scholarly journals Who needs lobbying? The usefulness of interest representation in the European Union from the European Commission's point of view

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Sławomir Luber
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Representation Of Interests

The article addresses issues related to the use of cooperation with lobbying groups for the European Commission. The main subject of the paper is the representation of interests in the European Union arena and the Commission’s exercise of its treaty competences. The analysis focuses on the use of expert knowledge and legitimacy provided by lobbying groups in the context of their usefulness in the process of fulfilling the Commission’s legal obligations. The arguments are classified into four groups: legislative, executive and supervisory, organisational, and legitimacy. In each of the groups, the Commission’s Treaty obligations are analysed, as well as the use of particular goods provided by lobbying groups in the course of their implementation, which allows to determine of the scope of benefits resulting from such cooperation. The purpose of this article is to examine the usefulness of lobbying in fulfilling the Commission’s Treaty functions.

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 Comentarios a la propuesta del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo del certificado verde digital. Protección de datos sanitarios y análisis ético jurídico

Bioderecho.es ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria María González Suárez
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
Ethical Point ◽  
The Right

Con motivo de la situación actual a la que nos enfrentamos por la pandemia de la COVID-19 se ha planteado en diversas ocasiones la implantación de un certificado verde digital. El 17 de marzo de 2021 la Comisión Europea presentó una propuesta de creación del certificado con el fin de facilitar el ejercicio del derecho a la libre circulación dentro de la Unión Europea durante la pandemia. Todo ello plantea diversas cuestiones jurídicas en cuanto a la protección de datos sanitarios, el derecho a la libre circulación y la eficacia y proporcionalidad de medidas que deben ser objeto de análisis tanto desde el punto de vista jurídico como del punto de vista ético ya que, en ciertas ocasiones la aplicación de medidas puede afectar al derecho a la igualdad de los ciudadanos. Due to the current situation we are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of a digital green certificate has been proposed on several occasions. On March 17, 2021, the European Commission presented a proposal to create the certificate in order to facilitate the exercise of the right of free movement within the European Union during the pandemic. All this raises various legal questions regarding the protection of health data, the right of free movement and the efficacy and proportionality of measures that must be analyzed from both the legal and ethical point of view since, on certain occasions the application of measures may affect the right of equality of citizens.

Legal Maxims: Summaries and Extracts from Selected Case Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Brisard ◽  
Guglielmo Cantillo ◽  
Ramona Grimberger ◽  
Victoria Hanley-Emilsson ◽  
Rebeka Hevesi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Grand Chamber

Council of the European Union v. European Commission, Case C-409/13, Grand Chamber, Judgment, 14 April 2015European Commission v. Vanbreda Risk & Benefits, Case C‑35/15 P(R), Order of the Vice-President of the Court, 23 April 2015Geoffrey Léger v. Ministre des Affaires sociales, de la Santé et des Droits des femmes, Établissement français du sang...

scholarly journals European Regional Inequalities: The Other Face of Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Celeste Perrucchini ◽  
Hiroshi Ito
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Capita Income ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Per Capita Income ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Per Capita

Empirical evidence suggests an overall convergence in terms of GDP and per capita income occurring among the European Union (EU) Member States. Nevertheless, economic inequalities have been increasing at the regional level within European Union countries. Through the review of relevant literature, this study analyzes the increasing inequalities from an economical point of view, focusing on Italy and the UK as examples. First, a general overlook of the empirical evidence of the GDP and per capita income at national and sub-national levels will be presented. Second, an explanation of the possible causes of the results will be proposed through the use of economical and sociological theories. The findings of this research might uncover the relative inefficacy of EU Cohesion policies and point towards the necessity for deeper and more thoughtful measures to continue the convergence of Member States while preserving internal equilibria. This paper ends with discussions for the future directions of the EU.

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.

scholarly journals A Review of Bioplastics and Their Adoption in the Circular Economy

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1229
Author(s):  
Alberto Di Bartolo ◽  
Giulia Infurna ◽  
Nadka Tzankova Dintcheva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sustainable Society ◽  
Net Zero

The European Union is working towards the 2050 net-zero emissions goal and tackling the ever-growing environmental and sustainability crisis by implementing the European Green Deal. The shift towards a more sustainable society is intertwined with the production, use, and disposal of plastic in the European economy. Emissions generated by plastic production, plastic waste, littering and leakage in nature, insufficient recycling, are some of the issues addressed by the European Commission. Adoption of bioplastics–plastics that are biodegradable, bio-based, or both–is under assessment as one way to decouple society from the use of fossil resources, and to mitigate specific environmental risks related to plastic waste. In this work, we aim at reviewing the field of bioplastics, including standards and life cycle assessment studies, and discuss some of the challenges that can be currently identified with the adoption of these materials.

scholarly journals Joint bodies in the European Union's international agreements: Delegating powers to the European Commission in EU external relations

2021 ◽  
pp. 146511652110273
Author(s):  
Markus Gastinger ◽  
Andreas Dür
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Voting Rule ◽  
External Relations ◽  
Set Up

In many international agreements, the European Union sets up joint bodies such as ‘association councils’ or ‘joint committees’. These institutions bring together European Union and third-country officials for agreement implementation. To date, we know surprisingly little about how much discretion the European Commission enjoys in them. Drawing on a principal–agent framework, we hypothesise that the complexity of agreements, the voting rule, conflict within the Council, and agency losses can explain Commission discretion in these institutions. Drawing on an original dataset covering nearly 300 such joint bodies set up by the European Union since 1992, we find robust empirical support for all expectations except for the agency loss thesis. Our findings suggest that the European Commission is the primary actor in the implementation of many of the European Union's international agreements, allowing it to influence EU external relations beyond what is currently acknowledged in the literature.

scholarly journals The common energy market of the European Union – utopia or reality?

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana-Maria Iulia Şanta
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Energy Market ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Energy Union ◽  
The Common

Abstract The European Commission has the initiative to foster the sector of renewable energy and to build an Energy Union, with a common energy market at the level of the European Union, but is this only an utopic vision or is this possible to achieve? The topic of clean energy is very new and of great interest for the European Union, which is shown by the fact that the European Commission recently adopted on the 30th November 2016 the package “Clean Energy for All Europeans”, which contains proposals for the modernization of the energy market at the level of the European Union. But which are the challenges such a project is confronted with? According to the literature, such challenges are related to the process of liberalization of electricity markets. Conflicts between national interest and international actors of the energy market might occur. Due to the oligopolistic structure of the energy market, there are several barriers to the market entry. In order to answer to the research questions, case studies regarding the liberalization of the energy market will be analyzed in a comparative manner, offering an international overview. Furthermore, the legal provisions on which the common energy policy of the European Union relies, will be analyzed, as well as their economic and social impact. The package “Clean Energy for All Europeans” comprises a proposal of the revised Renewable energy Directive, energy efficiency measures and issues related to the Energy Union Governance. It contains as well proposals for the electricity market design, which will be analyzed and the present paper outlines the contribution of this proposal in building a common energy market of the European Union. What role does competition play in implementing the common energy market of the European Union? Which role do competition authorities have in this context? These are interesting aspects to be analyzed in the present paper.

Religion and EU Institutions

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasquale Annicchino
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Commission ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
European Institutions ◽  
Religious Associations ◽  
Dialogue Seminar

The implementation of Article 17(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) has always been one of the central topics of discussion for legal scholars analysing the relationships between religious groups and European institutions. According to Article 17, the European Union shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with churches, religious associations or communities, philosophical organisations and non-confessional organisations. In the case in hand, the complainant, the European Humanist Federation (EHF) decided to lodge a complaint before the European Ombudsman when the European Commission rejected the proposal for a dialogue seminar.

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