scholarly journals European-Wide Inequality in Times of the Financial Crisis

Author(s):  
Timm Bönke ◽  
Carsten Schröder

In view of rising concerns over increasing inequality in the European Union since the financial crisis, this study provides an inequality decomposition of the overall European income distribution by country. The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions are our empirical basis. Inequality has risen moderately within the core Euro area, particularly in the last two years of the observation period (2010/11). Widening disparities between EU Member States are the driving force behind this trend, while inequalities within countries do not exhibit systematic changes. An analysis of binational distributions reveals that it is the countries hit worst by the crisis—Greece and Spain —for which the between-country disparities have changed most markedly.

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-154
Author(s):  
Ines Kersan-Škabić

The heterogeneity of economic performances in the EU member states is one of the main reasons for the existence of a “core-periphery” relationship. The goal of this research is to examine various economic indicators to reveal possible divisions between the EU members. This issue emphasized the contribution of rich “core” countries to the imbalances in poorer “peripheral” EU members. By applying cluster methodology and considering the most recent data, two groups of countries were identified, the first comprising 11 countries that form the “centre” or the “core”, and the rest of the EU forming the “periphery”. Considering differences between these countries is necessary and justified for discussions about the future development of the EU that will involve differences between member states.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (Issue Vol 20, No 3 (2021)) ◽  
pp. 423-439
Author(s):  
Eckhard FREYER

The horrors of WWII changed history and created a better Europe based on a Common market as an essential signal of unity among the EU member states. Now generations have grown up in peace and growing prosperity. However, a decade ago, ECB/EU had to overcome the EU-euro-financial crisis and now Brexit. In addition, Covid19 crisis brings many pressing problems, as the Coronavirus pandemic is likely to result in Europe/Germany’s largest economic downturn in the last seven decades. Loss of prosperity, des-integration in the European Union could escalate further. Even in academic and scientific institutions and in European research networks difficulties are relevant. Can we overcome Brexit / Corona and create a healthy Europe that is a global socioeconomic leader? Based on our Cultural Heritage across Europe we must look further than Brexit, and even more seek solutions to the Ukrainian conflict.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (Vol 19, No 3 (2020)) ◽  
pp. 423-439
Author(s):  
Eckhard FREYER

The horrors of WWII changed history and created a better Europe based on a Common market as an essential signal of unity among the EU member states. Now generations have grown up in peace and growing prosperity. However, a decade ago, ECB/EU had to overcome the EU-euro-financial crisis and now Brexit. In addition, Covid19 crisis brings many pressing problems, as the Coronavirus pandemic is likely to result in Europe/Germany’s largest economic downturn in the last seven decades. Loss of prosperity, des-integration in the European Union could escalate further. Even in academic and scientific institutions and in European research networks difficulties are relevant. Can we overcome Brexit / Corona and create a healthy Europe that is a global socioeconomic leader? Based on our Cultural Heritage across Europe we must look further than Brexit, and even more seek solutions to the Ukrainian conflict.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Buturoiu

<p>The European Union is dominated by permanent change and diversity so that public opinion regarding different EU-related issues follows a similar trend. Within this continually changing context, there are two important interconnected things to be considered: first, public opinion towards the EU represents the core of political and academic debates over the present and future of the European integration. Second, the favorable attitudes and opinions towards the EU have increasingly changed into disapproving or sceptic attitudes in the last years. Although there are studies on Eurosceptic attitudes and their causes in almost all EU member states, only a few of them offer a clear overview of this issue. The present paper addresses four questions: What is actually Euroscepticism?; What are the faces of Euroscepticism in the EU as a whole?; How prominent are Eurosceptic attitudes in Romania?; Where do we go from here? The aim of this paper is to examine the theoretical foundations of Euroscepticism and to provide insightful information to be used in future studies.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-74
Author(s):  
Tom Frost

In June 2016, the United Kingdom’s electorate voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. This article examines ‘Brexit’ from the perspective of British, or English, exceptionalism. It argues that the Leave vote was caused by a number of factors: underlying myths and exceptionalism about the U.K. and its relationship with ‘Europe’; the fallout from the 2007–2008 financial crisis; the austerity policies undertaken in the U.K. since 2010; and the increased migration into the U.K. after the financial crisis, in particular from other EU Member States. The article concludes by arguing that Brexit should serve as an important lesson to listen to all people who feel abandoned by the EU, austerity and globalisation, to hear their stories and perspectives. Only then can we start to think about whether there are shared values and principles which could form the basis for a European politics of the future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 148-156
Author(s):  
Oleksiy PLOTNIKOV ◽  
◽  
Olena BORZENKO ◽  
Tamara PANFILOVA ◽  
◽  
...  

Transformation processes of the fiscal sphere of the EU concerning the development of fiscal institutions in the context of the system-forming component of both integration and disintegration processes are considered. The EU fiscal institutions play an important role in shaping the core, not only from the economic side, but also from the political one. It is thanks to the fiscal institutions that the materialization of the political influence on the EU member states and the feedback is carried out. The transformational processes of the fiscal sphere are related to: expenditure policies (volume optimization and streamlining of the structure and increase of the efficiency of spending public resources), income generation (adjusting the taxation system, increasing the efficiency of administering tax payments, reducing the shadow economy, improving the conditions of lending to the real sector, improving the state support of small and medium business) and financing the public administration sector (reducing the deficit of the state social funds, limiting the volume and forming the optimal structure of government borrowing), etc. The essence of the main functions of the EU fiscal institutions (generating, distributing and controlling) as the core-forming elements of its architecture in the constructive and destructive directions of development is determined. The current state of development of transformational processes in the European Union in two main directions – constructive and destructive – is described. The constructive direction implies further enlargement of the European Union with the use of appropriate procedures. Destructive direction involves the exit of countries from the European Union and the restoration of all attributes of a country that is not part of these or other associations. It is formulated that fiscal institutions in the destructive direction of development will play a suppressive role. Moreover, the higher level of integration was achieved by this country, the more restrictive the role of fiscal institutions will be in the case of destructive processes. For Ukraine, the emphasis on fiscal institutions in their respective capacities may be useful for further deepening of cooperation with the European Union and adjusting already implemented steps.


2020 ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kusztykiewicz-Fedurek

Political security is very often considered through the prism of individual states. In the scholar literature in-depth analyses of this kind of security are rarely encountered in the context of international entities that these countries integrate. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to key aspects of political security in the European Union (EU) Member States. The EU as a supranational organisation, gathering Member States first, ensures the stability of the EU as a whole, and secondly, it ensures that Member States respect common values and principles. Additionally, the EU institutions focus on ensuring the proper functioning of the Eurozone (also called officially “euro area” in EU regulations). Actions that may have a negative impact on the level of the EU’s political security include the boycott of establishing new institutions conducive to the peaceful coexistence and development of states. These threats seem to have a significant impact on the situation in the EU in the face of the proposed (and not accepted by Member States not belonging to the Eurogroup) Eurozone reforms concerning, inter alia, appointment of the Minister of Economy and Finance and the creation of a new institution - the European Monetary Fund.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 79-99
Author(s):  
Justyna Misiągiewicz

Nowadays, energy security is a growing concern in state foreignpolicy. Interdependency in the energy field is a very important dimensionof contemporary relations between states and transnational corporations.Energy security is becoming a key issue for the European Union (EU). TheUnion is one of the world’s fastest-growing energy markets and the biggestimporter of energy resources. For the foreseeable future, Europe’s energydependence will probably increase. Facing a shortage of energy, Europe isdependent on imports and the EU member states need to diversify their energysupplies. The Caspian region contains some of the largest undevelopedoil and gas reserves in the world. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, thenewly independent Caspian states became open to foreign investment. Thegrowing energy needs have given the EU a strong interest in developing tieswith energy-producing states in the Caspian region to build the necessarypipeline infrastructure. In this analysis, the pipeline infrastructure that exists orwill be built in the near future will be presented. The analysis will concentrateon routes transporting gas from the Caspian region and the most importantproblems and solutions in designing the midstream energy system in the region.The key aim of the article is to analyse the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC)infrastructure project, which will inevitably contribute to the EU’s energy securityinterest.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Vincent DELHOMME

Amidst a growing interest from European Union (EU) Member States, the European Commission recently announced that it would put forward a legislative proposal for the adoption of a harmonised and mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme at the EU level. The present contribution discusses the implications of such an adoption, taking a behavioural, legal and policy angle. It introduces first the concept of front-of-pack nutrition labelling and the existing evidence regarding its effects on consumer behaviour and dietary habits. It then presents the legal framework currently applicable to (front-of-pack) nutrition labelling in the EU and discusses some of the main political and practical aspects involved with the development of a common EU front-of-pack label.


Author(s):  
Eugenio Salvati

AbstractThe outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has placed severe pressure on the EU’s capacity to provide a timely and coordinated response capable of curbing the pandemic’s disastrous economic and social effects on EU member states. In this situation, the supranational institutions and their models of action are evidently under pressure, seeming incapable of leading the EU out of the stormy waters of the present crisis. The article frames the first months of management of the COVID-19 crisis at EU level as characterised by the limited increase in the level of steering capacity by supranational institutions, due to the reaffirmed centrality of the intergovernmental option. To explain this situation, the article considers the absence of the institutional capacity/legitimacy to extract resources from society(ies), and the subsequent impossibility of guaranteeing an effective and autonomous process of political (re)distribution, the key factors accounting for the weakness of vertical political integration in the response to the COVID-19 challenge. This explains why during the COVID-19 crisis as well, the pattern followed by the EU is rather similar to past patterns, thus confirming that this has fed retrenchment aimed at the enforcement of the intergovernmental model and the defence of the most sensitive core state powers against inference from supranational EU institutions.


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