European Union Commitment Research Articles

THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION'S (EU) SPECIAL STRATEGY FOR CENTRAL ASIA (2007–2013)

The article examines the European Union's approach to Central Asia from 2007 to 2013, highlighting key objectives and initiatives designed to strengthen cooperation between the EU and nations in the region. This strategy encompasses a diverse range of issues, including economic growth, governance, energy security, educational development, and regional collaboration. The overarching goals of the strategy include: Economic Development: The strategy emphasizes the importance of economic partnerships, trade, and investment in promoting growth and integration of the region into the global economy. Governance and Anti-Corruption: The European Union supports governance and anti-corruption reforms that are essential for sustainable development. Energy Security: Given the significant energy resources in Central Asia, measures have been taken to diversify energy sources and increase the EU's energy independence. Education: Educational programs and initiatives aim to improve skills of the population and develop human capital in the region. Regional Cooperation: The EU actively promotes regional cooperation among Central Asian countries to contribute to peace and stability in the region. The article emphasizes the flexibility and adaptability of the EU's approach to the challenges and changing circumstances in the region. This demonstrates the European Union's commitment to playing a proactive role in promoting positive development in Central Asia and creating the conditions for long-term collaboration and shared prosperity.

Whose policy coherence counts? Assessing sustainable fisheries in Ghana and the European Union's engagement

AbstractMotivationPromoting coherence for sustainable development (PCSD) is a key means of implementation for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, yet it has been overlooked as policy discussions have focused predominantly on the financing of the agenda. The literature and policy debates about PCSD largely focus on processes and on OECD countries, and they neglect their political and normative dimensions. This article complements recent literature on PCSD by elaborating and testing a relational perspective on the concept.PurposeTo address these issues, this article elaborates a relational perspective that responds to the misrepresentation of third countries as passive recipients of (in)coherent OECD policy preferences.Methods and approachThe analysis presented summarizes the literature on the related concepts of PCSD and Policy Coherence for Development (PCD). On this basis, the article articulates a relational perspective on policy coherence that complements other critical perspectives in the literature. Subsequently, it explores the potential and relevance of this relational perspective by analysing how the fisheries policy preferences of the European Union interact with those of Ghana.FindingsOverall, the analysis shows that a commitment to sustainable fisheries cannot be assumed for either the EU or Ghana. Furthermore, assessing the responsibilities of the EU and Ghana around sustainability and degrees of adherence is difficult due to the presence of other fishing nations and influences. In the context of the EU's ambitious policy framework, the continued overfishing in Ghanaian waters negatively affects the credibility and justification of its continued involvement. Policy dialogue between the EU and the Ghanaian government and accompanying EU technical assistance have supported changes to Ghanaian fisheries policies, but overfishing continues.Policy implicationsDiscussions on promoting PCSD should be supported by more empirical research into the extent and manner that policy preferences consider by policy‐makers to be coherent with the 2030 Agenda contribute to advancing the agenda in different country and regional contexts.

UNLEASHING THE POWER OF INNOVATION: THE TRANSFORMATIVE ROLE OF SMES IN EU

This article explores the significant efforts made by the European Union (EU) to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a range of initiatives, policies, and programs, such as Horizon 2020 and COSME. These endeavors have provided dedicated funding and resources to facilitate research, development, and innovation within SMEs. Recognizing the significant role played by SMEs and innovation in driving economic growth, job creation, and competitiveness, the EU has prioritized targeted support and the establishment of an enabling business environment to unlock the full potential of SMEs as engines of innovation. Furthermore, the EU actively assesses SME innovation levels to identify areas of strength, weakness, and improvement. These concerted efforts demonstrate the EU's commitment to cultivating a culture of innovation and providing comprehensive support to SMEs in their entrepreneurial pursuits. Ultimately, these initiatives contribute to the overall innovation landscape in Europe, fostering sustainable growth and prosperity.

Social economy enterprises contributing to the circular economy and the green transition in Romania

Recently, there is a new European Union commitment to the potential of the social economy which is a pioneer in job creation linked to the circular economy that will be further leveraged by the mutual benefits of supporting the green transition and strengthening social inclusion. Considering this general context, we propose in this paper an exploratory research aiming to investigate the potential of the Romanian social economy sector as part of a circular economy approach that could advance the green transition in the following years. Our paper is based on the findings of preliminary systematic content analysis for the identification of the social enterprises in Romania which include circular economy and/or green economy in their business model, and on qualitative research based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with the social economy organizations’ managers. We have highlighted five good practice examples (Recicleta, Atelierul de Pânz?, Educlick/Reconect, Remesh, and Bio&co Farm), which clearly show that combining the principles of social economy with the ones of circular/green economy is a strategy that might lead to overcoming the current challenges of the society. Our investigations represent the first approach to this topic, aiming to understand the specific challenges of the circular or green economy and social economy models when joining forces together for sustainable development in the context of an emerging social economy, as is the case of Romania.

Community composting strategies for biowaste treatment: methodology, bulking agent and compost quality

The European Union’s commitment to increase recycling and recovery rates of municipal solid waste requires significant changes in current waste management. Local governments are developing various strategies for treating the organic fraction of municipal waste (biowaste) via composting. Community composting centres (CCC), green waste collection, treatment points and community gardens are some of these new approaches. Population density and spatial distribution, together with the existence of community green areas, determine the location of the various infrastructures for recycling local biowaste. The composting process consumes high amounts of bulking agent (BA) necessary to provide the structure that allows, amongst other uses, biowaste aeration and microbial surface colonisation. Shredded green waste from parks, gardens and households can be used as BA in community composting and home composting. In this study, a total of 46 compost samples obtained from CCC with two types of handling were analysed: 22 samples treated by vertical flow (VF) and 24 samples treated by horizontal flow (HF). The HF model allowed better use of the volume of modular composting units and the VF model required less effort and time for the CCC operator. Mature, stable and high-nutrient-content composts were obtained with both models. These composts met the legal requirements to be used as an organic amendment, and they can be delivered to the participants or used in community gardens in the municipality.

Dampak Implementasi Kebijakan Renewable Energy Directive II terhadap Hubungan Indonesia - Uni Eropa

This research will write down the impact of implementing the Renewable Energy Directive II policy issued by the European Union to regulate the use of renewable energy as a form of the European Union's commitment to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the Renewable Energy Directive II Policy issued by the European Union, it is stated that palm oil causes deforestation or environmental damage. Indonesia, which has long established economic cooperation with the European Union, especially in the export-import of palm oil, as the world's largest producer of palm oil, feels discriminated against the policy issued. Indonesia gets the country's largest foreign exchange from exports of palm oil and its derivatives which will then have a major impact on the decline in imports of palm oil by the European Union after the issuance of this policy. This research question is "What is the impact of the implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive II policy on relations between Indonesia and the European Union?" to answer the questions in this study, researchers used the concept of International Political Economy by Robert Gilpin in explaining the results of this study. This study uses qualitative research methods using secondary data sources. The results of this study will answer the forms of tense relations between Indonesia and the European Union and what factors influence these tensions to occur. This research will also explain the beginning of the cooperation between Indonesia and the European Union and how the relationship was before and after the Renewable Energy Directive II policy was made.
 

Eliciting knowledge from stakeholders to identify critical issues of the transition to climate neutrality in Greece, the Nordic Region, and the European Union

There are considerable differences in the pace and underlying motivations of the energy transition in the different geographical contexts across Europe. The European Union's commitment to climate neutrality by 2050 requires a better understanding of the energy transition in different contexts and scales to improve cooperation of involved actors. In this article, we identify critical issues and challenges of the European energy transition as perceived by stakeholders and investigate how these perceptions vary across geographical contexts. To do so, we couple a policy document analysis with research based on stakeholder engagement activities in three different scales, national (Greece), regional (Nordic Region) and continental scale (European Union). Our findings show that stakeholder perspectives on the energy transition depend on contextual factors underlying the need for policies sensitive to the different transition issues and challenges in European regions. They also reveal cross-cutting issues and challenges among the three case studies, which could lead to further improvement of the cross-country collaboration to foster the European energy transition.

European values and effective business interaction

This paper intends to understand the organisational values in different countries across Europe, using the Hofstede 6-D model, and apply them to realise the best strategies for effective interactions between Ukrainians and the rest of Europe, regarding the European Union commitment to accept Ukraine as a member in the future. This research compares the national values and determines clusters of countries, which have similar values regarding organisational action and structure, and searches for any correlation between clusters’ values and the countries’ positions in the rank of European Chamber for businesses. Regarding the results, the paper establishes which countries are culturally more similar to Ukraine, and also which values are predominant in the most successful countries. Finally, the paper points to a trending set of ideas and organisational values that Ukrainian businesses and organisations must pay attention to within the cultural framework of their future European Union partners.

The EU Response to COVID-19: From Reactive Policies to Strategic Decision-Making.

The EU Response to COVID-19: From Reactive Policies to Strategic Decision-Making.

Onshore wind farms GIS-Assisted suitability analysis using PROMETHEE II

The increased use of renewable energy will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and comply with the European Union's commitment under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Wind energy generation contributes to the attainment of the Union's objectives because it is a mature and cost-effective national investment. Moreover, wind energy is part of the transition towards a circular economy primarily by producing clean renewable energy with a low environmental impact. The appropriate selection of both materials and sites is critical to ensure efficiency and low local impact. The selection of a wind farm installation site is a spatially complex decision-making problem that aims to evaluate alternative locations using planning and environmental restrictions. This paper introduces a new decision-making framework that combines geographic information systems (GIS) technology and PROMETHEE II, a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) method, to enable the GIS-assisted wind farm suitability analysis. The proposed framework can be used as a strategic planning tool that can help energy planners, wind developers, and decision and policy makers at the national and regional levels to accurately determine and predict the most efficient locations for wind farm development. The framework is illustrated through a case study of the Thrace region of north-eastern Greece.

Do-it-yourself approach applied to the valorisation of a wheat milling industry's by-product for producing bio-based material

Cereal processing and flour production play a key role in the Italian agrifood scenario generating valuable economic incomes and contributing significantly to the export market. The European Union's commitment to the transition towards the Circular Economic model has led to increasing attention to food by-products and waste valorisation practices in order to reduce the amount of food loss and waste and costs for disposal. Processing outputs produce secondary raw materials which often remain unexplored for alternative applications and other supply chains. This article focuses on the use organic residues obtained by cereal processing conducted by a small-size milling industry to produce bio-based materials. The research is structured in two stages: (1) the first investigates the production of organic waste through material flow analysis and characterisation of wheat dust, which is considered as waste, through nutritional and toxicological analyses; (2) the second explores the opportunity of using wheat dust as reinforcing filler for a starch-based bio-composite and as culture medium for a microbial cellulose. This second stage adopts the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach for upcycling of food waste and manipulation of bio-based materials. The wheat dust/starch bio-composite was processed to obtain surrogates of disposable plates, while the microbial cellulose was manipulated to achieve a film for food packaging. Strengths and criticalities of both applications are discussed, considering limitations implied by the DIY approach, and further implementations are defined. This article focuses on a case study located in Cuneo province (Piedmont Region, Italy), but it also considers the opportunity to upscale the study to larger milling industries due to the relevance of wheat grains processing in the Italian agrifood market.

The EU’s global health policy in times of Covid-19: challenges and prospects

The Covid-19 crisis has laid bare weaknesses in the capacity of the European Union (EU) to act as a global health player. Most of those challenges have existed prior to the pandemic and are linked to a limited implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - the global agenda acknowledging interconnections between different policy fields. Despite the EU's commitment to implement the Agenda 2030 in its internal and external policies, there is a lack of visibility and sufficient reference to the SDGs on a strategic level as well as in the EU's actions and partnerships in global health. The Union has shown during the Covid-19 pandemic that it is a relevant global health actor; however, there seems to be a lack of strategic visions and resources.The poster aims to illustrate on the one hand the weaknesses and challenges of the EU global health policies in times of Covid-19 and beyond. On the other hand, it identifies advantages of the EU in the field of global health and explores future pathways. Applying a mixed-method approach I did a review of academic and grey literature; content analysis of official EU documents and statements, expert interviews and gathered insights from events such as policy dialogues.Preliminary results indicate that the EU has a strong focus on infectious disease control in its external health policies and hereby neglects the health system dimension and interlinkages with other foreign policies such as trade. Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of resilient health systems in a crisis and the interlinkages between different policies for an effective response. To pursue a genuine health-in-all-policies approach prioritising health system strengthening within a updated strategic roadmap is necessary. Moreover, efforts to ensure an equitable distribution of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics should be pushed through the development and implementation of respective criteria.Key messages The focus of the EU in global health should shift from a narrow health security lens towards health system strengthening including disease control.The EU should prioritize and implement the health-in-all-policies approach in its global health policies through an ambitious roadmap.

Neither protective nor harmonized: the crossborder regulation of medical devices in the EU.

To what extent does inadequate market regulation contribute to poor health outcomes? A series of prominent scandals involving harmful medical devices has made improving the regulation of these devices an urgent problem for the European Union (EU). This is, however, a specific example of a general phenomenon. The EU remains first and foremost a large and integrated market within which the EU institutions have considerable regulatory authority. Even if there is little EU commitment to a health or social policy agenda, its use of that regulatory authority shapes health care cost and quality and should be understood as health policy. We use data from EU-level and national policy documents to analyse the EU's current regulatory framework for medical devices and assess its likely future efficacy. Despite revising the medical devices directive to require more stringent pre-authorization requirements for high-risk medical devices and improvements in post-market surveillance, the key underlying problems of market fragmentation and patient safety persist. Without strong and consistent support for the implementation of the new directive, the likely result is the status quo, with significant consequences for health in Europe.

Tackling Europe’s infrastructure needs: the European Fund for Strategic Investments

This paper focuses on Europe's response to the slow pace of recovery following the 2008 economic crisis. There was a 15% decline in investment in key economic sectors, including strategic infrastructure. Potentially good but higher risk projects were struggling to find investment. Money was available in the system, but economic uncertainty was stopping investors from taking risk. To address this market failure, the European Union (EU) developed an Investment Plan for Europe (IPE), popularly referred to as the Juncker Plan.1 The IPE comprises a three-pronged strategy the key pillar of which is the establishment of a guarantee fund, the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI). EFSI is designed to overcome the perceived market failure by mitigating project risk and mobilising private investment to address market gaps.2 It is a simple but powerful financial instrument that seeks to put investment capital back to work and exploit the opportunity to address Europe's infrastructure needs while borrowing costs are low and liquidity relatively plentiful for eligible projects. The paper discusses the theory behind the policy, how it contributes to delivery of the EU's commitment to sustainable development as embodied in its 2020 Strategy, and whether it is supported by academic economic consensus.

Tuning the discipline of history in the United States: Harmony (and dissonance) in teaching and learning

Tuning's progress in the discipline of history in the United States since 2009 illustrates the project's continuing capacity to develop “educational structures and programmes on the basis of diversity and autonomy”, maintaining the initiative's original European Union commitment in a markedly different academic environment across the Atlantic. Struggling initially against a backdrop of confusion, hesitancy, and resistance among US faculty, Tuning has been adopted by a steadily expanding number of educators in individual institutions, state systems, and the history discipline's premier professional society. Though operating, at times, in an uneven, imprecise, or pro forma manner, Tuning in the US manages to address several important goals: bringing a more coherent frame of reference to scattered conversations about higher education; framing a more meaningful discussion about the knowledge, skills, and non-monetized “value” developed through higher education; focusing on the central role of faculty discipline experts in the work of assessment, accreditation, and accountability; and engaging professional scholarly societies on questions of teaching and learning.

Impact of EU agricultural policy on developing countries: A Uganda case study

Despite substantial reforms, the European Union (EU)'s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is still criticised for its detrimental effects on developing countries. This paper provides updated evidence on the impact of the CAP on one developing country, Uganda. It goes beyond estimating macrolevel economic effects by analysing the impacts on poverty. The policy simulation results show that eliminating EU agricultural support would have marginal but nonetheless positive impacts on the Ugandan economy and its poverty indicators. From the perspective of the EU's commitment to policy coherence for development, this supports the view that further reducing EU agricultural support would be positive for development.

Transformation or Defiance: The Impact of the European People’s Party on Serbian and Croatia Parties

This article examines comparatively the stances of Serbian and Croatian political parties on European integration in relation to their international affiliations. It specifically seeks to explore how and to what extent the European People’s Party (EPP) exerted influence on parties from these two countries. The article analyses the nature of these linkages in a systematic manner by employing the concept of direct and indirect transnational impact. The study argues that, in general, the EPP was not a crucial driving force behind party stances on the European Union (EU) and its direct impact was rather low. However, the EPP appears to have had a considerable indirect impact on parties that were at an early stage of ideological transformation towards becoming credible mainstream and pro-European parties, after a long legacy of Eurosceptic and nationalist politics. These parties strove to obtain European legitimacy by becoming members of the EPP and were, consequently, more willing to harmonise their positions with (potential) European partner. Moreover, ‘EU commitment’ of Serbian and Croatian applicants, closely scrutinised by the EPP, was primarily related to their affirmative positions on EU membership, rather than their stances on any particular model of European integration.

Travelling without moving? Limits of European Governance for Romani inclusion

The European Union's commitment to citizen participation in policymaking and implementation reflects a wider concern for securing Europe's ‘unity in diversity’. However, across its member-states, individuals belonging to the diverse linguistic, ethnic and social groups often referred to as ‘Roma’ find themselves excluded from political, social and economic participation in countries where they live. The past decade saw the appearance of a more concerted approach to improve the participation of individuals belonging to these groups in social and economic processes. This article examines what it refers to as the European Governance for Romani inclusion (EGRI), assessing policy steps undertaken at the European institutional level towards Romani inclusion and the tools for policy implementation. The paper concludes that the EGRI has offered only limited opportunities for the marginalised Roma to redress their exclusion.

The United States, the European Union, and the International Criminal Court: Similar Values, Different Interests?

Not all countries have ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In particular, the United States (US) has opposed the Court, withdrawing its signature and even starting an anti-ICC campaign. By contrast, individual European Union (EU) member states and the EU as such have played a significant role in the creation and development of the ICC. How can this apparent difference between the US and EU position towards the Rome Statute of the ICC be explained? This article examines the nature of US and EU commitment to the Rome Statute. What does it mean for the US and the EU to oppose or support the ICC? Are the broad characterizations of the US as a fierce opponent and the EU as an ardent supporter in accordance with reality? The article also investigates factors – political and legal, domestic and international – that affect the US and EU support for the Court. If the US is indeed a fierce opponent, why is this so? And if the EU really is an ardent supporter, how can this be explained?

CO2 Emission Reduction in the Cement Industry

The cement industry is one of the largest carbon emitting industrial sectors in the European Union (EU)and in the world. In line with the EU commitment to combat climate change, the cement industry needs to decrease significantly carbon emission. The cement manufacturing process is not only a source of combustion related CO2 emissions, but it is also a large source of industrial process related CO2 emissions. There are several effective measures which can be applied in cement manufacturing processes to achieve emissions reduction targets. Simultaneously, these measures can reduce the local environmental impacts and improve the competitiveness of the cement industry. In this paper, the following measures for CO2 emission reduction were analyzed in order to identify their environmental effectiveness: use of alternative fuels, more efficient kiln process, and co-production of synthetic fuels. The study was done on the case of a Macedonian cement plant. It was confirmed that the implementation of the selected mitigation measures results in substantial CO2 emission reduction.