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351. The game's not over yet for the Capital Requirements Directive...

Author:
Rym Ayadi
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Following seven years of painstaking and demanding negotiations, European bankers and regulators breathed a sigh of relief when the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) finally got through the European Parliament on 28 September 2005, and was formally approved by the Council of Ministers of the 25 EU member states on 11 October 2005. The new CRD will finally apply the complex, risk-sensitive Basel II capital adequacy rules to some 8,000 European banks and some 2,000 investments firms in two stages, the first in January 2007 and the second one year later.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe

352. Security Implications of Russian Energy Policies

Author:
Keith C. Smith
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Russia's tough stance towards Ukraine on natural gas prices was viewed by many in Europe and the United States as raising new issues concerning Russia's foreign economic policies and growing European and US dependency on energy imports. For many new EU member states and for countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, however, this is an old problem. Central European attempts to flag the issue in Western capitals have until now been brushed aside. The rapid approval by the EU Commission of the Russian-German undersea gas pipeline project was a mistake. The concerns of the Central Europeans should have been examined in more detail. Western governments would also be wise to analyse more closely the political and security implications of Russia's energy policies.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Ukraine, Asia, and Germany

353. An Interim Plan for South-East Europe: Customs Union with the EU and a Regional Schengen for the Free Movement of People

Author:
Michael Emerson
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The central recommendation of the Amato report of April 20051 set the year 2014 as the target accession date for the whole of the Western Balkans, which would take the EU from the 27 (in 2007 or 2008) to 32 member states minimally, 33 with Turkey, and 35 in the event of independence for Montenegro and Kosovo. This scenario is in contradiction with the present mood of the EU following the French and the Dutch referenda, which rejected the Constitution that was itself designed to pave the way institutionally for further enlargement. The EU has now officially entered a period of profound reflection on its future, a process which cannot be hurried.
Topic:
International Relations and Development
Political Geography:
Turkey, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, and Montenegro

354. Policing Bosnia and Herzegovina 2003-05: Issues of Mandates and Management in ESDP Missions

Author:
Susan E. Penksa
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The European Union Police Mission (EUPM) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) represents a watershed development for the EU and its emerging European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Never before has the EU organised and managed this type of stabilisation programme. In some ways, the launching of EUPM defined a new stage in the evolution of the EU itself, and certainly of the ESDP. An examination of the implementation of the EUPM in 2003-06 and the current planning for an EU mission in Kosovo suggests that a process of institutional change and learning has occurred among EU and national officials. At the same time, it is apparent that significant improvements are still necessary in the coordination between and within EU pillars as they relate to ESDP operations. To that end, this study focuses on five important challenges revealed by EU field operations in BiH: mission mandates; personnel expertise, recruitment and training; program design, implementation and assessment; reporting and decisionmaking procedures and structures; and the functions of EU representatives in the field (EU Special Representatives, Commission Head of Missions and Member States). Lastly, it also suggests the means to materially improve EU crisis response, paying special attention to lessons learned during the first EUPM and from EU efforts to address organised crime in BiH.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Eastern Europe

355. Variable Geometries: Mapping Ideas, Institutions and Power in the Wider Europe

Author:
Fabrizio Tassinari
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The controversies and ambiguities characterising the EU neighbourhood strategy are ultimately due to the fact that the wider Europe concerns the conceptual, strategic and spatial limits of Europe. It is in this wider Europe that the EU as process meets the EU as actor. It is here that its 'gravitational power' meets its 'normative power'. It is here that the sui-generis EU governance system meets its foreign policy capabilities.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

356. Perspectives on EU-India Relations

Author:
Feng Geng
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Since the 1960s, relations between the EU and India have developed rapidly. Nowadays, EU–India relations have a strong institutional architecture, including regular summits (political and commercial), meetings of ministers and senior officials and so on. Within this institutional framework, the EU and India have launched a comprehensive and fruitful cooperation. There is much active political collaboration, such as in the reform of the United Nations and the fight against terrorism, based on common values. Trade and investment between the EU and India are experiencing strong growth but lack symmetry.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Economy, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Europe, India, and Asia

357. Reverse Balkanisation? Trade Integration in South-East Europe

Author:
David Kernohan
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
Recent research from the World Bank and elsewhere suggests that openness to trade was a vital ingredient in the transition of the former Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) that joined the EU in May 2004. Current EU association agreements in South East Europe indicate that future enlargements may need to accommodate the remaining former Yugoslav Republics as well as the existing candidate countries. This paper examines persistent concerns that trade openness in South East Europe generally, and the former Yugoslav Republics in particular, is much less advanced than it was for the former CEECs in the mid to late 1990s. In particular we examine the issue of whether the present network of bilateral trade arrangements put in place under the Stability Pact has had much effect in boosting trade integration and whether trade within the region is currently at or below its potential. Given the small size of many of the countries in the region, we find that trade patterns remain problematic. In some cases they are smaller than might be expected but in several cases there is an overdependence on trade with old Yugoslav neighbours. In view of this, we consider that current plans to extend the Stability Pact matrix of bilateral trade agreements into a pan-regional trade association are likely to be inadequate. A better option, and one more likely to have a more immediate effect, would be to extend the present Customs Union with Turkey to include trade with the entire South East European zone of countries linked to the EU.
Topic:
International Relations and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

358. Europe's Financial Perspectives in Perspective

Author:
Paul Veenendaal, Herman Stolwijk, and George Gelauff
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The budget of the European Union nearly always raises much commotion. Many member states anxiously guard their net payment positions: don't they pay too much for the EU compared to what they receive from the EU? Yet, from an economic perspective the subsidiarity principle is much more important: Should the funds be allocated by the Union or by the individual member states? From that angle, a number of fundamental reforms of European agricultural policy and structural actions (support to lagging regions) suggest themselves. These reform options may more than halve the EU budget. In addition they happen to bring the net payment positions of member states closer together.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe

359. Modelling the Multifunctionality of Czech Agriculture

Author:
Ivan Foltýn and Tomáš Doucha
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The transformation of Czech agriculture since 1990 under the different stages of agricultural policy has resulted in the emergence of a strong, dual farm structure with a high share of leased land and profit-maximising (vs. family) farms. This working paper assesses the current situation concerning the multifunctional aspects of Czech farms. Applying a non-linear optimising model (FARMA 4), this study simulates the effects of different policy scenarios up to 2010 on the selected set of indicators of multifunctionality for eight farm categories (differentiated into three regions and by profit/income orientation). Under all the scenarios, there is a tendency towards a more extensive level of production with lower labour input, particularly by the profit-oriented farms that prevail in Czech agriculture.
Topic:
Agriculture, Politics, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe and Czech Republic

360. The Trade-Induced Effects of the Services Directive and the Country-of-Origin Principle

Author:
Arjan Lejour, Henk Kox, and Roland de Bruijn
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The proposed ServicIn March 2004, the European Commission proposed a directive on the internal market in services. Its aim is to boost the EU's internal market in services by reducing regulation-based impediments to trade and investment in services. A previous CPB study The free movement of services within the EU concluded that bilateral trade in commercial services may increase by 30-60 per cent. This equals an increase of total intra-EU trade (i.e. including trade in goods) of 2 to 5 per cent. For foreign direct investment in commercial services the EU proposal may lead to an increase by 20 per cent to 35 per cent.
Topic:
Economics, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe