European Constituents Research Articles

Due process as a legitimating mechanism: Participation and responsiveness in the development of IFRS 17: Insurance contracts

This paper investigates the role of due process in legitimizing the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and uses the development of IFRS 17-Insurance Contracts (IASB, 2017a) as a case study. It examines stakeholders’ participation and assesses the IASB’s responsiveness to the views expressed in the comment letters. It focuses on changes in recognition, valuation, and disclosure during the 10-year process, in which the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) played a relevant role. For input and through-put legitimacy analysis, we conduct content analysis of comment letters and consult additional sources to understand key concerns in insurance accounting. The IASB received substantial feedback from diverse stakeholders and geographical regions, primarily preparers and European constituents. Our findings indicate that decisions throughout the standard-setting process align with stakeholders’ interests, without preferential treatment for any groups, affirming the institution’s legitimacy was preserved. This confirms that the IASB’s due process can be seen as a shield against political and constituent pressures. Nevertheless, this study cannot definitively attribute identified changes solely to comment letters, as other channels may have been equally influential.

IMPLEMENTATION OF BOLOGNA DECLARATION STANDARDS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA

The article is concerned with 20 years’ experience of implementation of Bologna Declaration standards in the higher education system of the Republic of Latvia. The article offers a concise analysis of such root principles of Bologna system as 1) acknowledging of three cycle system; 2) staff and students' mobility; 3) quality assurance of higher education; 4) promotion of the essential European attitudes in higher education; 5) life-long learning; 6) enhancement of the role of the students in organization of the study process; 7) autonomy for institution and academic freedom; 8) amplification of the European constituent in the national higher education system; 9) single European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

¿Estados Unidos de Europa? Mapeo y diseño de constituciones para Europa

En los últimos tiempos, académicos, intelectuales públicos, movimientos políticos y sociales y destacados líderes políticos europeos de diferentes orientaciones ideológicas han hecho un llamamiento a la creación de unos Estados Unidos de Europa. Desde su punto de vista, enfrentar la crisis de legitimidad de la UE requiere una renovación democrática a través de un proceso constituyente. Sin embargo, estas declaraciones no han sido acompañadas por un diseño específico sobre cómo instituir esta nueva Constitución Europea. Con el objeto de discutir las posibles vías de poner en práctica esta idea, este artículo presenta las principales formulaciones del poder constituyente europeo y su traducción a un diseño concreto de constitution-making.
 Recibido: 16.06.2020Aceptado: 21.12.2020

Impulsar la participación de los ciudadanos como factor de legitimidad en el proyecto de la integración europea

Desde hace unas décadas se ha tratado de impulsar la democracia participativa y, en general, la participación de los ciudadanos en la vida política de la Unión, a través de diversas vías, con el fin de luchar contra la acusación de déficit democrático e incrementar la legitimidad de la Unión. Una de las vías ha sido la iniciativa ciudadana europea, que permite a los ciudadanos participar indirectamente en la formación del Derecho de la Unión, pero que no está obteniendo resultados importantes en la práctica. Otra vía que se está tratando de implementar es la de que los ciudadanos puedan influir en el nombramiento del Presidente de la Comisión Europea a través del sistema de los Spitzenkandidaten, que se empleó con relativo éxito en las elecciones de 2014 al Parlamento Europeo, pero que no es seguro que se termine implantando de forma definitiva. Se están barajando otras vías, como la de establecer una circunscripción electoral común única o la de implementar convenciones populares, pero su eficacia deberá ser valorada en los próximos años.Recibido: 21 diciembre 2018Aceptado: 10 enero 2019Publicación en línea: 30 abril 2019

Accounting for Europe’s Economy and Society: Considerations for Financial Stability, Economic Development and the Public Good

Abstract International accounting convergence led by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has been fostering an accounting revolution by introducing a market basis of accounting. This accounting model makes general reference to current values (mark-to-market, fair value) instead of corporate realised revenues and invested costs, which were central to the previous model (historical cost). This accounting revolution was consistent with the global financial architecture based upon transnational financial markets which was established since the seventies. However, among the main jurisdictions and monetary areas worldwide, only Europe has adopted the international accounting standards (IAS-IFRS), substantially delegating its accounting legislative and regulatory process to the IASB. This delegation has been raising major quarrels with European constituencies, including (i) resistance against the (full) fair value measurement of financial instruments (2003-05); (ii) opposition to amendment of IAS on segment reporting (2006); (iii) forced suspension of fair value measurements and impairments amid the North-Atlantic financial crisis (October 2008); (iv) an institutional conflict over the evaluation of distressed Member States’ sovereign bonds (August 2011). The Maystadt Report of 2013 reviewed and summarised these concerns with both the accounting model, and the governance of Europe’s accounting standards-making. It recommended including further considerations for Europe’s financial stability and public good, while it did consider the option to establish an Accounting Standards Board of Europe.

Decision-Usefulness and Stewardship As Conceptual Framework Objectives: Continuing Challenges

While, since 2006, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has held decision-usefulness to be the primary objective of financial reporting, constituents have consistently called for stewardship/accountability to be a second objective. Such strong lobbying has led the IASB to amend the objectives of financial reporting by increasing the prominence of stewardship, favoured by many European constituents. However, these two objectives have different theoretical bases and the potential users have different needs. Two different objectives should result, at times, in different presentation and measurement. The purpose of this paper is to project the implications if the IASB prioritizes dual objectives (decision-usefulness and stewardship) for general purpose financial reporting of both monetary and non-monetary information. We analyse specific potential conflicts in extant financial reporting standards. A potential solution to the IASB’s dilemma is to balance constituents’ demands by explicitly acknowledging which users’ needs are being pursued and why.

Lake water resources of the European part of the Russian Federation

The article gives the results of estimating lake water resources for federal districts in European Russia and constituent entities of the Federation, carried out in the Institute of Limnology, RAS, with the use of up-to-date satellite images and the program Google Earth. European Russia contains ~610000 natural water bodies >0.1 ha in area, including ~200000 lakes >1 ha in area, and 90000 water bodies of artificial origin. Lake water resources of European Russia amount to 1370 km3 of water, of which 99% are in Northwestern Federal District. Artificial water bodies contain ~250 km3 of water resources.

The EPa Guidance Project

The EPA Guidance Project Introduction In European countries, guidelines are important tools in quality assurance in mental healthcare. However, not all topics relevant to the quality of mental healthcare provision are covered by guidelines, e.g. due to limited availability of data and data protection constraints. Therefore, in 2008, the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) established the EPA Guidance project with a view to produce practical guidance papers on topics relevant to quality assurance in mental healthcare. Objectives To improve the quality of mental healthcare in Europe by disseminating written information based on best evidence and psychiatric practice, especially in areas where guidelines are lacking. Aims To describe the current status of the EPA Guidance project. Methods Review of the EPA Guidance project and its Guidance documents. Results EPA Guidance documents provide evidence- and consensus-based recommendations on topics relating to the quality assurance of mental health services, such as quality of mental health service structures and processes, and building trust in mental health services. Conclusions European harmonization of the quality assurance of mental healthcare may be advanced on a supranational level with the help of the European Guidance. Its recommendations may be adapted to national or regional conditions to suit the needs, priorities and legislation of European constituents. Reference Gaebel W, Becker T, Janssen B, Munk-Jorgensen P, Musalek M, Rossler W, Sommerlad K, Tansella M, Thornicroft G, Zielasek J. EPA guidance on the quality of mental health services. Eur Psychiatry 2012 27:87–113 Gaebel W Moller H-J. European Guidance – a project of the European Psychiatric Association. European Psychiatry 2012 27:65-67

Créolisation, Créolité, Martinique, and the Dangerous Intellectual Deception of “Tous Créoles!”

Glissant’s approach to créolisation does pose pivotal questions especially when considered from the perspective of the Martiniquan experience. Privileging a pragmatic posture, it evidently does not account for the climactic symbolic discrepancy and unavoidable moral pressure that powerfully define the conscious and unconscious outlook on the respective African and European identity constituents as they are related to culture and race, which in turn determine the ethics of the said créolisation. The latter is unbendingly advocated as a process in which all parts are proportionally and “categorially” analogous. Glissant proposed a project aiming at reshaping the way one does Relation in the world. He did so from the model elaborated by the epistemological work of the African, a party that is constantly disparaged. However, he does not do this party justice by making first and unembiguously explicit the particularizing nature of its work. The African critical philosophical contribution is not earnestly rendered. It is this African philosophical input that provides the process and its result, their substantial meaning and distinguishing specificity. I would therefore like to discuss the axiological implications of Glissant’s pragmatic assertion to show how, carrying this pitfall, the formalization and systematization of créolisation sow confusion and exacerbate negationism as well as the everlasting sets of prejudice held against Africa as evidenced in Martinique.

Transnationalisation, Public Communication and Active Citizenship. The Emergence of a Fragmented and Fluid European Public Sphere

AbstractThis paper is focused on the emergence of the European public sphere debate. This discussion has become more and more prominent between scholars of European Studies who have given it both normative and empirical attention. This is due to a variety of reasons, but in particular the increase in research about the legitimacy of European integration, which has been the subject of a wide debate since at least the beginning of the 1990s. Firstly, the article critically assesses the normative arguments that have supported the development of the European public sphere, by focusing on the social, political and cultural dimensions of European integration. After having assessed this debate and underlined current challenges emerged in light of recent events (such as the euro‐crisis, the rise of euroscepticism and the rise in far right movements), the article then introduces the empirical research on the europeanisation of the public sphere, by looking at the development of an agenda that has more and more concentrated on the fragmentation and fluidity of such construct. This discussion is key to introduce the final part of the article, which focuses on the role of civil society in the broader European constituency and in the public sphere. The article highlights some of the ambiguities inherent to the current research agenda, by calling for a more comprehensive approach to study active citizenship in Europe that departs from a consideration of the NGOs activists as the main locus of analysis.

EPA-1463 – EPA guidance and the Future of European Psychiatry

Introduction The European Guidance project provides a series of guidance documents on topics related to quality of mental healthcare and prevention of mental disorders, for which evidence- and consensus-based guidelines are currently lacking. Objectives To provide information on good clinical practice by using problem solving examples, guidelines and quality standards of care to national societies, health authorities and practitioners; to address healthcare gaps and give advice on developing research programs. Aims To describe the development of the European Guidance. Methods Review of the Guidance project and its future activities. Results The ‘EPA Guidance on the quality of mental health services’ provides evidence- and consensus-based recommendations on optimal structures and processes of European mental health services. In a structured process, the retrieved evidence is used as a basis for formulating recommendations. Conclusions The EPA Guidance recommendations may be implemented in European countries as a tool for improving the quality of mental health services. For internationally valid recommendations, high-quality multinational research would be warranted. Considering the multinational nature of the European Union and the increasing role of regional constituents, harmonization of the quality of mental healthcare may be advanced on a supranational level with the help of the European Guidance. Its recommendations may be adapted to national or regional conditions in order to suit the needs, priorities and legislation of the respective European constituents.

Encuesta sobre la construcción política de Europa = Academic survey about constitutionalization of European Union

En esta encuesta un grupo de Catedráticos de Derecho Público responden a preguntas sobre la construcción constitucional de Europa relacionadas con la actual situación del proceso de integración europea, la existencia de un proceso constituyente europeo y de un poder constituyente europeo, a la organización institucional de Europa y a la existencia de un derecho constitucional europeo.Constitutionalization of Europe, European constituent process, European constituent power, European federalization, European public opinion, European constitutional law, Cataluña secession.

Future European Parliament Elections: Ten Steps Towards Uniform Procedures

ZSE Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften | Journal for Comparative Government and European Policy , Seite 9 - 28

Formal Participation in the IASB's Due Process of Standard Setting: A Multi-issue/Multi-period Analysis

This paper sets out to enquire about the nature of constituents' participation in the IASB's due process in terms of representation (constituents' diversity and characteristics) and drivers to participate. We choose to adopt a multi-issue/multi-period approach to investigate constituents' formal participation. An analysis of comment letters sent directly to the IASB over the period 2002–2006, reveals that preparers sent most letters followed by the accounting profession and standard setters. With regard to timing, we find that preparers concentrate their participation efforts at a later stage in the process compared to the other constituents, who react earlier. Formal indirect participation in the IASB's due process by submitting comment letters to EFRAG is infrequently used by European constituents. In those cases where constituents exert influence to both IASB and EFRAG, they often use exactly the same comment letter. Concentrating on the drivers to participate, the data reveal that preparers, accountants and standard setters react significantly more when proposals have a major impact on the accounting numbers of a company. Users, stock exchanges and their supervisory authorities write significantly more comment letters when disclosure issues are at stake. Finally, participating preparers in the IASB's due process are larger and more profitable than non-participating preparers.

Negotiating [In the Shadow of a] European Private Law

Clear and predictable rules act as a shadow in which parties can negotiate. European Private Law cannot offer such a shadow because its rules are too diffuse and incoherent. Nor can national laws provide this in a cross-border context. The European Commission's initiative to review the consumer acquis and create a more consistent body of rules through a CFR must therefore be supported. However, to the extent that the CFR goes beyond the revision of the consumer acquis and envisages the creation of a European contract law, it is argued that a fundamental step is lacking. Before drafting technical rules, an open, transparent and political dialogue is needed about the values underpinning such a contract law. This dialogue can benefit from a diversity of views, including more radical welfarist ideas. Negotiation theory shows how to set up a more open process of developing a European contract law. As in any negotiation, several tensions must be managed: between distribution and creation of value, empathy and assertiveness and between the interests of the European constituency and its political agents. New processes of empowered deliberative democracy with a consensus model of decision making may inspire a means for handling this much needed dialogue on European contract law.

Proportional representation in the Welsh Assembly

The proposed rule for electing members to the Welsh Assembly gives each voter two votes, to cast at the Parliamentary constituency level, and at the bigger European constituency level. Half of the members are to be elected for the Assembly by a form of proportional representation, where party support is calculated by aggregating the two votes. The voters will be allowed to cast the second vote for a different party than the one for which they voted at the parliamentary level. This additional degree of freedom can frustrate the objective of obtaining better correspondence between party support and the number ofseats.

European assembly constituencies for wales - comparing of methods for solving a political districting problem

This paper considers the problem of grouping Parliamentary constituencies for Wales together into European constituencies in such a way that the resulting European constituencies have as equal electorates as possible. Three different solution methods are compared. These methods are integer programming, set partitioning and implicit enumeration. Computational results obtained by use of SCICONIC/VM and user written programs on a DEC VAX 8600 are reported.

Woman Suffrage in the Progressive Era: Patterns of Opposition and Support in Referenda Voting, 1910-1918

Sources of opposition and support for woman suffrage are analyzed with the use of the responses of male voters to constitutional referenda held in six key states during the Progressive era. Traditional axes of opposition and support for suffrage are examined, establishing that stable sources of suffrage support originate most often from Protestant and northern European constituencies (with the exception of Germans), whereas southern Europeans and Catholics (except for Germans) generally show no consistent patterns. Opposition to suffrage is most constant from Germans—both Catholic and Protestant—and from urban constituencies. A structural model indicating the greater importance of prohibition as an intervening variable compared to partisanship or turnout at the grass-roots level of voting behavior explicates the sources of direct and indirect support for suffrage while it also demonstrates the influence of educational commitment in determining suffrage voting patterns. Except in the West, opposition to suffrage was intense and greater at the grass-roots level than among legislative elites. The ultimate success of the federal amendment is discussed in the context of state referenda, the changed political climate after American entry into World War I, and the innovative efforts of state legislatures to grant “presidential” suffrage, thereby circumventing what proved to be the difficult referenda route.

Single‐member European constituencies for London

Single‐member European constituencies for London