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192. Checking the Czech Role in the European Neighbourhood
- Author:
- Petr Kratochvil and Elsa Tulmets
- Publication Date:
- 05-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of International Relations Prague
- Abstract:
- If a stranger were asked to choose the most ambitious of the current EU policies, he might pick the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP): Not only does it bring forty-three countries together, EU members and non-members alike, but its main aims are so broad, and at times so contradictory, that one wonders how all of them could be reached: The Policy purportedly should provide stabilisation and democratisation; it should secure inclusion but avoid further enlargement; it should ensure differentiation, yet create “one ring of friends”. All this makes the ENP similar to a strange animal whose future evolution is shrouded from the observations of even the most penetrating analysts.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Eastern Europe
193. Danish positions on key developments in the European Union
- Author:
- Gry Thomasen
- Publication Date:
- 02-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The biggest surprise in the current Danish debate is that there is still very broad coverage of EU issues involving the media and public conferences, particularly regarding the Constitutional Treaty; energy and the environment; enlargement to South Eastern Europe and beyond; and more recently the difficult relations between Russia and the EU. The public debate over the Constitutional Treaty is active, while the government looks forwards to what the German Presidency, as well as the 'No' countries, put forward as suggestions after the French Presidential elections. Following Denmark's four-point suggestion at Lahti for an EU energy policy, the Danish concerns over renewable supply, increased efficiency, a liberalised market, and more research in order to improve energy security have heightened. After the Commission's report of enlargement and integration capacity, the Danish debate has focused on support for the Croatian bid for EU membership, whilst emphasising the need for considerable reforms in Turkey. Finally, following the rebuke by Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and Poland in Lahti on the question of human rights in Russia after the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the failure to overcome the Polish-Russia impasse at the EU-Russia summit is also important in the Danish debate.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Russia and Europe
194. Reflections on Multilevel Legitimacy
- Author:
- Fritz W. Scharpf
- Publication Date:
- 07-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
- Abstract:
- The function of legitimacy is to ensure voluntary compliance with unwelcome exercises of governing authority. Since practically all European law needs to be implemented and enforced by the governments and courts of the member states, the EU does not have to face its citizens directly. It follows that the legitimacy of European governance ought to be conceptualized at two levels. At one level, the legitimacy of member states is decisive for the compliance of individuals and firms, regardless of the ultimate origin – international, European or national – of the rules that demand this compliance. At the other level, the legitimacy of the European “government of governments” is decisive for the voluntary compliance of member states with the obligations imposed on them by the EU. What should be worrying however is the impact which EU governance – especially the rules of negative integration defined by politically non-accountable actors – may have on the legitimacy of member states, and ultimately on their capacity to comply.
- Topic:
- Government, International Law, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe
195. The Effects of Alternative Policy Scenarios on Multifunctionality: A Case Study of Spain
- Author:
- Irene Blanco, Arancha Simó, and Consuelo Varela-Ortega
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper focuses on the comparative analysis and evaluation of the impact of multifunctionality on the agricultural sector for different scenarios that take into account the protection of the environment and natural resources as well as the international trade agreements in the context of the EU agricultural sector. The research focuses on two different regions in Spain that represent the continental agriculture of the region of Castilla-Leon in the northern central plateau and the Mediterranean fertile agriculture of Andalusia in the south. The analysis has been carried out based on mathematical programming models that simulate farmers' behaviour and their response to the different policy scenarios that correspond to the EU agricultural policies (CAP programmes) and water policies (Water Framework Directive) currently in place. Specifically, these scenarios are: full and partial decoupling, subsidy modulation, crop prices reduction, cross-compliance measures and water pricing policies. Results indicate that the new decoupled CAP will not lead to drastic changes in land use in the two regions studied but will have negative repercussions on farmers' income. Moreover, the introduction of additional measures, such as cross-compliance, will contribute substantially to improving and protecting the environment even though they amount to an additional cost for farmers. Reduction in crop prices will have significant effects on international trade and is likely to produce a reduction in farm intensification and hence a beneficial effect on the environment but will involve negative socio-economic impacts in marginal rain-fed farms. As regards the integration of agricultural and water conservation policies, the application of the EU Water Framework Directive in conjunction with the new CAP reform would produce different regionspecific effects and might question the viability of a number of irrigated farms in Spain.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Spain
196. Potential WTO Trade Reform: Multifunctionality Impacts for Ireland?
- Author:
- Kevin Hanrahan and Trevor Donnellan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- The economic impact of trade policy reforms on various sectors of the economy receives more attention than the effects on the environment. This may be partly owing to the secondary importance attributed to environmental or multifunctionality issues when economic consequences take centre stage. An additional consideration, however, may be the practical difficulties of bringing together models that examine the economic impact of trade policy reforms and models that can measure environmental or multifunctionality indicators.
- Topic:
- Economics, Politics, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Ireland
197. A Synergy for Black Sea Regional Cooperation: Guidelines for an EU Initiative
- Author:
- Fabrizio Tassinari
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- On 17 July 2006, Fabrizio Tassinari, Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen and visiting Research Fellow at CEPS, presented his study entitled \'A Synergy for Black Sea Regional Cooperation: Guidelines for an EU Initiative\', financed by the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Balkans
198. Trail to Failure: History of the Constitutional Rejection and Implications for the Future
- Author:
- Richard Baldwin
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- The French and Dutch no-votes were a huge blow to the Constitutional Treaty. The deadline for ratification is suspended and as of early 2006, neither the French nor the Dutch government had a plan for reversing the fatal votes. In short, there is no plan for putting the Constitution into force.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Dutch
199. Environmental Policy Competition and Differential Tax Treatment: A Case for Tighter Coordination?
- Author:
- Paul J. G. Tang and Richard Nahuis
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- The Kyoto Protocol binds the level of greenhouse gas emissions in participating countries. It does, however, not dictate how the countries are to achieve this level. The economic costs of reaching emission targets are generally evaluated to be low. For example, evaluations with applied general-equilibrium models estimate the costs to be in the range of 0.2% to 0.5% of GDP, when international trade in emissions rights among governments is allowed for. We argue that important costs are overlooked since governments are inclined to choose highly distorting tax schemes.
- Topic:
- Economics, Environment, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe
200. 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