Union Level Research Articles

To a Green Economy across the European Union.

”Is the green economy a real solution to the present economic development?” represents the main question of the present research. The paper deals with assessing the impact of innovation on the green economy and quality of life through policies promoted at the European Union (EU) level. The objectives of the paper are to assess the impact level of the policy implementation across the Member States through the research and development (R&D) process and to identify models for the development of the green economy in Europe. The applied methods are empirical and analytical based on the study of literature, econometric modeling, pivoting econometric models, trend synthesis, prioritization, and staging of policy experimentation in the Member States through data processing and statistical programs. The results consist in obtaining development models for the green economy at the EU and national levels. In conclusion, the paper contributes to the early identification of vulnerabilities that may affect the development of European strategic projects in relation to events and security breaches occurring at the EU level at any given time.

Small companies facing the mobility policy in Spain: Is it profitable to remain in the market?

The parking sector in Spain has experienced a growing trend in recent years. At the same time, the level of market concentration has increased. One of the main reasons behind this phenomenon is due to the mobility policy established both at the national (Spain) and supranational (European Union) levels, which is based on environmental sustainability criteria. Increasingly, the possession of environmental certificates, widespread among large companies but not among small ones, is increasingly decisive to obtain a public parking tender. The objective of this work is to analyze whether small companies, which are a large number in the sector, have possibilities of continuing their activity in the market in the face of an increase in the degree of sustainability in mobility policies. For this purpose, the Real Options methodology will be used, applying an abandonment option for a period of 10 years. The results provide a high NPV value (€598,491.2) and a Real Options value, together with the exit option, of €630,341.9. The exit option contributes a growth of only 5.32% with respect to the NPV. Therefore, the option to stay in the market is an appropriate choice for decision-makers.

European Antitrust Enforcement in the Digital Era: How It Started, How It’s Going, and the Risks Lying Ahead

The digitalization of economy, the proliferation of data collection, and the increased dependency of consumers on online services has brought about new ecosystems, new business models, and new, complex antitrust issues. Delineating the new remits of antitrust enforcement to tackle those issues is not an easy task. The present contribution discusses significant legislative and enforcement changes in Europe, both at Union and Member State level and identifies risks for the future of antitrust enforcement.

EVOLUTIONARY EMERGENT SELF IN THE POETRY OF BULLEH SHAH

This paper affirms the significance of mystic love as a higher mental faculty in human evolutionary process. Man as evolutionary emergent self is the operational definition of mysticism; a process in which individual self of a person gains Unique Self Enlightenment through operational interaction of higher mental faculties and aspires for Love intelligence in order to get one with the Absolute. Emergent evolution is an anti Darwinian view of Evolution which runs quite contrary to Darwin’s theory of Evolution. Mystic literature in general and Bulleh Shah’s poetry in particular answers many queries of fundamental importance related to man’s existence and evolution in this universe and the nature of relationship between man and man, man and universe and man and God. Bulleh Shah (1680-1757), a mystic poet of Punjabi language, through his poetry offers a study of human existence and his mental and psychological evolution in this universe affirming that love is the cause of man’s creation and the very Eros of his evolution. The present paper explores how does individual love in mystic literature serve as a mode of evolution to get one with the whole (Deity) to attain the level of mystical union by fusing subject self into the object (Divinity) to complete the process of Emergent Evolution of consciousness with the lens of Morgan’s (1927) Emergent Evolution and Gafni’s (2011) Unique Self in Evolutionary Process. Bulleh Shah’s poetry affirms mysticism as a study of spiritual faculties of human beings which demolishes ethno-cultural and dogmatic boundaries and has a natural tendency towards pluralistic aspect of universalism as a counter narrative to ethno-centric global agenda. The basic theoretical assumption of this paper has been taken from my PhD dissertation in which the same theoretical framework has been applied on the poetry of Shah Hussain and John Keats.

Türkiye-Avrupa Birliği Göç İş Birliği: Bir Göç Dışsallaştırma Örneği Olarak Türkiye’deki Mülteciler İçin Mali Yardım Aracı

Europe, including the countries having the most generous welfare regimes in the world, has emerged as a primary destination for the millions of people fleeing their homes after the multiple crisis and conflicts in the neighbourhood regions. The unprecedented migration pressure has forced Europe to develop alternative methods to ensure a better management of the migration by 2015. Some of the measures in this vein were taken jointly by the states at the European Union (EU) level. Among the many steps taken at the EU level, externalisation mechanism, aiming to share migration burden with the third countries, also existed. Turkey, cooperating with the EU on matters regarding migration for a long time as a candidate country for the EU membership, has been also added to the externalisation efforts of the Union as a third country. Facility for the Refugees in Turkey has become one of main pillars of the externalisation relation formally established in 2016 between the parties. After presenting the migration externalisation mechanism conceptually, the study presents the EU-Turkey migration cooperation and the Facility for the Refugees in Turkey consecutively. In addition to the review of the literature on the subject, the study is based on the analysis of the official documents, reports and evaluations produced by the EU institutions on European Facility for the Refugees in Turkey and the cooperation with Turkey on migration, and the news on the subject in periodicals.

A new approach on renewable energy as a support for regional economic development among the European Union

Energy security in the current geo-political context is an essential aspect and directs supranational strategies and policies, especially at European Union level, towards finding new sustainable solutions to restore the balance in the European energy system. We propose to analyse sustainability objectives in the energy sector through a spectral analysis of the dynamics of the main indicators over a period of 11 years, judging that this period adequately captures the causal vulnerabilities induced by economic crises and other socio-economic events, which makes renewable energy relevant as a new support for regional economic development among the European Union. The novelty of the approach lies in the assessment of renewable energy at the regional level in the context of the global economic and pandemic crises, which have been determining factors in the current geo-political and economic developments. We also aim to create energy sustainability clusters in the presence and absence of seasonality. The methods and procedures used will be represented by a critical literature review in order to verify the working hypotheses and to design, test and validate a new statistical model of energy sustainability seasonality. The modelling results will enable the creation of an EU-wide sustainability profile useful to supranational decision-makers for adjusting energy policies to ensure the energy transition towards 2050.

Illuminating Transparency in Digital Historical Visualizations: Notre-Dame of Paris, St Stephen’s of Westminster, and Visualizing Venice

Illuminating Transparency in Digital Historical Visualizations: Notre-Dame of Paris, St Stephen’s of Westminster, and Visualizing Venice

The role of socialisation of the forest management system in Poland in the face of the need to mitigate climate change

Abstract Climate change will have a significant impact on forests as most of the factors determining their condition are modified by the effects of the climate change process. Some of these effects are a change in the distribution and amount of precipitation, an increase in the frequency of extreme meteorological phenomena, including hurricane winds, temperature distribution, or a change in the length of the growing season. In order to maintain the productivity of Polish forests and the range of ecosystem services they provide, the forestry sector will have to adapt to these changes. However, forestry will also have to take a part in holding back climate change. Achieving climate neutrality by mid-21st century and ensuring a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 will not be possible without using the ability of forests to absorb and permanently store carbon. Polish forestry seems to be insufficiently prepared for the challenges ahead. A new national forestry policy has not been developed in the past twenty years, which results, inter alia, in a lack of any clear indication of the role of Polish forests in climate protection. Adaptation to the effects of climate change is hampered by the lack of up-to-date, detailed scenarios of how this process will affect the climate factors in Poland. Particularly dangerous, in light of the role of forests in climate protection, is a significant decrease in the afforested area, which in turn leads to a reduction in the amount of carbon absorbed by them. Another obstacle to implementation of effective measures may be the growing disparity between the current forestry practice and social expectations, as well as a low degree of willingness from the State Forests to cooperate with stakeholders who present different opinions on how to conduct forest management. This obstacle may lead to disputes about the management of Polish forests at the European Union level and rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The conducted analyses showed that cooperation with a wide range of stakeholders will be the basic condition for the inclusion of Polish forests in the implementation of climate policy objectives on a greater scale. It should help define the role of this sector in this process, implement the necessary adaptative and climate protection measures, and support activities aimed at acquiring new land for afforestation.

In conversation with digitalization: Myths, fiction or professional imagining?

We are surrounded by narratives about digitalization – in media, in white papers, in policies and in academic discourse. This article aims to dissect policy narratives to unveil the dominant stories associated with digitalization and open a dialogue on their consequences. The empirical material includes policy documents on digitalization at the European Union, national and sub-national levels focusing on the Swedish context. The article argues that these documents not only produce narratives of digitalization that reveal a certain orientation towards reality but also become tangible constructs. Further, despite their neutral language, they should be considered part of the problem formulation. The analysis is carried out by identifying the dominant and taken-for-granted stories, and the results show that digitalization, often portrayed as a modern and innovative concept, is frequently narrated in line with rather traditional perceptions of industrialized modernity. The results indicate that digitalization is trapped in an unambiguous and cramped dramaturgy, and if policies are enacted in the same way in practice, we will face a rather un-resilient digital modernity.

Analysis of the Linkage Between Health Public Expenditures and Health Outcomes at the European Union Level

Analysis of the Linkage Between Health Public Expenditures and Health Outcomes at the European Union Level

Digital Transformation and Current Challenges of Higher Education

Higher education institutions are facing increasing challenges in adapting to changing capabilities brought on by technology improvements, increasing technological interconnection, worldwide market expansion, mobility and migration, and workplace diversity. The paper deciphers significant initiatives at the European Union level with regard to digital readiness as well as summarizes the state of play for Romania's higher education sector in the context of current challenges posed by the development of digital skills. The results fill in the knowledge gap by systematically analysing the country's performance indicators that chart the progress toward green and digital transition.

P06-02 Physical activity levels of citizens in Dubrovnik, Croatia

BackgroundOne of the most important areas of interest in the world today and throughout history is health. Numerous investigations are confirming positive effects of physical activity on health and this is the reason why physical activity and exercise should be measured as often as possible. Croatia as the youngest member state in European Union does not have excellent results in the levels of physical activity among its population. In this research the aim was to assess the levels of physical activity in the city of Dubrovnik and compare it to the levels of Physical activity in Croatia and European Union.MethodsParticipants in this investigation were 670 adult citizens of the City of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Levels of physical activity was measured using Eurobarometer questionnaire. Descriptive statistical parameters Mean and Standard deviation same as Statistical Difference between the values in Dubrovnik, Croatia and European Union were calculated using statistical program package Statistica.ResultsOverall results show significantly better situation in Dubrovnik when comparing with the results measured on national level and on European Union level. While, according to the Eurostat's analysis in 2017, there is 46% of citizens of European Union and even 56% of citizens in Croatia that never exercise or play sports in the City of Dubrovnik there is only 17,31% of citizens that never exercise or doing sports. The most important reasons for doing physical exercise or sport (motivators) among citizens of Dubrovnik is improvement of health (45%) and improvement of physical appearance (30%). Almost half of the sample (47%) pointed out the lack of time as the main barrier in doing physical exercise or sport.ConclusionsThis investigation shows good way to assess the information on levels of physical activity of the citizens and accordingly creating a public policy on further development and improvement of this important area. This investigation is part of document called Strategic development of Sport and Sport's Infrastructure in Dubrovnik and it reveals encouraging data for this Croatian city.

Uses of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum) leaves alcoholic extract in treatment of nephrotoxicity induced by acetaminophen in male rats

The current study was proceed to analysis the therapeutic effects of Fenugreek leaves extract (FSE) on renal defect experimentally induced by Acetaminophen exposure. Forty male rats divided into 4 groups as follow: C-, C+,T1 and T2. The result showed detectable depletion in serum creatinine in groups treated with FSE extract. Furthermore there were maximum depletion of serum urea levels statistically increased in group treated with plant as treatment withcontrol. In contrast the high levels of BUN and UN revealed in control negative group which received 2mg/kg.bw of acetaminophen without treatments. For the iron levels there were also increase in animals exposed to FSE in both doses 300 and 150mg/kg.bw comparing with control positive and negative, furthermore there were increased in group of control positive which was healthy animals comparing with those exposed to acetaminophen toxicity, also histopathological slides showed significant damage and loss of architecture on renal tissue and remarkable glomerular necrosis in C+ animals group. In contrast the supportive effects of fenugreek extracts 300mg/kg.bw clearly appeared in kidney section showed normal renal architecture. In conclusion, Fenugreek leaves ethanolic extract revealed good therapeutic effect against nephrotoxicity of Acetaminophen.

France Bans “Meaty” Terms for Plant-Based Products: Will the European Union Follow?

Plant-based meat-like food is increasingly popular, and the meat industry has been opposing the use of terms traditionally used for meat and meat products for plant-based alternatives. Against this background, on 29 June 2022 the Government of France adopted Decree No. 2022-947 on the use of certain names used to designate foodstuffs containing vegetable proteins1 (hereinafter, Decree No. 2022-947), which prohibits the use of names designating foodstuffs of animal origin to be used to describe, market or promote foodstuffs containing vegetable proteins. This article discusses the new French legislation and looks at the situation at the European Union (EU) level where, differently from dairy terms such as “milk” and “yoghurt”, “meaty” terms such as “burger” and “sausage” are not reserved for meat and meat products. France has become the first EU Member State to impose such a ban, while the EU rejected in 2020 a similar proposal that would have resulted in EU-wide restrictions.

Results of Ring-Testing of a Semifield Study Design to Investigate Potential Impacts of Crop Protection Products on Bumblebees (Hymenoptera, Apidae) and a Proposal of a Potential Test Design.

In Europe, the risk assessment for bees at the European Union or national level has always focussed on potential impacts on honeybees. During the revision of the European Food Safety Authority bee guidance it was explicitly stated that bumblebees and solitary bees should be considered as well and consequently concerns were raised regarding the representativeness of honeybees for these other bee species. These concerns originate from differences in size as well as differences in behavioral and life history traits of other bee species. In response to this concern, the non-Apis working group of the International Commission for Plant-Pollinator Relationships initiated a ring-test of a semifield tunnel study design using the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Nine laboratories participated, validating and improving the proposed design over a 2-year period. The intention of the ring-test experiments was to develop and if possible, establish a test protocol to conduct more standardized semifield tests with bumblebees. In the present study, the results of the ring-tests are summarized and discussed to give recommendations for a promising experimental design. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2548-2564. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

The Convergence in the Sustainability of the Economies of the European Union Countries between 2006 and 2016

On the background of the exponential growth of the world’s population, doubled by the decrease of natural resources and the continuous, accentuated degradation of the quality of the environment, with global warming as its main effect, ensuring the sustainability of economic and social processes is becoming a growing concern. At the European Union level, it is important that all member countries adhere to and implement common measures on sustainable development, which involve, inter alia, ensuring the convergence of policies and their effects at EU level. The EU through detailed SDGs presents the structure of a system of indicators structured on 17 objectives, indicators taken over, implemented, and calculated by EUROSTAT. The study proposes, based on a Composite Index of Sustainable Development of EU Countries’ Economies (ISDE-EU), the analysis of the convergence of the sustainability of EU states’ economies, not so much at individual level, but at cluster level, each cluster containing EU countries with similar/close ISDE-EU levels and dynamics. The results of the analysis confirm the partial existence of the beta and sigma convergence of the sustainability of EU countries’ economies. Please note that, at the time when we processed data, the UK was an EU state, which is why it was included in the analysis.

Treaty tantrums: Past, present and future of a business and human rights treaty

This column analyses the current process in the UN Human Rights Council to negotiate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises. It does so in the context of two previous attempts at the UN level to adopt binding rules for (multinational) corporations and the continued inability of international soft standards as well as hard rules at the national level in States in ensuring that businesses take their human rights responsibilities seriously. It is argued that an international treaty is desirable as part of a regulatory ecosystem to promote respect of human rights by business enterprises and to strengthen corporate accountability for human rights abuses. While the treaty should build on and complement the existing international soft standards, it should also try to fill some of the regulatory gaps that these standards might not ever be able to fill.

Mycotoxin levels and characterization of natural anti-fungal phytochemicals in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) from Nigeria's six agroecological zones.

This study reports levels of multiple mycotoxins across Nigeria's six agro-ecological zones and corresponding levels of natural anti-fungal phytochemicals present in pearl millet (PM). 220 representative composite samples of PM were collected for mycotoxin analysis using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS), and 24 were randomly selected for determination of metabolites using gas chromatography-high resolution time of flight-mass spectrometry (GC-HRTOF-MS). In total, 15 mycotoxins were detected, all with levels below the European Union (EU) permissible limits and level of aflatoxins only up to 1.34µg/kg. This is in sharp contrast to high levels of mycotoxins reported in maize samples from the same agroecological zones. Phytochemical analysis of the same samples identified a total of 88 metabolites, 30 of which are known anti-fungal properties from other previously published studies. The most common of these include methyl ester, bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, and ç-tocopherol. The number of anti-fungal metabolites recovered from each sample ranged from 3 to 17 and varied widely in both number and composition across the agroecological zones. The anti-fungal metabolites may probably make PM less susceptible to fungal proliferation compared to other grains. Hence, it is worth exploring for possible sources of biological control products from PM.

Post-Diversity, Precarious Work for all: Unbordering Categories of Difference in an Amazon Warehouse

This paper investigates how Amazon manages a diverse workforce in one of its warehouses in Poland. Drawing on critical theory of borders, which emphasizes the key role of bordering in labor governmentality, our analysis identifies four organizational practices through which socio-demographic categories (e.g. gender, age, ability, etc.) traditionally segmenting labor are purposely and effectively dismantled: a non-selective hiring, the algorithmic management of the workforce, social norms of inter-personal politeness between anonymous workers, and casualized employment for all workers. Through these practices, Amazon creates an unprecedented equality within labor, to the advantage of workers belonging to historically subordinate groups in the labor market and society. However, once undifferentiated, workers can more effectively be made to compete, allowing capital to enforce precarious employment conditions onto all. This equalization-with-precarization of the workforce through the un-bordering of socio-demographic categories further rests on multiple other borders at the infra-individual, organizational, national and European Union levels. The paper contributes to the critical diversity literature by showing how, in the ‘post-diversity’ workplace, workers’ equality serves the enforcement of universal precarity.

Procuring in a pandemic: assessing the use of the EU Public Procurement Directives, the Joint Procurement Agreement and advance purchase agreements

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, public procurers have faced an uphill battle to secure urgently required medical countermeasures. Contracting authorities in the face of extreme urgency at the start of the pandemic relied heavily on emergency provisions to deactivate procedural requirements and conclude contracts on the basis of direct negotiation. Additional procurements were conducted at a European Union (EU) level, leveraging the buying power of member states to rapidly secure the acquisitions of medical equipment, medicines, vaccines, booster shots and more recently COVID-19 therapeutics. The article offers an analysis of the use of the negotiation procedures and the European coordinated efforts to conclude COVID-19-related contracts. As we optimistically move towards the final stages of the pandemic, this article argues that it is time to retire the use of emergency procurements. It contends that such emergency provisions are no longer available for use and procurers, if not already, must return to the use of fully transparent and competitive procurement procedures. Furthermore, it suggests that the EU should build on the success of the coordinated approach of competitive tendering and extend the use of the Joint Procurement Agreement to prepare for future cross-border health crises and acquire in-demand medical countermeasures.