the topic. The analysis covers the period between 1999 and 2015 and are interpreted in the context of changes of the business environment that have occurred in the last two decades, particularly in relation to the Czech Republic’s entry into the European Union. Throughout the studied period, the Czech Republic revealed a positive balance of trade in milk and dairy products, as well as favourable values of TC index (value of coverage of import by export). The dynamics of the territorial structure of export and import is embodied in the overall trade dynamics between the Czech Republic and countries of EU-28. The Czech Republic’s entry into the EU common market, however, led to a change in the trading milk product structure. As a negative is regarded the fact that the structure of Czech export to the EU countries has changed and that is mainly concentrated on basic raw milk or dairy products of the first phase of processing with relatively low added value.

scholarly journals Agriculture and agricultural policy in the European Union

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 62-66
Author(s):  
D. Ahner
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Common Agricultural Policy ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Common ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Agenda 2000 ◽  
The Eu

The paper deals with the particular stages of development of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the last forty years. The process and impacts of CAP reforms are analyzed for the particular production industries of agriculture. The paper also presents a detailed description of Agenda 2000 and mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2002 that brought about many proposals for the future working of CAP after accession of Central and Eastern European countries.

Transfers as a Means to Combat European Spillovers

2005 ◽  
Vol 225 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk T.G. Rübbelke ◽  
Eytan Sheshinski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Environmental Taxation ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Accession Countries ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

SummaryIn 2004, there was a further enlargement of the European Union. Among the new member countries are eight Central and Eastern European countries. Especially the accession countries located directly at the border to the EU generate significant environmental spillovers harming the Union. These spillovers are mitigated but not deleted by the enlargement regulations.In this paper we will therefore analyze an instrument which may further diminish the spillover problems: transfers, which are conditional on a tightening of environmental policy in the accession countries. The environmental policy considered is the policy of environmental taxation.

Coalition formation and eastward expansion of the european union (implications for the council)

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Silárszky ◽  
René Levínský
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Coalition Formation ◽  
Cooperative Games ◽  
Power Index ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

In this paper we study the distribution of power in the Council of the European Union. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the implications of coalition formation and the entry of some Central and Eastern European countries on the voting power of the member states. The analysis is based on the Shapley-Shubik power index of simple cooperative games. Modified versions of the Shapley-Shubik index are used to analyze the influence of sub-systems of the EU on the distribution of power in the decision making process.

scholarly journals Ecological taxes in some European countries

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (162) ◽  
pp. 209-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Filipovic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Directive ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Previous Decade ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

Production and consumption of fossil fuels is one of the major causes of the green house effect, which is in economics known as a form of ecological externality. Fiscal solution, as one way of internalization of externalities, is based on polluters-pay principle and the imposition of tax on emission. Although the implementation of ecological tax was intensified during the previous decade, fiscal revenues are modest and account for only 5% of the total fiscal revenues of the European Union. Taxes on energetic products, accounting for 76%, are dominant among ecological taxes. Since the EU Directive 82/92 imposes minimum excise rates on oil products, during the last decade Central Eastern European countries have increased excise rates on fossil fuels and fully engaged in the field of ecological policy.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
Maya Lambovska ◽  
Boguslava Sardinha ◽  
Jaroslav Belas, Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
European Union ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Young People ◽  
Unemployment Rate ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
The Eu

Youth unemployment is a problem in each member country of the European Union (EU). The EU seeks to alleviate this problem by implementing various programs to support young people in finding and keeping a job, thus contributing to economic growth. In 2020, the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The countries have introduced many strict measures to prevent its spread, but they have caused a significant increase in unemployment, including among young people, and thus harmed economic growth. In this paper, we analyze the unemployment of people under the age of twenty-five in the EU. We also point out how unemployment rates have increased in individual countries. This problem concerns not only countries where the youth unemployment rate had been high already, such as Greece, Spain, and Italy, but also countries with previously lower rates, for example, the Czech Republic, Netherland, Poland, and Slovenia. In the latter group of countries, the youth unemployment rate has doubled in some cases due to anti-pandemic measures. We found that the most affected countries in this regard are the aforementioned Czech Republic, where the unemployment rate at the end of 2020 rose to 2.19 times above the level at the end of 2019, and Estonia, where year-over-year youth unemployment rose by a factor of 2.5. However, unfavorable developments occurred also in Lithuania, Latvia, and Ireland. According to our results, in 2020, youth unemployment increased the least in Hungary, Italy, and Belgium. In general, however, as the situation is now much more urgent, measures to alleviate this problem need to be put in place in each country to help young people find employment and, thus, stimulate economic growth.

Regional Development Discrepancies in the Eastern European Union Analysed through the Prism of Growth Determinants

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 20180078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Augustin Ignatov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
First Century ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Infrastructure Investments ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Strong Necessity ◽  
The Eu

The twenty-first century is characterised by major shifts in the global economic paradigms. Europe constantly diminishes its importance in the world slowly drifting towards the secondary roles in determining the progress of human civilisation. The European Union as the main integrational structure on the continent is set to offer Europe a global perspective and consolidate the member countries’ common influence in international relations. Several enlargement waves were undertaken comprising countries of different economic development level. The main mechanism of the European Union in enhancing the economic cohesion among the member states is the Regional policy. The largest portion of financing is allocated towards enhancing the economic potential of least developed EU regions. Considering this fact, the present research is set to analyse the inter-regional development discrepancies in the Eastern European countries i.  e. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria in the context of raising global competition and to identify the key economic growth determinants of the nations. The results underline that there is a strong necessity to empower the prerogatives of the EU to increase its ability to decide the issues related to discrepancies reduction, infrastructure investments and improvement of the regional business opportunities.

scholarly journals Regional Products in the Central and Eastern European Countries that Acceded to the European Union in May 2004

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
Marcin Feltynowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Central European ◽  
Regional Tourism ◽  
Protected Designation Of Origin ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

This article presents information about regional products registered by those Central European countries which joined the European Union structures in May 2004. Their membership facilitated the registration of regional products and their participation in the EU’s registration procedures. Regional and local products registered in the area of a country can become a base for the promotion of regional tourism in the regions of origin of these products. The brand recognition of these regional products also becomes a basis to improve the quality of the agricultural products and foodstuffs. This article presents the activities of the Central European countries which are members of the EU since 2004 in their registration of regional products. The presented data shows how many products were registered within each group of products, protected by the marks: Protected Designation of Origin, Protected Geographical Indication, and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed. Verification of the statistical data allows for analysis concerning the product class, as defined in the EU directives.

scholarly journals Main principles of compensation to breeders with the occurence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in breeding cattle and with regards to their disbursement

2008 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-262
Author(s):  
Richard Pospíšil
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Spongiform Encephalopathy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Financial Compensation ◽  
Agricultural Industry ◽  
In Series ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Eu

Mad cow disease first appeared in the 80´s of last century and has gradually spread in series to high breeding countries, incurring major breeding and economic loses. In June of 2001, the disease was first doccumented in the Czech Republic and by year end 2006, there were discovered 26 cases. In accor­dance to the broader conception of the Common agricultural policy od the European Union, whose one pillar is pillar in the protection of agricultural industry, the European Union has paid breeders in particular EU states with financial compensation, which are the boundaries of the EU budget. For this purpose, there was established in the Czech Republic legal assignment for the distribution of this compensation, and this is reflected in act No. 166/1999, veterinary act and act No. 147/2006. Financial compensation will be paid by the Czech Republic´s Minister of finance after the proposed approval by the Minister of Agriculture and the State Veterinary Administration. Submitted work will deal the majority of compensation to breeders with the occurence of BSE in breeding cattle and with regards to their disbursement.

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