Circular material use and regional club convergence of resource productivity in the European union

Ensuring social stability and environmental sustainability is crucial for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in European Union (EU) countries. This paper aims to explore the interdependencies among human capital, employment, and resource productivity in these countries, focusing on sustainable development. To comprehensively assess factors influencing sustainable development in the EU countries, the simultaneous model is proposed. The simultaneous equations were derived using a two-step least squares method. The model comprises three endogenous variables (human capital, quantified by students enrolled in tertiary education; employment, in terms of the resident population concept; and resource productivity) and ten exogenous variables. The human capital pillar for the EU countries hinges on public funding for tertiary education, the employment dynamics for tertiary-educated individuals, resource productivity, environmental taxation, and emigration. Employment requires monitoring demographic trends, resource productivity, government funding for tertiary education, and environmental taxation. The environmental pillar depends on employment dynamics, GDP per capita, public funding for environmental protection, material resource extraction, and direct material inputs of fossil energy materials. For Austria, Belgium, and Portugal, from 2013 to 2021, the theoretical values based on the structural model of sustainable development demonstrated good forecast accuracy for human capital, employment, and resource productivity, indicating positive dynamics.

The transition to a circular economy has become an important topic in thinking about the sustainable future of humanity. An important and often disputed point in the academic debate on this topic is the relationship between the need to achieve constant economic growth on the one hand and the preservation and protection of the environment on the other. This paper contributes to that debate by assessing the causality of the circular and economic performances of selected countries. The analysis is based on panel data from the EU Monitoring Framework database and World Bank DataBank covering 27 European Union (EU) countries during the period 2000 to 2021. The goal is to examine the impact of circular economy indicators on gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the EU. The research is conducted through descriptive statistics and correlation and regression analysis. The obtained results indicate a strong positive correlation between circular economy indicators and GDP per capita. Also, results revealed a positive and statistically significant impact of Resource Productivity (RP), Generation of municipal waste per capita (MWpc), and Recycling rate of municipal waste (RRMW) on economic growth (GDPpc). The conclusions can be useful to EU policymakers in formulating a strategy for improving the performance of the circular economy, but also for harmonizing that improvement with the economic performance of the member states. This particularly refers to taking measures to improve resource productivity and encouraging both producers and consumers to increase waste recycling capacity, as significant factors of economic growth.

This paper considers socioeconomic, environmental, institutional and demographic issues necessary for the circular economy (CE) transition, employing a sample of 27 European Union (EU) countries and the UK using panel data method. Environmental degradation, asymmetry and inequality in the recovery conditions from the COVID-19 pandemic, which have been particularly aggravated over the last three years (2019–2022), as well as the energy crisis in the Eurozone raise significant challenges for social cohesion and CE policies. This analysis aims to examine whether a change in the structure of the energy markets, densely populated areas, environmental performance, institutional quality, social protection and innovation affect the CE. The results reveal that circular activity is robustly and positively affected by factors such as institutional quality, resource productivity and entrepreneurship. As the level of social protection increases, the percentage of the population willing to adopt the CE principles increases, while EU countries consume more raw materials than they can actually recycle. An increase of 1% in the market share of the largest electricity production companies and the market share of companies supplying the largest volume of natural gas is linked to a reduction of 0.30% and 0.33%, respectively, in the circularity rate. This suggests that under imperfect competition in energy markets, there are signs of undermining the efforts of EU countries to collect waste for recovery.

The EU Response to COVID-19: From Reactive Policies to Strategic Decision-Making.

The European Union (EU) has taken several initiatives over the past two decades to harmonize environmental taxation policies across member countries. The directive on energy taxation (Directive 2003/96/EC) provides the framework for the taxation of energy products within the EU. These harmonization efforts are part of a broader strategy to ensure environmental sustainability and combat climate change. This paper examines whether these efforts have had any impact on the convergence of environmental taxation across EU countries during the period 1995-2021. This paper uses a new panel unit root test that accounts for cross-correlations and structural breaks within the panel since regulations on taxation increase the possibility that EU countries may have commonalities on these issues. The club convergence test is also used to test for the existence of multiple equilibria within groups of countries. The results of the traditional convergence test show that environmental tax revenues are converging across EU countries. Furthermore, the results of the stochastic convergence test indicate that there is a convergence of relative environmental tax revenues. As for the break dates, the results from the tax revenue series show that the first and second break are concentrated in the periods 2002-2007 and 2012-2017, respectively. Finally, the results of the club convergence test reject the full panel convergence and reveal the existence of different convergence clubs. The empirical results of this paper have some implications for environmental taxation in the EU.

After Lithuanian’s accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004, the citizens of Lithuania gained one of the four freedoms of the EU: it is a freedom to move, work and live in another EU and European economic area (EEE) country. Now workers can live in one country and work in another, they can even work in more than one country. While Lithuanian business can look for specialist in another EU country if there are no any in Lithuania. Consequently the free movement of workers did effect on the Lithuanian business development and employment itself. During the economic crisis the unemployment rate started to grow in many EU countries. Especially youth unemployment appeared as one of major issues. For Lithuanian economy high unemployment rate was and still is a serious problem. The free movement of workers is a challenge not only for the Lithuanian citizens but for employers as well. According to the strategy Europe 2020, the mobility could be as a solution in reducing high unemployment, which was reached during the economic crisis. With reference to the above, it could be stated that balanced labour movement could play a significant role in boosting business development and employment in the EU and the EEE. The dissemination of information about legal regulations of free movement of workers takes an important place in this regard. Accordingly a network of consultants, the European Employment Services (EURES), initiated by the European Commission (EC) is highly focused to this issue. EURES is acting in all the members of the EU as well as EEE. EURES is responsible for information, advice and placement services for jobseekers and employers wishing to benefit from the principle of the free movement of persons. The network has its consultants in ten cities of Lithuania as well and it covers all main regions of the state. Considering the above mentioned, the article solves the scientific problem: how EURES network’s activities could impact employment and business development in the EU and Lithuania? The aim of this paper is to study peculiarities of legal regulations of free movement of workers in the EU and importance of EURES network’s activities as well as its relevance to employment and business development in the EU and Lithuania. To achieve this aim three tasks were solved: to present the main topicalities of employment and its relevance to business development in the EU and Lithuania; to analyse the legal aspects of free movement of workers in the EU; to highlight the main EURES network’s activities reducing unemployment in the EU and Lithuania. The paper presents a combination of several research methods: comparative analysis of Lithuanian and international scientific works; comparative analysis and interpretation of the EU legal documents, strategies and practical papers; comparative and explanatory analysis of secondary statistic data; the paper includes the case study of EURES network activities in Lithuania. The results of the article: there were presented the main topicalities of employment and its relevance to business development in the EU and Lithuania; there were highlighted the main legal aspects of free movement of workers in the EU; there were highlighted the main EURES network’s activities, reducing unemployment, balancing labour market and boosting business development in the EU and Lithuania by disseminating information about free movement of workers. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.8.6972

Low carbon emission has a major positive impact on our society. Due to the importance of reducing carbon emission levels, factors that contribute significantly towards reducing carbon emission levels have attracted the interest of academics and researchers in the field. In this paper, the author develops a multiple linear regression analysis to examine the relationship between renewable energy consumption, biofuel production, resources productivity, bioenergy productivity, the level of urbanization and population and their impact on total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Data was collected from the European Statistical Office (EUROSTAT) and four statistical hypotheses were validated through a regression model with panel data using the statistical software EViews 11. The study was conducted for 27 European Union (EU) countries during 2008 to 2017. The author’s findings indicate that renewables have a direct and positive influence on the levels of CO2 emissions, as opposed to population growth and urbanization. These findings suggest that public policy should be directed towards increasing the use of renewables in EU countries, while the level of urbanization and the population growth add more restrictions in the modelling equation of the impact on CO2 emissions.

Enterprises seek for possibilities to limit the costs and for areas that stimulate the level of innovation. Both of these aspects can be effectively supported by application of cloud computing, without a simultaneous need to make a choice of a trade-off type. The aim of the article is to prove that cloud computing provides entrepreneurs with the possibility to limit the costs and at the same time to support their activities related to the selected direction of innovation development. It has both a direct influence on the level and structure of costs in the enterprise, as well as an indirect influence, e.g. related to shortening the time for introduction of new solutions to the market, making decisions or limiting the costs of projects.

The Continuous Importance of the Swiss Case for Europeanization Research

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most competitive sectors in Europe and has a strong presence in many European Union (EU) countries. The mutual recognition agreement (MRA) for inspections of medicines manufacturers between the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the EU started by the end of 2017 and gradually extended to all EU member states (MSs) in July 2019. We quantified the number of FDA and EU good manufacturing practice (GMP) inspections carried out in each other's territory between 2009 and 2018. The five EU MSs with the largest number of FDA inspections were Germany, followed by Italy, France, the United Kingdom (UK), and Spain. All of them, with the exception of Germany, were included in the group of the first eight EU MSs recognized by the FDA in the context of the MRA. In 2018, these five EU MSs were within the top 10 EU exporters of pharmaceutical products to the US. Four of these five EU MSs (Italy, Germany, France, and the UK) accounted for 53.4% of the total pharmaceutical production in the EU in 2018. We also studied the type of manufacturing operations covered by the manufacturer's authorizations issued by each EU MS for the manufacturers within its territory. We verified a high prevalence of conventional technology versus complex technology manufacturing for many EU countries. Going forward, this unbalance should be addressed at a national and EU level. Supporting for instance (bio)pharmaceutical manufacturing through pharma policy initiatives, especially for EU countries with a lower level of innovation and technological development, would promote the pharmaceutical manufacturing sustainability and competitiveness of these countries. The full implementation of the MRA between the US FDA and the EU can make it faster and less costly for both sides to bring medicines to the market, improving future competitiveness of the EU and the US pharmaceutical industry.

Data protection and research in the European Union: a major step forward, with a step back

Comparative demographics of the European cystic fibrosis population: a cross-sectional database analysis

Aim/purpose – Global value chains (GVCs), along with their specific forms of forward and backward linkages, remain the predominant mode of global production. However, their consequences for national economies are not universally clear. Our study aims to assess the impact of forward (FWD) and backward (BWD) GVC participation on busi- ness innovation in the European Union (EU) countries. We analyze this influence using a dual approach: examining all member states as well as four subgroups of EU countries, categorized by their level of innovation and length of EU membership. Design/methodology/approach – Macro-panel regressions based on data for 27 EU countries were used to achieve these aims. Followed by the variance inflation factors (VIFs) tests, the Breusch–Pagan tests, and the Hausman tests, we estimated panel regres- sions with fixed effects, controlled for heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, and cross- sectional dependence. Findings – Results confirm that backward GVC linkages have a positive impact on the innovativeness of European businesses. When considering subgroups of EU countries, the impact of backward GVC participation on innovation is stronger in countries with a lower level of innovativeness compared to those with higher innovativeness, and in countries with shorter EU membership compared to those with longer membership. The impact of forward GVC participation is mostly statistically insignificant, with the only effect being a reduction in innovation among companies in the “new” EU countries. Thus, we confirm the differences in the impact of GVC linkages on the innovativeness of businesses at the EU macro level. Research implications/limitations – Practical implications of the study include recom- mendations for increasing the innovation capabilities and absorptive capacity of Euro- pean businesses through backward participation in GVCs, with nuances related to the characteristics of the EU countries. The innovation policies should reflect differences between “old” and “new” EU members to bridge the EU’s innovation gap. Originality/value/contribution – Our paper contributes to the discussion on innovation and its connection with the GVC. We delve deeper into the impact of GVC linkages on the innovativeness of European businesses by decomposing them into the forward and backward GVC participation and by categorizing EU countries into groups with relative- ly high or low levels of business innovation, as well as into “old” and “new” member states. Our findings confirm the complexity of these relationships depending on the nu- ances of countries’ characteristics, which have not yet been clearly highlighted in the existing literature on the GVC-innovation nexus within the EU. Keywords: global value chains (GVCs), backward GVC participation, forward GVC participation, innovation, European Union. JEL Classification: F10, F20.

The purpose of the work is to study the issue of domestic exports of agricultural products to the European Union (EU). Methodology. General scientific economic and mathematical methods as analysis, synthesis, abstraction, concretization and special methods as comparison, tabular were used. Results. It is noted that an important step in terms of deepening trade relations between Ukraine and the EU was the conclusion of the Association Agreement and the establishment of a free trade area in the framework of this Agreement. For Ukraine, this is both one of the greatest achievements (in terms of shaping the worldview and social development) and a challenge (in terms of ensuring economic growth of the country, search for internal sources and incentives). It is noted that European guidelines provide the agricultural sector with an effective direction of development and reveal modern opportunities for its recovery, create additional preferences in the agri-food market. It is investigated that since the beginning of 2014 there have been dramatic changes in the geographical structure of domestic exports. Before that, about a quarter of goods were sent to the EU countries, about a third – to the markets of the CIS countries, the rest – to other countries. During 2014-2020, this distribution changed towards a significant decrease in the share of the CIS countries and a gradual increase in the share of the EU and other countries of the world. The article provides an analytical assessment of the geographical structure of Ukraine's merchandise exports by three main blocks of countries – the EU, the CIS and the rest of the world. The role and importance of the free trade area between Ukraine and the EU, which is a powerful milestone in bilateral trade relations and opens new economic opportunities for both the EU and Ukraine, is determined. The main trading partners of Ukraine in the export of goods are characterized. The geographical structure of exports with the EU countries is investigated and it is noted that Ukraine supplies goods to almost all EU countries. The total value of exports in 2020 decreased by 1552103 thousand US dollars compared to 2018. The largest share of exports falls on Poland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The commodity structure of agricultural exports with the EU countries during 2018-2020 was studied, a significant share of agricultural products was noted, which ranges from 34%. Practical implications. The factors that influenced the formation of exports in 2020 are identified. The problems that affect the development of exports and the prospects for its increase are identified.

Before the full-scale кussian invasion in 2022, Ukraine was actively working to improve the investment climate and integrate into European economic structures. However, the war significantly changed the situation, posing new challenges for foreign investors. The purpose of the study is to analyze foreign investment and financial assistance to Ukraine by European Union (EU) countries under martial law, identify the main trends and challenges, and explore opportunities for attracting investment in strategic sectors of the Ukrainian economy. The study analyzed the dynamics of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Ukraine by countries around the world and the EU in 2015–2024. It was determined that the peaks of investment fell on 2019 and 2021, the outflow of capital investments – on 2015, 2020 (in general and from the EU) and 2022 (from the EU). In 2023–2024 there was a gradual recovery of foreign investment. The dynamics of FDI from EU countries had almost identical dynamics to their total volume, except for 2017. The share of FDI from EU countries in the total amount of FDI is extremely large – 76.91% in 2024. The largest total volume of FDI for 2022–2024 to Ukraine was observed from eight EU countries: Cyprus, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Denmark. At the same time, the total volume of FDI from four EU countries for the same period was negative: Finland, Portugal, Slovakia, Germany. Taking into account the financial assistance to Ukraine in war conditions, the program of financial support to Ukraine from the EU for 2024–2027 in the amount of 50 billion euros – Ukraine Facility, which is aimed at supporting macro-financial stability, economic recovery, and reforming key sectors, was noted. Significant military assistance to Ukraine was provided by Germany, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Spain, and Finland.