EU Nations Research Articles

Does Lithuanian law impose a criminal liability for a particularly exploitative working conditions?

As a result of implementing EU directive 2009/52/EC a new article showed up in Lithuanian criminal codex. It is article No. 292(1) which among all the other provisions imposes a criminal liability for a particularly exploitative working conditions. This definition is not explained in the national codex but it is directly transferred from the directive above. The problem is that this directive is issued for a certain purpose which is to prevent an illegal immigration in EU territory and to protect third–country nationals, as they are considered as vulnerable, from particularly abusive activities, such as discrimination and striking disproportion of employment terms compared with legally employed workers which affects worker‘s health and safety and which offends against human dignity. As this provision is a quite new thing in Lithuania there is no jurisprudence regarding its application which most likely will create some difficulties in the means of it‘s qualification as the definition in some way replicates another provision imposing criminal liability for a forced labor under article No. 147(1). In a certain circumstances there is a need to make a research on this new provision especially on its definition “particularly exploitative working conditions “and find out whether there is an imposed criminal liability for such a violation in general not only concerning specific group of people – illegal third-country nationals. The research is focused on the related Lithuanian criminal provisions (No. 176, 147, 147(1), 292(1)) and their application. It shows that criminal provisions are for a very narrow application and do not apply to protect Lithuanians or other EU nationals from the labor exploitation in general. In fact it is discriminating them as the existing provision protects only third-country nationals.

EU National Treasures and the Quest for a Definition

Santander Art and Culture Law Review » 2019 » 2/2019 (5) » EU National Treasures and the Quest for a Definition A A A

European Union Nation Branding through Humanitarian and Developmental Initiatives - Focus on EU Aid Volunteers

Diverse from the Erasmus program, amongst other EU international interactions, Humanitarian and Developmental initiatives resulting in Nation Branding is a field that is hardly explored. This paper has tried to analyze the concept of supra-nation branding through the EU humanitarian and development program named EU Aid Volunteers Initiative, through focusing on how a supranational organization such as the EU would go about a nation branding initiative that promotes its collective values in Humanitarian and Development Aid. In order to explore the concept of supra-nation branding, it firsts gives a brief introduction about the initiative and identifies the key elements of EU nation branding as well as its humanitarian and development initiatives. Then, it analyzes it through Anholt’s lens and a SWOT analysis, followed by critiques and a conclusion. This analysis proved fruitful in terms of enabling a structural understanding behind the processes employed by the E.U Aid Volunteers Initiative and how it shall enable the E.U to advance its image as a supra-national entity both locally, regionally and internationally. In addition, as the European Union is an entity unlike any other it generates comprehension for future organizations motivated by a collectivity in idealisms and cultural identities, enabling the application of their country’s image abroad through a means of which embodies a form of cultural-humanitarian diplomacy.

The Return of Citizenship? An Empirical Assessment of Legal Integration in Times of Radical Sociolegal Transformation

Intra-EU migrants have traditionally faced few pressures or incentives to formalize their “permanent” residence or to naturalize in their EU host countries. Focusing on the United Kingdom and combining an analysis of secondary administrative data and primary online survey data ( N = 1,413), this article examines practices and attitudes toward such legal integration in the context of the 2016 EU Referendum among five major EU nationality groups. The analysis reveals that British citizenship is the main legal mechanism of integration among intra-EU migrants in the United Kingdom and that while there is continuity in this respect with pre-Brexit processes, Brexit also has a strong but differential effect as a driver of legal integration. The article identifies some of the main decision-influencing factors shaping legal integration, making a significant contribution to understanding the complexities of integrative processes in times of radical structural change.

A ‘Frictionless’ Border for Gibraltar: Stumbling Blocks and Solutions Following Brexit

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory of around 6 square kilometers, inhabited by 30,000 people. Despite its size, it is an important issue within Brexit negotiations. In Gibraltar, 96% of the voters voted to ‘remain’ within the European Union (‘EU’), but are now set to leave when the EU and the United Kingdom (‘UK’) reach a withdrawal agreement. This article examines the question of what stumbling blocks will arise for Gibraltar following Brexit, and which solutions could be considered in order for Gibraltar to have a ‘frictionless’ border with the EU. As Gibraltar’s economy concentrates on the services sector, where not only Gibraltarians but also a lot of Spanish and other EU nationals work, the free movement of services and persons are of particular importance. This article analyses their trade-related consequences, and then focuses on two models that can provide some insight on the future relationship between the EU and the UK, with special consideration for Gibraltar: (1) the ‘reverse Greenland-model’, and (2) the Norwegian model. It concludes that there will definitely be some stumbling blocks on the way, but that the softer the Brexit, the less friction there will be on the border.

Turning citizens into immigrants: state practices of welfare ‘cancellations’ and document retention among EU nationals living in Glasgow

ABSTRACT This article examines the everyday experiences of welfare provision among EU migrants living in Glasgow, demonstrating how the process of restricting the rights of EU citizens has occurred well before Brexit. It is based on 12 months of ethnographic research conducted in 2012 with Czech and Slovak nationals who came to the UK after 2004. Introducing the migrants’ notion of zkancelovali, the paper highlights a heightened sense of insecurity in their everyday lives, which arises from the increasingly common experiences of rejections of their benefit applications and payment delays. Various state practices are discussed which raise questions about the limits of EU citizenship and show how the latter is affected not only through policies and discourses but also in everyday encounters with state officials, where boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’ are being redrawn. Drawing on sociological/anthropological perspectives on state, it is argued that the migrants’ experiences of welfare provision can be considered as constitutive of statecraft and nation-building processes, processes which turn (EU) citizens into immigrants.

The effect of tourism investment on tourism development and CO2 emissions: empirical evidence from the EU nations

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of tourism investment on tourism development and CO2 emissions in a panel of 28 EU countries using annual data from 1990 to 2013. The empirical results from a panel cointegration test confirm the presence of long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The long-run elasticities indicate that tourism investment has a significant positive and negative impact on tourism development and CO2 emissions, respectively. Finally, the short-run heterogeneous panel non-causality test results show the evidence of bidirectional causality between tourism investment and tourism revenue. These results therefore suggest that tourism investments not only increase tourism revenue but also reduce CO2 emissions. Given these findings, we suggest the policy makers of the EU nations to initiate more effective policies to increase the tourism investments. The increasing tourism investments will allow the industry to grow further by ensuring sustainable tourism development across the EU member countries.

Anthropogenic impact of Moscow district heating system on urban environment

Moscow City district heating system is the largest in the world and study of its impact on urban environment is important for understanding and managing possibilities for increasing energy demand efficiency within large urban agglomerations. This research estimated and analyzed carbon and thermal emissions of the Moscow district heating system.Moscow City district heating system is the largest in the world and understanding of its anthropogenic impact on environment, such as CO2 emissions or thermal emissions, is important for understanding and managing possibilities within different urban agglomerations. The heat supply system of Moscow differs from its counterparts in European cities. It is unique in terms of its scale and is generally comparable to individual EU nations in terms of major characteristics. For example, in 2012, the total length of pipelines in Moscow was 16,323 km and the associated contractual thermal load was 19 GW, which exceeds the corresponding aggregate figures for Finland (roughly 13,600 km and 18.5 GW, respectively).In this study authors present the analysis, based on official data of energy use for district heating, which is intended to show “end-user” CO2 and thermal emissions, that represent the consumers and not producers. This research estimates and analyze CO2 emissions and thermal emissions of the Moscow district heating system at the Moscow Administrative Districts level and shows that CO2 emissions for districts vary from 1.16 to 6.74 Mt CO2/year and mean annual thermal emissions vary from 23 to 75 W/m2.

Higher education staff and Brexit. Is the UK losing the youngest and brightest from other EU countries?

Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, and the formal act of triggering article 50 by Theresa May’s cabinet in 2017, the UK has entered a period of negotiations, the outcome of which, and also the terms of the post-exiting phase, are still uncertain. In this period of uncertainty, the mobility of people is one of the main issues at stake. The topic is important for the higher education sector where the percentage of (other) European Union staff in UK universities has grown at an impressive rate in recent years before the Brexit referendum. This paper draws from official Higher Education Statistic Agency (HESA) data to investigate if there is any inversion of this trend in the British system, arguing that some ‘Brexodus’ of academic staff - meaning a decrease in the percentage of other EU nationals - has already started for some academics, namely the youngest and the brightest.

Blockchain and the Future of Digital Learning Credential Assessment and Management

Abstract Blockchain educational technology has created assessment and management tools for learner credentials that are permanent, transparent and sustainable while giving users direct access. Personal encrypted credentials enable users to shape lifelong learning pathways and personalizes education according to individual values and needs. They allow for the permanent documentation of both formal and informal learning based on transversal competencies, adjustable across the economic sector and responsive to situational needs. Badging was the initial response to online credentialing. Mozilla’s open digital badges have become the unofficial global standard and the specifications remain free. They may be viewed in e-portfolios and social networks. Yet, if issuers cease hosting badges, they become invalid even when authentic. Some experiments with blockchain technology remedy this situation by creating a permanent, secure and sustainable infrastructure for learning records. The MIT Media Lab has produced the bitcoin based Blockcerts; whereas the Knowledge Institute, Open University, UK has developed Ethereum’s Smart Contracts to document Microcredentials (Badges). Both are Open Source products. Most EU nations are experimenting with educational blockchain. The technology creates an infrastructure to document, store and manage credentials and provides learners with a sustainable record of achievements they can control. It also benefits universities by reducing administrative costs and bureaucracy.

Stakeholder identities in Britain's neoliberal ethical community: Polish narratives of earned citizenship in the context of the UK's EU referendum.

This article examines the narrative strategies through which Polish migrants in the UK challenge the formal rights of political membership and attempt to redefine the boundaries of 'citizenship' along notions of deservedness. The analysed qualitative data originate from an online survey conducted in the months before the 2016 EU referendum, and the narratives emerge from the open-text answers to two survey questions concerning attitudes towards the referendum and the exclusion of resident EU nationals from the electoral process. The analysis identifies and describes three narrative strategies in reaction to the public discourses surrounding the EU referendum - namely discursive complicity, intergroup hostility and defensive assertiveness - which attempt to redefine the conditions of membership in Britain's 'ethical community' in respect to welfare practices. Examining these processes simultaneously 'from below' and 'from outside' the national political community, the paper argues, can reveal more of the transformation taking place in conceptions of citizenship at the sociological level, and the article aims to identify the contours of a 'neoliberal communitarian citizenship' as internalized by mobile EU citizens.

Conference Report: ‘Cross-Border Mergers Directive: EU Perspectives and National Experiences’

Conference Report: ‘Cross-Border Mergers Directive: EU Perspectives and National Experiences’

Structure Permitting EU Airlines to Attract Non-EU Capital with the Investor's Interest Exceeding 50%

Current legal regime binding to EU airlines requires that the companies are continuously owned and controlled by EU nationals (natural or legal persons) or EU Member States; see EU Regulation No 1008/2008 of September 24, 2008; Art.4(f). In practice, noting the scarcity of any EU originating financing (that would be willing to accept the level of speculation and uncertainty inherent in the current EU aviation environment), the EU airlines obviously seek financing sources outside of EU. At the same time, the investors see prudence in demanding more efficient safeguard than the formally permissible 50%-1 share, on grounds of concern that their financing can be gulped up by the owners without consideration of investor's interests at their best. Accommodation of the investor's financial safety quest with mandatory EU legal provisions implies invocation of novel modes of cooperation. The following paper puts forward one such novel structure. The idea is to create a virtual equity majority for the Investor in the existing Airline's newly created spin-off units, the latter units being mutually bonded through 100% cross-shareholdings. EU aviation industry players are invited to consider the model for their operations with regard to terms and conditions of prospective non-EU investor engagements.

동북아시아의 대기오염 문제해결을 위한 법정책적 방안 : EU법과 회원국 국내법 관계를 통한 동북아시아의 환경협력체계 마련을 중심으로

산업화에 따른 화석연료 사용 및 내연기관의 증가에 따라 미세먼지는 기압이 낮은 봄과 겨울이 되면 대기권의 농도가 높아진다. 그런데 미세먼지는 입자의 크기가 매우 작아 몸속으로 들어와 염증을 일으켜 각종 질환 등을 유발하는 원인이 된다. 그 결과 WHO는 미세먼지를 1군 발암물질로 분류하였다. 편서풍 지대에 있는 동북아시아 지역은 최근 중국의 경제성장의 가속화로 미세먼지 농도가 증가하고, 기압과 기후, 대류의 이동을 통해 인접국가로 이동하여 각 국에서 발생하는 미세먼지와 혼합되면서 국민들의 생명과 건강한 삶을 더욱 위협하는 등의 심각한 사회문제를 야기시키고 있다.BR 이렇듯 미세먼지에 의한 대기오염문제는 특수한 환경적 요건 때문에 단순히 한 국가의 법제도와 정책의 시행으로 해결될 수 있는 문제가 아니다. 즉, 동북아시아의 대기오염문제도 한․중․일 3국의 관심과 적극적인 대기오염저감을 위한 국제적 노력 없이는 불가능하다. 그런데 지금까지 한․중․일 3국은 대기오염문제 해결을 위해 국제협력을 하였다고 하지만, 현재까지 효율적인 대책을 내놓지 못하고 있다.BR 따라서 동북아시아의 대기오염문제를 해결하기 위해 공동의 이익을 추구하면서 정비된 법제를 활용하여 사회적 문제를 해결하였던 지역적 공동체인 EU의 사례를 비교법적 방법을 통해 시사점을 도출하고, 이를 토대로 동북아시아의 환경협력체계 마련을 위한 방안을 제시하고자 하였다.

Seroepidemiological Studies of Arboviruses in Africa.

The literature on sero-epidemiological studies of flaviviral infections in the African continent is quite scarce. Much of the viral epidemiology studies have been focussing on diseases such as HIV/AIDS because of their sheer magnitude and impact on the lives of people in the various affected countries. Increasingly disease outbreaks caused by arboviruses such as the recent cases of chikungunya virus, dengue virus and yellow fever virus have prompted renewed interest in studying these viruses. International agencies from the US, several EU nations and China are starting to build collaborations to build capacity in many African countries together with established institutions to conduct these studies. The Tofo Advanced Study Week (TASW) was established to bring the best scientists from the world to the tiny seaside town of Praia do Tofo to rub shoulders with African virologists and discuss cutting-edge science and listen to the work of researchers in the field. In 2015 the 1st TASW focussed on Ebola virus. The collections of abstracts from participants at the 2nd TASW which focused on Dengue and Zika virus as well as presentations on other arboviruses are collated in this chapter.

DENIZENSHIP-A NEW FUNDAMENTAL STATUS IN THE EU?

In 1992 the Maastricht Treaty introduced the concept of 'Citizenship of the Union'. By granting EU citizenship the European Union created a common identity for Member State nationals, but the European citizenship granted Union citizenship rights only for EU nationals. For non-nationals, who arrived from third countries (non-EU states) and stayed in one of the EU Member States the regulation about the Union citizenship did not provide Union rights. This paper seeks to interpret the status of third country nationals in comparison to the EU citizens, especially the position of third-country nationals who are long-term residents. This paper argues that as a consequence of litigation by individuals before EU courts and the provisions of the Charter of the Fundamental Rights, TCNs already enjoy a number of European citizenshiprelated and citizenship-like freedoms, rights, benefits and general principles, which are subject to protection at the EU level. The conclusion of the article is that granting TCNs citizenship-related rights and their analogous interpretation with the rights enjoyed by Union citizens constitute a real alternative to the full extension of Union citizenship, creating the so called European Denizenship

Pluralism and proportionality in the representation of European international civil society within the UN framework: a sub-regional comparison

ABSTRACTThis research utilized the United Nations’ Integrated Civil Society Organizations (ICSO) database in analyzing case studies of spatial variations among connections between the UN and international civil society/NGOs in Europe. In effect, this study is a means of gauging and comparing the degree of connectivity between the UN and international civil society/NGOs across the sub-regions and countries of Europe. Findings indicate substantial variation in representation of NGOs within the UN-civil society dynamic across Europe’s sub-regions with Northern Europe, Western Europe and the British Isles represented to a far greater degree proportionate to their populations than Mediterranean or Eastern Europe. The study also found substantially higher proportional representation of NGOs headquartered in EU or EU-candidate nations as opposed to those not in the EU or seeking membership.

Brexit and EU Nationals: Options for Implementation in UK Law

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the United Kingdom can give legal to the Article 50 TEU agreement it proposes to reach with the European Union on the rights of EU nationals. Although both sides seem to agree that the Withdrawal Agreement should have direct effect in the UK, there has been little or no discussion of the mechanisms available to make the rights enshrined in the Withdrawal Agreement effective in UK courts in the post-Brexit legal order. In this paper, we canvass a range of options. In Part 1, we discuss – and dismiss – the possibility of giving to the rights only by means of an international treaty. In Part 2, we discuss the that ordinary domestic legislation could confer on the rights enshrined in the Withdrawal Agreement and identify the limitations of such an approach. In Part 3, we analyse the most plausible means of giving sufficient force in domestic law to the rights enshrined in the Withdrawal Agreement: adapting the machinery of the Human Rights Act 1998 or of the European Communities Act 1972 – our view is that the safest option would be to use the Human Rights Act 1998 model, given the doubts over the continued effectiveness of the European Communities Act 1972 post Brexit. In Part 4, we consider the possibility of a ‘No Deal’ scenario, in which the Article 50 negotiations are unsuccessful, and the consequences for the rights of EU nationals in the UK. Our focus in this paper is on the rights of EU nationals, but the models we analyse could be adapted and adopted to give domestic legislative force to the whole of the Withdrawal Agreement. We hope that our analysis will provide a useful framework for future discussion about the means by which obligations negotiated under Article 50 could be given legal in the UK after it has left the EU.

Effect of global warming on willingness to pay for uninterrupted electricity supply in European nations

Predicted changes in temperature and other weather events may damage the electricity grid and cause power outages. Understanding the costs of power outages and how these costs change over time with global warming can inform outage-mitigation-investment decisions. Here we show that across 19 EU nations the value of uninterrupted electricity supply is strongly related to local temperatures, and will increase as the climate warms. Bayesian hierarchical modelling of data from a choice experiment and respondent-specific temperature measures reveals estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid an hour of power outage between €0.32 and €1.86 per household. WTP varies on the basis of season and is heterogeneous between European nations. Winter outages currently cause larger per household welfare losses than summer outages per hour of outage. However, this dynamic will begin to shift under plausible future climates, with summer outages becoming substantially more costly and winter outages becoming slightly less costly on a per-household, per-hour basis.

Language requirement is fair

It’s so annoying to hear that Brexit is responsible for a reduction in European nurse applicants (Nursing unions in plea to secure rights of ‘vital’ EU nationals, news online 13 October). I am a nurse and have asked several European nurses for their views. The only conclusion I have is the introduction of the English language test is the primary cause for a drop in applications. This, I feel, is just. I expect anyone working for the public to be able to speak English.