scholarly journals EU Funds Absorption: Case of Romania

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-63
Author(s):  
Laura Marcu ◽  
◽  
Tomislav Kandzija ◽  
Jelena Dorotic ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Information Transparency ◽  
Administrative Capacity ◽  
Program Type ◽  
Financial Framework ◽  
Rate Of Absorption ◽  
The Eu

Article studies the absorption of European funds in Romania for the two post-accession periods: 2007-2014 and 2014-2020 and highlight the situation in Romania regarding the amount and evolution of European funds received (in relation to its contribution to the EU budget), the structure of these funds, the evolution of the absorption during the two intervals by program type and Romanian areas of development as well as difficulties encountered and the solutions adopted to overcome them. The analysis is based on primary statistical data provided by the Romanian Government and the European Commission, as well as studies and reports on national particularities and problems of absorption of European fund in Romania. In addition, a qualitative analysis of legislative and institutional framework aims to point out weakness and causes that hindered the absorption of funds. Paper highlights the increase of funds absorption in the current financial framework compared to the previous and emphasizes weaknesses in the Romanian institutional framework. The fact that many of the difficulties manifested in the first stage after adhesion were counter through appropriate solutions, enable better management of funds, which places Romania to the EU average in terms of rate of absorption. These solutions concern the improvement of administrative capacity (information, transparency, implementation, relationship with beneficiaries).

The impact of the European Union visa liberalisation process on the reduction of organised crime and corruption in Kosovo

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 123-139
Author(s):  
Paulina Szeląg
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Track Record ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

On January 19, 2012, the European Commission (Commission) decided to launch a visa liberalisation dialogue with Kosovo, and on June 14, 2012, it handed over to Kosovo’s government a ‘Roadmap Towards a Visa-free Regime’. This document included 95 requirements that Kosovo had to fulfil. By 2016, the Commission had adopted four reports on progress made by Kosovo in the visa dialogue. In a report issued on May 4, 2016, the EC proposed to the Council of the EU (Council) and the European Parliament (EP) to lift visa requirements on the citizens of Kosovo. The Commission stressed that by the day of the adoption of the proposal by the EP and the Council, Kosovo must have ratified the border/boundary agreement with Montenegro and strengthened its track record in the fight against organised crime and corruption. On July 18, 2018, the Commission confirmed in a report on the progress made by Kosovo in the visa dialogue, that the country had fulfilled the last two requirements included in the roadmap. The aim of this article is to analyse the visa-liberalisation dialogue between the European Union (EU) and Kosovo and whether liberalisation through a visa-free regime with Kosovo had an influence on reducing organised crime and corruption in Kosovo. The article is based on an analysis of primary and secondary sources, as well as statistical data.

scholarly journals Overcoming COVID-19 Impact in the EU: Supranational Financial Aspect

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-32
Author(s):  
E. Sidorova
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Temporary Increase ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Force Majeure ◽  
Financial Framework ◽  
Sustainable Economic Growth ◽  
Supranational Level ◽  
The Eu

The COVID 19 pandemic has led to an acute socio-economic crisis in the world, including in Europe. Anti-crisis measures at the supranational level are considered. The pandemic, which, after the Brexit decision, became another test for European integration, led to the development of a number of anti-crisis measures by the European Commission. On May 27, 2020, the European Commission presented a draft of measures to combat the pandemic, where the main role assigned to the EU Common Budget. The crisis has demonstrated that more funds and powers at the supranational level need to respond to emergencies. The Europeans were forced to take an unprecedented step – a possible “temporary increase in the Own resources ceiling,” which is legally limited and very slowly changing. The results of the meeting of the European Council in July 2020, dedicated to the Commission project were analyzed. A comparison made between the final indicators adopted at the Council, with the figures of the current Multiannual Financial Framework and the project of the European Commission for 2018–2020. Sources of financing for the European Economic Recovery Plan presented. The modern system of own resources does not contribute to the implementation of all the most important EU strategies and initiatives in the field of sustainable economic growth and development. New own resources will not only complement traditional ones, but also demonstrate priorities in the field of environmental policy and fair taxation. The Commission new project enhances the role of the Common Budget in integration and links it closely with the implementation of the long-term strategic priorities of the EU’s economic development. The conclusion is about the multi-vector impact of COVID 19. This force majeure circumstance, if the member states effectively unite their efforts to prepare the foundations for economic recovery, may become an impetus for further deepening European integration.

scholarly journals Organized Economic Interests and European Integration: the Question of (neo)corporatism

Equilibrium ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Anna Ząbkowicz
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
European Integration ◽  
European Commission ◽  
National Level ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
International Environment ◽  
The Eu

When economic development is considered, political economy is at stake; in this perspective growth or counter-growth forces operate within the institutional framework. The analysis focuses on corporatist forms of social dialogue in the international environment of the EU and within the European structures. First, the notion of corporatism as opposed to other institutionalized channels of access is explained. Then, the paper presents corporatist forms at the national level under change. Next, it deals with interest coordination at the European Commission level. The paper concludes that an erosion of corporatist forms is visible; no embracing pattern in the EU should be expected instead; on the contrary, increasing fragmentation of lobbying is observed.

scholarly journals The European Commission’s Role in EU–Turkey Relations

2021 ◽  
pp. 219-240
Author(s):  
Alexander Bürgin
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Policy Learning ◽  
Member States ◽  
Administrative Capacity ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Agent Of Change ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Eu

AbstractBased on a review of the relations between the European Commission (EC) and Turkey across a selection of policy areas, this chapter illustrates two aspects of EC influence in EU–Turkey relations. First, as a defender of the rules of the (enlargement) game, the Commission has rebuffed attempts by some member states to undermine Turkey’s membership prospects. The EC’s influence in the debate on the most appropriate approach to Turkey underlines its autonomous role within the EU system and the relevance of its norm-based argumentation. However, due to Turkey’s current alienation from the EU’s normative standards, norm-based arguments in favor of Turkey’s membership have lost much of their weight even within the Commission. Second, the EC has been an important ‘agent of change’ in Turkish domestic politics, even in times of deteriorating political relations with the EU. Because of its contributions to regular interactions, in particular, in the framework of projects financed by the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, the EC has continued to increase administrative capacity and policy learning processes within Turkey’s bureaucracy, which, in turn, contributed to Ankara’s continued harmonization with the EU acquis in some sectors, despite the waning relevance of the EU’s conditionality strategy.

Implementation of European Union structural and cohesion policy after 2020

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Mária Petríková
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cohesion Policy ◽  
Structural Funds ◽  
Financial Framework ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Investment Tool ◽  
Programming Period ◽  
The Eu

Structural and cohesion policy is one of the European Union’s main instruments for implementing one of its main principles, and that is solidarity between the more economically developed regions and those which are lagging behind in economic and social terms. Reducing regional disparities in the European Union is achieved through individual instruments, the most important of which are the structural funds. The preparation of legislation and conditions for the new programming period 2021-2027 is currently being intensively negotiated at the level of the European Commission and the Member States. These processes are affected by the fact that the European Union is currently facing many new challenges that affect the setting of priorities as well as the new multiannual financial framework. Cohesion policy is the European Union’s most powerful investment tool and currently accounts for one-third of the EU budget but cuts proposed by the Commission for the years 2021-2017 would reduce its share considerably.Key words: cohesion, European Union, programming period 2021-2027, legislative

scholarly journals EUROPE 2020 TARGETS: THE PROGRESS OF THE BALTIC COUNTRIES IN TERMS OF RIS3

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergejs GEMMA ◽  
Zane VĪTOLIŅA
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Target Value ◽  
Europe 2020 ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Eu

The Europe 2020 strategy was proposed by the European Commission with an aim to improve European Union (EU) competitiveness and promote economic growth. For the successful achievement of economic growth using the Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3) in the EU, the European Commission has set out five interrelated headline targets to be achieved by 2020 in the areas of employment, research and development, climate change and energy, education and poverty and social exclusion. The targets are translated into national targets for each EU Member State; at the same time, they are common goals for all the EU Member States to be achieved through a mix of national and EU actions. The authors of the research used statistical data on the Europe 2020 targets to detect progress or regress in achieving these targets, the accuracy of target value detection and the implementation of RIS3 in the EU. The aim of the research is to evaluate RIS3 progress based on the Europe 2020 targets. The following tasks were set: 1) To calculate progress on each Europe 2020 target for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania using Eurostat statistical data; 2) To evaluate the calculated data and compare the data with those for the other Baltic States and the EU average; 3) To forecast RIS3 development for the year 2020 in the Baltic States. The research employed the monographic and descriptive methods as well as analysis, synthesis, the graphic method, the data grouping method and forecasting. All the three Baltic States have exceeded their target values on employment and education. Low indicators – just half of the target value – the Baltic States have on the share of the EU’s GDP invested in Research and Development. Other positions such as green energy, poverty and social exclusion mostly show a need for more active and effective action for achieving the Europe 2020 targets.

Austrian Veto against European Union Membership Negotiations with Turkey

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-122
Author(s):  
Ewa Kaczan-Winiarska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Strategic Partner ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
European Standards ◽  
The Eu

The Austrian government is extremely sceptical about the accession negotiations which are conducted by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union with Turkey and calls for the negotiation process to end. Serious reservations of Vienna have been raised by the current political situation in Turkey under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as by the standards of democracy in Turkey, which differ greatly from European standards. Serious deficiencies in rule of law, freedom of speech and independence of the judiciary, confirmed in the latest European Commission report on Turkey, do not justify, from Vienna’s point of view, the continuation of talks with Ankara on EU membership. In fact, Austria’s scepticism about the European perspective for Turkey has a longer tradition. This was marked previously in 2005 when the accession negotiations began. Until now, Austria’s position has not had enough clout within the European arena. Pragmatic cooperation with Turkey as a strategic partner of the EU, both in the context of the migration crisis and security policy, proved to be a key factor. The question is whether Austria, which took over the EU presidency from 1.7.2018, will be able to more strongly accentuate its reservations about Turkey and even build an alliance of Member States strong enough to block Turkey’s accession process.

scholarly journals The European Committee of the Regions as a watchdog of the principle of subsidiarity

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-301
Author(s):  
Salvatore Fabio Nicolosi ◽  
Lisette Mustert
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
European Committee ◽  
Legislative Proposal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Committee Of The Regions ◽  
Regional Funds ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Eu

In a resolution adopted on 1 February 2018, the European Committee of the Regions noted that a legislative proposal of the European Commission concerning a Regulation that changes the rules governing the EU regional funds for 2014-2020 did not comply with the principle of subsidiarity. Accordingly, the Committee considered challenging the legislative proposal before the Court of Justice if the proposal was formally agreed upon. Although at a later stage the European Commission decided to take into account the Committee’s argument and amended the proposal accordingly, such a context offers the chance to investigate more in detail the role of the Committee of the Regions in the legislative process of the EU and, more in particular, its role as a watchdog of the principle of subsidiarity. This paper aims to shed light on a rather neglected aspect of the EU constitutional practice, such as the potential of the Committee of the Regions to contribute to the legislative process, and answer the question of whether this Committee is the right body to guarantee compliance with the principle of subsidiarity.

scholarly journals Sustainability in the European Union: Analyzing the Discourse of the European Green Deal

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Eva Eckert ◽  
Oleksandra Kovalevska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Main Question ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Media ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

In the European Union, the concern for sustainability has been legitimized by its politically and ecologically motivated discourse disseminated through recent policies of the European Commission and the local as well as international media. In the article, we question the very meaning of sustainability and examine the European Green Deal, the major political document issued by the EC in 2019. The main question pursued in the study is whether expectations verbalized in the Green Deal’s plans, programs, strategies, and developments hold up to the scrutiny of critical discourse analysis. We compare the Green Deal’s treatment of sustainability to how sustainability is presented in environmental and social science scholarship and point out that research, on the one hand, and the politically motivated discourse, on the other, do not correlate and often actually contradict each other. We conclude that sustainability discourse and its keywords, lexicon, and phraseology have become a channel through which political institutions in the EU such as the European Commission sideline crucial environmental issues and endorse their own presence. The Green Deal discourse shapes political and institutional power of the Commission and the EU.

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