European Authority Research Articles

Collaborative development of open-source outbreak detection tools: Needs, concept and implementation

Abstract Issue The early detection of infectious disease outbreaks through surveillance is critical to initiate targeted public health interventions. Automated outbreak detection helps to identify trends and unusual events. Yet, there is no overview of how many EU countries use outbreak detection systems and what factors hindered their implementation. Description of the problem One aim of the Joint Action UNITED4Surveillance (U4S) is to identify EU countries’ requirements for outbreak detection, and based on these, develop and deploy a tool for the timely and accurate detection of outbreaks. Through surveys, interviews and an in-person workshop involving public health experts, we identified uses cases, collected functional and technical requirements for a tool. Subsequently the tool development started in August 2023 as an open-source software process on GitHub. Results Despite high interest, only three of the 21 countries that took part in the survey have implemented outbreak detection tools, even though national surveillance systems offer the potential for their use. Reasons for this are limited resources and low prioritization. Experts identified gastrointestinal diseases as one major potential use case and emphasised the necessity of flexible outputs. Tailored to these requirements, data scientists from five European public health institutes developed an open-source R package for signal detection. The tool generates signals based on national surveillance data and enables the user to analyses these results using a dashboard with flexible exploration and generation of a report. The tool is now being piloted locally by ten European public health authorities and its use will be evaluated. Lessons There is a need to use automated outbreak detection tools for routine surveillance of infectious diseases in EU countries but often lack resources. Projects like U4S can bring together expertise to build sustainable tools and supporting material that can address the identified needs. Key messages • Collaborative and open-source development leads to tools that are well tailored to the needs of the community and foster a high uptake in the usage of these tools. • The tool enhances surveillance and outbreak detection in countries without the capacities to develop and implement outbreak detection methods for their surveillance systems.

Searching for the DNA of the European labour authority: the urgent need for more coherence, mandate, tasks and competence

Searching for the DNA of the European labour authority: the urgent need for more coherence, mandate, tasks and competence

Ethnoeconomy of Europe: Turkish Segment

The article examines the ethnic factor of the European economy. The migration of the Turks to Europe in the 1960s, formed a special segment of entrepreneurship in the region. A significant part of it was occupied by the representatives of the Turkish diaspora. Several factors including the social one contribute to the active development of the Turkish ethno-business in the European space. In addition, the formation and prosperity of the Turkish ethnic entrepreneurship in Europe is influenced by the high development of family and clan relations as well as the presence of various kinds of auxiliary mechanisms in the form of trade unions and business associations. In the context of small and medium-sized businesses, the key attention is paid to the development of the Turkish fast food industry related to the organization of food outlets, the hotel business, the provision of general services as well as tourism and logistics services. Large network business and transnational corporations of Turkey in most cases are engaged in such areas as: restaurant business; hotel business, including the construction of hotels; distribution of retail chains and Turkish brands. Islamic banking has also become a relatively new rapidly developing area of the Turkish ethnobusiness. The author concludes that the Turkish migration has significantly changed the nature of the European business. However, despite the wide representation of Turkish entrepreneurs in Europe, not all of them achieve the desired success and often face various kinds of discriminatory policies of the European authorities that restrict their activities.

HERA-lding More Integration in Health? Examining the Discursive Legitimation of the European Commission's New Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority

Context: Since COVID-19, the European Commission (EC) has sought to expand its activities in health through the development of a European Health Union and within it the Health Emergencies Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). Methods: The authors applied a discourse analysis to documents establishing HERA to investigate how the EC legitimated the creation of this institution. They focused on how it framed health emergencies, how it framed the added value of HERA, and how it linked HERA to existing EU activities and priorities. Findings: Their analysis demonstrates that security-based logics have been central to the EC's legitimation of HERA in alignment with a “securitization of health” occurring worldwide in recent decades. This legitimation can be understood as part of the EC's effort to promote future integration in health in the absence of new competences. Conclusions: Securitization has helped the EC raise its profile in health politically without additional competences, thereby laying the groundwork for potential future integration. Looking at the discursive legitimation of HERA sheds light not only on whether the EC is expanding its health powers but also how it strategizes to do so. HERA, while constrained, allows the EC to further deepen security-driven integration in health.

The AI Act from the Perspective of Administrative Law: Much Ado About Nothing?

Abstract This paper examines the impact that the finally approved Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) will have on European public authorities when developing, acquiring and using AI systems. It argues that, despite the initial disappointment that the Act may cause when approaching it from an administrative law perspective, and despite the fact that some of the solutions that have been finally chosen are questionable, it represents a remarkable step forward, duly addressing many of the problems raised in the literature in relation to the automation of administrative decisions and the use of AI systems by public authorities.

The Privacy/Antitrust Curse: Insights from GDPR Application in Competition Law Proceedings

In response to the emergence of large online platforms whose business model revolves around the collection and processing of personal data, it is usually suggested that competition and data protection are synergistic, hence requiring an integrated approach. In this respect, Europe represents the testing ground for evaluating how privacy breaches may inform antitrust investigations. Indeed, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the one side and the German Facebook antitrust decision on the other side are considered the benchmarks of this new stance aimed at linking market power and data power. This paper tests the concrete viability of such an approach, analyzing how data protection rules and principles have been applied in antitrust proceedings by the European Commission and national competition authorities. Notably, the paper aims at demonstrating the fallacy of the narrative which describes the relationship between privacy and antitrust in terms of synergy and complementarity. Furthermore, the paper maintains that the principles recently affirmed by the European Court of Justice in Meta do not appear conclusive in addressing the issue. The strategic use of privacy as a business justification to pursue anticompetitive advantages currently addressed in the numerous Apple ATT investigations indeed shows the tension between these areas of law. Therefore, rather than strengthening the antitrust enforcement against gatekeepers and their data strategies, the inclusion of privacy harms in antitrust proceedings turns out to be a potential curse for competition authorities, providing players with an opportunity for regulatory gaming to undermine the antitrust enforcement. JEL Codes: D83, K21, L12, L4

Enforcement, Information or Socialization? The Role of the European Labour Authority in Protecting Mobile Workers in the EU

Enforcement, Information or Socialization? The Role of the European Labour Authority in Protecting Mobile Workers in the EU

Strategic risk management in financial institutions: Ensuring robust regulatory compliance

Strategic risk management in financial institutions is a critical component for ensuring robust regulatory compliance and maintaining financial stability. This review explores the multifaceted nature of strategic risk management and its importance in the dynamic regulatory landscape of the financial sector. It delves into the fundamental components of risk management, including risk identification, assessment, mitigation, and monitoring, highlighting how these processes help institutions navigate the complexities of regulatory requirements. The discussion encompasses various types of risks faced by financial institutions, such as credit, market, operational, liquidity, and compliance risks, illustrating the need for comprehensive risk management frameworks. The review also reviews key regulatory frameworks, including Basel III, the Dodd-Frank Act, and guidelines from the European Banking Authority, emphasizing their impact on capital requirements, liquidity standards, and governance expectations. A robust risk management framework integrates compliance efforts with business strategy, ensuring that institutions are not only adhering to regulatory mandates but also aligning their risk appetite and tolerance with their strategic objectives. The role of technology, particularly in data analytics, real-time risk monitoring, and cybersecurity, is examined as a crucial enabler for effective risk management and compliance. Best practices for enhancing regulatory compliance are outlined, including continuous monitoring, regular audits, and scenario analysis. Challenges such as evolving regulations, financial product complexity, and globalization are addressed, with recommendations for adaptive strategies and industry collaboration. Through case studies, the review provides insights into successful risk management implementations and lessons learned from compliance failures. The review underscores the importance of strategic risk management in fortifying regulatory compliance and suggests future trends, such as advanced AI and machine learning, which could further revolutionize the approach to risk management in financial institutions. Keywords: Strategic Risk, Financial Institution, Regulatory, Compliance

Thrombolysis for Ischemic Stroke Despite Recent Ingestion of Direct Oral Anticoagulants - A Growing Dilemma Also in India.

The administration of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) for patients with acute ischemic stroke who have recently ingested direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) presents a clinical challenge due to the perceived increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Traditional guidelines from the US and European authorities advise against IVT within 48 h of last DOAC ingestion, unless specific coagulation tests indicate safety. However, emerging observational studies suggest that IVT might be safe in selected patients. A US stroke registry study and a global multicenter cohort study both reported no significant increase in symptomatic ICH among patients on DOACs compared to those not on anticoagulants. A systematic review of all published observational studies further supported these findings, showing comparable bleeding rates and functional outcomes in DOAC-treated patients. Reversal agents like idarucizumab for dabigatran have demonstrated potential in facilitating safer IVT administration, though logistical and cost-related barriers limit their widespread use. The variability in global guidelines reflects differing approaches to risk assessment and resource availability, highlighting the need for individualized treatment decisions. In India, the increasing prevalence of atrial fibrillation and stroke as well as prescription of DOACs necessitate adapted guidelines that consider local health-care infrastructure. Despite the promising observational data, the lack of randomized controlled trials underscores the need for further research to establish robust evidence for IVT use in this context. Collaborative international efforts and inclusion of diverse patient populations in future studies will be crucial to refine treatment protocols and improve outcomes for stroke patients on DOACs.

Αn integrated framework to monitor progress of sustainable urban development strategies, addressing societal, ecological and innovation dilemmas

This paper presents an integrated Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework, an all-encompassing approach suitable for European cities and regions aiming to monitor and evaluate the implementation and results of sustainable urban development strategies or projects related to urban planning, transport planning, or urban energy management. The framework features a co-created and co-implemented reflexive and adaptive method tailored specifically for strategies or projects that introduce innovative elements from contemporary research and innovation in science and technology, such as net-zero development, systemic solutions for cities, or integrated urban mobility and planning. The approach to designing and implementing the M&E framework was realized through a six-phase process: (i) development of the M&E framework, (ii) tailoring indicators to each region’s specificities, (iii) developing data collection questionnaires and a reporting database, (iv) collecting the data, (v) populating the database, and (vi) writing the final report. The framework was tested and enhanced with four European regional authorities over a 19-month period, enabling them to address their so-called 'policy dilemmas,' defined as the challenges they face in balancing societal and inclusivity objectives with economic and innovation goals. This framework is designed for replication in future sustainable urban development strategies or projects with similar societal, ecological, and innovation objectives.

Far-right MEPs’ anti-feminist agenda: a deep dive into X (Twitter) discourse

ABSTRACT In recent years, social media platforms, particularly X (Twitter), have become battlegrounds for political ideologies. Notably, certain European authorities have chosen to share anti-feminist messages on this platform. To effectively counter these discourses, understanding their construction is crucial. Thus, this research aims to analyse how far-right representatives in the European Parliament address feminism and gender equality on X. Using a mixed and exploratory approach, nearly 1.1 million messages were evaluated, revealing limited engagement by MEPs in gender-related topics. Five main discursive patterns were identified, offering valuable insights for developing targeted communication strategies to challenge these argumentative lines. Additionally, a connection was found between the negativity of tweets and their reach and engagement.

Understanding Regulatory Changes: Deep Learning in Sustainable Finance and Banking

This paper examines the regulatory impact on the European Banking Sector using advanced deep learning techniques to analyze the relationship between Sustainable Finance guidelines and the SX7P Index from January 2012 to December 2023. Utilizing Long Short-Term Memory Auto-encoder (LSTM-AE), Variational Autoencoder (VAE), and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for anomaly detection, the study compares anomalies and investigates their correlation with European Banking Authority (EBA) events and Sustainable Finance guidelines from January 2020 to December 2023. Through the analysis of 43 pertinent EBA documents, the research identifies patterns and variations in anomalies, assessing their association with regulatory changes. The results reveal significant anomalies aligning with regulatory events, indicating a potential causal relationship. Notably, the VAE methodology shows the strongest correlation between EBA Sustainable Finance events and anomalies. This research advances the understanding of deep learning applications in financial markets and offers valuable insights for policymakers and financial institutions regarding regulatory shifts in Sustainable Finance.

Playing dirty: the shady governance and reproduction of migrant illegality

ABSTRACT State authorities in Europe invest immense resources in what the EU insists on calling the ‘fight against illegal migration’. Based on ethnographic research in two German cities, this paper shows that a tough approach towards illegalised migration can only be implemented through state practices that operate at the margins of, or even cross, the boundaries of what is legally permissible. This argument is developed through an analysis of informal practices that frontline staff in registry offices and migration administrations deploy to prevent, or at least disturb, illegalised migrants’ attempts to regularise their status by becoming the parent of child that is entitled to German citizenship. Drawing on the autonomy of migration approach, I use migrants’ struggles within and against Germany’s migration and citizenship regime as an epistemic device to expose three kinds of informally institutionalised counter-tactics of street-level bureaucrats that qualify as unlawfare. The analysis shows that officials, in their attempts to forestall migrants’ practices of self-legalisation, frequently resort to practices that are legally questionable or outright unlawful themselves. Ultimately, not only a tough stance on illegalised migration, but the very production of migrant illegality emerges as contagious as it implicates an illegalisation of state practices.

Aflatoxin M1 in raw milk in summer season in Lahore, Pakistan

A four-month long study throughout the summer of 2022 i.e., April, May, June, and July; was conducted to determine Aflatoxin M1 concentration in raw milk retailed in the shops of Lahore, Pakistan. A total of 40 samples (10 per month) were analyzed using the ELISA kit method while considering European Union (50ng/kg), US Food and Drug Regulation Authority (500ng/kg), and Pakistan Pure Food Regulations (500ng/kg) as AFM1 permissible limits. About 82.50% of 40 samples were contaminated with AFM1 while only 17.50% samples were found to be uncontaminated. Of these contaminated samples over 87.88% samples exceeded the safe limit as set by the European Union i.e., 50ng/kg with only 12.12% of the samples being safe for use. On the other hand, only 6.06% of the samples were unfit as per the USFDA & Punjab Pure Food Regulations (PPFR) limit i.e., 500ng/kg. A mean value of 133.57 ± 0.14ng/kg of AFM1 contamination was calculated ranging from 5.43 ± 0.05ng/kg to 964.75 ± 0.04ng/kg in April and July, respectively. The lowest average contamination was recorded in May i.e., 68.35 ± 0.258ng/kg which went progressively higher in the later months due to unusual record-breaking rainfall in the region while highest average contamination was found in the month of July i.e., 228.789 ± 0.075ng/kg. The current study is significantly important as it identify the contamination of Aflatoxin M1 in raw milk in the summer season. Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 59(2), 115-122, 2024

The Role of European Supervisory Authorities in Consumer Protection Standard Setting on the Financial Services Market – Based on the Example of the European Banking Authority

The purpose of the article is to present the genesis of the emergence and the scope of powers of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) (the EBA, ESMA, and EIOPA), with particular reference to the EBA as regards the building of its supervisory normative standard and the protection of the consumer of financial services. The authors will propose de lege ferenda postulates which, in their view, would allow for an improvement in the quality of the financial services offered to consumers and ensure a higher level of protection of their interests and, at the same time, legal certainty for their providers. Increasingly sophisticated and complex financial products cause interpretation difficulties for both the courts and consumer protection authorities, but above all for consumers themselves, which consequently poses a challenge for both sides of the market (supply and demand). It is also a challenge for the post-crisis ESAs as the EU bodies not only designated to monitor and manage both the stability and security of the financial market, along with the actual level of consumer protection within it. In the preparation of the article, the legal-dogmatic and legal-theoretical method, which is standard for such studies, was applied, which allows for an analysis of the provisions of EU law and the identification of the norms stemming from them using interpretation and the assessment of the content of the provisions through the prism of the principle of consumer protection from Articles 12 and 169 TFEU and the EBAs’ competence provisions. Due to the fact that, in principle, the powers and competences of all three ESAs are analogous and only differ in terms of the scope of their application (i.e., financial institutions operating in the relevant financial market sectors – banking, insurance, and pension and investment), the authors will present their considerations with reference to the European Banking Authority (EBA), which is an exemplification of the powers of the other supervisory authorities. Thus, the secondary piece of EU legislation to be considered in this article will be the Council and European Parliament Regulation, hereinafter known as “EBA Regulation” and the actions taken by the EBA on that basis.

The effect of formulation composition and adjuvant type on difenoconazole dislodgeable foliar residue

Rigorous risk assessments for those exposed to pesticides are carried out to satisfy crop protection regulatory requirements. Non-dietary risk assessments involve estimating the amount of residue which can be transferred from plant foliage to the skin or clothes, known as dislodgeable foliar residues (DFRs). DFR data are less available than crop residue data as studies are costly and limited by seasonality. European regulatory authorities are reticent to allow extrapolation of study data to different scenarios as the contributory factors have hitherto been poorly identified. This study is the first to use a new laboratory DFR method to investigate how one such factor, pesticide formulation, may affect DFR on a variety of crops. The study used the active substance difenoconazole as both an emulsifiable concentrate (EC 10%) and a wettable powder (WP 10%) with and without adjuvants (Tween 20 and organophosphate tris(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate TEHP) on tomato, French bean and oilseed rape. A comparable DFR% was retained from the WP and EC formulation on most crops except for tomato, where lower DFR% was retained in the case of WP (39 ± 4.7%) compared to EC (60 ± 1.2%). No significant effect of adjuvant addition was observed for either formulation except when mixing TEHP (0.1% w/v) to the EC 10% on French bean, resulting in 8% DFR reduction compared to the EC formulation alone. This research demonstrates the value of a unique DFR laboratory technique in investigating the importance of the formulation and in-tank adjuvants as factors that affect DFR.

Die EU-Osterweiterung nach 20 Jahren: Kann die Konvergenz sozial und wirtschaftlich nachhaltig gestaltet werden?

Abstract The twenty years since the Eastern Enlargement of the EU in 2004 have generally borne out the hopes that at the time were placed in what was seen as the reunification of the continent. Economic performance in the new member states have steadily converged with those in the EU15. The substantial initial income gaps did lead to very substantial labour migration, some of it of a circular nature. The ensuing problems led to policy initiatives such as the revised posted workers directive and he European Labour Authority. The social model in east-central European countries remains underdeveloped. Among other issues this should be addressed as the EU considers a reinforced cohesion policy and a likely renewed wave of eastern enlargement, which, though, will likely occur under very different conditions.

Financial instability in Europe: Does geopolitical risk from proximate countries and trading partners matter?

Using a spatial econometric approach, we measure 28 European countries' foreign geopolitical risks (GPR) from their proximate countries, export destinations, and import origins from January 1985 to January 2024 at a monthly frequency. Based on difference GMM estimation on dynamic panel data model, we find that the foreign GPRs increase Europe's financial instability through potential channels of surging energy inflation and capital flight to the U.S. Compared with high-income countries with a bank-based financial system, low-income countries with a market-based financial system are more fragile to the foreign GPRs. These findings can help European financial authorities improve prudential regulation policies.

Enforcement of sanctions within the SSM by European and national authorities: unravelling jurisdiction and accountability under Union law

Enforcement of sanctions within the SSM by European and national authorities: unravelling jurisdiction and accountability under Union law

Financial center expertise, investors’ expectations and the new European anti-money laundering authority

The decision to establish the European authority for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AMLA) in Frankfurt sets the stage for a natural experiment, offering insight into how the decision for the AMLA headquarter location and the future proximity to regulatory oversight influence the market value of financial institutions. Our results show that, while the introduction of a regulatory institution in Europe appears to have a significant positive impact on European markets, this effect, however, appears to be mitigated in countries directly affected by the decision of the geographical location of the new founded authority.