EU

The great European dream was to diminish militant nationalism' (Antony Beevor). The future remains open, and some degree of nationalism may be constantly present, but one thing can be expressed with confidence: the European Union has successfully averted conflict within the 'club' and has been a clearly powerful incentive for reconciliation between former enemies as well as bringing democracy in countries formerly ruled by dictatorships. The present crisis apart, the European project remains incomparable. Indeed, this presents an inescapable imperative to any notion of resistance towards the completion of the European integration project. This article focuses on the integration project of the Old Continent's southeastern corner; more specifically, it concerns how a culture-based or incited-conflict can shape a specific cultural setting and, in return, how that culture can be transformed into one of cooperation. The inquiry is placed in the context of the relationship with, and impact of, the EU, which can serve both as example and promoter of such a culture.

The article provides a comprehensive review of the foreign historiography of the Danish foreign policy in 1970–1980s based on the chronological and regional principles. The article examines the views of Scandinavian, European and American foreign scholars on the foreign policy issues of Northern European countries in the 1970–1980s.

"La legge n. 92 del 2012 ha apportato alcune modifiche alla disciplina dei licenziamenti collettivi, consistenti in una serie di cambiamenti alla procedura prescritta dalla legge n. 223 del 1991.
Questa riforma riveste una portata rilevante in termini sia pratici che di sistema. Essa, infatti, da un lato, si colloca all’interno di un’ importante revisione degli ammortizzatori sociali, con abolizione, seppure non immediata, dell’indennità di mobilità, dall’altro interviene su due profili, oggetto di massimo interesse da parte del legislatore comunitario e molto significativi della regolazione: quello della correttezza dello svolgimento della procedura di informazione e consultazione e quello, strettamente complementare al primo, delle conseguenze sanzionatorie in caso di vizi della medesima"

Nell’attuale quadro normativo europeo i riferimenti al dato culturale sono molteplici, ma è ancora assente una trattazione organica del tema e il settore di riferimento è la cultura considerata in senso più ampio, secondo quanto disposto dall’art. 151 del tce, ora articolo 167 del tfue. Il diritto dei beni culturali sembra rimanere confinato nelle frontiere nazionali. È evidente, pertanto, che l’azione dell’Unione europea sia rivolta al plurale concorrendo, quindi, allo sviluppo “delle culture” degli Stati membri e non di una cultura propriamente europea. Nel settore dei beni culturali l’attività normativa di diritto secondario ha avuto come obiettivo quello di conciliare nel mercato interno la libera circolazione dei beni culturali con le esigenze di protezione degli stessi. Prima dell’adozione del regolamento 3911/92, relativo all’esportazione dei beni culturali, e della direttiva 7/93, relativa alla restituzione dei beni culturali usciti illecitamente dal territorio di uno Stato membro, gli Stati si limitavano, infatti, ad effettuare controlli alle frontiere esclusivamente con riguardo ai beni rientranti nel proprio patrimonio

"PLEASE READ THIS PAPER AND GIVE ME FEEDBACK
s.collignon@lse.ac.uk



As nominal policy interest rates are hitting the lower zero bound in many industrialised countries, questions are raised about possible unintended consequences. This note argues that low interest rates reduce the long run rate of potential economic growth, but exiting “ultra-easy” policies now would be premature."

The relationship between the European Union and Egypt on migration is as uncomfortable for Europe as it is unavoidable. The EU's goal of reducing irregular migration by working with actual and potential transit countries around Europe has provided Egypt with greater leverage over its European neighbors - a development that worries not only human rights advocates, but many actors who follow the actions of the country's authoritarian regime

Бъдещето на политиката на ЕС в областта на околната среда Една от политическите сфери, в които ЕС е световен лидер е политиката за опазване на околната среда (ПООС). Тази политика е изключително широка, както по обхват така и по обем -състои се от близо 800 акта на вторичното право на ЕС в области като: качество на въздуха, сладководните и соленоводните басейни, управление на битовите отпадъци, използване на вредни химически препарати и пестициди, опазване на почвите и дори шумово замърсяване и миграция на птиците. Макар и липсваща в началото на интеграционния процес днес политиката в областта на околната среда се е превърнала в един от най-значимите приоритети за ЕС като част от икономическата идеология на ЕС за устойчиво развитие. Устойчивото развитие, както и изискванията за защита на околната среда са от такава важност за Съюза, че Договорът (чл. 11 ДФЕС) предвижда всеки законодателен акт на ЕС, свързан с общите политики да бъде съобразен с тези цели 1 .

Che cos’è l’ordine internazionale liberale e perché è a rischio di estinzione? Dai suoi esordi, all’in­domani del primo dopoguerra, l’ordine liberale ha significativamente mutato trama, attori e toni della politica internazionale, mirando a creare istituzioni e norme che imbrigliassero le forze che per secoli hanno condotto le comunità politiche a farsi la guerra. Mai realizzato compiutamente, l’ordine liberale ha prodotto la più significativa rete di connessioni tra le società, giungendo a ren­dere la guerra improbabile nelle aree nelle quali si è affermato più in profondità. Un modello ambizioso che, rifiutandosi di separare lo spazio pa­cifico della democrazia liberale e quello interna­zionale degli stati vestfaliani, promette benessere diffuso, sicurezza e prospettive di progresso per i singoli individui e per i gruppi. Oggi, tuttavia, molto del liberalismo delle origini sembra essersi perduto. Al libero mercato si sono sostituiti oligo­poli globali, alla centralità dell’individuo la politica dell’identità che ipostatizza l’appartenenza di gruppo; alla promessa di benessere per tutti sono subentrate crescenti ineguaglianze. Promesse mancate del liberalismo che lo hanno delegittimato, originando manifestazioni antagoniste che sosti­tuiscono la fiducia nel progresso con lo scettici­smo nei confronti delle forze che lo rendono pos­sibile (la scienza, la tecnica, il sapere). Gli effetti sono evidenti sia internamente alle democrazie liberali sia a livello internazionale.
Il volume analizza le fondamenta, l’evoluzione e la crisi dell’ordine liberale, sottolineando le sfide rappresentate dalle ricette neoliberiste all’economia globale, dalla rivoluzione digitale e dalla necessità di combinare sicurezza e diritti, riven­dicazioni particolaristiche e vocazione univer­salista. L’elezione di Donald Trump, la Brexit, il populismo sovranista, la crisi del multilaterali­smo, l’euroscetticismo vengono interpretati nel quadro complessivo di un ordine vittima delle proprie mancate promesse. Il risultato è un qua­dro complesso e articolato, nel quale processi di natura tecnologica, sociale, politica ed econo­mica si intrecciano, a livello globale, regionale e nazionale. L’esito finale induce più di una preoc­cupazione per le sorti dell’ordine internazionale fondato sul diritto, delle istituzioni nazionali ba­sate sulla democrazia liberale e dei processi di integrazione politica come l’Unione europea. Le sfide sono tali per cui non basterà la capacità di resistere, ma occorrerà quella di adattarsi e tra­sformarsi. Solo così il sipario sull’ordine liberale potrà restare aperto.
ISBN 9788834340066

There has been  a shortage of a general discussion  about the benefits and shortcomings for the public in Iceland in relations to the possibility of Iceland joining the European Union (EU) and European Monetary Union  (EMU). The main  reason  is probably  due to  shortage of conclusion regarding this specific subject.
The aim of this research is to scrutinize this subject with the following research question in mind:

What are the benefits and shortcomings of joining the EU & EMU for the Icelandic worker?

An insight into the foundations of EU, EMU and the agreement on the
European  Economic Association (EEA agreement) will be provided
before looking  into  the three fundamental subjects that are of great
importance for the Icelandic public. They are: common social factors,
prices on food and beverages as well as interest rates on loans and the  monetary policy.
The paper concludes that there are many benefits at stake for the public if Iceland decides to join the EU and EMU. The common social factor would change the least due to the EEA agreement but as for the food and beverages cost it is clear that it would dramatically change for the benefit of the public. In regard to interest rates and monetary policy in Iceland the EMU would change the scenery in those areas to the better.
However the most important factor for the Icelandic worker is
regarding rates and loan cost due to high debts of Icelandic families.

Caratteri generali dell'Esecuti vo Esecutivi deboli e poco collegiali, basati generalmente su coalizione (5 o più partiti) Esecutivo forte, predominato dal PM. Predominanza di governi monocolori, con possibilità di governi di minoranza (es. PS 1995-99). Basi giuridiche Titolo III, Sezione I, artt. 92-96 Cost. Articoli generici, che pertanto lasciano alla legge il compito di disciplinare in modo più dettagliato struttura ed attività del governo. Commented [FB1]: 6Amato-Barbera, II, 1997: 189 Commented [FB3]: 6 Simone 226/1998: 107-108 e 125 -128 Commented [FB5]: Jorge Miranda V, 169 -170 Commented [FB6]: Jorge Miranda V, 205-209 Commented [FB7]: Jorge Miranda V, 168. NB che implica che le regioni non possono implementarle direttamente!! Commented [FB8]: Jorge Miranda V, 178-180 Commented [FB4]: Simone: Elementi di Diritto Costituzionale, 47-48

This paper expands on recent debates over the merits of online crowdfunding platforms (CFPs) by looking at the extent to which these sorts of funding sites have the potential to contribute to the development of civic society ideals in Europe. In particular, it looks at how online CFPs and other peer-to-peer lending sites are beginning to alter the way in which charities and non-governmental organisations finance their activities. In addition, it also discusses how these sorts of investment platforms have the capacity to affect the way in which individual actors engage with one another at both the local and transnational level. Overall, then, what this paper shows is that, aside from their evident financial and economic benefits, CFPs also have the capacity to help foster and strengthen non-parliamentary democratic structures and practices. As such, they should be supported and encouraged as part of a framework of further European democratisation and civic integration.

EU internal security policy has been in recent years progressively focused on prevention of threats and risks. The 2010 Internal Security Strategy for the EU highlighted the need for 'prevention and anticipation' conceived as a proactive intelligence-led approach to EU internal security. A pre-crime framework has been widely applied in fields like security studies, police science, criminology, ethics, political sociology and political geography, owing to its inherent explanatory power. The core element of pre-crime approach is the selection and identification of the most probable among abstract risks and dispersed threats, and the profiling, or sorting out, of particular social groups or individuals posing presumably imminent threats. This paper aims at inserting the concept of intelligence tradecraft into the pre-crime analytical framework and verify the usefulness of such an approach to the study of EU internal security governance. The paper will focus on 'intelligence process' and 'intelligence product', i.e. how the stakeholders of EU internal security policy construct, modify and develop 'products' allowing for a better risk management and threat assessment in the context of precautionary and anticipatory attitudes towards EU security governance.

With heading toward 2014, when the international troops leave Afghanistan and the Afghan National Security Forces (ASNF) have to take the responsibility for securing the country, the capabilities of the ASNF are in the focus of many research and scholarship. The question is not only whether the ANSFs would be able to prevent the Taliban taking over the country, but also the question is about whether the Afghan National Police (ANP) would be able to keep order and gain trust of the population to cooperate with them. The later question leads us to the European Union (EU) roles which has been working with the ANP and has trained them to for prosecuting the criminals and keeping the socio-political order. Through EU Police mission in Afghanistan, the EU has been working with the ANP since 2006. In this paper, I will explain the origin of the EUPOL mission in Afghanistan and will look for the challenges the EUPOL faces in Afghanistan and for explanations of failure of the EUPOL mission in the country.

"Abstract: This paper intends to understand the major institutional factors related to the economic development of the European Union (EU) countries in the last two decades. It provides some contributions to the institutionalist debate of the present crisis of the European Union, and within it, the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The two main issues of the empirical research are the effect of the different institutions on economic growth and the relative importance of institutions compared with the traditional macroeconomic components of economic development. The institutionalist traditions of comparative political science and political economy as well as institutional economics define the framework of interpretation. The analysis sheds some light on the relationship between economic development and the different institutional dimensions, namely the legal environment, political institutions, public policy institutions (governance) and the informal institutions, the cultural components of the economic-political behaviour.
The empirical research examines the development pattern of the European Union countries between 1993 and 2011 as well as the relationship between economic development and institutional quality in that period by descriptive and explanatory statistical methods. The results reveal strong relationship among the different aspects of institutional quality in the EU countries; within Europe we cannot observe a Singaporean type contradictory constellation between the quality of democratic institutions and public policy effectiveness. The path of European development has been drawing a conspicuously strong correlation among the
different institutional dimensions: the high quality of democratic institutions, the respect of the rule of law and property rights and the effective governance are going hand in hand with the growth-supporting components of the culture. In cultural terms, the high level of trust, respect and self-determination as well as the
lack of obedience ensure the most successful long-term growth pattern in Europe. Another important finding is that the EMU countries are conspicuously heterogeneous in their institutional quality and the Mediterranean members of the Euro area are institutionally closer to the non-EMU-member Central-Eastern
European countries than the core EMU countries. Concerning the economic policy consequences, the heterogeneity of the informal institutions fundamentally challenges the effectiveness of the approach of stronger harmonisation by stricter formal rules and stricter sanctions against the norm-breaking Euro area members.

Keywords: economic development; European Union; Euro area; institutions; culture, democracy
JEL classification: O43; O52; P16"

Turkey-EU relations are currently in a state of flux. Turkey and the EU have moved apart in their political aspirations after accession talks faced a stalemate due to the Republic of Cyprus’ EU accession as a divided island. The EU has been shaken to its very core by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and as a result the enlargement of the EU has dropped down the agenda. In contrast Turkey has become an economic powerhouse in an extremely volatile region. The Turkish government has been following a consistent policy of establishing itself as the leader in its region and as a result a significant part of the Turkish population no longer sees EU accession as the only option to secure long-term economic growth and political stability.

The book explores the current challenges as well as opportunities facing the Turkey-EU relations, questioning the existing models in light of recent developments. The book is interdisciplinary in nature bringing together perspectives from the disciplines of international relations, political science and law.

The book analyses current shifts in the dynamics of Turkey-EU relations in order to surmise what the future of this relationship might hold. The book focuses on four main themes: the effect of the Cyprus conflict; the potential for a structured Turkey-EU cooperation particularly with regard to the Middle Eastern region in the wake of the Arab Spring; the future of democratic reform in Turkey under fading EU influence; and finally, the changing role of Europe in Turkish political discourse as well as the daily lives of Turkish citizens.

This article explores the recent transformations of the Romanian peasantry and critically discusses interpretations of these changes as either indicating the persistence or the disappearance of peasants in Romania. It shows that beyond the labels of depeasantization and repeasantization, which are extensively used to describe rural scenarios under socialism and postsocialism, it is important to take analytic account of the more complex social relations between different actors that are developing under the impact of interacting local and global processes. Given the sharp differences between peasants and the new class of agricultural rentiers, as well as the variations within the latter group, the different rent regimes in which peasants negotiate their control over land and subsistence involve complex relationships and statuses. The article concludes by hypothesizing possible ways in which all of these relationships could be transformed in the long run in the new context of the EU agricultural policy and by discussing two possible scenarios for the Romanian rural landscape, namely, those of peripheral and nonperipheral capitalism.

Discusses the fundamentals of a VAT, its origin, the practice in Nigeria as well as its shortcomings considering the presence of State Sales Tax.

The paper also looks at the adoption of VAT in other federal states and how the States have been able to successfully administer a VAT alongside a State Sales Tax.

Pendant plus d’un demi-siècle, la politique étrangère de l’UE envers l’Afrique a évolué dans le contexte des FED successifs et de l’Accord de Cotonou (faisant suite à la Convention de Lomé). En réponse à la demande de l’Union africaine (UA) formulée en 2003, l’UE a créé dans le cadre du 9ème FED un nouvel instrument de financement de la politique étrangère, la Facilité de soutien à la Paix
en Afrique (APF) qui se fonde sur la philosophie de l’établissement d’un « lien entre le développement et la sécurité » étant donné que le développement économique ne peut avoir lieu que dans des conditions de paix et de sécurité.

Avec le 10ème FED, le Plan d’Action APF 2008-2010 a pour objectif général de contribuer au programme de paix et de sécurité en Afrique par le biais d’un soutien ciblé sur le plan régional et continental dans le domaine de la prévention, de la gestion et de la résolution des conflits ainsi que dans celui de la construction de la paix. L’APF traite de la paix et de la sécurité conformément aux
principes sous-jacents de la Stratégie Conjointe Union européenne-Afrique (SCUA)1:
appropriation, partenariat et solidarité. Les objectifs spécifiques de l’APF 2008-2010 correspondent aux trois priorités du partenariat Afrique-UE en matière de paix et de sécurité dans le cadre du premier plan d’action (2008-2010), à savoir :
Ø Apporter un financement aux opérations de soutien à la paix (OSP) menées par l’Afrique ;
Ø Mettre en œuvre l’Architecture africaine de paix et de sécurité (APSA) ;
Ø Promouvoir un dialogue au sujet des défis en matière de paix et de sécurité en Afrique.

In the wake of the euro-zone crisis, and the banking and economic crisis, many European countries have experienced an increase in the government debt load. The governments of Europe acting under the pressure of the troika, consisting of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF, have pledged to austerity policies in the hope that reducing government spending and raising taxes would alleviate the debt burden, and improve consumer and investor confidence and export, leading to the anticipated economic recovery. This paper studies the social and economic consequences of austerity policies in seven European countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Ireland, UK and Latvia), and argues that the austerity policies in Europe have deteriorated rather than improved the fate of the European economies; increased rather than decreased the national debt; and raised rather than alleviated social suffering through enormous cutbacks in the social welfare, health care and education systems; the lay-off of many public-sector workers; the increase of the unemployment rate; labor market reforms that made employment relationships more insecure and reduced wages; a deterioration in overall health; a rise in suicide and depression rates; and a rise in social unrest. The paper also offers alternatives to the current impasse in the Eurozone, including a cancellation of debts; a tax increase on the wealthy; a break-up of the euro-zone followed by currency devaluation in the periphery; the increase in domestic consumption in the surplus countries, such as Germany, and a stimulus program for the periphery; and the creation of a EU fiscal union.

ii Statutory Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has been written by myself without any external unauthorised help, that it has been neither presented to any institution for evaluation nor previously published in its entirety or in parts. Any parts, words or ideas, of the thesis, however limited, and including tables, graphs, maps etc., which are quoted from or based on other sources, have been acknowledged as such without exception.

By analysing both the political and economic dimensions of the European Single Currency, this paper argues that the current Eurozone crisis was inevitable given the economic flaws of a politically inspired project. More fundamentally, however, it is the lack of political legitimacy that may finally prevent a sustainable resolution of the crisis.

Використовується теорія Роберта Купера щодо модерних та пост-модерних держав задля пояснення неефективності Спільної зовнішньої та безпекової політики Європейського Союзу. Так, неефективність СЗБП пояснюється невідповідністю її характеру (пост-модерний) характеру викликів, яким вона покликана дати відповідь (модерні).

"The Report presents insights which illuminates the intertwinements of European regulatory policies and global governance arrangements. By pinning down the exact nature of the interaction between these two levels, the EU’s dilemma becomes obvious: On the one hand, stronger global governance can be a chance, through which the EU can clarify its own raison d’être of increased integration to the wider world. On the other hand, the design of the European project is being challenged by more assertive global structures. This is especially the case in relation to the WTO regime, which is constraining the decisional autonomy of the EU, regarding the appropriateness of its content and its external effects. Thus, the regulation of services in the EU and the WTO are discussed in the first section of this report. Section two focuses on labour standards, which are analysed from different angles in order to clarify the functions of the WTO and the ILO, multinational companies as well as other private actors within this specific field. The final section deals with the legitimacy problematic of transnational governance.

Table of contents:

Introduction
Christian Joerges and Poul F. Kjaer

Section One: Freedom of Services

Chapter 1
The Multiple Understandings of Conflict between Trade in
Services and Labour Protection
Alexia Herwig
Chapter 2
Competing in Markets, not Rules:
The Conflict over the Single Services Market
Susanne K. Schmidt
Chapter 3
Competitiveness and Labour Protection: A Comment
Markus Krajewski
Section Two: Labour Standards
Chapter 4
WTO and ILO: Can Social Responsibility be maintained
in International Trade?
Josef Falke
Chapter 5
Reframing RECON: Perspectives on Transnationalisation and
Post-national Democracy from Labour Law
Claire Methven O’Brien
Chapter 6
Transnational Governance and Human Rights: The Obligations of
Private Actors in the Global Context
Regina Kreide
Section Three: The Legitimacy of Transnational Governance
Chapter 7
Legitimacy through Precaution in European Regulation of GMOs?
From the Standpoint of Governance as Analytical Perspective
Maria Weimer
Chapter 8
The Justice Deficit of the EU and other International Organisations
Jürgen Neyer
Chapter 9
Towards Normative Legitimacy of the World Trade Order
Alexia Herwig and Thorsten Hüller
Chapter 10
From Utopia to Apology – The Return to Inter-state Justice
in Normative IR Scholarship: Comments on Neyer and
Herwig & Hüller
Jens Steffek"

The Showcasing Innovative Greece publication, presents both first and second generation programmes with particular emphasis to their categorisation according to four different typologies (i.a. regional economic activity, overall innovation performance, trade globalisation regional innovation index, sectoral specialization of regions). They aimed to become an innovative energy boost for Greek regional economies. Their accumulated experience could serve as a beacon and example for other remote regions with less favourable circumstances.

Addressing the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) and cultural and scientific heritage, this paper focuses on the wider subject of accessdissemination and preservation of scientific information and cultural resources in the digital era. After examining the UNESCO notion of digital heritage and the international guidelines to maintain and diffuse knowledge (increasingly produced, distributed, accessed and maintained in digital form), the work analyzes the causes and consequences of the EU digital policy.  A first key goal of the EU strategic framework concerning the digitization is to set up and develop a European digital library, combining multicultural and multilingual environments with technological advances and new business models. A second objective is to launch an open access pilot project, making the results of EU-funded research in some strategic areas freely available online. A third purpose is “Digital Rights Management”, regulating the role of copyright in the “knowledge economy”. Finally the paper concludes that the EU policy of digitization is both an important step towards achieving the international digital agenda at the regional level, and to promote the free movement of knowledge and innovation as the “Fifth Freedom” in the single market.

"La materia che noi qualifichiamo della criminalità organizzata è stata oggetto nella storia della codificazione delle figure delittuose autonome associative ed è stata considerata, così come sempre la categoria del reato politico, difforme rispetto ai principi definiti generali ordinari del diritto e della responsabilità penale: in ragione, l’una, della particolare pericolosità costituita dalla forma associativa, l’altra, della particolare entità dei beni tutelati esposti a rischio. La qualificazione di criminalità organizzata risale agli anni settanta del secolo da poco trascorso, sia per la diffusione ed entità dei fenomeni sia per l’affermazione e la diffusione della teoria e delle nozioni generali dell’organizzazione.
La materia dei delitti associativi, della responsabilità penale a titolo associativo, tradizionalmente considerata carente di tassatività e determinatezza, viene riempita di contenuti e di significati, della definizione, della prova e dell’argomentazione, quindi della motivazione dei provvedimenti, dall’attraversamento della teoria generale dell’organizzazione, e quindi dalla epistemologia della complessità. L’organizzazione è peculiare, invero costituisce la peculiarità, della stessa categoria del reato politico, che viene parimenti arricchita e pure ridefinita dalla teoria dell’organizzazione
Oggi si pone il problema di un approccio di carattere (il più possibile) generale e sistematico, dal punto di vista penalistico, alle forme e ai fenomeni di criminalità organizzata, sia comune che politica: un approccio che consenta il dialogo tra i vari sistemi giuridici e istituzionali, dei diversi Stati, differenti in modo particolare in queste materie. Questo approccio presuppone il collegamento delle nozioni generali dell’organizzazione (diffuse nei più diversi ambiti e settori scientifici) con le nozioni penalistiche ordinarie, le une e le altre comuni e fruibili fra le diverse culture
"

La Eucaristía es el sacrificio mismo del Cuerpo y de la Sangre del Señor Jesús, que Él instituyó para perpetuar en los siglos, hasta su segunda venida, el sacrificio de la Cruz, confiando así a la Iglesia el memorial de su Muerte y Resurrección. Es signo de unidad, vínculo de caridad y banquete pascual, en el que se recibe a Cristo, el alma se llena de gracia y se nos da una prenda de la vida eterna.