European Union Strategies Research Articles

200th ENMC International Workshop “European Reference Networks: Recommendations and Criteria in the Neuromuscular field”, 18–20 October 2013, Naarden, the Netherlands

200th ENMC International Workshop “European Reference Networks: Recommendations and Criteria in the Neuromuscular field”, 18–20 October 2013, Naarden, the Netherlands

Innovation and Economic Development: The Case of FYR of Macedonia

Innovation is essential for sustainable growth and development, and it is one of the key European Union (EU) strategies. The Programme for Competition and Innovation of the EU is especially important for the economic revival and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development in transition countries. There are several core conditions which enable innovation and encourage economic growth and development. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the most important are: strong standards and effective enforcement of intellectual property protection; dynamic competition and contestable markets; a strong and sustainable fundamental research and development infrastructure; encouraging information and communications technology developments and a strong emphasis on education at all levels. The current paper examines the most critical and interlinked conditions in the context of the FYR of Macedonia.

Beyond the comfort zone: internal crisis and external challenge in the European Union's response to rising powers

This article explores the extent to which the European Union (EU) has responded effectively to the rising powers of Asia, Latin America and Africa, and whether the Union has been able to construct an effective diplomacy for dealing with them. It starts from the observation that the EU has significantly developed its diplomatic apparatus since the Lisbon Treaty, and that this apparatus is largely directed towards the establishment of negotiated order at the regional and global levels. The article identifies a number of tensions and contradictions that arise from the EU's status and role in the global arena and that feed into its quest for negotiated order. It goes on to assess the challenges to EU positions and strategies that arise not only from the emergence of new powers in the world arena, but also from the changes in global structures and processes that accompany this development. The article then investigates how these challenges have interacted with the search for negotiated order in a series of issue areas: security, commercial policy, development, environment and energy. It argues that in recent years the EU has, in a variety of ways, been taken outside its comfort zone and that while the European Union can and must seek to re-establish negotiated order in its external relations, the challenge of doing so is severe.

Is Europe 2020 Set to Fail? The Cultural Political Economy of the EU Grand Strategies

The European Union (EU) has been continuously rethinking its global position amidst emerging economic and geopolitical challenges and attempting to formulate strategies to increase its competitiveness. However, its long-standing policy implementation deficit is also recognized for its grand strategies, including the initially ambitious Lisbon Strategy. Is Europe 2020 set to fail as well? In this paper, we are arguing that strategic steering is essentially a discursive practice influenced by both semiotic and extra-semiotic factors. Hence, success or failure of a strategy essentially depends on ability to steer the discourse. Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory offers a theoretical framework against which limitations and potentials of strategic steering at the EU level can be analysed. While high levels of rationality and reflection capacities can improve strategic steering, it is limited by the increasing complexity. Recognizing limitations of direct and centralized interventions, we look for analytical and strategic solutions in sophisticated mechanisms of contextual steering: variation, selection and retention of strategic discourses. These mechanisms are integral to the “cultural political economy” approach. In the final part of the paper, we show how cultural political economy can explain the implementation shortcomings of the EU strategies.

US and EU strategies for maritime transport security: A comparative perspective

In the second half of the 20th century, international maritime transport experienced a prosperous period characterised by the growing integration of markets, by the globalisation of international trade flows and by great advances in technologies. This scenario has been dramatically disrupted by terrorist attacks with strong implications also in terms of policy.The importance of maritime transport security is determined by the high vulnerability of this mode of transport to terrorist attacks, given the extremely diversified routes and the enormous volume and wide range of shipped goods, whose origin, description and ownership are not always perfectly traceable. In addition, any interruption of the maritime transport chain due to international hostile actions may greatly affect the global economy.For all the above mentioned reasons, maritime security regulation has been moved to the top of the policy agenda. Throughout the world, international organisations, governments, customs and the private sector have shifted their efforts towards managing the newly required security issues, trying at the same time to safeguard operational effectiveness. However, the heterogeneous regulatory schemes that have been introduced, have sometimes overlapped or even contradicted each other.The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it will analyse and discuss the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) approaches on maritime transport and port security, in a comparative way. The need for enhancing security standards has apparently generated heterogeneous policies. In this respect, the prompt response of the US to the increased terrorist threat has resulted in a series of initiatives oriented towards maximisation of internal security while the EU has adopted a strategy aiming at balancing security needs with other targets (e.g. privacy safeguard and trade defence).Lastly, the efforts made by international organisations towards the development of a coordinated maritime transport security regulation worldwide will be considered alongside the possibility of identifying a competent international organisation which could act as regulatory authority for maritime security at international level.

Civil society organisations, social innovation and health research in Europe

European Union strategies and programmes identify research and innovation as a critical dimension for future economic and social development. While European research policy emphasizes support for industry, the health field includes not-for-profit civil society organisations (CSOs) providing social innovation. Yet, the perspectives of CSOs towards health research in Europe are not well understood. STEPS (Strengthening Engagement in Public Health Research) was funded by the European Commission's Science in Society research programme. Within the study, we interviewed by telephone respondents of 13 European health CSOs, which represented collectively local and national organizations. Research was valued positively by the respondents. Health CSOs did not seek to do research themselves, but recognized the opportunity of funds in this field and welcomed the possibility of collaborating in research, of using the results from research and of providing input to research agendas. Links between research and users provides knowledge for the public and improves impacts on policy. Research and evaluation can help in demonstrating the benefit of innovative activities, and give support and legitimacy. However, the cultures of, and incentives for, researchers and health CSOs are different, and collaboration requires building trust, a shared language and for the power relations and objectives to match. Health CSOs contribute social innovation in organising services and activities such as advocacy that cannot be satisfactorily met by industry. Engaging CSOs in research and innovation will strengthen the European Research Area.

The smart city: A nexus for open innovation?

This article critically reviews current European trends on smart cities in the context of open innovation. It draws from analyses of key European Union (EU) programmes, four international projects and related activities. These initiatives are framed by the EU's strategic policies on Competitiveness and Innovation, Smart Cities, the Future Internet and Living Labs with the aims to foster smarter, sustainable and inclusive cities. The article probes similarities and differences in the programmes and projects examined and their challenges towards EU strategies, including the i2020 agenda. The analysis shows that a new approach to open innovation is emerging, which links technologies with people, urban territory and other cities and that this approach is likely to be increasingly influential over the next period of time. It is suggested that this approach of using open innovation for sharing visions, knowledge, skills, experience and strategies for designing the delivery of services, goods and policies in cities is effective, efficient and sustainable. However, consistent frameworks, principles and strategic agendas are necessary to optimally bind these elements together.

Technological risk: a criterion for the optimisation of future EU energy supply scenarios

PurposeThe research activity presented in this paper has the objective of developing models for the evaluation of technological risk and loss of production due to failures, which are among the criterions that enable the choice of optimal scenarios for energy supply. This activity is based on the European Project “Risk of Energy Availability: Common Corridors for Europe Supply Security” (REACCESS), which aims to develop an analytical tool to analyse scenarios for future secure European Union (EU) energy supply.Design/methodology/approachThe paper proposes an innovative approach, since nowadays a generalised analytic model for risk assessment in large‐scale energetic systems does not exist. In particular, the methodology adopted includes models to assess risk for people safety, risk for the environment and availability for corridors and the related infrastructures. As regards technological risk, accidents producing loss of lives in the population and environmental damage are taken into account; while for the loss of production primary attention is paid to technical failures and maintenance.FindingsSince the analytic models developed perform a large‐scale assessment, they must be flexible and simplified to adapt to different situations and to be easily updated when different future scenarios are investigated. Details of the analysis depend on the precision of data collected and inserted in the models. The damage assessment is affected by deficiency and uncertainties related to territorial and statistical data. Nevertheless, the outcomes obtained for each energy commodity are reasonable and often comparable to literature data.Originality/valueBased on this study output, technological risk can be considered, more systematically than in the past, in the selection of EU strategies for future energy supply. The corridors social cost is included in future strategies selection, in addition to purely economical and environmental evaluations.

Investigating the Recovery Strategies of European Union from the Global Financial Crisis

The global financial crisis has affected almost all countries in the world. The crisis has hit European economies unprecedentedly hard and its effects have occurred in two phases. The first phase is the economic recession following the global economic downturn. The second phase is the so-called sovereign debt crisis which started in Greece firstly and then appeared in Ireland and Portugal. Like many other countries and organizations, European Union (EU) has also developed strategies in order to tackle the challenges of the crisis. This paper attempted to investigate the strategic initiatives of EU for the economic recovery in Europe. The results of this investigation show that EU's recovery strategies have been executed in two ways: the preservation of Member States’ financial stability and the enhancement of economic governance inside EU. Nevertheless the lack of a political union, in particular the supranational governance of economy policy is delaying the recovery of the EU's economy and causing the contagion of sovereign debt problems in Member States of euro.

Molecular Basis and Evolution of Multiple Drug Resistance in the Foodborne PathogenSalmonella entericaSerovar Ohio

The molecular basis and evolution of multidrug resistance were established for 54 isolates of Salmonella enterica serovar Ohio, recorded between 1991 and 2005 in Asturias, a northern region of Spain. All isolates were closely related, as shown by cluster analysis of XbaI-BlnI combined profiles. Of these, 33.3% were resistant to one or more unrelated agent(s). Sulphonamides, streptomycin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim, encoded by sul1, aadA1, tet(A) or tet(B), and dfrA1, respectively, were the most common resistances, but ampicillin (bla(TEM-1)), gentamicin (aacC2 or aacC4), kanamycin (aphA1), and chloramphenicol (catA1) were also detected. Two types of complex genetic elements, carried by large conjugative or mobilizable plasmids, were found in isolates resistant to four or more unrelated agents (multidrug resistant), which accounted for 18.5% of the total: (i) a class 1 integron (1600 bp/dfrA1-aadA1) close to a defective Tn10, both inserted within a Tn21-like element that was carried in some cases by Tn9; (ii) Tn3-bla(TEM-1), which was inserted within a defective Tn1721. These elements have been involved in the development and spread of multidrug resistance in S. enterica Ohio, which was detected between 1994 and 2001. The absence of multidrug resistance in later years could have been connected with the European Union strategies for combating antimicrobial resistance and controlling nontyphoid S. enterica in food-producing animals.

Catching-Up Strategy: New Member States of the European Union in the European Internal Market for High-Tech and Environmental Products in the Context of the Renewed Lisbon Strategy

The Central and Eastern European countries implemented an economic policy fundamentally reorienting their foreign trade in the nineteen–nineties. This involved a shift in direction from the East (the former Soviet Union and its satellite countries) to the West (primarily the European Union). The economic transformation of those countries as well as integration with the European Union was established and nearly complete in the wake of accession in the year 2004. However, transition periods facilitating the completion of integration processes were established for certain sectors, including adaptation to environmental rules and standards, for example. The aim of this paper is to present certain findings of an international comparison among the "new" European Union member states related to: certain final economic results of the transformation with respect to achievements related to the various states of economic development (verification of the M. Porter and T. Ozawa model), and the ability to adopt selected requirements of the Renewed European Union Strategies after the year 2005, with special reference to the Renewed Sustainable Development Strategy and the Strategy: Global Europe-Competing in the World. Verification of the Ozawa and Porter Model is positive for all Central and Eastern European new members of the European Union. Transformation and integration processes supported these countries on their way to economic development. These positive results on their development path are presented in the paper in detail.

Better aid, less ownership: multi‐annual programming and the EU's development strategies in Africa

AbstractThis paper explores the changing aid relationship between the European Union (EU) and Africa since the early 2000s, emphasising the existence of a paradox: on the one hand, the EU has been preoccupied with improving the quality of its aid; on the other hand, it has failed to fully take into account the voice of the recipients in the design of the Country Strategy Papers (CSPs). The failure to promote local ownership is due to the excessive preoccupation of the European Commission with showing that it is able to commit and spend money quickly and to the new emphasis on ensuring increased coordination and complementarity with the Member States, which results in a reduced space for negotiations with recipient countries. More controversial are the conclusions on the EU's contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Assessing EU strategies for publicity

This article shows why European Union (EU) strategies to improve democratic legitimacy by strengthening its publicity have (unnecessarily) failed. Due to an ‘under-theorized’ image of democracy, the institutional means chosen are inappropriate to draw the expected public attention and as a consequence most of the aims pursued. Most notably, it misses (in accordance with most of the literature on the EU's democratic deficit) the important distinction between mere transparency and publicity: for improving democratic legitimacy it is not enough for political acts and processes to be published (to be transparent), they also have to be sufficiently perceived by European citizens. This holds true for any democratic theory, even if there are differences in their specific expectations of publicity.

EU Strategies to Encourage Youth Entrepreneurship

The authors present and discuss significant aspects of youth entrepreneurship in the European Union (EU) and, especially, in higher education institutions in Greece. The structure of this paper is as follows. First, the study introduces a conceptual basis for entrepreneurship as defined in the EU and looks at entrepreneurship in the context of actions taken by the European Council and especially by the European Commission. The significance of entrepreneurship, embedded in substantial economic factors such as growth, development, employment, education and training, etc, and its objectives are then discussed, particularly in relation to students in higher education. Second, the study refers briefly to current policies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that could influence the EU's entrepreneurship strategies. Third, the authors assess the status of youth entrepreneurship and its influence on students in the Greek higher education system, applying an empirical methodology. To explore the behaviour and attitudes of HE students towards entrepreneurship, the authors analyse data collected by means of a specially designed questionnaire. The sample selected comprised male and female undergraduate students studying in various disciplines at the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Serres. The results are evaluated and their implications for educational programmes at universities, TEIs, business schools, etc, are considered.

Forest-Sector Concerns in the Baltic States: Implications for an Expanded European Union

ABSTRACT European Union (EU) enlargement will create a significant impact on the forest sectors of both old and new member states. In recognition of the importance of integrating national forest policies with relevant EU strategies, this study examines the forest policy networks in countries with economies in transition and, more specifically, identifies issues of concern in the forest sectors of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (the Baltic States). Results from an open-ended survey show that the three countries share similar forest-sector concerns. Though the relative magnitudes of the concerns are similar, country-specific situations are emerging. A list of 22 individual highest ranking issues of concern in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania was compiled. Main areas of concern are (in rank of importance): (1) forest legislation; (2) top level forest administration; (3) private forestry; (4) aspects of economics; (5) environmental considerations; (6) human resources, research, and education; (7) timber processing and trade; and (8) public participation.

Life cycle assessment of lightweight and end-of-life scenarios for generic compact class passenger vehicles

The automotive industry has a long history in improving the environmental performance of vehicles - fuel economy and emission improvements, introduction of recycled and renewable materials, etc. The European Union also aims at improving the environmental performance of products by reducing, in particular, waste resulting from End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) for example. The European Commission estimates that ELVs contribute to approximately 1 % of the total waste in Europe [9]. Other European Union strategies are considering more life cycle aspects, as well as other impacts including resource or climate change. This article is summarizing the results of a European Commission funded project (LIRECAR) that aims at identifying the environmental impacts and relevance for combinations of recycling / recovery and lightweight vehicle design options over the whole life cycle of a vehicle - i.e. manufacturing, use and recycling/recovery. Three, independent and scientific LCA experts reviewed the study according to ISO 14040. From the beginning, representatives of all Life Cycle Stakeholders have been involved (European materials & supplier associations, an environmental Non-Governmental Organization, recycler’s association). The study compared 3 sets of theoretical vehicle weight scenarios: 1000 kg reference (material range of today’s end-of-life, mid-sized vehicles produced in the early 1990’s) and 2 lightweight scenarios for 100 kg and 250 kg less weight based on reference functions (in terms of comfort, safety, etc.) and a vehicle concept. The scenarios are represented by their material range of a broad range of lightweight strategies of most European car manufacturers. In parallel, three End-of-Life (EOL) scenarios are considered: EOL today and two theoretical extreme scenarios (100% recycling, respectively, 100% recovery of shredder residue fractions that are disposed of today). The technical and economical feasibility of the studied scenarios is not taken into consideration (e.g. 100% recycling is not possible). Significant differences between the various, studied weight scenarios were determined in several scenarios for the environmental categories of global warming, ozone depletion, photochemical oxidant creation (summer smog), abiotic resource depletion, and hazardous waste. However, these improvement potentials can be only realized under well defined conditions (e.g. material compositions, specific fuel reduction values and EOL credits) based on case-by-case assessments for improvements over the course of the life cycle. Looking at the studied scenarios, the relative contribution of the EOL phase represents 5% or less of the total life cycle impact for most selected impact categories and scenarios. The EOL technology variations studied do not impact significantly the considered environmental impacts. Exceptions include total waste, as long as stockpile goods (overburden, tailings and ore/coal processing residues) and EOL credits are considered. LIRECAR focuses only on lightweight/recycling, questions whereas other measures (changes in safety or comfort standards, propulsion improvements for CO2, user behavior) are beyond the scope of the study. The conclusions are also not necessarily transferable to other vehicle concepts. However, for the question of end-of-life options, it can be concluded that LIRECAR cannot support any general recommendation and/or mandatory actions to improve recycling if lightweight is affected. Also, looking at each vehicle, no justification could be found for the general assumption that lightweight and recycling greatly influence the affected environmental dimension (Global Warming Potential or resource depletion and waste, respectively). LIRECAR showed that this general assumption is not true under all analyzed circumstances and not as significant as suggested. Further discussions and product development targets shall not focus on generic targets that define the approach/technology concerned with how to achieve environmental improvement (weight reduction [kg], recycling quota [%]), but on overall life cycle improvement). To enable this case-by-case assessment, exchanges of necessary information with suppliers are especially relevant.

The European union as a diplomatic actor: internal, traditional, and structural diplomacy

An investigation into EU diplomacy naturally requires an analysis of the diplomacy developed within the framework of the Common Foreign and Securiry Policy (CFSP) of the European Union (EU). But equally important is the ‘internal diplomacy’ focusing on the settlement of mutual relationships among member states and particularly the ‘structural diplomacy’ based on EU strategies and partnerships with other regions in the world, which is aimed at promoting structural long-term changes in these regions.

Sisyphus in the Castle: Improving European Union Strategies for Democracy Promotion and Governance Conditionality

This study sets out to assess the thrust, direction and scope of the current reform of European Community (EC) aid policies, strategies and structures, as it pertains to the efforts of the EC to encourage democracy, strengthen good governance and prevent violent conflict in developing countries. It explores the difficult combination of democracy assistance and governance conditionality to prevent democratic decay in developing countries. It argues that recent reforms have a technocratic bias, as they tend to focus on improving the administrative and managerial dimensions of European foreign aid. Less attention is paid to enhancing its political thrust and devising effective operational strategies. The study assesses the conceptual foundations of the EC's new policies for electoral assistance and conflict prevention and underlines their inadequacy to address the contemporary challenges of democratic governance. The strategic challenges of European foreign aid reside not only in designing efficacious strategies to consolidate democracy and strengthen governance in developing countries, but also in devising the right mix of positive and negative measures to respond to democratic decay and crises of governance. The article concludes with a series of proposals for enhancing the European Commission's ability to manage democracy assistance programmes and governance conditionality.