This paper advances a conceptual model examining five key dimensions aligned with current EU priorities: sense of belonging to a European identity, entrepreneurial spirit, environmental responsibility, civic attitude, and citizen involvement. Employing partial least squares structural equation modeling, the study tests the proposed model using empirical data from 679 student observations across four EU member states-Bulgaria, France, Romania, and Slovakia-collected within the Citeuropass Erasmus+ project. Results indicate that the model explains 40.2% of the variance in civic attitude and 31.9% in citizen involvement, highlighting the positive influences of the sense of belonging to a European identity, environmental responsibility, and entrepreneurial spirit on these outcomes. These findings inform ongoing debates on EU priorities by identifying three salient drivers for strengthening civic attitude and citizen involvement. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature by integrating all five dimensions into a unified analytical framework, revealing effects that would otherwise remain undetected.

With over 3 billion active players, the video gaming industry is one of the most lucrative in the world, outperforming the film and music industries combined. Even though playing video games has many favourable effects on players, excessive and careless game playing outweighs these benefits, with numerous negative repercussions on players' physical and mental health, social and professional activities, as well as their financial status. The purpose of this paper is to examine, from a legal standpoint, the ways in which video games can impact players' health, particularly their mental health, as well as the legislative "reactions" at the European Union level that may offer a solution regarding liability for harms inflicted on video game players, particularly those who suffer from video gaming disorder. In the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision ICD-11, gaming disorder is defined as "a pattern of gaming behaviour ('digital-gaming' or 'video-gaming') characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences". Video games, as software and software-as-a-service/game-as-a-service, fall under the new European Directive on Product Liability (Directive (EU) 2024/2853) and the Artificial Intelligence Act.

The last decades have witnessed a sustained focus from local and regional policymakers on digitalisation and smart strategies. While these strategies have contributed to a uniformization of infrastructure and access to digital products, they have also created inequalities of their own. Recent studies indicate that, rather than reducing existing socio-economic inequalities, the digitalisation process has generated new gaps, particularly in relation to skills and outcomes. A solution that has been successfully tested, but which is still lacking proper wide deployment is represented by digital helpers, considered to be the missing link of the digitalisation process. This research note proposes a framework and a strategic matrix for policy design that connects the digital helper's role, typical tasks covered, and the level of inequality addressed, as well as a theoretical solution to reduce the misunderstandings arising from administrative variations.

In this note, we provide the first game-theoretic analysis of taxation and tax shifting when tanneries in Kanpur, India, which produce leather and pollute the Ganges River are taxed. We model the n≥2 tanneries as a Cournot oligopoly and a specific tax τ>0 is imposed on each unit of leather produced by the polluting tanneries. We first determine the symmetric Nash equilibrium output of leather and its price with the tax. Second, we show that the rate of tax shifting by the polluting tanneries is constant. Third, we discuss how increasing either the number of tanneries or the price elasticity of demand affects the tax shifting that takes place. Finally, we comment on the policy implications of constant tax shifting such as the predictability of the incidence of the tax burden.

Recognizing the rapid advancement and heightened intricacy of hybrid threats, EU and Hybrid CoE experts devised a new framework to address these challenges. Given that non-conventional hazards can affect all aspects of life and society, implementing countermeasures that focus solely on certain areas is inadequate. The present article proposes a systemic framework for evaluating the EU's response to hybrid threats, as resilience is the foundation of the Comprehensive Resilience Ecosystem model. Initiatives aimed at fostering resilience against hybrid threats were classified into five principal areas, which include an assessment of political and legal frameworks, institutional measures, inter-institutional collaboration, regulatory actions, and societal strategies, reflecting a comprehensive approach that engages the entire society. This analysis will examine the Community's resilience-building initiatives against hybrid threats over the past two decades, while also illustrating that the Union can play a vital supplementary role in assisting Member States to address the unconventional threats of the 21st century.

This article aims to trace the implementation of the EU Green Deal in Lithuania by analyzing the attitudes of the political elite, the governance process and public opinion polls. To what extent are the Lithuanian political elite and public willing to accept specific provisions of the EU Green Deal? The paper argues that the policy is perceived as 'green Europeanisation' coming from the top (EU level) - but that, given the financial incentives in certain sectors in Lithuania, it is seen as a potential catalyst for the economy, i.e. more positively than negatively, which can also contribute to security policy objectives by achieving energy independence through investment in renewable energy resources. A political consensus is emerging among Lithuania's mainstream political parties in this area. However, in other areas - particularly agriculture and transport - there is more criticism and disapproval from the population.

Climate change, natural resource depletion, and ecological destruction cultivate an unsustainable environment for humans. This study aims to develop a predictive model via empirical research to investigate the impact of climate change worry on environmental attitude (EA), subjective norms (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) and to assess the effect of these three variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) on green purchase intention (GPI) for green products. The study investigates the behavior of a sample of 334 Generation Z university students at a university in Turkey using the convenience sampling method. This study, based on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), demonstrates that young consumers' climate change worries increase their EA, SN, and PBC, all of which contribute to a stronger desire to purchase green products. According to the findings, while SN and PBC are found to have a positive effect on GPI, EA is not considered as a significant predictor of GPI. The findings substantiate the applicability of the TPB model specifically in terms of SN and PBC in elucidating intentions to buy green products. Our findings also imply that the impact of novel factors -in this case, climate change worries on GPB should also be considered.

The European Union (EU) has long been perceived as a normative power. Despite that, its role as a security actor remains disputed. However, Russia's war against Ukraine and rising U.S.-China rivalry has pushed the EU to reorient its global security posture. This article examines the EU's evolving security role in the Indo-Pacific region and addresses two questions: What kind of proactive security role does the EU hope to play in the Indo-Pacific? How does the intensifying U.S.-China rivalry shape the EU's security recalibration toward the Indo-Pacific region? This research argues that the war in Ukraine and US-China rivalry have accelerated the EU's shift from an economic-normative actor toward a more security-oriented actor in Indo-Pacific. Methodologically, it employs a qualitative study where the EU's strategic documents, official statements, and secondary literature are analyses. The findings show that the EU seeks to balance normative commitments with pragmatic security engagement, working with regional partners while avoiding bipolarity. The study contributes to debates on the EU's emerging security identity and its role in the evolving Indo-Pacific order.

Studies have shown that the quality of institutions or public governance significantly impacts economic growth. However, the literature on international political economy continues to debate the factors that determine institutional quality and the effects of institutional quality on economic development. There is a dearth of evidence on how international political economy - such as trade, investment, and foreign aid - influences economic and political institutional change. This study examines the relationship between global trade, investment, and public governance using data collected from the 15 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) economies from 2014 to 2023. Using a dynamic panel data approach based on the Two-Step System-GMM estimator, findings show that trade openness improves the quality of economic institutions by encouraging regulatory reforms, transparency, and competitiveness. FDI produces mixed results: it boosts economic institutions in the short term but can weaken them when linked to rent-seeking and weak law enforcement environments. However, both FDI and trade have less significant or negative impacts on political institutions, emphasizing uneven democratic accountability and elite capture in several RCEP countries.