EU Countries Research Articles

Clearing the smog ceiling: The impact of women’s political empowerment on air quality in European regions

This study explores the impact of female political empowerment on air quality outcomes. Women’s stronger environmental concerns and pro-environmental behaviors may lead to better air quality as they progressively break the glass ceiling in politics. To test this hypothesis, we employ a novel data set on regional air pollutant emissions and women’s political empowerment for a sample of 230 European regions of 27 EU countries. We apply instrumental variables and partial identification methods to ensure that our results are not influenced by confounding variables. We find that female political empowerment is consistently associated with improved air quality.

Global Conditions and Changes in the Level of Renewable Energy Sources

The progressing globalization of the contemporary economy impacts its volatility and unpredictability. The directions of changes in the socioeconomic development of the contemporary global economy are determined by a number of interrelated diverse factors. Factors clearly influencing the development of the modern international economy include innovation, digitization processes, instability of the economy caused by armed conflicts or pandemic outbreaks, the concept of sustainable development, climate policy, as well as issues related to the depletion of energy resources and the necessity of ensuring global energy security. The purpose of the article is to identify the factors of the development of the contemporary economy along with the analysis and evaluation of their impacts on changes in the level of renewable energy sources (RESs) in the EU countries. The time scope of the analysis covers the years 2013 and 2022 (a 10-year perspective). The study used the methods of literature study, literature criticism, statistical data analysis (statistical databases: EUROSTAT and IRENA), and linear ordering methods (TOPSIS and EDAS). The study results indicate that the levels of the RESs have changed in response to the factors diagnosed in the study. In the years studied, the leaders in terms of levels of RES development were France, Spain, and Denmark.

Hegemonizm państw Zachodu wobec chińskiej polityki w Hongkongu

Hong Kong is one of the world’s largest financial centers, a source of many multinational organizations, banks, companies, etc. Since the beginning of June 2019, mass protests have taken place in Hong Kong, during which there have been violent fights between demonstrators and the police. These protests, as well as the trade war and the growing tension between Washington and Beijing, aroused the anxiety of foreign investors and led to the collapse of Hong Kong’s economy. The article presents the hegemonism of the United States, which decided to use these protests to expand their political and economic influence and interfered without reason in the internal affairs of the PRC. Similarly, the policy of the EU countries, which are so eager to criticize Poland for the lack of the rule of law, in this case was limited to admonishing China for fear of deteriorating mutual trade relations. The main hypothesis of the article is that even if Hong Kong’s status as a financial center suffers some negative impact due to US sanctions, its negative impact on China as a whole, will be quite limited and will only hit Hong Kong’s speculative capital. On the basis of the conducted studies, it can be assumed that the new area of the conflict between the US and the PRC will strengthen Chinese totalitarianism in Hong Kong, which comes down to the total subordination of the individual and all manifestations of social life to the state power. This thesis is in line with the statement by Liu Guangyuan, China’s ambassador in Poland, stating in regard to recent events that: “Hong Kong must be ruled by patriots”. Reports from renowned research centers predict that the next decades of world politics will be marked by Washington’s competition with Beijing. The aggressive rivalry that turns into an open confrontation between the US, Western countries and China opens a dangerous new chapter in modern history.

Renewable Energy Share in European Industry: Analysis and Extrapolation of Trends in EU Countries

Renewable Energy Share in European Industry: Analysis and Extrapolation of Trends in EU Countries

The Current System of Ecologic Taxes in Industrialised Countries

The goal of the article is to research the development of ecologic tax system used in taxation system of industrialised countries and taxa impact on economy. The authors summarized the system of tax bases of EU countries for ecologic taxation. The process of transforming the system of the given taxes and systematization of ecologic taxes can help identify their distinguishing features. Groups of ecologic taxes in industrialised countries play a serious role in regulating ecologic events. Among them it is necessary to mention tax on power, tax on transport, tax on resources, etc. Economic policy in the field of environment protection is affected by the process of distribution of obtained funds through fiscal mechanisms. Within the frames of research on the ecologic taxation system in the North Europe focus is made on the tax on carbon dioxide, which is a key element in this context. Tax rates grew from the initial date in the mid-1990-s to 2023. Results of regressive analysis for Denmark showed that the key factor affecting the ecologic tax earnings of the budget is the high level of tax burden. Due to toughening of tax and budegt policy tax revenues of the country grow. Positive experience of North European countries shows that to provide topicality and functionality of ecologic taxes shall be regularly upgraded and adjusted to economic conditions and ecologic requirements and trends. They are extemely important for stimulating power optimization, environment protection and finally, they are socially oriented.

АНАЛИЗ УЧАСТИЯ РОССИЙСКОГО ОБОРОННО-ПРОМЫШЛЕННОГО КОМПЛЕКСА НА МИРОВОМ РЫНКЕ ВООРУ-ЖЕНИЯ И ВОЕННОЙ ТЕХНИКИ

The article explores and outlines the participation of the Russian military-industrial complex (DIC) in expanding the range of foreign trade activities and developing the economy of the Russian Federation by producing and releasing for these purposes various types of modern, in-demand and competitive military, civil and dual products on the world and domestic commodity markets. appointments. A definition of the global market for military products (MP) is given, its geography, characteristics, trends and operating features, the implementation of international legal regulation, the value of annual trade turnover, the presence of official and illegal schemes for the sale of weapons and military equipment, and the reasons for the emergence of the latter are revealed. The geography and indicators of the participation of the Russian Federation in this market for the period 2015–2022 are given, its rating among the states that are the main exporters of weapons and military equipment, as well as comparison with the USA and EU countries - the main exporters to the world market of weapons, military equipment and others types of military products, the ratio of their exports to military expenditures and to the gross domestic product. The authors present a correlation regression analysis of the main factors influencing Russia's posi-tion in the world market for weapons, military equipment and other types of military products, including an analysis of the Russian share in global arms exports, as well as an analysis of the share of arms and military equipment exports in Russia's total ex-ports. The conclusions summarize the results of the study, indicating the real, signifi-cant contribution of the Russian defense industry to the development of foreign trade activities and the country's economy in the context of sanctions restrictions and in-creasing global risks.

Tax policy and activation of internal factors of economic growth: EU experience for Ukraine

The state policy of Ukraine aims to promote sustainable economic growth and improve its quality through economic activity, particularly through the optimization of the tax system, which is particularly relevant both during the period of martial law in Ukraine and the post-war recovery. The purpose of the study is to assess the formation and implementation of the state tax policy to activate the internal factors of economic growth in Ukraine under martial law. The study of tax policy in Ukraine and EU countries has shown that the EU countries are characterized by a consistent and transparent tax policy that stimulates investment, innovation, and entrepreneurship to activate internal factors of economic growth. The paper uses fiscal analysis based on the Cobb-Douglas production-institutional function; its main concept is the mutual location of the Laffer points of the first and second types and the actual level of the tax burden. The results show a noticeable adjustment of the real fiscal climate in Ukraine in line with changes in threshold fiscal standards. Considering martial law in Ukraine and the need for the state’s ability to post-war recovery, the study suggests changing the rates of specific taxes, after which it is necessary to make a transition from private fiscal instruments with inherent rate values to the aggregate fiscal burden.

Disease landscape of advanced HER2-breast cancer patients by treatment line in three EU countries and USA

Disease landscape of advanced HER2-breast cancer patients by treatment line in three EU countries and USA

Early school leaving in Spain: a longitudinal analysis by gender

Spain is one of the eight EU-27 countries that failed to reduce early school leaving (ESL) below 10% in 2020, and now faces the challenge of achieving a rate below 9% by 2030. The determinants of this phenomenon are usually studied using cross-sectional data at the micro level and without differentiation by gender. In this study, we analyse it for the first time for Spain using panel data (between 2002 and 2020), taking into account the high regional inequalities at the macroeconomic level and the masculinisation of the phenomenon. The results show a positive relationship between ESL and socio-economic variables such as the adolescent fertility rate, immigration, unemployment or the weight of the industrial and construction sectors in the regional economy, with significant gender differences that invite us to discuss educational policies. Surprisingly, youth unemployment has only small but significant impact on female ESL.

Energy Efficiency Analysis of Waste-to-Energy Plants in Poland

The issue of enhancing energy recovery efficiency is a key concern within the European Union’s climate protection efforts. In particular, it applies to all processes and plants for the harvesting, gathering, and conversion of energy. The abandonment of fossil fuels in favour of alternative energy sources, and the increasing of energy efficiency and its recovery, is now a widely accepted direction of energy development. This study focuses on facilities that recover and process energy from municipal waste left after recycling processes, known as waste-to-energy (WtE) plants. These plants’ energy recovery efficiency is governed by the R1 Formula in EU countries. This report is based on an analysis of four years of operational data from selected Polish municipal waste incinerators, supplemented by a discussion of various studies on energy recovery efficiency. The primary objective of this report is to evaluate the effectiveness of these plants in contributing to sustainable waste management and energy recovery. The main effect of the developed report is the set of results of the energy recovery efficiency factor values, determined based on the R1 formula valid in the EU legislation, tabulated and graphically illustrated, and calculated for five selected Polish waste-to-energy plants. The presented results, with their graphical interpretation, discussion, and conclusions, provide insights into several factors influencing the value of the R1 efficiency factor. They can be a valuable contribution to operators of waste-to-energy plants, especially those operating in countries outside the EU.

Corruption and audit fees: New evidence from EU27 countries

This study examines the relationship between country‐level corruption and audit pricing decisions across EU27 countries. Using a sample of 29,607 firm‐year observations for the period 2011–2021, I find that firms headquartered in more corrupt countries pay higher audit fees and have longer reporting lags. I also show that this relationship is stronger after the EU audit reform came into force in 2016. The results suggest that auditors respond to corruption risk stemming from the broader macroeconomic environment by increasing audit fees and audit effort. In additional analyses, I show how the association between audit fees and corruption varies across firm industries, and I document that female engagement partners tend to be more sensitive to corruption risk than their male counterparts. Ultimately, I find unexpected evidence indicating that financial reporting quality, proxied by discretionary accruals, is not adversely affected by corruption. This study addresses prior calls for a more granular understanding of external factors in audit research and provides the first European evidence of the association between corruption and auditor responses. The implications of this study should be particularly relevant for researchers, market participants and regulators.

Economic Methods of Managing the Environmental Safety of Cities Abroad: Tax Aspect

The purpose of the study is to analyze and generalize the economic methods used abroad for managing the environmental safety of a city and to assess the possibility of their use in the practice of Russian cities. The relevance of the work is conditioned by the fact that a significant part of large Russian cities and megalopolises are faced with serious problems in the environmental sphere. Abroad, many years of experience have been accumulated in solving similar issues through the use of methods for managing the environmental safety of the city, which is an argument in favor of its study. The article analyzes the practice of OECD countries in applying economic measures to reduce environmental pollution, ensure environmental balance and comfortable living conditions for the city population. Particular attention is paid to the powers of local governments in the environmental sphere and the degree of their financial autonomy; the benefits of environmental taxation in EU countries, including the transition to a low-carbon economy; organization of ecological cooperation on the principles of the circular economy and within the framework of the model of industrial symbiosis for the processing or use of industrial and household waste. In the course of the work, general scientific and special methods were used, including content analysis of literary sources, comparison, grouping, analogy, systemic and structural analysis, logical generalization. The results of the study consist in assessing the possibilities and determining the conditions for introducing the best foreign practices in environmental safety management in Russian cities; they can be useful to specialists dealing with both the problems of forming management decisions to stabilize the environmental situation in the city, greening the tax system at the local level, and ensuring the rational use of resources in a mobilization economy through cooperative relations in the processing of industrial and household waste through recycling.

The role of environmental tax on the environmental quality in EU counties: evidence from panel vector autoregression approach.

This study intends to analyze the influence of environmental taxes on pollution in EU-27 nations. Furthermore, energy from renewable sources consumption and urbanization are employed to clarify CO2 emissions in this study that tests the EKC hypothesis. According to the findings, an increase in environmental taxes reduces CO2 emissions by 0.14%. Also, the data supported the validity of the EKC concept. The findings of the causality test demonstrated that there is a bidirectional causal link between CO2 emissions and environmental taxes. These results reflect that environmental tax revenues contribute to sustainability as an effective policy tool in EU countries. Policies regarding environmental tax enforcement come to the fore in terms of both keeping the balance in economic activities and serving sustainability.

Wind Power Integration and Challenges in Low Wind Zones. A Study Case: Albania

High wind performance systems are influenced by many factors such as site wind resources and configuration, technical wind turbine features and many financial conditions. Scenario planning and modelling activities often focus on restricted parameters and numbers to justify wind power plant performance. To better understand possible pathways to scaling up the distributed wind market in Albania, a deep and multidimensional calculations based on Monte Carlo analysis, using RETScreen and wind JEDI model, to assess socio-economic impact as a function of turbine output power, operating and maintenance cost and many other financial inputs by testing different WT (i.e., VESTAS, GAMESA, W2E and NORDEX) with rated power from 3.45 MW up to 4.5MW applied on LCOE, NPV, SPP, equity payback, B-C, after-tax IRR on equity and effects of GHG credits extended at a sensitivity range of ±35% is scientifically performed. From the simulation results LCOE reaches a minimal value of €43.48/MWh, if the debt rate is 99 % and a debt interest rate of 5.0%, a TotCapEx of €828/MW (-35 % less expenditures) indexed as the best scenario. For the base case scenario LCOE results €62.79/MWh, when applying a debt rate of 80% and a TotCapEx of (€1274/MW), while in the worst-case scenario LCOE impart a maximal value of €87.63/MWh if a TotCapEx of €1720/MW (+35 % more expenditures) and a share of 52 % debt rate is applied. Local annual economic impact (m€) during construction period and operating period evaluated in the wind JEDI model result around m€ 89.92 and m€ 23.54, respectively. As a conclusion, wind power plants (WPP), installed in low wind zones (Albania and many other EU countries) would be of interest if an electricity export rate of 110€/MWh, and a GHG credit rate of €50/tCO2 were accepted.

The European protection order: the question of a predictive toolkit for the protection of victims of criminal offences

The article examines the European protection order (hereinafter - EPO) in the context of crime victim protection. The following aspects were considered: general issues of the essence and purpose of the EPO; its correlation with measures under the national law of the EU country; conditions of issuance; issuing and execution procedure; protection of the rights of persons causing danger; the specifications of the execution. The correlation of measures under the EPO with security measures and restrictive measures and restrictive prescriptions under Ukrainian legislation is considered. It is indicated that European researchers identify a number of defects in the regulation of the European protection order, which affects the effectiveness of this tool; this indicates that the provisions of Directive 2011/99/EU may be transformed in the future. As conclusions, it is also stated that: 1) the EPO will not be applicable for to security measures, which are regulated "On ensuring the security of persons participating in criminal proceedings”, taking into account the list of measures in Art. 5 of Directive 2011/99/EU and the provision that the person causing danger must be heard; 2) The EPO will generally be able to be used to interact with restrictive prescription under the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine and restrictive measures under the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (although there may be issues due to administrative and criminal sanctions for domestic violence, and such an approach by the Ukrainian legislator may raise questions about double criminality in comparison with the criminally punishable actions of other EU countries, which may cause the impossibility of applying to other countries under the order procedure and executing the order in Ukraine); 3) due to the fact that Directive 2011/99/EU is about protection against any criminal offences, it will be necessary to make changes to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine in order to implement the EPO.

Legal security of mediation in Ukraine: shortcomings and prospects for improvement through the prism of the experience of the countries of the European Union

In the content of the article, the author investigated the peculiarities of the legal provision of mediation in Ukraine and the countries of the European Union. Despite the fact that today in legal science, a significant body of scientific works has been formed, which relate to certain aspects of mediation, it is worth noting that the issue of legal support for mediation in Ukraine has not been properly studied scientifically. Modern studies of the legal provision of mediation are especially relevant, given the high degree of its variability in Ukraine. On the basis of a critical analysis of the provisions of Ukrainian legislation in the field of mediation, its shortcomings and prospects for improvement were determined. The following are noted as shortcomings of the legal provision of mediation in Ukraine: a) the absence of provisions that would regulate the issues of mediation procedures, in particular before submitting an appeal to the court, during court proceedings, as well as during the execution of a court decision, etc.; b) inconsistency of its categorical and conceptual apparatus with established legislative terminology (for example, the terms "conflict” and "dispute”); c) inaccuracy of the legal provision of mediation principles; d) superficial, too general regulation of the mediation process itself; e) failure to take into account the European standard of mediation transparency, etc. The analysis of the peculiarities of the legal provision of the EU countries (France, Germany, Italy, Austria, etc.) made it possible to substantiate the prospects for improving the legal provision of mediation in Ukraine. It is summarized that the Ukrainian legislation has experienced legal transformations in the field of mediation, moving from the least effective and least reliable informal model to a specialized model by adopting the framework Law of Ukraine "On Mediation”. In our opinion, the most effective model of legal support for mediation is the specialized model chosen by Ukraine, which, among other things, should be complemented by effective mechanisms of self-regulation of this legal activity through the development and application of acts of the so-called "unofficial law” adopted by professional associations of mediators. The combination of the legal regulation of mediation in Ukraine was noted: a) the typicality of the law "On Mediation”, which established the legal foundation of mediation and regulated the most general and important issues in this area; b) self-regulating mechanisms of mediation, designed to ensure a quick response to the dynamic development of mediation and relations where it should be applied.

Solidarity on a divided continent: Perceptions of ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ determine European citizens’ willingness to help other EU countries

This article argues that citizens structure their fiscal solidarity with other European Union countries along a ‘centre–periphery’ divide. This claim is empirically investigated using a Heckman probit selection model on two surveys in 2020 and 2021 among citizens of 13 European countries, which allows to account for differences in the familiarity of the issue and other countries. The results show that individuals in centre countries are more likely to express solidarity with other centre countries than with periphery countries, and vice versa. More broadly, the findings show that citizens perceive a power hierarchy among European Union member states, and that there is a spatial relational dimension to European fiscal solidarity. These results underscore the challenges facing the European Union in achieving greater fiscal solidarity. They also highlight the need to address the structural inequalities between member states.

Disparities in Energy Productivity across the EU Countries

Energy plays a crucial role in everyday life and thus is one of the most essential inputs in all economic activities. Nowadays, the EU energy market has changed mainly due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The EU countries had to suddenly adapt to the new situation and secure energy supply for their citizens. But even before that, energy issues had been raised on a global scale through the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. One of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy. Therefore, this paper aims to examine energy productivity in EU countries as it should be at the heart of the ongoing debate on energy security across the EU. This study uses two sources of data: the Eurostat and OECD. The first one provides users with a composite indicator of energy productivity, which results from the division of the GDP by the gross available energy (primary production + recovered & recycled products + imports – exports + stock changes) for a given calendar year. The latter delivers an indicator of energy productivity measured in GDP per unit of total energy supply. This paper applies the β-convergence model to investigate the disparities between the EU countries in energy productivity and to see if they are widening or narrowing over time. The results show that although there are significant initial disparities, the EU countries have been converging over time; however, the speed of that process is not satisfyingly fast.

A review of the driving forces of the informal economy and policy measures for mitigation: an analysis of six EU countries

A review of the driving forces of the informal economy and policy measures for mitigation: an analysis of six EU countries

The determinants of municipal solid waste management efficiency in EU countries

The main purpose of this paper is to assess the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) efficiency of European Union countries and to identify the determinants of this efficiency before and after introducing Directive (EU) 2018/851. The research was conducted for 23 EU Member States in order to analyse the two highest-priority waste treatment methods (material recycling and energy recovery) and the level of greenhouse gases emitted by the waste management sector. The data for 2015-2020 were extracted from the Eurostat database. The period of data was divided into two sub-periods: 2015-2017 (the period before introducing the Directive) and 2018-2020. MSWM efficiency scores were calculated using the DEA method. Later, the Tobit Regression Model (TRM) was applied to identify the determinants. The efficiency analysis showed that the countries which joined the EU before 2000 improved their MSWM efficiency in 2018-2020 compared with 2015-2017. On the other hand, the average efficiency scores of the countries that joined the EU after 2000 decreased. In 2015-2017, the following determinants of MSWM efficiency occurred to be statistically significant: population density, unemployment rate, the number of patents and the tourism intensity index, while in 2018-2020: population density, unemployment rate, Research & Development (R&D) expenditure, higher education proportion and MSW generated. A detailed analysis of these variables showed that the countries that joined the EU after 2000 should first increase their R&D expenditure and support their inhabitants in increasing their educational level.