EU & European Studies - Science topic

To be able to deal head on with the social and environmental sustainability failures linked to NON-CIRCULAR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY thinking the Brundtland Commission in 1987(WCED) led us away from that type of thinking by recommending sustainable development tools....The WCED did not recommend then to go CIRCULAR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY THINKING to solve the social and environmental problems created by traditional economic thinking as in both economies you are not accounting for the social and environmental costs of doing business.

To be able to deal head on with the environmental sustainability failures linked to NON-CIRCULAR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY thinking the United Nations Commission on Sustainabiled development in 2012(UNCSD) was leading ust the way of circular green markets through green markets, green growth and green economies, away from business as usual.....The UNCSD did not recommend then to go CIRCULAR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY THINKING to solve the environmental problems created by traditional economic thinking as in both economies you are not accounting for the environmental costs of doing business.

In other words, the WCED was trying to fix a social and environmental sustainability problem by using sustainable development means to leave traditional thinking behind; and the UNCSD was trying to fix an environmental sustainability problem using green market thinking.

If the circular economy thinking has the same problems as the non-circular economic thinking of Adam Smith in social and/or environmental terms, how can circular economy thinking be presented today as the solution to the problem that the circular economy is also contributing to?

And this raises the question, Does CIRCULAR ECONOMY THINKING means a WORLD living under permanent social and environmental market failure?

What do you think? If you think No, why do you think so? If you think Yes, Why do you think so?

The Brundtland Commission told us in 1987 in "Our Common Future" that the traditional development model has failed us as it has brought with it deep social and environmental sustainability problems, and to leave TRADITIONAL ECONOMIC THINKING BEHIND they recommended sustainable development thinking, sadly they did not set priorities such as to focus sustainable development thinking to fix the social sustainability problem first, then the environmental sustainability problem or to focus on the environmental sustainability problem first, and then the social sustainability problem or focus on solving both problems, the social and environmental sustainability problems at the same time.

Notice, the WCED did not recommend to go CIRCULAR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT to lead traditional thinking behind.

This lack of foresight led to a very active competition between different sustainable development schools of thoughts, where in 2012 Rio +20 the WIN-WIN ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENTA MODEL or the ECO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SCHOOL OF THOUGHT WON the sustainable development contest; and they indicated the need to go green market, green growth, and green economies in THE FUTURE WE WANT(UNCSD 2012) as now, there was a priority, to solve the environmental sustainability problem first through green market circularity as WIN-WIN meant that now the environmental cost associated with economic activities were going to be reflected in green market prices.

Notice, that RIO +20 conference did not recommend to go CIRCULAR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY then because they knew it is not pollution reduction friendly as it only account for economic cost of production; and hence it is not consistent with the environmental responsibility priority they had set to advance now environmentally friendly development models.

Both the WCED 1987 approach and the UNCSD 2012 approach are approaches leading the world away from BUSINESS AS USUAL as both of them knew that the sustainability issues they were tasked to solve are driven by irresponsible market behavior in social and/or environmental terms.

Now like if the WCED 1987 process and the UNCSD 2012 process never took place, out of no where the world is systematically pushing the idea of CIRCULAR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY to solve the development problems IT HAS CREATED as documented by those 2 different but linked processes.

They are presenting the idea of the CIRCULAR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY as a solution to the environmental market failure the WCED and the UNCSD linked to traditional market thinking under broken circularity in practice, but circular in theory by the environmental externality neutrality assumption given to us by Adam Smith in 1776 and under which his market can expand for ever without producing environmental externalities. Hence, it seems like the market supporting this CIRCULAR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY is no longer a traditional market, and hence, it is no longer AN ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION PRODUCTION MARKET.

And this raises the question, What type of market and price structure is behind this current push on traditional economy circularity?

What do you think?

There is an environmental pollution problem linked to the environmental pollution production market of Adam Smith the world has been trying to solve ongoing since 1987/Our Common Future and later in 2012/RIO +20 The Future We Want. Both the WCED 1987 and the UNCSD 2012 recommended solutions other than CIRCULAR ECONOMY THINKING. They did this as they knew that this thinking is not environmental pollution reduction friendly and it is not pollution-less market/environmentally clean market friendly.

In other words, both the WCED and the UNCSD knew that the working of the traditional economy, circular by assumption or by definition leads to environmental problems, reason why the WCED asked us to go beyond traditional economic thinking, circular or not, to solve the sustainability issues of the day.

Yet today October 2023, the circular economy is presented, contrary to the facts above, as the solution to environmental problems caused by the traditional economy that feeds them or will feed them as now polluting is profit making and cleaning pollution is also profit making. This makes the circular economy a predetermine or science-less approach that can only be supported by alternative academic facts as it is not aimed at fixing the root cause of the environmental problems.

And this raises the question: Is the current circular economy thinking push a current example of academic tunneling?

What do you think? Yes, and why you think so? or No, and why you think so?

Think of the environmental sustainability problem the Brundtland Commission highlighted and documented in 1987(WCED) in “Our Common Future” as an environmental pollution production market problem, the consequence of a market failure that was always there and which has always been there embedded in the perfect traditional market thinking, but it was assumed away using environmental externality neutrality assumptions. A problem that can only be solved by internalizing the environmental cost of production in the pricing mechanism of the traditional market to shift it to green market pricing. Hence, only when we fix the root cause of the environmental pollution production problem, the environmentally distorted traditional market prices, we address the environmental pollution problem head on as when doing this we are making environmental pollution reduction a good business opportunity for green producers.

Since we have not fixed the root cause of the problem yet as there are no green markets in place today to transition green economies towards the environmentally clean economies; then this raises the question: Is the current traditional circular economy thinking push worse for the environment than the perfect traditional market economy thinking of Adam Smith that created the environmental problem in the first place?

If Yes, why? If, No, why not?

What do you think?

Avoiding the shift from perfect traditional market thinking to perfect green market thinking since 2012 RIO +20 has created a deep green market paradigm shift knowledge gap.

Flipping perfect traditional market thinking to imperfect dwarf green market thinking since 2012 to avoid the shift to perfect green markets has created a deep dwarf green market paradigm flip knowledge gap too.

These knowledge gaps are apparently helping those researchers and institutions implementing development under permanent environmental market failure as well as confusing environmental stakeholders on proper place for action and protest as the responsibility of governments, of businesses and of consumers are changed, and even inversed depending on the market in question.

And this raises the question, green market paradigm shift knowledge gaps and dwarf green market paradigm flip knowledge gaps, are they academic tunneling/willful blindness push helpers?

What do you think?

Under perfect green markets if there is a market failure, should governments be expected to act as market failure correctors and enforcers in the face of social pressure?

I think yes, what do you think?

The dirty economy is an economy running on dirty energy and the clean economy is an economy running on clean energy.

To seriously address the pollution generation problem of the dirty economy to go beyond living under polluting environments we have to transition it to the clean economy so one day we can be living in clean environments as living under polluting environments for ever is a daunting idea. Which raises the question, Is the idea of going carbon neutral through for example sequestration a clean market friendly idea?

What do you think?

For the UN:

"A circular economy entails markets that give incentives to reusing products, rather than scrapping them and then extracting new resources. In such an economy, all forms of waste, such as clothes, scrap metal and obsolete electronics, are returned to the economy or used more efficiently."

https://unctad.org/topic/trade-and-environment/circular-economy#:~:text=A%20circular%20economy%20entails%20markets,economy%20or%20used%20more%20efficiently.

And this raises the question: Is a circular economy focused on reusing waste a green economy or a dwarf green economy?

What do you think?

Circularity in reusing waste implies a world under ongoing waste production disconnected from green supply and green demand dynamics.

The UN works seems not to even think about the need to link circular economic thinking with clean economy thinking so as to envision one day such a transition

https://unctad.org/topic/trade-and-environment/circular-economy#:~:text=A%20circular%20economy%20entails%20markets,economy%20or%20used%20more%20efficiently.

And this raises the question: Can we transition to the environmentally clean economy through the use of reducing waste based circular economies?

I think No, what do you think?

What do you think, Yes or No, and why you think so?

China's rise to ‘great-power status’ in the 21st century, together with the growing

influence of the EU as a ‘normative power’2 has ushered in a period of significant geopolitical reorientations of the Central Asian states and of major external players. Specifically, over the past decade, the emergence of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) appears to have relatively altered the existing ‘balance of power’ in the CA region. By inventing the SCO— an inter-governmental security cooperation organization China has markedly increased its presence throughout the region politically, culturally, economically and militarily.At the beginning of the 21st century, however, the EU’s foreign policy toward the CA states underwent radical changes. On the basis of empirical observation, it can be argued that the events of 9/11 accompanied by the rise in ‘global discourse on terrorism’ made EU policy makers more aware of the rising political profile and strategic importance of the CA countries and encouraged them to carve out a differentiated, meaningful and value-oriented strategy vis-à-vis the region. How do the EU's norms differ from the ones promulgated by the Chinese and Russians within the SCO club?

Setting aside the problems raised by positive conflicts of jurisdiction, does it make any sense that the alleged corruption of MEPs is dealt with under Belgian (or French, or any other national) law, and is thus subject to the definition of the offence and the penalties it provides for?

I think Yes, what do you think?

Below are some articles with some food for thoughts shared recently in order to understand the nature, structure and expected working of exism movements

Sustainability thoughts 133: Stating the expected step by step road from majority rule based liberal democracies to permanent authoritarianism: The case of the 2016-2020 rise and fall of Trumpism

Moral and Amoral Liberal Democracies: How Targeted Chaos Can Affect the Democratic Process?

The 2016 shift from normal liberal democracy to extreme liberal democracy in the USA: Pointing out the structure of Trumpconomics, its meaning, and its expected local and global implications, both analytically and graphically

Sustainability thoughts 131: How can the shift from normal liberal democracies to extreme liberal democracies be used to extract the democratic structure that leads to the rise of temporary and permanent authoritarianism from within?

Sustainability thoughts 131: How can the shift from normal liberal democracies to extreme liberal democracies be used to extract the democratic structure that leads to the rise of temporary and permanent authoritarianism from within?

I have to write my bachelor's thesis on international relations and I'd like to dissert on children's legislation, with a comparison between east Asia (Japan or South Korea) and Europe. Does anybody know about some cases that may have entailed both?

I think Yes, what do you think?

Do the processes of unifying market, financial, economic, etc. structures on an international scale increase the economic, financial, energy, etc. security of the countries participating in this process?

Does the unification of market structures, an increase in standardization and homogenization of the functioning of economic and financial systems on an international scale, the removal of barriers to the cross-border flow of goods and production factors, the introduction of a common currency cause the acceleration of economic development, an increase in the level of economic and financial stability of the region composed of countries that thus increasingly cooperate with each other economically and not only economically?

An example of the unification of market structures, an increase in standardization and homogenization of the functioning of economic and financial systems on an international scale, the removal of barriers to the cross-border flow of goods and production factors, the introduction of a common currency is the European Union with its area of ​​the common currency, the Euro. European integration includes international cooperation, unifying market structures, removing barriers to the cross-border flow of goods and production factors. A higher level of international economic and financial integration is the adoption of a common currency, e.g. the Euro currency. Poland, just after the system and economic transformation in 1989, because already in the early 1990s, adopted a plan to adjust the economy, financial systems, banking, legal regulations, institutional and organizational issues, etc. to the standards of the European Union, in order to join the EU structures . The central bank in Poland, ie the National Bank of Poland, adopted a strategic plan to combat the then hyperinflation, stabilize the economy and prepare and adjust the financial system, including the banking system, to European Union standards at the very beginning of the 1990s. This process was carried out efficiently and effectively. Poland joined the EU in May 2004. Thus, the aforementioned period of adjustments to the economy, financial systems, banking, legal regulations, institutional and organizational issues, etc., lasted over a decade. The unification of market structures, an increase in the standardization and homogenization of the functioning of economic and financial systems on an international scale, the removal of barriers to the cross-border flow of goods and production factors leads to the reduction of the costs of the implementation of these processes and thus the formation of pro-development impulses that automatically activate economic processes on unified, homogenized markets . As a consequence, economic growth can significantly accelerate and stimulate economic development in the entire region of shared market structures operating in countries that increasingly cooperate with each other. The above-mentioned Unification of market structures, the functioning of economic and financial systems on an international scale, the removal of barriers to the cross-border flow of goods and production factors are also key factors accelerating the processes of economic globalization, globalization of financial systems, etc. Unfortunately, the governments of some, few countries in Europe act as if they did not appreciate these values. For example, unfortunately, this is how the current PIS government of the country in which I operate has operated for 7 years. The plan for Poland to adopt the common currency, the Euro, was adopted at the end of the 1990s. This plan could be implemented a few years after Poland joined the European Union. Unfortunately, the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 caused problems which resulted in the postponement of this plan. However, when the financial markets stabilized after 2009, there could be a return to the implementation of the above-mentioned plan of introducing the Polish economy to the area of ​​the common currency, Euro. However, the political options that took over the reign of power in Poland changed. The current government, which implements a populist economic policy consisting in increasing the scale of centralized state intervention, and finances new socio-economic programs mainly by increasing the public debt and printing the domestic currency PLN. Precisely because the largest socio-economic programs, including anti-crisis shields, which were used during the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) coronavirus pandemic in the form of public financial aid consisting in providing non-repayable subsidies to companies and enterprises, were also based on the reprint of the national currency PLN. The result of the use of additional printing of domestic money during a pandemic on a historically record-high scale was the increase in inflation, which started almost from the beginning of 2021. As the printing of the domestic currency PLN and additional issues of treasury bonds, increasing the public debt are the key instruments for the current government to implement government economic programs, the current government does not want to implement the plan of introducing the Polish economy to the euro area, adopted over two decades ago. As a result, the risk of debt and financial liquidity in the public finance system of the state increases, and inflation continues to rise. Recently, the Central Statistical Office published data showing that in August 2022 inflation increased again and reached a record level of 16.1 percent. Producer inflation is still much higher than consumer inflation, which, combined with the growing interest rates on bank loans, contributes to the deepening economic slowdown, the symptoms of which appeared already in mid-2022. The above-mentioned negative processes, in line with macroeconomic forecasts, will cause a serious downturn in the economy in Poland in the following quarters and in 2023. Core inflation is estimated at around 10 percent. Core inflation is estimated by subtracting food, fuel and energy, i.e. the key factors of international influence, including the impact of the war in Ukraine, from total consumer inflation. As the core inflation generated by internal factors in Poland is much higher than in the European Union, the domestic economic policy, national public policy, public finance management by the government, domestic monetary policy of the politicized central bank, etc. politicized, centrally controlled, interventionist and monetarist, national socio-economic policy in Poland increasingly distances Poland from the plan of adopting the common currency and increases the risk of liquidity and debt of the public finance system of the state. Therefore, in the event of the emergence of another global economic and / or financial crisis in the future, the Polish economy may find itself in a more serious crisis compared to previous crises. Besides, continuing these considerations in order to answer the question: Do the processes of unifying market and financial structures, etc. on an international scale increase the economic and financial security of the countries participating in this process? - further threats that affect the economies and civilization of many countries, such as the currently developing energy crisis and the constantly growing long-term risk of a future climate crisis, can also be taken into account. Transnational economic integration in the European Union also applies to environmental and climate policy, which, unfortunately, also do not belong to the priorities of the current government in Poland. The process of pro-environmental and pro-climate transformation of the Polish economy, including the energy sector, has been slowed down for 7 years in Poland. The result is still a significant advantage of dirty combustion energy in the generation of electricity and heat in Poland. Energy production in Poland based on the combustion of mainly hard coal and other fossil fuels is still 3/4 of the total energy sector. It is also a result of ignoring the guidelines of the environmental and climate policy of the European Union in Poland for many years. Therefore, the level of energy security in the context of the current energy crisis has been significantly lowered by this type of national energy policy. I examined the issues of the above-mentioned standardization of market structures, the functioning of economic and financial systems on an international scale, the removal of barriers to the cross-border flow of goods and production factors, I examined these issues on the example of the adaptation of the banking system, including commercial banks, to European banking. I have included the results of my research on this issue in articles that were published on my profile of this Research Gate portal. Researchers and scientists studying analogous processes of adjusting market structures, financial systems, banking, etc., are invited to scientific cooperation.

In view of the above, I address the following research question to the Honorable Community of Researchers and Scientists:

What is your opinion on this topic?

Please reply,

I invite everyone to the discussion,

Thank you very much,

Best regards,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

What are the main areas of EU influence? Why? How can we say that in a given geographical area the EU is acting as an International actor?

The coming of exism movements in 2016 led to the coming of extreme democratic outcomes within majority rule based liberal democracies like in the USA.

And this brought a change in the nature of democracy as it has led to a shift from true democracy thinking to temporary democratic authoritarianism thinking.

We are probably familiar with the structure of the forces competing for power in a true democracy, I think. but not with the forces competing in a temporary democratic authoritarianism system. Which raises the question, what is the structure of temporary democratic authoritarianism? Any ideas?

Feel free to express your own views so we can exchange ideas in a positive academic environment as this is an academic question, not a political one.

How do you evaluate the European Union's position on Refugees? Is the EU fair enough? Can irregular migration be prevented?

I would be grateful for literature recommendation on CSDP-JHA synergies as I am searching for the factors/key drivers that hinder/enable the strenghtening between those two policies within the field of the EU crisis management.

Taking into account the substantial changes of the EU institutional architecture, which of its institutions and bodies increased their competences under Lisbon Treaty? Thank you!!

The EU legal order has two interfaces one in relation to the national legal orders of the Member States and the other in relation to the international legal order and its function of external representation. From an outsider's perspective the competence of the EU for the purpose of external representation seems to be a complementary one. In reality this area is one of shared competence and therefore it is characterized of a high level of complexity.

Hey all,

I am currently working on two contributions dealing with Euro crisis countries. I have been able to review some literature on the matter at hand, but I was wondering whether there already is academic analysis on the following subjects:

1. Are Euro crisis countries, which are receiving support under an adjustment programme a sort of "second-class state", causing differentiated integration within the Euro area? One thing I noticed is that some provisions of the Two-pack are being applied differently to programme countries, so I was wondering whether there is further analysis on that subject.

2. Countries such as Greece and Spain have signed Memoranda of Understanding in dealing with the crisis. In this regard I would like to know whether there is analysis focusing on the political influence, the ECB receives in this setting.

I would like to find partners with common interests but different skills in the fields of Political Science, International Relations or International Organized Crime.

In the Time Series econometrics, J-J method of multiple linear cointegration method is acknowledged as more efficient in comparison to Engel-Granger single equation, and D.W statistic comparison methods.

But are there comparisons with non linear cointegration methods in terms of the efficiency and unbiasedness and robustness of the parameters estimated in any of the recent studies? In some studies published, I have seen simply panel using unit root tests of the economic data of different European countries, and if found stationary, the authors claim that those countries achieved economic convergence! My question is, if found non stationary why they rule out cointegration and therefore long run convergence?

Divergence within the EU legal order has many causes. EU law operates in an interactive mode in which the EU institutions and the legal orders of the 27 MS permanently exchange information and design a new legal architecture.

The centralized system of interpretation of EU law can also lead to different diverging impulses. First it is up to the national courts to refer a matter for preliminary ruling or not. Secondly the CJEU does not always provide a coherent guidance, partially due to the piecemeal construction of case law.

But at the end of the day, the most important matter is to know when norms of EU law can be invoked. What are the causes of divergence in your opinion?

Both archival sources and scientific articles are welcome. Analyses of Turkey's foreign policy towards Balkans generally include Turkish stances towards Bulgaria and Greece, but countries like Albania and Yugoslavia are neglected.

Dear Colleagues, in the light of the efforts some EU countries share in receiving asylum demands and the discussions and propositions in EU institutions, how do you see the solution for the reform of asylum legislation in the EU?

I'm looking for publications / articles about cooperation between branded products [especially cosmetics and perfumes] and customs services. How protect consumers from unsafe products and how protect intellectual property and trademarks from illicit trade?

Before the coming into force of Lisbon Treaty in 2009 the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU has been invoked in several cases despite its then non-binding value. Before this time point the opinions were divided between one stand-point claiming that the binding character would not change anything and an opposite view claiming that the different character would bring a revolutionary change.

These used to be on the EP-website, but were taken down for MEPs that were not re-elected in 2014. The historical archives have not archived them and the wayback machine hasn't stored them either... 

Birgitta Jonsdottir is a member of the Althing, the Icelandic parliament. Her district is the Reykjavík South Constituency. She was elected to the Icelandic parliament in April 2009 on behalf of a movement aiming for democratic reform beyond party politics of left and right, called "The Movement."

The Icelandic banks offered 100% bank loans with the possibility to double or even triple mortgage. Iceland has now rules on currency restrictions being meant to control the use and possession of foreign currency similar with the system existent in the communist countries, where a travel ticket was a requisite for any currency acquisition in the case of natural persons.

The financial recovery imposes a serious economic burden on the Icelandic people, but the burden is in fact more complex involving other aspects. What Birgitta reveals here raises serious doubts concerning the protection of the political rights of the people and she discusses the inflicting effect of the interventions from outside. She calls it the 'evil circle' and makes an analogy with the Greek situation.

Many young British people are against Brexit, but on June,20 a group of the young "True Finns" started their new campaign for exit. Last time they have gathered only 30,000 signs. Now the situation is the following: https://www.kansalaisaloite.fi/fi/aloite/2058 .

The BREXIT will have an impact on the economy of the member countries in Europe and an impact on firms. What do you think about the impact?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Our Prime Minister announced his resignation. The country is In the throes of instability, political, economic and social. Far Right terrorism resulted in the assassination of a Member of Parliament, immediately before the Referendum. The national mood is unsettled and divided. The international reverberations of Brexit will last for decades and more. There are many uncertainties, on many levels.

On the academic and scientific level, how will universities, international research projects and non-British students be affected? see https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p041klxk : on Brexit closing intellectual boundaries.

On the political level, does little England still see itself as the leader of Great Britain and the global power that it once postured as? Or are these little islands now a Dis-United Kingdom, which Scotland will now elect to leave?

On the social and societal level, should the English who strongly agree with Scotland consider moving to that beautiful country? Or is there hope that xenophobia, egocentricity and the short-sighted ‘small island mentality’ with its concomitant isolationism will not prevail in England over all that is good in British society?

On the historical level for European diplomacy, we may look for parallels in periods such as that of Offa and Charlemagne: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004f1c

I would be interested in any contributions on these lines. Please post any positive responses – and be respectful of others' views.

After the Lisbon Treaty the single market has been denominated as 'internal market'. Is there any substantive difference in your opinion and if the answer is affirmative, what would be this difference?

I am researching on the relationship between the preambles and the body of EU directives in the context of workers' rights to transnational information and consultation (specifically European Works Councils, but not exclusively). While it's obvious the body of the directives needs to be transposed on national level, the binding force of preambles is a point of discussion.

The questions I am looking at are:

1) Are Member States bound to transpose the content (concepts, not necessarily individual provisions) of the directives? The general opinion is: no, they are not. But, maybe other views or dissenting opinions are known to you?

2) If reply to the former question is negative then another question occurs: what's the role of preambles and if it is to stipulate 'the spirit of the directive' (legislator's intentions, goals, reasons, etc.) are national courts obliged (free?) to refer to preambles when deciding on national matters?

All arguments and references to papers/articles/research, etc. in favour of the importance/'binding' force of preambles are welcome (also in legislative areas other than EWCs/workers' rights).

In Poland an entry ban was also applied in asylum cases, accordingly, for a certain time. Fortunately this practice has now been abolished.

I am researching to what extent 1/2003 regulation has been efficient in guaranteeing equal competition across the EU with particular interest on the barriers this regulation was not able to remove. Looking for:

- identifying key problems of EU regulatory framework 

- supporting case law of last 8 years

- Commentaries made by scholars.

Any help will be much appreciated!

Would anyone have a copy of the full extraction file for the Eurostat dataset [migr_pop1ctz] that might have been downloaded in 2014 or before?

I am trying to find statistics prior to 2014 for "Population on 1 January by five year age group, sex and citizenship" [migr_pop1ctz] showing "EU-28-countries except reporting country" 

The data for all years before 2014 appears to have vanished from Eurostat...

I contacted the Eurostat helpdesk and they have been unable to help.

Thanks in advance.

Anthony

We are very interested in the studies undergone in the Balkan region with relevance for the institutional changes in Bosnia. Thank you

Currently, on DG Trade's website one can access speeches up to 1999, inclusive. I found that paper copies are stored in the EUI and some of the oldest speeches are made electronic AEI, but there seems to be a gap. Can anyone advise where I can locate those from 80s and 90s? 

Many thanks in advance!

I need to critically discuss the basis on which Germany, Sweden and France are similar to each other and different from the US and Japan. Which theoretical framework shall I use? In fact, I need to understand the importance of using the framework too. Please guide. And suggest, any reading material too.

The political and legal approaches even if related are fundamentally different. I am going to post a legal question, but in the back of my mind I am concerned about the appropriate topic. What is your opinion?

What are policies and measures taken by the EU to engage the peoples (general publics, interest groups, NGOs, political parties, social communities, etc), not the governments, of the Central and Eastern European Countries in their transition and accession periods? Any important literature and sources? Thanks a lot!

Minimum wages are calculated by interpreting national laws. As the recent EC statistics shows (attached), the results are quite questionable.

Some examples:

- Russia has a lower minimum wage than Ukraine but people earn

  three times more in average in Russia.

- Germany seems to have a competitive minimum wage, but only if

  you have a 38-hours-contract. Today 12 million employees work

  part time, many for 450 Euro only ("Minijob").

- Slovenia seems to have a very low minimum wage. But in Slovenia

  people earn more than in any other Eastern European country.

- Italy doesn't have a minimum wage but in many parts of Italy people

  earn like in Austria and Germany (Lombardy, Venezia, Toscany, Rome)

- UK seems to have the highest average income. But the costs for living in

 UK  - despite the low taxes - are much higher than e.g. in Germany,

 Belgium and Netherlands.

These are only examples. Does it make sense to compare minimum wages without considering the real labour conditions and the price reality?

I am looking for statistics (official or unofficial) on the residence rights of EU citizens in Italy.

In particular, I am trying to find out the number of residence documents issued to EU citizens and family members in Italy, as well as numbers of EU citizens expelled from Italy. (This includes but is not limited to the expulsion of members of the Roma community).

I have already consulted ISTAT (only total EU resident numbers available) and sent information requests to the Ministero dell'Interno (no response). 

The WWII co-operation of exiled political representations assembled in London counts to my research subjects. Hardly a revelation: the picture is complicated, probably little more disappointing than one is likely to expect when entering the ground. In a manuscript which I hope to publish soon I conclude:

"The story sketched in this article documents how difficult it was for small European nations, despite a common enemy and a shared meeting-place, to find solid ground for mutual understanding. ...The activities of the exiles were first and foremost directed to the preservation of their threatened nationsʼ identity, state, cultural or other. Thus, much of the communication between them was condemned to fail or to get lost ʻin translationʼ of cultural codes."

Intercultural communication is no doubt the issue I address here. Unfortunately, most literature I came across studies communication between "Great Cultures". This is still useful but my issue - intercultural communication within one (European, Western) culture - seems to lay pretty below the prevalent level of analysis.

Any reading suggestions? 1900-1950 scope will be appreciated.

I would be grateful if my colleagues experts in EU law could provide with the relevant criteria to ascertain whether researchers can claim equal treatment according to art. 56-57 TFEU when they take part in individual research projects financed by public authorities in Member States other than the one of their residence or nationality. Can analogy be brought to the fore here to oppose requirements which place this situation close to that of the freedom of establishment? For instance, to require a certificate issued by the State Ministry of Education on the official recognition of the HE certificate (which takes 2 years) in order to take part in a research project financed by a local authority.

I'm doing a case study on Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity and want to find out when and who initially named it as such.

I am currently studying all the models of direct democracy in Europe and i would like some help. 

I am making a research about the 'Turkish Stream' which is the latest natural gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey. And how could be its affects for the Turkey - EU relations and EU Energy Security. I am looking for some article related or close to these topics. Any favours would be well-recieved... Thank you, Mustafa YÜCE.

From 2009-2011 I developed my research thesis on conflicts between market freedoms and fundamental rights in ECJ case law (Schmidberger, Omega, Viking, Laval, etc.) And I would like to update my work and to cite recent works on this topic. 

Many thanks. 

Having in mind that a public service is an economic activity of general interest under the competence of the public authorities which define, set them in place and control them, looking into this area which can be seen as "integration without competence" can be difficult. Namely, alongside the influence of the integration process on the public administrations and convergence towards a common European Administrative Space, the impact on public services remains open. Still, undeniably the EU legislation has an influence and even a transformatory effect that goes beyond the legal thinking itself. 

I have the problem that I have found very little written in this respect and would be immensely grateful if I'd receive some pointers and directions on this! Thanks!

Can you provide some research tools for the analysis of the Europeanization of security policies of EU Member States, Candidate Countries and potential Candidate Countries? Can we speak of convergence among security policies in Europe? Thank you!

I would like to have a comparative idea of how is the situación in the different EU Member States. It will be interesting to have different perspectives of how useful can it be the criminalization of cartels in Competición Law. 

I have searched everywhere for literature on Podemos and I have found it extremely hard to come about in English since they are a relatively new party only founded in 2014.

Can you cite specific example on how the in-group orientation affect the political system in the locality ? The Filipino values are significantly studied to strengthen the understanding of the society as the culture and tradition is now gradually changing its cultural perspectives because of the advent of science and technology including the use of internet as a means of social networking. The primordial existence of man is the life support of biological maintenance such as food that would change the perception and attitude in dealing with the ideas of respect, dignity, integrity as influenced by the existence of social influence and power exploited by the economic dimensions of in-group orientation. Therefore, the foremost concern of our society is survival that transcends the idea of kapit sa patalim just to save the mere existence of the collective group particularly in the depressed communities.

This study reflects the transitional analysis of the cultural concept of sakop that has been existed as part of the cultural life processes and structures in a given society. The cluster of values is related to in-group orientation on what is known as sakop. It has deeper meaning in social relationships in the concept of the extended family ties. Furthermore, the family worth brings the social analysis of the political power and authority relevant to the idea of sakop. The collective action encompasses the values of human respect, honor, integrity, compassion and etc.It must be noted that social and political relationships defined the group values of pakikipagkapwa, pakikitungo, pakikiramay, utang na loob and other sociological values reflected in our society.

Dear colleagues,

I am trying to get information on this issue I saw a case in 2011:

24/11/2011: Commission takes Poland to Court over air quality and marine policy legislation and urges compliance with the Nitrates Directive

The European Commission is referring Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union and asking for financial penalties to be imposed for two failures to transpose EU legislation into national law. Despite earlier warnings, Poland has failed to notify the Commission about the transposition of legislation on the Ambient Air Quality Directive, which should have been in place since 11 June 2010, and about a strategy to protect its seas, which should have been in place since 15 July 2010. On the recommendation of Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, the Commission is asking the Court to impose penalty payments. The penalty payments requested are 71,521€ per day for the Ambient Air Quality Directive, and 59,834€ per day in the case of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The penalties take into account the seriousness and duration of the infringements. They consist of daily penalty payments to be paid from the date of the judgment (assuming that there is no compliance by then) until transposition is completed.

I would like to know the procedure for calculation of the fine and how the number of days is determined.

Do you know if the fine was paid¡ and how much was it?

What are the roles of parliaments within the new context of European integration? 

I recently raised the question as to why Europeans often ignore the genre of magical realism as a European phenomena. They often study it as a form of comparative study, i.e. not as a European based phenomena. That is, Europeans often study primarily writers from other regions of the world when looking at the horrible reality and magic of realism, like that of Gabriel García Márquez. On the European continent, readers of a variety of works of magical realism often only include an elite group of regional reviewers.

As Gabriel García Márquez has recently passed away, I would like to ask to what degree either Latin American or European magical realism has been accepted or prominent in the various countries on various continents around the globe. Moreover, has this genre been popular in your region or home country for a long time or only recently? In short, does a book like 100 Years of Solitude affect you or resonate with you more than a novel of similar genre from your own culture?

I am looking for empirical studies in public opinión and foreign policy in European and Asian countries.

I have been studying post-Communist public administration reforms especially the Romanian case and South-Eastern Europe since 2006 and witnessed the growth of the interest and literature in this field. I am especially interested in expalining the huge transformations within South-Eastern European public administrations through a historical institutionalism approach within the European integration process. Could you indicate the most influential study in the area? 

I would like to know more about some national experiences of EU countries on the implementation of legislation for management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). For instance the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

In its judgment on 27 February 2014 the Court of Justice ruled that where a Member State chooses to provide a financial allowance instead of asylum accommodation, the allowance must, inter alia, be sufficient to ensure a dignified standard of living and enable the asylum applicants to obtain housing, if necessary, on the private rental market. Are there any legal or practical consequences of this judgment in your country?

I am interested in research related to Transfer qualification (Content/ curricula, success factors, Duration etc.) for teachers within the EU. Since the education of teachers still varies within the EU, this is a non-tarifary hurdle for teachers migrating within the EU and trying to work in other member-states. Also, is there any comparative study on qualification profiles of teachers trained within the EU?

Neither the commission, nor the parliament (or Eurostat) are providing this information in a comprehensive way.

For the elections of 2004 onwards post-election reports exist (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/eurobarometre/2014/post/post_ee2014_sociodemographic_annex_en.pdf).

So I would rather need information for the elections before 2004. Thank your for your support!

Torben

As above.

I would especially be interested in how the crime rate is affected by the rentention of telecommunication data?

According to the ASEAN has the end-goal to the economic and financial integration in year 2015, it is very interesting to study the EU-style economic integration, which has been accepted as a model of regional integration. However, many scholars argue that a region that consists mostly of developing or less developed countries such as the ASEAN is unlikely to develop closer regional integration or as legalistic as the EU. Is it appropriate to compare the EU and the ASEAN?

For my current research, I am looking for empirical material and theoretical analyses concerning the development and the membership of Youth political organizations working at a transnational or international level. Any bibliographical reference or any contact with scholars working on this issue would help me a lot!