Benelux Countries Research Articles

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE AS BENELUX COUNTRIES’ FOREIGN POLICY TOOL: STRUCTURAL AND TRANSFORMATIONAL ASPECTS

The article discusses the use of development assistance as a foreign policy tool by the Benelux countries, namely Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The paper aims to answer the question whether the development assistance provided by the Benelux states corresponds to their political statements which cite this policy area as a soft power instrument, or the three approaches to development assistance rather reflect other goals, e.g. beneficial economic cooperation with developing countries. The article analyzes international statistical data, sociological surveys and official development assistance-related documents, using qualitative historical and descriptive as well as genealogical and historical methods to trace the evolution of the three countries’ approaches. The concepts of small and middle powers, to which the Benelux countries belong, and the concept of soft power constitute the theoretical and methodological framework of the research. The article concludes that the Benelux countries’ approaches to development assistance are different, complex and changeable. The pursuit of economic goals helps explain at least some of the three states’ geographic and functional priorities, which translate into defining countries where Benelux’ companies are situated as key partners or specializing in the development assistance areas where these companies can be involved. This pursuit is most clearly evident in the Dutch approach, while Luxembourg seems to value soft power function more as it enhances the country’s image as one of the most generous donors and a responsible member of the international community. Unlike Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium show a downward trend in the amount of assistance allocated (with the exception of 2015 and 2022), amid doubts about the effectiveness of development assistance and securitization of this area; however, the ongoing public debates keep relevant the use of development assistance as soft power vis-à-vis the countries of the Global South.

A Comparative Analysis of International Drug Price Negotiation Frameworks: An Interview Study of Key Stakeholders.

In 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which allowed Medicare, for the first time, to begin negotiating the prices for certain high-cost brand-name prescription drugs. Many other industrialized countries negotiate drug prices, and we sought to compare and contrast key features of the negotiation process across several health systems. We focused, in particular, on the criteria for selecting drugs for price negotiation, procedures for negotiation, factors that influence negotiated prices, and how prices are implemented. We included four G7 countries in our analysis (Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom [England]), two Benelux countries (Belgium and the Netherlands), and one Scandinavian country (Norway) with long-established frameworks for drug price negotiation. We also analyzed the Veterans Affairs Health System in the United States. For each system, we gathered relevant legislation, government publications, and guidelines to understand negotiation frameworks, and we reached out to key drug price negotiators in each system to conduct semistructured interviews. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded, and data were analyzed based on an internal assessment tool that we developed. All eight systems negotiate the prices of brand-name prescription drugs soon after approval and rely on formal clinical assessments that compare newly approved drugs with existing therapies. Systems in our study differed on characteristics such as whether the body performing clinical assessments is separate from the negotiating authority, how added health benefit is assessed, whether explicit willingness-to-pay thresholds are employed, and how specific approaches for priority disease areas are taken. High-income countries around the world adopt different approaches to conducting price negotiations on brand-name drugs but coalesce around a set of practices that will largely be absent from the current Medicare negotiation framework. US policymakers might consider adding some of these characteristics in the future to improve negotiation outcomes.

Migration problems of the Benelux countries in the context of joint European policy

The purpose of the article is to prove by specific examples the inability of the authorities of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, united into the Benelux community, to regulate the flows of immigrants and refugees to their countries; to identify the consequences of a liberal policy towards foreigners, in particular, difficulties in integrating them into the European society. Along with this, the issues of the crime rate growth, the discontent of the local population with the destabilization of the situation and other topics are discussed. The author concludes that the Benelux countries, despite their efforts, are still unable to develop a unified balanced policy towards immigrants and refugees. This is due to great differences both in government circles and in the civil society of these countries.

BENELUX COUNTRIES’ SECURITY STRATEGIES: BETWEEN EUROPEANISM AND ATLANTICISM

In the article, transformation of the foreign policy and security strategies of the Benelux countries – Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – is analyzed against the exacerbating conflict in Ukraine. Using the comparative historical method, we outline the evolution of strategic trends of Europeanism – seeking deeper integration within the European institutional framework – and Atlanticism – pursuing a general strategic orientation towards the United States – in the three countries. As smaller-sized countries, they initially combined Europeanism and «moderate» Atlanticism, which left them some space for foreign policy maneuver. Since the 1990s, the Dutch foreign policy more closely follows the Atlanticist paradigm, while those of Belgium and Luxembourg are characterized more by Europeanism. The analysis of the EU strategic autonomy debate as a case study has shown that Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg seek the greatest possible economic benefits from the autonomy initiatives. Besides, the balance between the strategic trends remains; Belgium and Luxembourg positively view deeper EU defense cooperation, while the Netherlands mostly sees security guarantees in Euro-Atlantic cooperation. The current state in European security has thus not fundamentally changed the Benelux countries’ approaches to balancing Europeanism and Atlanticism that have been characteristic for them since the 1990s. Besides, for Belgium, support for deeper integration has become a key identity feature, while the Netherlands relies on special relations with the United States and ad hoc coalitions in the EU; Luxembourg’s foreign policy can be described to follow a free rider strategy.

Делиберативный конституционализм в странах Бенилюкса

The article examines the experience of the Benelux countries in organizing institutions of deliberative constitutionalism, identifies and analyzes the features of the legislative process with the participation of representatives of the civil bloc.

European CH4 inversions with ICON-ART coupled to the CarbonTracker Data Assimilation Shell

Abstract. We present the first application of the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic model with Aerosols and Reactive Trace gases (ICON-ART) in inverse modeling in inverse modeling of greenhouse gas fluxes with an ensemble Kalman smoother. For this purpose, we extended ICON-ART to efficiently handle gridded emissions, generate an ensemble of perturbed emissions during runtime and use nudging on selected variables to keep the simulations close to analyzed meteorology. We show that the system can optimize total and anthropogenic European CH4 fluxes on a national scale in an idealized setup using pseudo-observations from a realistic network of measurement stations. However, we were unable to constrain the sum of the natural emission sources of comparatively low magnitude. Also regions with low emissions and regions with low observational coverage could not be optimized individually for lack of observational constraints. Furthermore, we investigated the sensitivities towards different inversion parameters and design choices with 15 sensitivity runs using the same idealized setup, demonstrating the robustness of the approach when regarding some minimal requirements of the setup (e.g., number of ensemble members). Subsequently, we applied the system to real in situ observations from 28 European stations for three years, 2008, 2013 and 2018. We used a priori anthropogenic fluxes from the EDGARv6 inventory and a priori natural fluxes from peatlands and mineral soils, inland waters, the ocean, biofuels and biomass burning, and geology. Our results for the year 2018 indicate that anthropogenic emissions may be underestimated in EDGARv6 by ca. 25 % in the Benelux countries and, to a smaller degree, in northwestern France and southern England. In the rest of the domain, anthropogenic fluxes are corrected downwards by the inversion, suggesting an overestimation in the a priori. For most countries, this means that the a posteriori country-total anthropogenic emissions are closer to the values reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) than the a priori emissions from EDGARv6. Aggregating the a posteriori emissions across the EU27 + UK results in a total of 17.4 Tg yr−1, while the a priori emissions were 19.9 Tg yr−1. Our a posteriori is close to the total reported to the UNFCCC of 17.8 Tg yr−1. Natural emissions are reduced from their a priori magnitude almost everywhere, especially over Italy and Romania–Moldova, where a priori geological emissions are high, and over the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, where emissions from peatlands and wetlands were possibly unusually low during the hot and dry summer of 2018. Our a posteriori anthropogenic emissions for the EU27 + UK fall within the range estimated by global top-down studies but are lower than most other regional inversions. However, many of these studies have used observations from different measurement stations or satellite observations. The spatial pattern of the emission increments in our results, especially the increase in the Benelux countries, also agrees well with other regional inversions.

Comparative study of government expenditure on social protection in the Visegrád Group and Benelux

Socio-economic policies aim to promote equitable income distribution, with social protection playing a crucial role. Balancing equality and efficiency in redistribution poses a challenge for policy-makers. The welfare state-market compatibility dilemma and its impact on incentives are primary concerns. This study evaluates government expenditures on social protection in Benelux and Visegrád Group (V4) countries from 1995 to 2021. Trends in expenditure share indicate varying fiscal policy behaviors: Visegrád Group countries show convergence in expenditure share, while Benelux countries exhibit divergence. The structure of social protection spending also differs, with old age being a dominant category. These findings provide insights into welfare systems and can guide policy decisions in European regions.

Is it possible to ‘legally desegregate’ sheltered employment? General comment no. 8 of the committee on the rights of persons with disabilities and the Benelux countries

In 2022, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities issued General Comment No. 8 on the right of persons with disabilities to work and employment. The general comment most notably recommends States parties to expeditiously phase out segregated employment, including sheltered workshops. After covering the contents of the general comment on this issue in Section I, this contribution argues that the Committee does not take into account that sheltered employment is a complex notion and that domestic sheltered employment systems can evolve. Since General Comment No. 8 outlaws segregated (sheltered) employment, the question becomes, can sheltered employment be legally desegregated, and hence does not have to be expeditiously phased out? Section III illustrates, based on examples from the Benelux countries, that domestic sheltered employment systems do not necessarily exhibit the distinguishing features of segregated employment, as described in General Comment No. 8. Section IV explains that this leaves the CRPD Committee with a decision to make. It could assert that sheltered employment is ipso facto segregated employment, which is to be phased out. It could also draw on its non-exhaustive list of the distinguishing features of segregated employment to incite States parties to at least desegregate sheltered employment legally if they decide not to phase it out entirely.

Small States of Europe in International Negotiations (Case of Benelux Countries)

With a multicentric world forming and stratification of resource potential taking place, as well as with more small states in Europe and the world and emerging big multinationals here, small states receive more and more researchers’ attention: there appear papers analyzing activities of small states in Europe in the international arena in general and in international negotiations in particular. This article answers the following research question: What strategies and tactics allow small European states to strengthen their positions in negotiations (based on the case of the Benelux countries)? The strategies used by small countries in negotiations to compensate for limited resources is of scientific and practical interest as it can be applied by other states, namely Russia. Theoretically, the study is based on constructivist methodology as negotiation tactics effectively (re)formulate the issue, changing it through the use of a different context and/or lexical units, as well as on structural invariants of activity in negotiations. Discourse analysis and case study are used as research methods. The analysis identified the limitations that small European states, in particular the Benelux countries, face at each stage of international negotiations. The authors conclude that the types of behavior small European states demonstrate in international negotiations can be divided into those (1) aimed at increasing the “weight” of the state (e.g., interaction within international institutions, with NGOs and lobbies, organizing side events, etc.) and (2) focused on influencing the course of negotiations: tactics within the bargaining strategy (coalition-building, bargaining, etc.) and tactics based on persuasion ((re)framing, appealing to one’s own “example”, etc.). For small European countries, namely the Benelux countries, persuasion tactics are most typical, although other tactics are also used.

The Ideological Drivers Behind the Support for the Use of Direct Democracy among Voters and Parties of Benelux Countries

The Ideological Drivers Behind the Support for the Use of Direct Democracy among Voters and Parties of Benelux Countries

Appendix The Ideological Drivers Behind the Support for the Use of Direct Democracy among Voters and Parties of Benelux Countries

Appendix The Ideological Drivers Behind the Support for the Use of Direct Democracy among Voters and Parties of Benelux Countries

Attribution of the heavy rainfall events leading to severe flooding in Western Europe during July 2021

In July 2021 extreme rainfall across Western Europe caused severe flooding and substantial impacts, including over 200 fatalities and extensive infrastructure damage within Germany and the Benelux countries. After the event, a hydrological assessment and a probabilistic event attribution analysis of rainfall data were initiated and complemented by discussing the vulnerability and exposure context. The global mean surface temperature (GMST) served as a covariate in a generalised extreme value distribution fitted to observational and model data, exploiting the dependence on GMST to estimate how anthropogenic climate change affects the likelihood and severity of extreme events. Rainfall accumulations in Ahr/Erft and the Belgian Meuse catchment vastly exceeded previous observed records. In regions of that limited size the robust estimation of return values and the detection and attribution of rainfall trends are challenging. However, for the larger Western European region it was found that, under current climate conditions, on average one rainfall event of this magnitude can be expected every 400 years at any given location. Consequently, within the entire region, events of similar magnitude are expected to occur more frequently than once in 400 years. Anthropogenic climate change has already increased the intensity of the maximum 1-day rainfall event in the summer season by 3–19 %. The likelihood of such an event to occur today compared to a 1.2 ^{circ }C cooler climate has increased by a factor of 1.2–9. Models indicate that intensity and frequency of such events will further increase with future global warming. While attribution of small-scale events remains challenging, this study shows that there is a robust increase in the likelihood and severity of rainfall events such as the ones causing extreme impacts in July 2021 when considering a larger region.

Santa Claus Worldwide: A History of St. Nicholas and Other Holiday Gift-Bringers

Santa Claus Worldwide: A History of St. Nicholas and Other Holiday Gift-Bringers

Modeling Covid-19 Cases and Deaths in Benelux Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) With Different Regression Methods

In this study, the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Benelux countries were examined with linear, quadratic, cubic, logarithmic, and exponential regression models. The number of Covid-19 cases and deaths, within a 50-day period between March 1, 2022, and April 19, 2022, in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg were examined. Models with the highest coefficient of determination (R2 ) and corrected coefficient of determination with significant parameter estimates were preferred in the selection of the most appropriate regression model. (𝑅̅2 ) The cubic regression model for the number of cases and the quadratic, cubic, and linear regression models for the number of deaths were found to be appropriate respectively in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The R2 values of these models are 0.997, 0.9993 and 0.9982; 𝑅̅2 respectively and the values are 0.996, 0.9987 ve 0.9979 respectively. Regression models for the number of deaths were obtained as quadratic, cubic, and linear regression models in these countries, respectively. The R2 values of these models were 0.996, 0.9982 and 0.9848 respectively; 𝑅̅2 and the values were 0.995, 0.9977 and 0.9845 respectively. As a result, it was observed that regression models were an appropriate method to reveal the number of cases and deaths.

Modeling Covid-19 Cases and Deaths in Benelux Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) With Different Regression Methods

Modeling Covid-19 Cases and Deaths in Benelux Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) With Different Regression Methods

Benelux and European Union CFSP Security in Response to the Russia-Ukraine War

This study discusses the security cooperation of the three countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. In particular, this paper elaborates on its role in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) adopted by the European Union in responding to the Russia-Ukraine Conflict, 2014-2022. The method used in this research is qualitative with analytical descriptive. The research source uses secondary data in the form of literature review. This study is analyzed using the theory of Regional Security Complex (RSC) and the Concept of Cooperative Security. RSC theory is used to analyze the cooperation of Benelux as a regional power in developing European Union CFSP security cooperation. Result shows that Benelux is not brave enough to make a decision which is completely different from the EU public. The Benelux countries’ position is to agree with the EU's decision on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Ispitivanje elastičnosti PDV-a u zemljama Beneluksa

Value added tax is a significant tax form worldwide. The importance of this tax is manifested in the scope, stability and efficiency of revenue collection. With respect to macroeconomic conditions and challenges, fiscal authorities have to pay attention to the elasticity of VAT revenues. The paper is aimed at identifying VAT elasticity in the Benelux countries, as well as determining the main macroeconomic factors that affect the changes in VAT elasticity. Empirical results have shown the presence of VAT elasticity in the Benelux countries, as well as a statistically significant impact of gross domestic product, final consumption, unemployment, inflation, government expenditures and standard VAT rate on VAT elasticity for the period 2011-2022.

Различные подходы к изучению географии туристских потоков (на примере стран Бенилюкса)

The tourism geography currently uses a variety of approaches to analyze tourist flows. The purpose of the study is to identify geographical features in the distribution of inbound tourist flows in the Benelux countries, using various approaches to data aggregation and visualization. The study is based on the national tourism statistics of the Benelux countries. Five leading countries in terms of the volume of inbound tourist flow in this region are considered: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium. Four different indicators were used to analyze the distribution of inbound tourist flow: the total number of arrivals of foreign and domestic tourists in the region, inbound tourist flow diversity index, the share of arrivals from a particular country in the total volume of inbound tourist flow, and the degree of attendance calculated on the basis of the share of the country’s tourist the total tourist flow of the country. The regions that are the main centers of tourism (capital, seaside, border) and geographic factors that affect the degree of attendance of the region by tourists from different countries are identified: the language of the region, distance from the border, the capital factor and, in some cases, the presence of direct flights. The use of two different approaches to assessing the inbound tourist flow, carried out for the first time, made it possible to determine their advantages and disadvantages for further use.

Procenjivanje PDV efikasnosti u zemljama Beneluksa

The relevance of value added tax is reflected in the generation of a significant amount of revenue and the suppression of tax evasion. The purpose of the research is aimed at assessing collected revenues and measuring the efficiency of VAT revenue collection in the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) for the period 2011-2020. years. Empirical research results indicate that the average VAT efficiency was 59.84% in the observed countries. where the highest degree of efficiency was recorded in Luxembourg, and the lowest value in Belgium. Panel regression results show that economic growth, final consumption, government expenditures and VAT revenues have a positive effect on VAT efficiency in the observed countries. At the same time, variables such as unemployment and inflation, as well as the standard VAT rate, have a negative effect on the efficiency of VAT revenue. The obtained empirical findings can be of help to economic policy makers in the analyzed countries when profiling and adjusting tax policy from the point of view of value added tax.

Ozone pollution in London and Edinburgh: spatiotemporal characteristics, trends, transport and the impact of COVID-19 control measures

Air pollution remains the most serious environmental health issue in the United Kingdom while also carrying non-trivial economic costs. The COVID-19 lockdown periods reduced anthropogenic emissions and offered unique conditions for air pollution research. This study sources fine-granularity geo-spatial air quality and meteorological data for the capital cities of two UK countries (i.e. England's capital London and Scotland's capital Edinburgh) from the UK Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) spanning 2016–2022 to assess long-term trends in several criteria pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, O3, and CO) and the changes in ozone pollution during the pandemic period. Unlike other studies conducted thus far, this research integrates several tools in trend estimation, including the Mann-Kendall test, the Theil-Sen estimator with bootstrap resampling, and the generalized additive model (GAM). Moreover, several investigations, including cluster trajectory analysis, pollution rose plots, and potential source contribution function (PSCF), are also employed to identify potential origin sources for air masses carrying precursors and estimate their contributions to ozone concentrations at receptor sites and downwind areas. The main findings reveal that most of the criteria pollutants show a decreasing trend in both geographies over the seven-year period, except for O3, which presents a significant ascending trend in London and a milder ascending trend in Edinburgh. However, O3 concentrations have significantly decreased during the year 2020 in both urban areas, despite registering sharp increases during the first lockdown period. In turn, these findings indicate on one hand that the O3 generation process is in the VOC-limited regime in both UK urban areas and, on the other hand, confirm previous findings that, when stretching the analysis period, diminishing ozone levels can lead to NOx reduction even in VOC-controlled geographies. Trajectory analysis reveals that northern Europe, particularly Norway and Sweden, is a principal ozone pollution source for Edinburgh, whereas, for London, mainland Europe (i.e., the Benelux countries) is another significant source. The results have important policy implications, revealing that effective and efficient NOx abatement measures spur ozone pollution in the short-term, but the increase can be transient. Moreover, policymakers in London and Edinburgh should consider that both local and transboundary sources contribute to local ozone pollution.