European Union Average Research Articles

The Employment of People with Disabilities as Office Employees in the Public Administration in Poland

Unemployment among people with disabilities of working age is a problem throughout Europe, including Poland. Here, the national employment rate is only 26.5%, almost twice as low as the European Union average. Private sector is the main workplace for people with disabilities in Poland. In the last decade, hope for improvement in the employment situation of this social group has been discerned in the public sector. Legislation obliging employers to employ people with disabilities and giving people with disabilities priority in public sector employment was expected to mobilize them. The article verifies the compliance of the state of practice with the current law within the framework of the title issue. The article presents basic legal regulations in the field of employment of people with disabilities in the public administration including civil service, both international and national. It then presents the recruitment procedure for civil servant positions in the public administration. The paper concludes with a presentation of the state of the practice of hiring people with disabilities in the public administration, distinguishing between systemic barriers, barriers on the part of public employers and barriers on the part of people with disabilities.

Perspectives of Biodiesel Development in Poland against the Background of the European Union

Biofuels are becoming more important in the renewable energy sources mix. Liquid biofuels are products of agriculture. Bioethanol can be prepared from corn, beetroot and other plants. Biodiesel is mainly made from rapeseed. This paper presents information about biodiesel development in Poland, as well as some background information about its development in the European Union (EU). We analyzed the data about biofuels in the literature, and provide statistical data about liquid biofuel in Poland and other countries of the EU. The aim of the study is to assess the viability of liquid biofuel development in Poland. The base for biodiesel production in Poland and the EU is rapeseed. The production yields and sown area of rapeseed increased in Poland from 2005–2020. This was due to integration and European Union policies which aim to supply clean energy. The energy mix in Poland differs from that of the EU. Solid biofuels have made up the biggest share of renewable energy sources in Poland (73.4%) and the EU (40.1%). Poland has smaller share of wind energy, biogas, heat pump, water energy, solar anergy, municipal waste and geothermal energy in its renewable energy sources compared to the rest of the EU. Only with solid and liquid biofuels is the share of renewable energy sources larger in Poland compared to the EU averages. Poland has decreased its share of solid biofuels and water energy among its renewable energy sources, while other sources have increased. Poland is investing to increase its renewable energy sources. To analyze the opportunities for biodiesel production in Poland, we used the scenario method of analysis. We outlined three scenarios. The first is increasing the production of biodiesel by 3% each year for the next three years. The second is production remains unchanged, i.e., at the 2020 level. The last scenario is decreasing production by 3% each year. According to the first scenario, the total demand for rapeseed for energy and food purposes will be 375 thousand tons in 2025. Such a scenario is very likely to occur because of the growing demand for biodiesel and edible oil. The current situation with Ukraine and the Russian Federation will create an increase in demand for rapeseed, leading to higher prices.

A Novel Approach to Modeling and Forecasting Cancer Incidence and Mortality Rates through Web Queries and Automated Forecasting Algorithms: Evidence from Romania.

Simple SummaryCancer remains a global burden, currently causing nearly one in six deaths worldwide. Accurate projections of cancer incidence and mortality are needed for effective and efficient policymaking, accurate resource allocation, and to assess the impact of newly introduced policies and measures. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted public health systems and caused a significant number of cancers to remain undiagnosed, thus affecting the quality of official statistics and their usefulness for health studies. This paper addresses this issue by proposing novel cancer incidence/cancer mortality models based on population web-search habits and historical links with official health variables. The models are empirically estimated using data from one of the most vulnerable European Union (EU) members, Romania, a country that consistently reports lower survival rates than the EU average, and are further used to forecast cancer incidence and mortality rates in the country. Research findings have important policy implications, and the novel framework, owing to its generalizability, can be applied to the same task in other countries. Overall, the results indicate a continuation of the increasing trends in cancer incidence and mortality in Romania and thus underline the urgency to change the status quo in the Romanian public-health system.Cancer remains a leading cause of worldwide mortality and is a growing, multifaceted global burden. As a result, cancer prevention and cancer mortality reduction are counted among the most pressing public health issues of the twenty-first century. In turn, accurate projections of cancer incidence and mortality rates are paramount for robust policymaking, aimed at creating efficient and inclusive public health systems and also for establishing a baseline to assess the impact of newly introduced public health measures. Within the European Union (EU), Romania consistently reports higher mortality from all types of cancer than the EU average, caused by an inefficient and underfinanced public health system and lower economic development that in turn have created the phenomenon of “oncotourism”. This paper aims to develop novel cancer incidence/cancer mortality models based on historical links between incidence and mortality occurrence as reflected in official statistics and population web-search habits. Subsequently, it employs estimates of the web query index to produce forecasts of cancer incidence and mortality rates in Romania. Various statistical and machine-learning models—the autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA), the Exponential Smoothing State Space Model with Box-Cox Transformation, ARMA Errors, Trend, and Seasonal Components (TBATS), and a feed-forward neural network nonlinear autoregression model, or NNAR—are estimated through automated algorithms to assess in-sample fit and out-of-sample forecasting accuracy for web-query volume data. Forecasts are produced with the overperforming model in the out-of-sample context (i.e., NNAR) and fed into the novel incidence/mortality models. Results indicate a continuation of the increasing trends in cancer incidence and mortality in Romania by 2026, with projected levels for the age-standardized total cancer incidence of 313.8 and the age-standardized mortality rate of 233.8 representing an increase of 2%, and, respectively, 3% relative to the 2019 levels. Research findings thus indicate that, under the no-change hypothesis, cancer will remain a significant burden in Romania and highlight the need and urgency to improve the status quo in the Romanian public health system.

Poland’s Extra-EU Trade After the EU Accession

When Poland joined the European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004, it transferred its national competences in the field of external trade policy to the EU institutions. As a result, on the one hand, as of that date Poland may neither change duties on goods imported from outside of the EU, nor may it conclude trade agreements with third countries. Nowadays, Poland’s intra-EU trade has reached ca. 65-75% of its total foreign trade at the expense of the exchange with the rest of the world. Although the aforementioned numbers are high, they have not changed substantially since Poland’s accession to the EU. However, due to the legal circumstances and limited national competences in the shaping of external trade relations, one could expect that geographic and product structure of Polish foreign trade havr changed and reshuffled over the last few years. Therefore, the article aims to identify changes in both directions and products in Poland’s extra-EU imports and exports since the EU accession. To this end, we analysed changes in the value of Poland’s foreign trade with partners from outside of the EU as well as some indices that show the concentration of Poland’s trade and similarities or differences to the EU average. In order to get a closer look at Poland’s position, we compared the aforementioned indices to those reported for other Visegrád Group (V4) countries. We examined changes that took place in the period of 2004-2019 and have identified trends in Poland’s extra-EU trade that provide evidence of its greater similarity to the EU average, an effect of EU integration and higher diversification in the mix of partners from outside the EU. 

Pharmaceutical regulation and policies in Austria

Austria is a middle-sized, high-income country in Central Europe with universal health coverage and a highly fragmented health care system. Medicines for outpatient use that are reimbursed by the social health insurance are price-regulated, whereas medicines for inpatient use are neither subject to price regulation nor to health technology assessment (HTA). These medicines are procured by hospitals, hospital groups and provinces which are the main owner of public hospitals. The major pricing policy for new medicines in the outpatient sector is external price referencing. Austria refers to all other 26 European Union (EU) Member States; the determined benchmark price must not exceed the EU average price. External price referencing is based on list prices, but the statutory manufacturer discounts applicable in some reference countries are considered. Regular price reviews with subsequent price adjustments are in place. For generic and biosimilar medicines to be included in the outpatient positive list, a price link policy is applied with different reduction rates for generics and biosimilars. In the supply chain, prices of all medicines are regulated through regressive mark-up schemes for wholesale and community pharmacies. The inclusion in the outpatient positive list is based on an HTA process which comprises pharmacological, medical-therapeutic and economic evaluations, followed by price negotiations about the reimbursement price. For medicines with high financial burden for the public payers, the Austrian Social Insurance (for the outpatient sector) and procurers for hospitals tend to conclude managed-entry agreements with confidential discounts. For outpatient medicines, patients are charged a fixed prescription fee per prescribed item; no further co-payments apply for outpatient or inpatient medicines. Studies have shown that the current pricing and reimbursement policies in Austria have contributed to keep prices of outpatient medicines stable (high-cost medicines tend to range above EU average), whereas the unregulated prices of medicines used in hospitals are frequently the highest in European comparison. Pharmacy mark-ups are also high in comparison to other European countries.

Application of Design Management Skills to Support the Use of Design in Product Innovation

Although companies in Slovakia achieve value in the use of design at the level of the European Union average, the lack of knowledge and information about the possibilities and potential benefits of design hinders the effective use of design as a key factor in successful innovation. Good design does not just happen by chance. It is usually the result of a well-managed process. Design management is becoming necessary because it allows the company to reflect the market's needs better and adapt to customers. When design management is part of a company's management processes, the design would significantly impact the company's economic performance and help ensure a competitive advantage in the market. Lack of design management skills is a major obstacle to the wider deployment and integration of design into companies. The paper aims to verify the impact of the achieved level of design management skills on the use of design in product innovation. Through a survey of Slovak companies in selected industries, the authors identified the attitude of companies to the use of design in product innovation. The authors used statistical methods to analyse the level of skills achieved in individual areas of design management. They identified the impact of the level of skills on the design use rate in innovation. This study includes factor and regression analysis methods. The design management skills assessment survey confirms the relationship and correlation between the level of design management skills and the intensity of the use of design in product innovation. The ability to engage others has emerged as the weakest in the design management skills assessment survey. Involving customers and suppliers and creating interdisciplinary teams could bring the company effective use of design in product innovation and thus achieve a significant and sustainable competitive advantage. According to the confirmed results, companies' training to gain the necessary skills in individual areas of design management should increase the level of mastery of these skills and consequently support the use of design in product innovations.

Analysing an Energy Sectoral Specialisation Pattern in Southern European Union Countries

Exploring the sectoral energy structure of Southern European Union (EU) countries of the Mediterranean region, the paper investigates the changes that have occurred in the distribution of the major energy end-use sectors in comparison to the EU average. To that end, the indices of sectoral specialisation were calculated, and then the behavioural pattern of energy users was analysed. The results indicate a relatively low sectoral heterogeneity of final energy consumption in the sample of interest, meaning that the structure of energy end-use sectors seems to show a rather comparable development trend and is quit homogeneous compared to the EU average. The degree of economic specialisation has become gradually lower over time. The stability of this trend is confirmed by using regression in Galton’s sense. The marginal values of the sectoral specialisation index suggest that the existing homogeneity in the sectoral structure is mainly related to the level of development, geographical proximity and spill-over effect as well as the size of an economy. Indeed, countries such as Malta and Cyprus were found to have a higher degree of specialisation than Italy or France.

Improving Quality Indicator of Melanoma Management - Change of Melanoma Mortality-to-Incidence Rate Ratio Based on a Hungarian Nationwide Retrospective Study.

IntroductionThe incidence of melanoma has been increasing in the last decades. A retrospective Hungarian epidemiological study provided real-world data on incidence and mortality rates. There have been changing trends in incidence in Hungary in the last decade and mortality decreased, shifting mortality-to-incidence rate ratios (MIR). MIR is an indicator of cancer management quality.ObjectivesOur aim is to show the changes of melanoma MIR in Hungary between 2011 and 2018 and to compare the real-world evidence-based results of our Hungarian nationwide retrospective study with other European countries.MethodsMIR is calculated from the age-specific standardized incidence and mortality rates from our study. Annual MIR values are presented for the total population and for both sexes between 2011 and 2018, along with 95% confidence intervals. Comparison with European countries are shown for 2012 and 2018 based on the GLOBOCAN database and Eurostat health care expenditure per capita data.ResultsMIR decreased by 0.035 during the study years. The decrease was same in both sexes (0.031). Male had higher MIRs in all study years. In both 2012 and 2018, Hungarian MIR in both sexes was lower than the European Union average (males: 0.192 vs. 0.212 and 0.148 vs. 0.174 respectively, women: 0.107 vs. 0.129 and 0.083 vs. 0.107 respectively).DiscussionHungarian mortality-to-incidence ratio is the lowest in Central and Eastern Europe and is close to the level of Western and Northern European countries. The results are driven by the high number of new diagnosed melanoma cases.

Trends in antimicrobial consumption in Bhutan

Antimicrobial use has been recognized as one of the main drivers of antimicrobial resistanceand it is, therefore, crucial to monitor the consumption and use of antimicrobials. This study was conducted to determine the consumption of antimicrobials in terms of defined daily doses (DDDs) per 1000 inhabitants per day (DIDs) at both national and dzongkhag levels in Bhutan, and to investigate trends from 2017 to 2019. A retrospective analysis of antimicrobial consumption in healthcare facilities in Bhutan from 2017 to 2019 was undertaken using the national records of annual distribution of medicines. World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System/DDD methodology was used for data collection and analysis. In 2019, the consumption of antimicrobials (ATC subgroup J01) for systemic use in healthcare facilities in Bhutan was 16.29 DIDs, compared with 14.39 DIDs in 2018 and 13.27 DIDs in 2017. The most commonly used subgroup of antimicrobials was the penicillin group of beta-lactams (J01C). Antimicrobial consumption in Bhutan was found to be lower than the European Union and European Economic Area average, and lower compared with most Eastern European countries and some countries in the Western Pacific region. However, overall consumption in Bhutan increased steadily over the 3-year study period. This should be monitored carefully, and appropriate interventions to optimize antimicrobial use should be put in place in the near future.

Clustering Analysis of Energy Consumption in the Countries of the Visegrad Group

The main purpose of this paper is to assess energy consumption with a breakdown into main sectors of the countries that belong to the Visegrad Group. The specific objectives aim to determine changes in energy absorption, its productivity, structure by sectors and to show the similarities of the Visegrad Group countries to the other EU states in terms of the sectoral energy absorption structure. All members of the Visegrad group, i.e., Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, were purposefully selected for the study as of 31 December 2018. The research period covered the years 1990–2018. The sources of gathered information were the literature on the subject and OECD data. The following methods were used for the analysis and presentation of materials: explanations, tabular and graphical depictions, descriptive statistics, dynamics indicators, and cluster analysis performed with the following methods: k-means, hierarchical agglomerative clusters and DIvisive ANAlysis (DIANA). There is a limited number of previous studies on the relationship between the national level of economic development and energy consumption in different sectors of industry. Additionally, there are no such analytical projects concerning EU states. The article fills the research gap in this area. It was established that the dynamics of productivity growth over the nine years (2010–2018) was similar in the countries of the Visegrad group and on average for the EU. This means that the members of the Visegrad group did not actually improve their energy efficiency as compared to the EU average. The reason may be the increasingly faster implementation of modern technologies in developed economies of Western Europe as compared to the developing countries, which include the members of the Visegrad group. The conversion of the economy had a very large impact on changing the structure of energy absorption by sector. Industry and agriculture lost their importance. On the other hand, the transport and service sectors benefited. As a result of the cluster analysis, all EU (European Union) states were divided into four groups. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary found themselves in one group, along with most Western European countries. This may mean that the economies of these states have become unified with highly developed economic systems. Slovakia found itself in the group of states with a greater importance of industry. The study complements the contribution to the theory. From a practical point of view, it shows the impact of economic transformation on changes in energy consumption in individual sectors, which may be a model of transition in this area.

Methylmercury: A Human Biomonitoring Study of Portuguese Women of Childbearing Age

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Methylmercury (MeHg) is a toxic compound that undergoes bioaccumulation in the aquatic food chain. Predatory fish species are an important human exposure source. Portugal has the highest consumption of fishery products in the European Union (EU), above the EU and world average. The main target of MeHg is the central nervous system and the prenatal period represents a period of greatest vulnerability regarding neurodevelopmental effects on the foetus. Human biomonitoring (HBM) allows direct exposure assessment of human exposure to chemical compounds. Total mercury (THg) concentration in blood is usually considered an appropriate biomarker for estimating short-term internal exposure to MeHg in individuals with regular fish consumption. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the exposure of Portuguese women of childbearing age to MeHg through HBM. METHODS: Three hundred Portuguese women of childbearing age (25 to 44 years) were randomly selected among the participants in a cross-sectional epidemiological study carried out in Portugal (INSEF) in 2015. THg content was determined in whole blood samples by thermal decomposition and amalgamation atomic absorption spectrophotometry (TDA/AAS). RESULTS:Two samples had THg levels below LOQ (0.5 µg/L), and in the remaining (n=298), THg levels ranged from 0.6 to 35.0 µg/L. About 52% of the samples had values below 5 µg/L, a HBM value below which no adverse health effects are expected. However, 48% of samples revealed levels above 5 µg/L and therefore presented risk of adverse health effects. Blood mercury concentration values were higher in older women, in higher education level and residents in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, with statistically significant differences compared to the other groups (p0.05). CONCLUSIONS:This study reinforces the need to develop and implement in Portugal strategies regarding risk communication focused on the selection of fish species with lower MeHg concentration in order to reduce human exposure to this compound. KEYWORDS: Biomarkers of exposure, Exposure assessment, Food/nutrition, Heavy metals, Risk assessment

Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Barriers: A Comparison of Perceived Barriers in Portugal and Slovenia

Sustainable entrepreneurship pursues a triple agenda approximate economic, social, and ecological aspirations. We can agree upon the fact that environmental awareness is becoming more and more important on the global market and among people in general. Companies all over the world, have a bigger awareness, addressing more ecological concerns on their products, in order to become greener for consumers. This makes sustainable entrepreneurship an important topic in society and for the economy in general. This article is about sustainable entrepreneurship and the barriers that are connected to it, along with the comparison of two European Union countries, Portugal, and Slovenia, regarding the perceived obstacles and risk for starting a sustainable business. For this, we did use quantitative data from Eurobarometer with the intention to measure how much weight the upcoming entrepreneurship put on the conservation of nature and how much they think about environmental sustainability. We obtained the data that show the level of importance of ecology in business for the entrepreneurs in Portugal, for the ones in Slovenia, and in this case, we can also compare the data with the European Union average.

Evaluation of Sustainable Energy Development Progress in EU Member States in the Context of Building Renovation

The main goal of setting energy efficiency priorities is to find ways to reduce energy consumption without harming consumers and the environment. The renovation of buildings can be considered one of the main aspects of energy efficiency in the European Union (EU). In the EU, only 5% of the renovation projects have been able to yield energy-saving at the deep renovation level. No other study has thus far ranked the EU member states according to achieved results in terms of increased usage in renewable sources, a decrease in energy usage and import, and reduction in harmful gas emissions due to energy usage. The main purpose of this article is to perform a comparative analysis of EU economies according to selected indicators related to the usage of renewable resources, energy efficiency, and emissions of harmful gasses as a result of energy usage. The methodological contribution of our study is related to developing a complex and robust research method for investment efficiency assessment allowing the study of three groups of indicators related to the usage of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, and ecological aspects of energy. It was based on the PROMETHEE II method and allows testing it in other time periods, as well as modifying it for research purposes. The EU member states were categorized by such criteria as energy from renewables and biofuels, final energy consumption from renewables and biofuels, gross electricity generation from renewables and biofuels and import dependency, and usage of renewables and biofuels for heating and cooling. The results of energy per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions per million inhabitants (ECO2), energy per capita, the share of CO2 emissions from public electricity, and heat production from total CO2 emissions revealed that Latvia, Sweden, Portugal, Croatia, Austria, Lithuania, Romania, Denmark, and Finland are the nine most advanced countries in the area under consideration. In the group of the most advanced countries, energy consumption from renewables and biofuels is higher than the EU average.

Societal Cost of Ischemic Stroke in Romania: Results from a Retrospective County-Level Study.

Background: Health policies in transitioning health systems are rarely informed by the economic burden of disease due to scanty access to data. This study aimed to estimate direct and indirect costs for first-ever acute ischemic stroke (AIS) during the first year for patients residing in Cluj, Romania, and hospitalized in 2019 at the County Emergency Hospital (CEH). Methods: The study was conducted using a mixed, retrospective costing methodology from a societal perspective to measure the cost of first-ever AIS in the first year after onset. Patient pathways for AIS were reconstructed to aid in mapping inpatient and outpatient cost items. We used anonymized administrative and clinical data at the hospital level and publicly available databases. Results: The average cost per patient in the first year after stroke onset was RON 25,297.83 (EUR 5226.82), out of which 80.87% were direct costs. The total cost in Cluj, Romania in 2019 was RON 17,455,502.7 (EUR 3,606,505.8). Conclusions: Our costing exercise uncovered shortcomings of stroke management in Romania, particularly related to acute care and neurorehabilitation service provision. Romania spends significantly less on healthcare than other countries (5.5% of GDP vs. 9.8% European Union average), exposing stroke survivors to a disproportionately high risk for preventable and treatable post-stroke disability.

May Measurement Month 2019: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Hungary.

Cardiovascular diseases are not only the leading causes of mortality in Hungary but also the mortality rate is twice as high as the European Union average, so screening programmes identifying subjects with elevated blood pressure (BP) are of utmost importance. May Measurement Month (MMM) is an annual global initiative that began in 2017 aimed at raising awareness of high BP. Hungary joined the 3rd campaign of MMM in 2019 and an overview of the results are presented in this paper. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of participants aged ≥18 years was carried out in May 2019. Hypertension was defined as systolic BP ≥140 mmHg and diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg or treatment for hypertension, statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. In Hungary, 55 sites were set up in primary and secondary care facilities, in pharmacies, and in malls across all regions, in both cities and villages. Out of 2766 individuals screened, 1286 participants (46.5%) had hypertension. Out of 1869 participants not on antihypertensive medication, 389 (20.8%) had elevated BP. In the case of treated individuals (n = 897), 420 (46.8%) had uncontrolled hypertension. Almost every 2nd subject of the screened cohort had hypertension (treated and controlled, treated and uncontrolled, or untreated). In the untreated cohort, every 5th subject had elevated BP, whilst among patients on antihypertensive medication, every second had uncontrolled BP. By identifying almost one-third of the whole screened cohort with the possibility of newly diagnosed or uncontrolled hypertension, our results confirm the importance of BP screening campaigns.

Integrating aquaponics production systems into the Romanian green procurement network

This study aims to evaluate the opportunity of integrating aquaponics as an environmentally preferable procurement (EPP) solution in Romania, meant to improve productivity and sustainability of both agriculture and aquaculture and to reduce conflicts between these two sectors. The Romanian production of plant species is evaluated and forecasted considering only the main species that can be commonly produced in aquaponics conditions, as follows: coriander, spinach, lettuce, tobacco, garlic, cucumber, tomatoes, and strawberries. The evaluation of the opportunity for integrating aquaponics into Romania, at a large scale, is evaluated using forecast analysis comparison between Romania and the European Union (EU), by applying six methods (exponential smoothing, Holt, Holt exponential, Holt damped, ARIMA, LSTM). Thus, comparative forecast analysis between Romania and the EU average values were developed considering four dimensions, as follows: aquaculture production, agriculture plant production for main species suitable to be cultivated in aquaponics conditions, organic agriculture surface and the amount of pesticides and insecticides used. Romania’s aquaculture production forecast indicates a superior upward trend compared with the EU average. Also, the agriculture production of the main plant species suitable for cultivation in aquaponics conditions records an inconsistent decreasing trend in Romania, compared with the upward trend recorded by analyzing the EU average value. The forecast of organic agriculture surface in Romania emphasizes a higher increasing trend compared to the EU average, situation which reveals a sustainable development direction, confirmed also by the decreasing forecasted trend of the amount of pesticides and insecticides used in agriculture. The registered results recommend the integration of aquaponics production systems into the Romanian green procurement network, considering also the EU context.

Mass population vaccination for COVID-19 in Malta

Introduction COVID-19 remains pandemic with countries scrambling to mass vaccinate populations, prioritising health-care workers, the elderly and the vulnerable. Malta is a small Mediterranean country with a population of circa half a million with free healthcare at point-of-care. This paper reviews the adaptations made to cope with mass vaccination. Methods Permission was obtained to tour hospital facilities. Photographs were taken with and edited on a mobile phone, a previously utilised methodology. Results Vaccination commenced on 27/12/20 with priorities as above. Malta Medical School lecture halls were initially used, followed by outpatients at the country’s regional hospital, as well as other lecture halls, and National Health Service clinics. Virtually all medically vulnerable individuals have had their first doses as well as most individuals ≥60 years of age, with the 55–60 year age group currently targeted. Malta is well ahead of the European Union average. Discussion Exacting logistics and cooperation by all local authorities (such as the University of Malta) has resulted in a highly successful vaccine rollout. The eventual licencing of vaccination for children and the availability of booster dose/s will further facilitate the eventual attainment of herd immunity. This must be a global effort lest escape variants render these efforts futile.

The RES in the Countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States: Potential and Production from 2015 to 2019

Amidst the changes and adjustments of the international energy situation, the leading trend is to shift from fossil fuels to low-carbon fuels, and ultimately, to enter the era of sustainable energy, based mainly on renewable energy. The ongoing changes in global security of energy supply and the high volatility of fossil energy prices also stimulate investment in alternative energy sources, making renewable energy sources (RES) one of the rapidly growing elements in the global energy system. This article fills the research gap by analyzing the potential of using renewable energy in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the years 2015–2018. The authors address the energy potential in the years 2015–2019, and energy consumption in the years 2015–2018 as the potential of RES in the CIS countries was not researched after 2014. Please note that the study covers the CIS countries, along with Georgia and Ukraine, which are no longer formal members of the Community, but have been included for cognitive and comparative purposes. Upon comparing the increase in energy production in the CIS countries to the average increase for the European Union (EU) countries, the value of this increase is observably higher than the average for the EU countries only in Ukraine. However, the average for the entire CIS is much lower than the EU average, therefore in CIS countries, the changes in the volume of RES energy production are varied. In some countries, there is a significant increase in the production of this type of energy (e.g., Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia). However, there are also countries in which the changes are negligible, or which noted significant drops in RES energy production (Uzbekistan, Moldova, Russia, Armenia). The findings contribute to the RES market debate and the international relations theory by comparing political factors with territorial and economic factors.

On Electromobility Development and the Calculation of the Infrastructural Country Electromobility Coefficient

The question of electromobility is greatly discussed theme of the present especially in connection with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In order to fulfill decarbonization targets, incentives of many countries lead to the support of electromobility. In this paper we ask to which extend are Visegrád Group countries prepared for the widespread utilization of electric cars and define a new coefficient K called the infrastructural country electromobility coefficient. Its computing is covered by appropriate analysis and calculations done previously. Several indices that keep particular information about the state of preparation for electromobility are defined and debated here, as well. Their product forms the coefficient K. Obtained results include outcomes and discussion regarding the level of infrastructural electromobility preparedness for the chosen states, among which we extra focus on the position of Slovakia compared to the European Union average and European electromobility leaders. Based on the data obtained, we found out that the stage of preparation of Slovakia for electromobility among Visegrad Group countries is rather good, although it is far behind the European Union leaders. We realized that there was a rapid growth of electromobility infrastructure in Slovak Republic in the last five years as its infrastructural country electromobility coefficient grew 334 times.

Enerji Yoğunluğu ve İklim Değişikliği: Türkiye İçin Yakınsama Analizi

The aim of this study is to analyze Turkey’s convergence to the European Union (EU) in terms of energy intensity. In the study, first of all the relationship between energy intensity and climate change has been examined. Afterwards, Turkey’s convergence to EU countries and EU average has been analyzed using the annual energy intensity data including the years 1990-2018. In the analysis, Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), Kwiatkowski-Phillips-Schmidt-Shin (KPSS), PhilipsPerron (PP), NG-Perron and Fourier ADF unit root tests were used. According to the findings obtained, it was concluded that Turkey converges to Italy, Spain, and Portugal with regards to energy intensity, on the other hand doesn’t converge to Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Holland, Sweden, Czechia, Poland, Romania, and EU average.