European Union Nations Research Articles

A Lie More Disastrous than the Truth: Asylum and the identification of trafficked women in the UK

This article explores the impact that nationality can have on a person’s experience of being identified as a victim of trafficking in the UK. Responses to individuals and disparities in rates of recognition depending on nationality are cause for great concern. The rhetoric and the response to women who have experienced trafficking varies considerably depending upon the citizenship, residency and documentation status of the individual, particularly highlighting the differential treatment of trafficking cases of British women, European Union nationals, and third-country (non UK, non EU) nationals, the majority of whom are also asylum seekers. This differential treatment is played out in multiple ways, many of which result in women’s inability to realise procedural and substantive rights. The article examines the use of official “identification” mechanisms that place women into the administrative category of “victim”, and the central role of the asylum system in all areas of UK anti-trafficking responses.

DO CREDIT RATING AGENCIES ADD VALUE? EVIDENCE FROM THE SOVEREIGN RATING BUSINESS

ABSTRACTThe debt crisis in several European Union nations has resulted in a set of downgrades in sovereign ratings, sparking a lively debate whether these opinions actually matter. Ratings and bond spreads may both be considered as noisy signals of fundamentals. Ratings only add value if, controlling for spreads and observable country fundamentals, they help explain other market variables. We employed a unique dataset of over 75 000 daily observations on emerging countries around rating actions by the three major agencies. We found that ratings do indeed add information, and this finding is robust to a variety of different tests. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interviews with the European Union and Principal EU Nations on the Stress Tests（Comprehensive Safety Evaluation）

定期点検を終えた原子力発電所が地元自治体の了解が得られず，再稼働ができない状況が続いている。国は事態打開のため，新たにストレステストを実施することを決めた。この６月からEUが実施しているものを倣ったものである。筆者らはEU本部，EU主要国の規制機関及び主な事業者にインタビューし，実際にどのようなストレステストを実施しているのかを調査した。

P-964 - Rethinking the post-traumatic stress disorder: new additions to the diagnosis since the vietnam war

The Gulf and Balkan Wars have brought new elements for diagnostic consideration since the DSM-III original definition of PTSD. These changes are significant in that the long-held definition tended to be too narrow in scope - eliminating both civilians caught up in war situations as well as supposedly “support troops” serving in transportation or policing within war-raged countries. This became evident among NATO, European Union and United Nation policing forces serving in both the Balkan wars (which continues with troops still deployed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo...) and in the Gulf Wars waging since 1990 in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pervasive hypervigilance experiences by both civilians and troops secondary to the psychological stress associated with the anticipation of an attack by artillery, bombs, suicide bombers, and the like, contributed greatly to a depletion of the resources necessary for the human bodýs immune system to regroup from a state of being constantly within the sympathetic mode of the Autonomic Nervous System. Moreover, studies among British, Canadian and United States veterans indicated cultural differences in their response to war trauma. And certain procedures for denying veterans PTSD-related services were exposed including diagnosing them as being Axis II Personality Disorders hence not qualified for a PTSD Diagnosis. The new standards for the DSM-V address some of these issues. Our clinical research goes into detail regarding these considerations as they pertain to both civilian and military personnel, including the phenomenon of secondary PTSD which afflicts families of untreated PTSD clients.

Strategic Culture and Multilateralism: The Interplay of the EU and the UN in Conflict and Crisis Management

This analysis aims to identify the relative significance of strategic culture for interorganizational cooperation problems, here of the European Union and United Nations in the realm of conflict and crisis management. First, the respective strategic cultures are identified and compared in order to formulate expectations (hypotheses) for co-operation problems. Second, the practice of inter-organizational co-operation is investigated by using illustrative examples from three European Union operations conducted in collaboration with the United Nations: Operation Artemis, DR Congo 2003, EU EUFOR DR Congo 2006, and EUFOR Chad 2008. Different types of material and institutional factors hampering cooperation are identified. Third, empirical findings are interpreted and evaluated in terms of evidence for strategic culture as a causal factor influencing co-operation. This analysis suggests that in this case strategic culture is apparently a comparatively marginal factor hampering interorganizational co-operation.

Organic livestock production: an emerging opportunity with new challenges for producers in tropical countries

Agrochemicals, veterinary drugs, antibiotics and improved feeds can increase the food supply while minimising production costs in various livestock production systems around the world. However, these days, quality-conscious consumers are increasingly seeking environmentally safe, chemical-residue-free healthy foods, along with product traceability and a high standard of animal welfare, which organic production methods are said to ensure. Organic production is not only a challenge for producers in developing countries, it offers new export opportunities as well. Organic agriculture is practised by 1.8 million producers in 160 countries, and production of organically grown food continues to increase steadily by 15% per year. Most tropical countries are now exporting organic agricultural products but, apart from organic beef from Brazil and Argentina, organic livestock products are yetto take off. Most trade in organic livestock products is restricted to the European Union and other developed nations. Nevertheless, tropical countries cannot afford to neglect this emerging system of animal production. Organic production is knowledge- and management-intensive. Producers must be well versed in organic production standards, principles and practices, which require a high degree of knowledge and skill. In organic production, it is not simply the final product but the whole production process that must be inspected and approved by the accredited certification bodies. Organic livestock farming is still evolving, and further research is needed to make it sustainable. In this paper, the authors review the prospects of organic animal husbandry and its possible constraints in developing and tropical countries.

Reconceptualizing Women's and Men's Undeclared Work: Some Results from a European Union Survey

Recognizing that the current conceptualizations of men's and women's undeclared work derive almost entirely from a limited range of small‐scale studies of specific localities, sectors and occupations, this article begins to resolve this dearth of evidence by reporting the findings of an extensive cross‐national survey of undeclared work conducted in 2007 across 27 European Union (EU) nations. The outcome is fresh and extensive EU‐wide evidence that extends existing conceptualizations of the gender differences in terms of participation, sector, contract type and pay. However, the recognition that undeclared work is conducted for closer social relations and sometimes for motives other than financial gain, is shown to apply not only to women, as previously contended, but to men as well and to constitute most of the undeclared work in the EU. The result is a call for a fundamental reconceptualization of the nature of undeclared work that recognizes the heterogeneous work relations involved.

Determination of the total and extractable mass fractions of cadmium and lead in mineral feed by using isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

This paper describes the determination of the total and extractable mass fractions of Cd and Pb in mineral feed test sample distributed by the Community Reference Laboratory for Heavy Metals in Feed and Food (CRL-HM), in the frame of the fifth interlaboratory comparison for the European Union National Reference Laboratories (NRL). The developed in this study protocol for the total and extractable mass fractions of Pb and Cd in mineral feed sample is based on isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ID ICP-MS). The applied dual spiking approach reduced by 50% the number of analytical steps. The addition of hydrofluoric acid in the digestion step was found necessary to ensure a full decomposition and complete isotope equilibration. Quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer equipped with collision reaction interface (CRI) was employed for the measurements of Cd and Pb. Two methods for the determination of Cd were applied and compared. In the first one the high molybdenum content was reduced by introduction of matrix separation step followed by standard ICP-MS mode measurement, whereas in the second one CRI mode was used for the determination of Cd without preliminary matrix separation. The estimation of the combined uncertainty was performed according to the ISO guidelines. Uncertainty propagation was used as a tool for validation of proposed analytical procedure. Contributions from the correction for moisture content, sample homogeneity, procedural blank, instrumental background and dead time effects were evaluated in both cases. The largest uncertainty contributors for Cd and Pb is due to the within bottle homogeneity of the mineral feed sample – 50.3% and 90% respectively. The IUPAC data for isotope composition are the second major contributor to the combined uncertainty of the result for the total mass fraction of Cd in mineral feed – 43.3%. However, the ID ICP-MS results achieved from the two series of samples (partial and total extraction) were in excellent agreement within uncertainty, irrespective of the method used for extraction. The ID ICP-MS results for the total and extractable mass fractions of Cd and Pb in feed sample were compared with the results obtained with external calibration approach and routinely applied in the daily analytical practice of the Belgium National Reference Laboratory for trace elements in food and feed.

The Future of Blue Economy: Lessons for European Union

The Future of Blue Economy: Lessons for European UnionAdvancing global economic integration through the oceans, an interplay of economic, social, climatologic and technical forces are bringing the oceans to the forefront of resource development and business activity. With oceans covering over 70 percent of the Earth's surface, the future of the ocean space is increasingly being shaped by the interaction of numerous and powerful forces, most important of them being human activities. Over next 20 years, increasing uncertainty will be generated by the confluence of rapid social, cultural, technological and geopolitical changes. The rapid global increase in the production outputs of industry, agriculture and fisheries, as well as rising levels of consumption of marine products and the demand for coastal space worldwide is exerting increasing environmental pressure on the ocean. There is a need to identify more effective means to reduce the environmental impacts generated by the economic growth and its by-products. Sustainable approaches meet the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs. The Blue Economy concept is about the commercial development of oceans in a sustainable way. Poland's future economic security is linked with country's presence in the world ocean and successful membership in international bodies such as European Union, NATO and various United Nations maritime organizations. These factors will also determine Poland's place and its role in the global ocean economy.

Alcohol consumption predicts the EU suicide rates in young women aged 15–29 years but not in men: analysis of trends and differences among early and new EU countries since 2004

The aims of this study were to study suicide rates in youths aged 15–29 years in the European Union (EU), to identify differences between early members and new members to the EU since 2004, and to evaluate the association between alcohol-related variables and suicide rates, while controlling for indicators of social stress. We explored temporal trends in age-adjusted suicide rates for youths aged 15–29 years resident in EU nations since 1980. Social changes in EU nations were associated with increased inequalities between the countries in suicide, especially in male youths (new/early EU members: relative risk = 1.55; 95% confidence interval: 1.48/1.61). Pure alcohol consumption predicts suicide rates in female youths, whereas social stress related to violence against youths predicts suicide rates in male youths. EU political and heath agencies should devise policies to prevent youth suicide with a focus on alcohol misuse and societal stress associated with violence against youths.

The EU Enlargement Policy and National Majority-Minority Dynamics in Potential European Union Members: The Example of Turkey

The absence of a universally accepted definition of minority and standardized mechanisms for minority protection presents challenges during the European Union (EU) accession process. The differences between definitions used by European policy makers and those used in candidate countries are evident in Turkey's journey to the EU. Cultural identity boundaries are dynamic, and emphasizing the protection of particular minority groups can be regarded as a minority-forging policy that places at risk the successful implementation of minority protection in the candidate country.

Inequalities in Suicide Rates in the European Union's Elderly: Trends and Impact of Macro-Socioeconomic Factors between 1980 and 2006

To study suicide rates in elderly people in the former European Community, known as the European Union (EU) since late 1993, to identify differences between early members (admitted to the EU before 2004) and new members (admitted after 2004), and to evaluate the association between macro-socioeconomic variables and suicide rates. We explored temporal trends in age-adjusted suicide rates for people aged 65 years and older residing in the EU from 1980 to 2006. In the years examined in the study, there has been a general decrease in suicide rates in new and early members of the EU, although more slowly for elderly men than for women. The decrease in suicide rates of citizens aged 65 years and older was associated with a small but significant difference between new and early members of the EU (RR = 1.04, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.05; z = 11.95, P < 0.001). The macro-socioeconomic indices were strongly associated with age-adjusted suicide rates in EU senior citizens, except unemployment rates. Deaths by suicide in elderly people are declining in all EU nations, but inequalities in the suicide rates of men and women remain, especially in new EU members.

Strategic environmental assessment for energy production

Amongst the approaches that have developed to improve environmental protection within the energy sector, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has received relatively little attention. This is despite its potential to overcome some of the shortcomings associated with project-level assessment by intervening at higher levels of energy system planning. In this article, a review is presented of the extent to which SEA has been adopted and otherwise promoted in strategic energy planning processes in a wide range of countries throughout the world (with an emphasis on European Union nations). In this regard, the growing importance of regulatory compliance is underlined, especially within the EU, with a particular focus upon the application of SEA to grid systems. The case of the Belgian transmission system is described, illustrating a proactive approach to SEA. But the difficulties inherent in introducing SEA to an increasingly fragmented and liberalised sector are also drawn out, leading to suggestions by which these difficulties may be addressed.

Equality in the making: implementing European non-discrimination law

This article examines the development and implementation of European Union (EU) non-discrimination law since 2000. This empirical study allows us to investigate the dynamics of diffusion of the ‘international politics of diversity’ and their capacity to alter national ‘philosophies of integration’. The multi-level governance of equality and diversity is also interesting to study in the context of EU policy-building. The article first analyses the reasons why racial and ethnic equality emerged as an EU competence as an alternative to a politically unpalatable post-national citizenship agenda in the 1990s, yet fell short of protecting non EU nationals from discrimination on the basis of nationality. The second part of the paper assesses the implementation of the EU race directive in eight member states, focusing on judicial procedures and alternative forms of redress, positive action policies and ethnic monitoring. The study concludes that supranational law has been able to stir and reframe debates about integration in some of the old immigrant countries (France and Germany) by shifting the balance of forces between various actors. Notwithstanding, the introduction of new concepts and procedures is not always compatible with existing legal and mobilization cultures, and there has been little enactment of positive action policies. However, judicial processes are unlikely to be a solution to end structural discrimination or even redress feelings of injustice. The future of non-discrimination will depend on the success of equality bodies and civil society actors such as NGOs and trade unions to keep the issue on the political agenda. Finally, there are some inherent limits to what non-discrimination law focused on the socioeconomic sphere can achieve on the road to equality. The security of minorities requires their political empowerment, as a citizenship perspective would underline.

Evaluating the efficiency of European Union integration

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to measure the effectiveness of the integration of Europe by benchmarking economic progress made by the participating nations.Design/methodology/approachUsing data envelopment analysis, this paper compares the relative performance of 26 European Union (EU) nations against one another with seven economic variables as the benchmark parameters from 1999 to 2006.FindingsThe paper finds that not all the participating nations were equally efficient at the beginning of the economic integration in 1999. Economic integration does help in achieving convergence in economic performance of 26 EU nations, because 18 of the 26 nations were efficient in 2002. However, this paper finds that after 2002, there is a lack of convergence in the performance of 26 EU nations and some nations have performed more efficiently in contrast to other nations.Originality/valueThe paper identifies the member nations that are lagging behind and make recommendations as to how they can improve their performance to bring them at par with other participating nations.

Piloting the Smart Grid

The transformative power of the smart grid is enormous. It is receiving much consideration from utilities and commissions across North America. Several members of the European Union, China, Japan and other nations are also engaged in the same endeavor. The smart grid has the potential for revolutionizing the way we produce and consume electricity but because it contains so many new elements, its core value proposition remains untested. The unanswered questions include: • What new services will the smart grid provide customers? • Do customers want these new services? • Will they respond by changing their energy use patterns? The answers to these questions will help policymakers in federal and state government determine whether the benefits of the smart grid will cover its costs. It is widely understood that the new services enabled by the smart grid will include different rate designs that encourage curtailment of peak loads and make more efficient use of energy. Examples include dynamic pricing and inclining block rates. These innovative rate designs will be enhanced by various automating technologies such as Energy Orbs, programmable communicating thermostats (PCTs), whole building energy management systems (Auto DR), and in-home displays (IHDs). The smart grid will of course go beyond smart meters and rate design and enable renewable energy resources to be connected to the grid. This will allow optimal use of intermittent resources, such as wind, which often reach their peak generating capacity during off-peak hours. New off-peak loads, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which reduce overall energy consumption and improve the carbon footprint, will be energized by the smart grid. To address the likely impact of the smart grid on customers, utilities, and society as a whole, it may be necessary to conduct a pilot. When should a pilot be conducted and how should it be conducted? To be useful, a pilot must yield credible results. This requires that the pilot satisfy various validity criteria. These issues form the focus of this paper. We provide examples from several recent pilots that involved dynamic pricing, a key element of the smart gird. The concluding section discusses how a hypothetical company, SMART POWER, should go about designing its own pilot.

A large-scale empirical study of P3P privacy policies

Numerous studies over the past ten years have shown that concern for personal privacy is a major impediment to the growth of e-commerce. These concerns are so serious that most if not all consumer watchdog groups have called for some form of privacy protection for Internet users. In response, many nations around the world, including all European Union nations, Canada, Japan, and Australia, have enacted national legislation establishing mandatory safeguards for personal privacy. However, recent evidence indicates that Web sites might not be adhering to the requirements of this legislation. The goal of this study is to examine the posted privacy policies of Web sites, and compare these statements to the legal mandates under which the Web sites operate. We harvested all available P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences Protocol) documents from the 100,000 most popular Web sites (over 3,000 full policies, and another 3,000 compact policies). This allows us to undertake an automated analysis of adherence to legal mandates on Web sites that most impact the average Internet user. Our findings show that Web sites generally do not even claim to follow all the privacy-protection mandates in their legal jurisdiction (we do not examine actual practice, only posted policies). Furthermore, this general statement appears to be true for every jurisdiction with privacy laws and any significant number of P3P policies, including European Union nations, Canada, Australia, and Web sites in the USA Safe Harbor program.

Vocational and technical education in Eu nations and Turkey

In this study, similarities and differences between European Union members and Turkey in their vocational education systems and structures are identified and within this context, the studies in EU and Turkey are evaluated. Qualitative analysis methodology was used to examine some of the components of education and vocational education systems of Turkey and European Union Nations like Germany, United Kingdom, Denmark, France and Spain, and those studies done or being done on vocational education in European Union and Turkey. The data were obtained by qualitative document search. Research data underwent content and descriptive analysis. Study results reveal the necessity to restructure the vocational and technical education system in Turkey with a holistic approach.

The Effects of the Bosman Ruling on National and Club Teams in Europe

The Bosman ruling created free agency in professional soccer within the European Union (EU) by allowing players to move more easily between clubs and ending restrictions on the number of foreign players from EU nations a team could roster. It has been argued that this hurt various countries' national teams (because it inhibited the growth of domestic talent) and that at the club level the rich got richer as the best players gravitated to the top clubs in Europe. This study examines the performance of national and club teams in Europe before and after Bosman and finds that the effects are much less severe than has been hypothesized. Some national teams improved noticeably after Bosman while others became weaker. At the club level, there is little evidence that the competitive balance of the domestic leagues in Europe was harmed by Bosman.

The role of moral intensity and moral philosophy in ethical decision making: a cross‐cultural comparison of China and the European Union

The present study uses cross‐cultural samples of marketing practitioners from two European Union (EU) nations (the United Kingdom and Spain) and China to examine the relationships between moral intensity, personal moral philosophies and ethical decision making. Additionally, cross‐cultural comparisons were made regarding intentions, personal moral philosophies and moral intensity. Results indicate that both samples tend to use the perceived harm construct (e.g. magnitude of consequences, probability of effect, temporal immediacy and concentration of effect) to determine intentions in situations involving ethical issues. However, social consensus tends to be situation‐specific for both groups and proximity seems not to be used at all when making decisions in situations involving ethics. As for personal moral philosophies, idealism is only used by the EU sample; however, for both samples, the use of relativism depends upon the specific situation.