Control In Europe Research Articles

Rent controls in comparative perspective: Reflections on an international symposium

In Scotland, the policy landscape around rent controls is rapidly evolving and full of uncertainty. At this critical moment, an international symposium in Edinburgh brought together activists and academics in similar contexts living with or fighting for rent controls from across Europe and North America. This contribution is organised around reflections from the participants on (1) the history of rent controls in their area; (2) the current rent regulations in operation and their effectiveness; (3) the role of tenants’ organisations and (4) landlord and other pro-real estate lobbies in shaping the discourse around rent controls; and (5) reflections on what a satisfactory resolution on the rent control issue might look like and how it relates to other dimensions of the housing system. Our collective hope is that these reflections contribute to sharpening and clarifying the re-emergence of demands for rent control in Europe and North America as a powerful tool––if insufficient by itself––for shaping a decommodified housing system.

The judicial response to rent controls in Europe: Protecting property rights against state’s intervention?

This essay examines, from a legal and economic perspective, the judicial response to rent controls in the EU focusing on three courts that operate at the fundamental rights and constitutional level: the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfGE), and the Italian Constitutional Court. Based on an analysis of a sample of judicial decisions rendered over time, a convergent trend emerges: these Courts have recognized and effectively protected the landlord’s property rights against rent controls that were disproportionate and could not ensure a reasonable return on investment. This trend is prominent in the jurisprudence of the ECtHR: the Strasbourg Court has contributed to reshaping the distribution of power between tenants and landlords, encouraging the transition of Eastern and Southern European Countries to the common European housing market. In both upholding and striking down rent control measures, judges generally take market value and the comparative reference price as the preferred benchmarks for fair rent price. A consumption-based and financial characterization of housing, coupled with the fundamental right to derive economic benefits as core elements of the right to property, underpin the legal reasoning of the three Courts.

Assessing the feasibility of pre-emptive biological control against the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis, an imminent biosecurity threat to Europe

As the globalisation of trade increases, so does the spread of arthropod pests, leading to a growing focus on biosecurity preparedness. One approach to this is pre-emptive biological control, involving the importation of classical biological control (CBC) agents for risk assessments and acquiring approval for their release prior to the expected arrival of their target pests. This aims to mitigate the economic and/or environmental consequences of a delayed biological control response to pest invasions. Guidelines to assess the feasibility of pre-emptive biological control for high priority pests were recently developed. Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, is an invasive woodboring pest of ash (Fraxinus spp.) in North America, European Russia and Ukraine, and is spreading westward into Europe, threatening the future of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior). We applied the aforementioned guidelines to assess the feasibility of pre-emptive biological control in Europe using four EAB parasitoids, already released in North America for CBC. Three of the parasitoids; Oobius agrili, Spathius galinae, and Tetrastichus planipennisi, were found suitable for pre-emptive biological control. The fourth parasitoid, Spathius agrili, was found to have limited establishment in new environmental conditions, and was therefore deemed less suitable for pre-emptive biological control of EAB in Europe. This assessment can inform scientists and regulators in Europe on the most promising EAB parasitoids that should be considered for pre-emptive applications for importation and risk assessment to acquire pre-approval for immediate release should the target pest subsequently be discovered. In turn, this study contributes to the development of biosecurity preparedness against EAB’s imminent spread throughout Europe.

Media ownership and control in Europe: A multidimensional approach

This article introduces the multidimensional approach to media ownership and control adopted by the Euromedia Ownership Monitor (EurOMo). This monitor emerged as a response to a call of the EU Commission to set up an instrument to improve transparency in media ownership and control. After considering the context of the EU media policy, the text outlines the theoretical and methodological choices of the monitor, advocating for an approach that addresses the topic in several dimensions defined as ‘ownership structure’, ‘management’, ‘economic control’, ‘relations’, ‘distribution’ and ‘public policy’. In the final part, it engages in a critical reflection both on the project and on the political goal of increasing media ownership transparency. Drawing on this experience, it is possible to affirm that there are good conditions for transparency of the basic media ownership structure in Europe, but all other dimensions need better regulatory frameworks and corresponding adaptions in the monitoring instrument.

QuEChERS Extraction and Simultaneous Quantification in GC-MS/MS of Hexahydrocannabinol Epimers and Their Metabolites in Whole Blood, Urine, and Oral Fluid.

Recently, hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) was posed under strict control in Europe due to the increasing HHC-containing material seizures. The lack of analytical methods in clinical laboratories to detect HHC and its metabolites in biological matrices may result in related intoxication underreporting. We developed and validated a comprehensive GC-MS/MS method to quantify 9(R)-HHC, 9(S)-HHC, 9αOH-HHC, 9βOH-HHC, 8(R)OH-9(R)-HHC, 8(S)OH-9(S)HHC, 11OH-9(R)HHC, 11OH-9(S)HHC, 11nor-carboxy-9(R)-HHC, and 11nor-carboxy-9(S)-HHC in whole blood, urine, and oral fluid. A novel QuEChERS extraction protocol was optimized selecting the best extraction conditions suitable for all the three matrices. Urine and blood were incubated with β-glucuronidase at 60 °C for 2 h. QuEChERS extraction was developed assessing different ratios of Na2SO4:NaCl (4:1, 2:1, 1:1, w/w) to be added to 200 µL of any matrix added with acetonitrile. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a 7890B GC with an HP-5ms column, (30 m, 0.25 mm × 0.25 µm) in 12.50 min. The analytes were detected with a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer in the MRM mode. The method was fully validated following OSAC guidelines. The method showed good validation parameters in all the matrices. The method was applied to ten real samples of whole blood (n = 4), urine (n = 3), and oral fluid (n = 3). 9(R)-HHC was the prevalent epimer in all the samples (9(R)/9(S) = 2.26). As reported, hydroxylated metabolites are proposed as urinary biomarkers, while carboxylated metabolites are hematic biomarkers. Furthermore, 8(R)OH-9(R)HHC was confirmed as the most abundant metabolite in all urine samples.

Digitalising Asylum Procedures: The Legitimisation of Smartphone Data Extraction for Retrospective Border Control

ABSTRACT The smartification and digitalisation of border controls in Europe has been widely associated with the expansion and interoperation of databases like EURODAC, SIS, or VIS. This article examines the legitimisation of a new instrument of dataveillance for retrospective border control, namely smartphone data extraction in asylum governance. In particular, it asks how smartphone examinations could become a legitimate policy instrument in asylum procedures in the Central European region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Applying Critical Discourse Analysis to policy documents, including parliamentary protocols, laws, public commentaries and implementation documents, it argues that the introduction of smartphone data extraction against concerns over privacy and social injustice was based on moralising securitisation strategies as well as techno-solutionist rationalisations. Overall, the (re-)appropriation of personal digital data in the service of border control displays established characteristics of a governmentality of unease but also distinctly Big Data-related legitimisation patterns linked to data/meta-data differentiations and machine-based readouts. The case study raises questions about the implications of using personal digital data for a liberal democratic governance of borders and about its capacity to become an acceptable geopolitical tool for identification and return procedures.

Is security still the chiefest enemy? The challenges and contradictions in European confidence- and security-building in the Cold War

ABSTRACT The regime of Confidence- (and Security-) Building Measures (C(S)BMs) represented an effort to re-imagine Arms Control in Europe and reduce the possibility of unwanted escalation due to misunderstanding or misperception. The regime was first developed during the Cold War due to concerns about large-scale military exercises, and its ongoing importance has come into sharp relief given that NATO and Russia have increasingly engaged in similar manoeuvres. However, despite the C(S)BMs, military exercises represented a point of conflict between NATO and the Soviet Union, and there is little indication that the regime led to the development of confidence in the benign intent of other participants. What prevented this from occurring? This paper compares the theory and logic of confidence-building with the negotiations around the CSBMs, highlighting three primary points of discontinuity that undermined the ability of the regime to fully deliver on its potential. The competitive nature of negotiation about its terms resulted in incomplete transparency, the conflation of the concepts of ‘confidence’ and ‘security’ shifted the focus towards assessing an adversary’s military capability rather than intent, and the regime’s inflexibility meant that it did not account for technological changes that otherwise altered understanding of proximate threat.

XIth International EMCA Conference

The abstracts in this JEMCA Supplement is a collation of novel applied research and experimental development presented at the XIth International EMCA Conference (EMCA 2023) entitled ‘Shaping the future of vector control in Europe’, held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. With regards to the concern for sustainable pest and vector management, the abstracts cover a wide range of topics addressing mosquitoes and other vectors, with particular emphasis on surveillance and management, the context of disease outbreaks, citizen involvement, challenges in One Health, mosquito control in the Mediterranean region, and innovative technologies and practices in vector control. A topic that is of great concern to the EMCA is the Best Practices for mosquito control in built-up areas, which is tackled in a round table at the conference, but also as a side event of the relative EMCA Working Group. This WG aims at publishing a Best Practices guidance document by early 2024, as a development of our EMCA Workshop held in 2022 in Mendrisio, Switzerland, and with the support of WHO-TDR-Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases..

Availability and Use of Alternative Methods for the Detection and/or Confirmation of Listeria monocytogenes in the Frame of Official Controls in Europe: an overview

Availability and Use of Alternative Methods for the Detection and/or Confirmation of Listeria monocytogenes in the Frame of Official Controls in Europe: an overview

Social values are significant factors in control of COVID-19 the first phase pandemic

Introduction. This study examines the relationship between social values and the control of the COVID-19 pandemic in selected European countries during the early months of 2020.
 Methods. Utilizing epidemiological data, including starting and controlled reproduction rates (R(t)), and social values' dimensions based on Schwartz's framework, we uncover significant associations by linear regressions.
 Results. Our findings reveal that highly hierarchical societies with a strong focus on maximising individual utility (affective autonomy) are less successful in controlling the spread of the virus. Conversely, societies with interconnected (embedded) structures appear to be more effective in disease control. Our discussion acknowledges the complexity of distinguishing between natural disease patterns and control efforts. Interactive dashboard is available: https://infodemia-koronawirusa.shinyapps.io/culture/
 Conclusions. This study underscores the substantial influence of social values on disease control in Europe. It emphasises the need to consider social contexts when evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation strategies on an international scale. While recognising the potential role of confounding variables such as healthcare capacity, our research suggests that analysing outbreak dynamics across countries can provide insights into not only why some nations fare better but also how to combat future disease spread effectively.

Affective control: the emotional life of (en)forcing mobility control in Europe

ABSTRACT Current outcomes of immigration enforcement policies and apparatuses call for rethinking the ethics behind our understanding of community belonging, human rights and just society. The ethics at work are often presented as emotions creating particular affective atmosphere that permit the ongoing implementation of enforcing migration. This Special Issue tackles emotions as processes of organizing that are mobilized in support of certain ethics. In the context of immigration enforcement, these emotions are not self-explanatory, but they can justify the potential for violence and even deem it necessary. The emotions or affects of enforcers (as opposed to migrants) have been less addressed, and this Special Issue aims to be a novel collection. The articles pay particular attention to racism and to the understanding of institutional racism within state structures. They reveal the ways in which emotions are instrumental to the operations of state bureaucracy within the repressive migration apparatus and point to the ethics that allows individuals to conform state structures of oppression.

5.D. Round table: Implementing Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan: Challenges and opportunities from European countries

Abstract Cancer is one of the most pressing issues in public health, one that places that carries a large burden on society, governments, and healthcare systems. Without strong action, cancer incidence in Europe is expected to increase by a fifth in 2040, translating into more than 5 million cancer cases (5,328,323) (IARC,2020) . While over 40 % of cases are preventable, 3.9 million people in the EU are diagnosed each year, and 1.9 million deaths are cancer-related. In an effort to tackle cancer, the European Commission (EC) launched two major initiatives: Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP), and the Mission on Cancer. The EBCP, launched in 2021, is a policy-driven initiative aimed at supporting Member States in addressing every stage of the disease: prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment. The EBCP is supported by a research driven initiative which is the Mission on Cancer. The ambition of these initiative is to reduce the burden of cancer in Europe and save 3 million lives by 2030. Knowledge exchange and capacity building between member states are essential to create a common understanding of the challenges and opportunities in cancer prevention and control, as is facilitating exchange and collaboration between the plethora of actors within each national context. To guarantee the successful implementation of the EBCP and the Mission on Cancer, one must consider the diversity of national contexts. The aim of the workshop is to explore how countries evaluate their needs in the field, through engaging public health actors and community members, with a participatory approach, to implement the EBCP while taking into account the diversity of contexts within countries. In this workshop, we seek contextualise the EC's EBCP and explore implementation strategies from different Member States, with a particular focus on participatory approach to public health initiatives and policy design and implementation. More specifically, a panel will share experiences and discuss examples from Belgium and other European countries in supporting the national implementation of cancer initiatives. The panel will lay the foundation for a discussion with the audience on the opportunities and challenges in various EU countries on participatory public health policy design and implementation, using cancer policy related to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research, as a case study. Key messages • Europe's Beating Cancer Plan should be contextualised taking into consideration Member States and their citizen's heterogeneity and needs, while also adapting to health systems characteristics. • Knowledge and capacity building between Member States is essential to create a common understanding of the challenges and opportunities in cancer prevention and control in Europe. Speakers/Panelists Jinane Ghattas EUPHAnxt Anabela Isidro Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica, Lisbon, Portugal Linda Abboud Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium

The European Cancer Pulse: tracking inequalities in cancer control for citizen benefit

Differences in access to cancer control across and within European countries have long been reported and further amplified by recent crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Resolving these inequalities is a moral, socioeconomic, and systemic duty, for the benefit of every European citizen. Recognising this need, the European Commission has included a focus on eliminating inequalities in cancer control in Europe's Beating Cancer Plan.

Effectiveness of COVID-19 primary and booster vaccination in HIV-infected individuals

Effectiveness of COVID-19 primary and booster vaccination in HIV-infected individuals

African Emigration to Europe

From the 1960s onwards , the main source countries for migration from Africa to Europe were Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, which led to the emergence of large diasporas originating in these countries at the end of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis, immigration controls in Europe were tightened. The result was not a reduction in migration from North Africa, but rather support for the permanent settlement of previously temporary migrants and related family migration. Much of this migration was from the Maghreb to France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Since the second half of the 1980s, destination countries for Maghreb migrants have expanded to include Spain and Italy due to increased demand for low-skilled labor in these countries. Spain and Italy imposed a visa requirement on migrants from the Maghreb in the early 1990s, resulting in an increase in illegal migration across the Mediterranean.

Article: Report on the CELIS Forum on Investment Screening

On 1–3 June 2022, the Common European Law on Investment Screening (CELIS) Institute organized its fourth annual conference ‘2022 CELIS Forum on Investment Screening’ (CFIS22). The Conference was held in Sweden, at Uppsala University. The CELIS Institute is an independent non-profit, non-partisan research enterprise dedicated to promoting better regulation of foreign investments in the context of security, public order, and competitiveness. It was set up in 2020 by Steffen Hindelang and J. Hillebrand Pohl, the convenors of this year’s conference, as a permanent successor to the ‘International Conference on a Common European Law on Investment Screening (CELIS)’, convened by Professor Hindelang and Andreas Moberg in 2019. The aim of CFIS 22 was to debate European investment screening on national security grounds from a strategic perspective on the theme ‘The Emerging Law of Investment Control in Europe: Screening, Sanctions and Subsidies’. CFIS was a major event which brought together, not just leading academic scholars, EU officials, national experts, diplomats, and policymakers, but also business leaders, think tankers, and representatives of the investment community and civil society, as well as the media from across Europe and beyond. The three-day event was generously funded by Riksbankens jubileumsfond, the Center for International Private Enterprise, the Swedish Institute of International Law, Datenna, Blomstein, and the Institute for Democracy Societas investment screening, foreign investments, CELIS, FDI, ESG, national security, public order, sovereign-driven investment.

Epidermal politics: Control, violence and dissent at the biometric border

In this paper, we critically interrogate the registration of migrants in pan-European, large-scale biometric databases, like Eurodac (European Asylum Dactyloscopy Database). We employ the notion of “epidermal politics”, which analytically captures how human bodies – and skin in particular – become sites of identification, violent control, and contestation. Thinking through epidermal politics allows us to understand how the development of technologies that render skin visible and analysable, such as fingerprint scanners and biometric matching algorithms, are entangled in relations of power, structural racism, and subjugation. Drawing on the work of Simone Browne (2015) and her elaboration of Franz Fanon’s theory of epidermisation, we argue that migration control in Europe, and its violent and racialising effects, are embedded within data infrastructures that “stigmatise” (Van Der Ploeg 1999) post-colonial “others” with codes to control their mobilities. We unpack this argument in three stages. First, we discuss the governmental rationales that inform the use of Eurodac for the management of migration and asylum in Europe. Second, we discuss how biometric control is related to different forms of state violence, including deportation, prolonged detention, and physical violence associated with the forced registration of migrants’ fingerprints. Third, we attend to strategies employed by migrants to contest biometric control, focusing specifically on fingertip burning and mutilation, which we interpret as acts of dissent and self-determination to escape control. Overall, our goal is to emphasise the need to pay closer attention to dynamics of violence and racialisation that emerge at biometric and other kinds of “hi-tech” borders.

Large increase in bloodstream infections with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, EU/EEA, 2020 and 2021.

Recent data from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) show a large increase of +57% in Acinetobacter species bloodstream infections in the European Union and European Economic Area in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) compared with 2018-2019. Most were resistant to carbapenems, from intensive care units, and in countries with ≥ 50% carbapenem resistance in Acinetobacter spp. in 2018-2019. This highlights the requirement for reinforced Acinetobacter preparedness and infection prevention and control in Europe.

The decrease in the incidence of malignant tumors as a consequence of the epidemic of COVID-19

In 2020 we observed a sudden decline in cancer incidence in Russia in comparison with 2019. The age-standardized rates (ASR) per 100,000 population of cancers that were on increase before 2019 dropped abruptly including cancers of the colorectum, prostate, breast, thyroid, kidney, while for those cancers that steadily decreased including cancers of the lung and stomach, the decrease has speeded up.The difference between predicted and actual number of cases registered in 2020 was 98 142 for all cancers, 24 172 for skin cancer (excluding melanoma), 13202 – for prostate cancer 11 660 – for breast cancer, 9570 – for colorectal cancer, 7235 – for lung cancer, 5450 – for kidney cancer, 3506 for gastric cancer, 2744 for urinary bladder cancer, 2436 – thyroid cancer and 2080 for melanoma.The observed decrease in cancer incidence in 2020 reflects the decrease in the detection rate of cancer. Following arguments might explain this decrease. First the individuals with complains or symptoms who in normal situation would seek medical advice might have barriers for consulting doctor due to isolation and lockdowns. For the same reason the coverage of the population by the check-up programs temporarily decreased including screening for breast, cervix, colorectal and prostate cancer. Regrettably there are no data on the population coverage of these screening programs either before (in 2019) or at the time of COVID epidemic (in 2020).For most of these tumors the effective screening tests are available that if applied correctly with quality control contribute to early diagnosis and consequently to the improvement of survival and decrease in mortality.The decrease in the detection rate of cancer in 2020 and 2021 (still to be seen) will result in the shift of the stage of cancer at diagnosis from early to late stages. The proportion of cancer patients diagnosed at the stages III–IV will increase and will be followed by increase in mortality from cancer.The decrease in cancer detection rate is observed in many counties. The Covid‑19 pandemic affected cancer control in Europe. In one third of the countries in Europe the pressure on the health system created by the Covid –19 pandemic caused interruptions in cancer care.To handle effectively the problem of the underdiagnosis of cancer during the Covid‑19 pandemic we have to address population using all available ways of communication and explain that the decrease in detection rate of cancer will be followed by shifting the stage of detected cancer from early to late stages and this will affect its curability. People should be advised to see doctor immediately for any health problems. To make this advice effective the accessibility of cancer diagnostic and treatment facilities need to return to pre-pandemic level.Screening programs should be restored. However, they need to be adjusted to the WHO guidelines and the existing international experience. WHO guidelines recommend screening for colorectal, breast and cervical cancer. Cervical cancer screening – preferably using HPV testing that is much more sensitive than cytological testing and could be carried out twice in the life at age 35 and 45 years.The evidence-based cancer control program will not only help us to overcome the consequences of the pandemic and returning to the pre-pandemic state but also will promote further decline of cancer mortality.

Spatial clusters of Varroa destructor control strategies in Europe

Beekeepers have various options to control the parasitic mite Varroa destructor in honey bee colonies, but no empirical data are available on the methods they apply in practice. We surveyed 28,409 beekeepers maintaining 507,641 colonies in 30 European countries concerning Varroa control methods. The set of 19 different Varroa diagnosis and control measures was taken from the annual COLOSS questionnaire on honey bee colony losses. The most frequent activities were monitoring of Varroa infestations, drone brood removal, various oxalic acid applications and formic acid applications. Correspondence analysis and hierarchical clustering on principal components showed that six Varroa control options (not necessarily the most used ones) significantly contribute to defining three distinctive clusters of countries in terms of Varroa control in Europe. Cluster I (eight Western European countries) is characterized by use of amitraz strips. Cluster II comprises 15 countries from Scandinavia, the Baltics, and Central-Southern Europe. This cluster is characterized by long-term formic acid treatments. Cluster III is characterized by dominant usage of amitraz fumigation and formed by seven Eastern European countries. The median number of different treatments applied per beekeeper was lowest in cluster III. Based on estimation of colony numbers in included countries, we extrapolated the proportions of colonies treated with different methods in Europe. This suggests that circa 62% of colonies in Europe are treated with amitraz, followed by oxalic acid for the next largest percentage of colonies. We discuss possible factors determining the choice of Varroa control measures in the different clusters.