Search

Begin New Search Topic European Union Political Geography Europe

591. Are new EU data market regulations coherent and efficient?

Author:
Bertin Martins
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
Technical restrictions on access to and re-use of data may result in failures in data markets and data-driven services markets. This paper examines three new EU data regulations (the European Health Data Space, the Data Act and the Digital Markets Act) that vary substantially in mandatory access measures intended to overcome these market failures. It applies three economic criteria, economies of scope in re-use and in aggregation of data, and data supply-side failures, to assess the efficiency of these regulations in overcoming market failures and coherence across regulations. Variations might be justified by particular sectoral market conditions. The European Health Data Space proposal comes close to an ideal data access regime for primary re-use and secondary pooling of health data. The Data Act opens access to data from tangible products only. It strengthens the market power of data holders by giving them quasi-ownership rights over data. It introduces new obstacles to re-use that are likely to minimise its impact. The Digital Markets Act opens access to market data pools collected by very large gatekeeper platforms. Some access provisions are vaguely defined. Others facilitate access to data pools but may risk unwinding the benefits of data-driven network effects. Th ere is scope for significant improvement in these data regulations.
Topic:
Markets, European Union, Regulation, and Digital Markets Act (DMA)
Political Geography:
Europe

592. The competitive relationship between cloud computing and generative AI

Author:
Christophe Carugati
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
Cloud computing providers and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) providers nurture a close, interdependent relationship: GenAI providers need cloud providers to train, run and deploy their GenAI solutions, while cloud providers see GenAI providers as a business driver to grow their market shares in cloud and related markets, such as productivity software or search engines. The cloud/GenAI relationship takes various forms, including exclusive and strategic partnerships, especially between large cloud providers and GenAI providers across all parts of the cloud market, including infrastructure, platforms and software. Competition benefits and risks are likely to result from the relationships. Competition benefits arise from increased competition and innovation in the cloud and GenAI sectors. Risks relate to potential concentrations arising from the partnerships between cloud and GenAI providers, and from anticompetitive practices, including discrimination in the supply of IT equipment by dominant IT providers, interoperability obstacles to switching, use of business-user data, self-preferencing of cloud services over third parties, tying and pure bundling. Merger control and antitrust laws can address some of the competition risks, while laws, including the European Union’s Digital Markets Act and Data Act, can deal with competition issues in digital markets and the cloud sector. Nevertheless there are gaps. The European Commission should amend existing EU instruments, including by changing the definition of a concentration under merger control, and should specify interoperability requirements for cloud providers under the Data Act. The Commission should also closely monitor developments in and outside Europe through market investigations, including with international counterparts, and should intervene to tackle imminent competition risks using fast procedural tools, such as interim measures.
Topic:
European Union, Antitrust Law, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, and Competition
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

593. Compliance principles for the Digital Markets Act

Author:
Christophe Carugati
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
Under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), six ‘gatekeepers’ (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft) have been designated in relation to 22 core platform services (CPS). The gatekeepers have until 6 March 2024 to propose to the European Commission how they will comply with their DMA obligations. The DMA gives flexibility to gatekeepers to achieve compliance by providing some guidance what can constitute compliance and non-compliance with the obligations. However, it does not provide compliance principles. These offer a standard of compliance-by-design, while offering flexibility to each gatekeeper to develop specific solutions tailored to each obligation and CPS. Compliance principles would also be easily observable elements helping to inform the Commission – the DMA’s enforcer – aboutcompliance. We propose fiveDMA compliance principles for gatekeepers to follow. These have been derived from the list of DMA obligations. The principles relate to access, fair conditions, information, choice and flexibility. Each principle would be accompanied by a second level of sub-principles based on the economics literature and case law. We recommend that gatekeepers implement the principles and that the Commission monitors whether gatekeepers follow the compliance principles. Gatekeepers, in their annual DMA compliance reports, should provide the Commission with methodologies, tests and other relevant documents as evidence of compliance in practice. Commission monitoring should include regular engagement with gatekeepers, third parties and consumers, before and after the implementation of the compliance solutions.
Topic:
European Union, Regulation, Compliance, and Digital Markets Act (DMA)
Political Geography:
Europe

594. European Union debt financing: leeway and barriers from a legal perspective

Author:
Sebastian Grund and Armin Steinbach
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
We explore legal leeway for two approaches to debt-financing European Union spending: creation of extra-budgetary, one-off and temporary EU funds to finance European public goods (similarly to NextGenerationEU), and debt-financing the EU’s regular budget, hence creating an on-budget, permanent borrowing capacity at EU level. We find that NGEU could in principle be replicated. This would require an amendment to the Own Resources Decision (ORD) – a unanimous Council decision that designates the main sources of EU financing and requires ratification by each member state – to authorise borrowing and specify how the borrowing proceeds are to be used. However, this approach would be constrained by the legal requirement that financing EU spending through ‘other revenues’ (as opposed to ‘own resources’ designated as such in the ORD) remain exceptional. As a result, no permanent EU tasks could be financed through NGEU-like funds and NGEU-like financing could not exceed financing through ‘own resources’. We also find that, while EU primary law does not stop the EU from debt-financing its budget, the scope for EU borrowing would remain severely limited compared to a sovereign state. The permissible amount of borrowing must be specified in the ORD and the EU must be able to meet its debt service in any year, which must be secured by a sufficient amount of (non-borrowed) own resources. Finally, considerable flexibility exists for the spending of borrowed funds, regardless of whether this occurs through new NGEU-like extrabudgetary funds or on budget. Borrowed funds could be allocated to climate funding, cohesion policy, infrastructure or research. In the event that borrowing proceeds are established as an ‘own resource’ in an appropriately amended ORD, borrowed funds could even be used for general financing of the EU budget.
Topic:
Debt, Markets, European Union, Finance, and Public Goods
Political Geography:
Europe

595. A new governance framework to safeguard the European Green Deal

Author:
Jean Pisani-Ferry, Simone Tagliapietra, and Georg Zachmann
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
With the European Green Deal, the European Union adopted ambitious climate targets and a wave of legislation to reach them. But implementation will be politically challenging, in particular because the Green Deal has not upgraded the EU’s energy and climate governance framework. We propose five priorities for governance reform: All emissions should be made subject to emissions trading. By 2030, separate emissions trading systems (ETS) will cover industrial emissions and buildings/transport emissions, representing three-quarters of all territorial emissions. A third ETS should be created for sectors not yet covered and the emission control mechanisms should be unified by 2040. Preparations should start for an EU Green Investment Plan. This should ensure that after pandemic recovery funding ends in 2026, EU green grants remain at least at the current level of €50 billion per year (0.3 percent of GDP). Making up the annual shortfall would require new EU resources amounting to €180 billion between 2024 and 2030, but this will be important to tackle the political and distributional problems the EU will increasingly face. In addition, currently discussed EU economic governance reforms should be amended to allow countries with public debt exceeding 60 percent of GDP but with sustainable public finances to reduce debt at a slower pace, on the condition that additional emissions-reducing investments are made. A European Energy Agency should be established. This would provide unbiased reference points for policy evaluation and preparation. It would not have decision-making powers but would gather and make available data for decision-making, maintain open modelling tools, and independently assess EU and member-state policies. Energy and climate governance should be elevated to heads of state and government level to increase policy coordination and political ownership. Special European summits would be organised at least once a year, with preparations done by EU energy and climate sherpas. Transmission network development and operation should be driven by European cost minimisation. An European independent network system operator would be able to ensure that existing cross-border transmission is used optimally, also with a view to fostering investment.
Topic:
Governance, European Union, Decarbonization, and Green Deal
Political Geography:
Europe

596. Globalisation and automation as sources of labour-market competition, and support for European Union unemployment insurance

Author:
Brian Burgoon, Gregorio Buzzelli, Francesco Nicoli, and Stefano Sacchi
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
Societies and economies are experiencing deep and intertwined structural changes that may unsettle the perceptions European citizens have of their economic and employment security. Such labour-market perceptions are likely in turn to alter people’s political positions. For instance, those worried by labour-market competition may prefer greater social protection to compensate for the accrued risk, or might prefer more closed economies where external borders provide protection (or the illusion of protection). We test these expectations with a conjoint experiment in 13 European countries on European-level social policy, studying how citizens’ demands align with parties’ political supply. Results broadly corroborate our expectations on the moderating effects of different types of concerns about perceived sources of labour-market competition on the features of preferred European-level social policy.
Topic:
Globalization, European Union, Unemployment, Automation, Labor Market, and Competition
Political Geography:
Europe

597. The Sunshine Problem: Climate Change and Managed Decline in the European Union

Author:
Timur Ergen and Luuk Schmitz
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
Decarbonization requires the winding down of – economically – fully viable, if not highly prosperous, lines of economic activity. Different from past episodes of industrial restructuring revolving around the managed decline of sunset industries, accelerating climate change requires reallocation away from economic activities where the metaphorical sun is still shining. Firms, owners, workers, regions, and polities structurally rely on these sources of prosperity and have interwoven their past and future lives with them. We argue that this problem has created a space for state actors to experiment with vertical industrial policies to manage the reallocation of resources from polluting to non-polluting activities. We illustrate this dynamic by investigating the least-likely case of the European Union, a polity heavily tilted towards market governance. European climate policymakers, we argue, have incrementally moved away from the primacy of regulatory, market-making tools and have introduced a plethora of vertical instruments to shift resources away from climate-harming fields. This experimentation with vertical policies unfolds against the backdrop of a thirty-year institutional legacy of single market-oriented policy in the energy field.
Topic:
Climate Change, Industrial Policy, European Union, Decarbonization, Green Transition, and Cohesion
Political Geography:
Europe

598. The Conservative Party After Brexit with Professor Tim Bale

Author:
Tim Bale and Carolyn Quinn
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
The Conservative Party can lay convincing claim to being the world's most successful political party, not least because it is also one of the most adaptable, often appearing to do and say pretty much whatever it takes to win. But has it now taken things too far? Since the UK voted to leave the EU back in 2016, the Tories have transformed themselves from a mainstream, centre-right party to one built upon a combination of radical right-wing populism, free-market fundamentalism, and fiscal constraint. Can the party survive in its current unstable form? Or will it be blown apart by its contradictions, its factions, and the competition between future leadership hopefuls? At this launch of his new book on 18 April 2023, 'The Conservative Party After Brexit', the Mile End Institute's very own Professor Tim Bale was in conversation with Carolyn Quinn (the former host of BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour). They discussed these questions, charted the fall-out from the bombshell Brexit referendum and the chaotic premierships of Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss.
Topic:
European Union, Brexit, Political Parties, Boris Johnson, Conservative Party, Theresa May, Rishi Sunak, and Nigel Farage
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

599. EU Digital Services Act and Its Implications to the Potential Regulatory Regime of Disinformation in Asia

Author:
Sofia Calabrese
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:
In 2022, after two years of heated negotiations, European Union (EU) institutions reached an agreement on the final text of the Digital Services Act, the new EU law to tackle illegal content online. “The Digital Services Act will set new global standards. [...] We have finally made sure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online,” said Christel Schaldemose, the lead Member of the European Parliament on the file, after the agreement was reached (European Parliament 2022). In a nutshell, this reflects the ambitions of EU policymakers for the file to become both a new golden standard for platform regulation in the EU and beyond; and to fulfil its primary goal to tackle illegal content online. This article will focus on these two aspects: on one hand we will explain how, despite its scope being limited to illegal content, the Digital Services Act can also be effective in addressing online disinformation; and on the other hand we will explore the potential impact of the Digital Services Act beyond the EU, in particular on potential regulatory regimes on disinformation in Asia.
Topic:
European Union, Regulation, Disinformation, Online Platforms, and Digital Services
Political Geography:
Europe

600. Selected Areas of Terrorism Threats with Relevance for Austria and the EU

Author:
Daniela Pisoiu and Annika Scharnagl
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Austrian Institute for International Affairs (OIIP)
Abstract:
The policy analysis highlights the interconnectedness of right-wing extremist groups in the United States and Europe, the connection between populist parties and right-wing extremist organizations in Scandinavia and looks at terrorism in the Sahel region. It discusses the emergence of groups like Atomwaffen Division (AWD) and their affiliates in various countries, including Germany and Austria. Recent arrests and crackdowns reveal the presence of sympathizers and potential threats. The policy analysis emphasizes the need for vigilance, given the global nature of extremist ideologies and the potential for further incidents. Furthermore, the analysis explores the rise of right-wing populist parties in Scandinavian countries, highlighting their anti-immigration stances. It discusses instances where politicians have associated with neo-Nazi groups, raising concerns about extremist ties within these parties. The policy analysis underscores the implications of such connections for both politics and societal acceptance of right-wing extremist groups. In addition, the Sahel region is identified as a global epicenter of terrorism, marked by coups and increasing violence. The analysis highlights the challenges faced by governments in the region, including terrorism-related deaths, climate change, food insecurity, and population growth. It notes the shift of attacks from the Chad-Niger-Cameroon border to Mali-Burkina Faso-Niger, presenting a growing concern. The policy analysis also mentions recent activities of Boko Haram and other ISIS affiliates in the region. In conclusion, the analysis emphasizes that Austria must consider both domestic and global factors in addressing the evolving terrorism landscape. The interconnected nature of extremism requires a comprehensive approach.
Topic:
Security, Terrorism, European Union, and Far Right
Political Geography:
Europe and Austria