The Municipal Map in Portugal

2019 ◽  
pp. 275-292
Author(s):  
Barbara Luize Iacovino Barreiros
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Territorial Structure ◽  
Territorial Organization ◽  
Consequent Reduction ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Large Groups ◽  
Do So

The municipality is the basic territorial organization for almost all the Member States of the European Union and has approximately the same attributions in all these. Even so, the territorial structure of municipalities differs in each of the Member States, and it is possible to group them into two large groups: those that have implemented reforms with a consequent reduction in the number of these entities and those with a high number of municipalities. Although Spain is a neighbor of Portugal and Portugal gets some influences from France, in fact the territorial organization of municipalities corresponds to very different realities. Through this research you can see that Portugal did reform its municipalities while France and Spain failed to do so. However, they all recognize that there is a need to reform the territorial structure of municipalities.

scholarly journals The Influence of EU Law on Public Administration in New Member States

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-61
Author(s):  
Radomír Jakab
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Union Law ◽  
Member States ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Almost All

The membership of Central and Eastern European countries in the European Union has influenced the development of almost all branches of law, including administrative law. The paper analyses the influence of European Union law on the fundamental object of interest of administrative law within new member states – on public administration and its laws. In this context, the influence on laws governing the organisation of public administration, laws governing the activities and tasks of public administration as well as laws governing processes in public administration will be assessed.

scholarly journals Environmental taxation and the need for tax limits in the EU legal system = Fiscalidad ambiental y la necesidad de límites tributarios en el ordenamiento jurídico de la UE

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 497
Author(s):  
Carlos María López Espadafor
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Environmental Taxation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Mineral Oils ◽  
State Taxes ◽  
Fiscal Pressure ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Fiscal Harmonization

Abstract: In spite of the fact that almost all the European Union member States have similar princi­ples of tax justice, there is not an express specification about them in the Primary Law of the Union. The institutions of the European Union have some tax competences given by their member States, specially highlighting fiscal harmonization of certain state taxes. The tax harmonization directives, despite this lack of express specification, cannot forget these principles of tax justice. The argument of the environmental taxation of hydrocarbons has been used to increase the fiscal pressure over the gasoline until a point where its legitimacy should be discussed, not only from the constitutional point of view, but also from the Euro­pean Union Treaties. Individual States are not the only ones responsible for this situation but also European Union institutions are, since the tax on mineral oils has been harmonized by European Union directives.Keywords: environmental taxation, European Union, limits.Resumen: A pesar del hecho de que en la mayoría de los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea existen unos principios de justicia tributaria similares, no existe una especificación expresa de éstos en el Derecho Originario de la Unión. Las instituciones de ésta tienen determinadas competencias en materia tributaria atribuidas por sus Estados miembros, especialmente en relación a la armonización fiscal de ciertos impuestos estatales. Las directivas de armonización fiscal, a pesar de esta falta de especificación expresa, no pueden olvidar estos principios de justicia tributaria. El argumento de la fiscalidad ambiental de los hidrocarburos ha sido utilizado para incrementar la presión fiscal sobre los carburantes hasta un nivel con respecto al cual sería discutible su legitimidad, no sólo desde el punto de vista constitucional, sino también desde la perspectiva de los Tratados de la Unión Europea. Los Estados individualmente considerados no son los únicos responsables de esta situación, sino que también lo son las instituciones de la Unión Europea, desde el momento en que la imposición sobre hidrocarburos se encuentra armoni­zada conforme a directivas de la Unión.Palabras clave: fiscalidad ambiental, Unión Europea, límites.

scholarly journals Crafting Constitutional Identity in the Era of Migration and Financial Crises–The Case of Greece

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1683-1702
Author(s):  
Dimitra Gamba ◽  
Dimosthenis Lentzis
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Under Construction ◽  
Constitutional Identity ◽  
Of Greece ◽  
Do So

The debate on the exact meaning and content of their constitutional identity has a long history in many European countries, with national courts playing the leading role. Ten years ago, this debate was given a new boost by the Treaty on European Union (TEU), article 4 paragraph 2 of which urges the European Union to respect the constitutional identities of the Member States. The national courts in a number of Member States saw in this provision the recognition of their zealous efforts to control the ongoing expansion of EU competences and to overcome the absolute primacy of EU law over domestic constitutional law. In Greece, however, no debate on the possible use of constitutional identity as a limit to the European Union and its law had taken place—at least not until recently. Our main objective in this article is to try to explain why Greek courts, and especially the Symvoulion Epikrateias, the supreme administrative court, failed to develop and make recourse to a notion of constitutional identity, even in cases they had good reasons to do so, and to find out if—and, if yes, to what extent—the situation has changed after the outbreak of the financial and, soon after, the migration crises. The analysis of the relevant case-law will permit us to conclude that the Greek constitutional identity is currently still under construction and that it is constructed using elements from both the liberal and the exclusionist models.

scholarly journals Argumentative patterns in the European Union’s directives

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corina Andone ◽  
Florin Coman-Kund
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Internal Market ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
Eu Directives ◽  
Academic Discussion ◽  
Do So

Abstract This paper provides an account of the arguments advanced by the European Union (EU) legislator in the preamble of directives adopted for harmonization in the internal market, and assesses them as to their potential at convincing the Member States to implement the directive at issue. We show what directives should argue for and how they do so in practice, by focussing in particular on Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights. Furthermore, this contribution moves beyond a purely academic discussion by linking the theoretical-normative framework advanced to the Court of Justice of the European Union’s approach to assessing the preambles of EU directives in the context of the ‘check’ on the duty to state reasons under Article 296 Treaty for the of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Our analysis unveils a legislative practice in which the obligation to give reasons is not discharged adequately from an argumentative perspective, and which remains generally unsanctioned due to the rather light and flexible test used by CJEU under Article 296 TFEU.

Normalization

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-119
Author(s):  
Frank Schimmelfennig ◽  
Thomas Winzen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
European Market ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Differentiated Integration ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

Focusing on the 2004 and 2007 Eastern enlargement of the European Union, this chapter traces the ‘normalization’ of differentiated integration after new countries become member states. The chapter explains pre-accession tensions between demands of member states to limit the membership benefits of the applicant countries, and demands of the applicants to help them deal with the burdens of joining a competitive European market. It also explores the post-accession process in which new member states are in a better position to avoid discriminatory differentiation but still have to cope with the repercussions of accession differentiation. The empirical analysis shows that almost all accession differentiation—both preferential and discriminatory—disappears within ten to fifteen years of membership.

The European Union’s global strategy: Complementarity and specialization

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís Barroso ◽  
Marco Cruz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Classical Means ◽  
Strategic Autonomy ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Do So

As a grand strategy, European Union Global Strategy (EUGS) is a roadmap to convert the European Union (EU) in a key strategic actor. The evidence of some conceptual vulnerabilities, particularly the EU lack of classical means and strategic autonomy, limits its implementation. Thus, this article aims to find some relevant actions that the EU needs to put in place to enhance her global image as a credible and specialized actor where the power of her strategic partners, as NATO and United Sates, need to be complemented. To that effect, first, the EU must demonstrate leadership and mobilize the support of member states to carry out its strategy. Second, it must leverage its strategic autonomy by intervening in crises and conflicts where the military means are not the most important. Third, it must focus on preventing or solving the problems in the EU’s neighbourhood as it will suffer direct repercussions if it fails to do so. Implementing the EUGS will require a generic but encompassing grand strategy concept; to communicate its achievements through annual reviews, laying a foundation upon which the EU can build its internal and external credibility, providing it with the strategic autonomy it so direly needs. Finally, the EU must invest on Europeanization processes by ‘transforming’ societies through the ‘global’ application of EU instruments.

scholarly journals European Union and Cooperation in the Arctic Council

2021 ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Arseniy V. KIRGIZOV-BARSKIY ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Arctic Policy ◽  
The Eu

Since 2008, the European Union has unsuccessfully tried to obtain permanent observer status in the Arctic Council, the central cooperation forum in the Arctic. The analysis shows that the EU's failures in this area are connected both with its location mostly outside of the region and remoteness from the northern realities, as well as global geopolitical tensions. However, the EU has had de facto observer ad hoc status since 2013, allowing it to participate in almost all formats of interaction in the Arctic Council. Considering this fact, the permanent observer status has rather a symbolic meaning and is equivalent to joining a kind of “privileged Arctic club”. An analysis of the EU's functioning in its relations with the Arctic Council and its members shows that the EU is ready to adapt and listen to the opinion of the Arctic countries in order to become a legitimate Arctic actor. The Arctic Council is of uneven importance for the different EU member states: Denmark, Finland and Sweden are full members, several countries are permanent observers, but most EU countries are not interested in the Arctic issues. Because of this multifaceted nature, the collective EU is more of an extra-regional player on the platform, but one with serious Arctic claims. The EU is actively working on a common Arctic policy. It is represented in the Arctic Council by the Ambassador-at-Large for Arctic Affairs, introduced in 2017, who acts in coordination with the European Commission and the member states concerned. The EU's overall approach is not unsuccessful: it has managed to engage more member states on the Arctic vector, and European expertise and input on sustainable development issues is already becoming an integral part of the AC's work and promises to evolve further.

scholarly journals Data Protection Heterogeneity in the European Union

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 10912
Author(s):  
Marko Hölbl ◽  
Boštjan Kežmah ◽  
Marko Kompara
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Biometric Data ◽  
Member States ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
Electronic Signatures ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Almost All

In light of digitalisation, we are witnessing an increased volume of collected data and data generation and exchange acceleration. Therefore, the European Union (EU) has introduced the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as a new framework for data protection on the European level. However, GDPR allows the member states to change some parts of the regulation, and the member states can always build on top of the GDPR. An example is the collection of biometric data with electronic signatures. This paper aims to compare the legislation on data protection topics in the various EU member states. The findings show that the member states included in the study generally do not have many additional/specific laws (only in 29.4% of the cases). However, almost all have other/additional legislation to the GDPR on at least one topic. The most additional legislation is on the topics of video surveillance, biometry, genetic data and health data. We also introduce a dynamic map that allows for quick navigating between different information categories and comparisons of the EU member states at a glance.

scholarly journals Rights protection in prisons: Understanding recommendations-making by prison inspection and monitoring bodies in the European Union

2021 ◽  
pp. 146247452110208
Author(s):  
Eva Aizpurua ◽  
Mary Rogan
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Do So

Despite the increasing focus on prison inspection and monitoring bodies in international law and policy, little is known about their operations in practice. This study contributes to fill this gap by examining how countries of the European Union (EU) have responded to these demands, paying special attention to one of the central tasks of these bodies: the making of recommendations. To do so, we used data from the first EU-wide survey of prison oversight bodies, with responses from all Member States. Our findings reveal that recommendations-making is a key part of the work of these bodies. They also provide evidences that the approach to dialogue between these bodies and prison authorities advocated in the legislation is taking place on the ground.

Political aspects of security of the European Union Member States

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kusztykiewicz-Fedurek
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Political Security ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Eu

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.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document