Union Aid Research Articles

EU State Aid Rules Applied to Indirect Tax Measures

Indirect taxes account for roughly half or even more of the tax revenue in most Member States of the European Union (EU). Most of those taxes are riddled with exemptions, reduced rates, or other preferential regimes which could potentially constitute State aid within the meaning of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) Article 107(1). Despite their fiscal relevance, the State aid implications of such tax benefits were largely ignored for decades. The EU Commission has increasingly become aware of them only in the last ten years, and there is still not much case law clarifying the standards to be applied to indirect tax measures in order to identify them as State aid. This article therefore attempts to shed some light on the application of Article 107(1) TFEU in the field of indirect taxation. While an appropriate approach is certainly embedded in the general concept of fiscal aid, the criteria developed by the European courts so far need to be refined and adapted to some particularities of this type of tax. This concerns the determination of the beneficiary of a tax advantage, who matters for assessing its selectivity and the extent of an eventual recovery, the distinction between State aid and Union aid regarding harmonized indirect taxes, and the assessment of distortive effects of an aid scheme.

Trade Unions and the Origins of the Union-Based Welfare State in Italy (1950s-1970s)

During the second half of the twentieth century, Italy, like many other European countries, experienced the birth and growth of a specific kind of welfare state. It was the consequence of various international influences in the context of the Cold War as well as the result of controversial actions of different internal actors. The purpose of this article is to explore the actions of some of these internal actors and their consequences for the definition of the Italian welfare state. Specifically, the object of this essay is to identify the role played by trade unions in defining the Italian model of state social policy in the period following World War II. This essay proposes an interpretation which identifies trade unions as main actors in the consolidation, albeit difficult and slow, of the welfare system in Italy. Consequently, this enquiry into the “Italian way” also discusses some traditional explanations and classifications proposed in the literature about the welfare state, welfare regimes, and the welfare society. In particular, this essay introduces the concept of a “Union Based Welfare State” in order to describe the Italian experience and as a descriptive category useful for comparative analyses generally. Following this working hypothesis, this article assesses one particular aspect of the complex framework of the Italian trade union experience after World War II. It offers a reconstruction of the debate and actions regarding the welfare state questions that feature the two most important Italian trade unions, the Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (Italian General Council of Labor) (CGIL) and the Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori (Italian Confederation of Workers’ Unions) (CISL). Moreover, in the essay, a description of the actions of the Istituto Nazionale di Assistenza Sociale (National Institute of Social Assistance) (INAS) and Istituto Nazionale Confederale di Assistenza (Confederated National Institute of Assistance) (INCA) also assists in the investigation of CISL and CGIL’s roles in the welfare state. INAS and INCA are the Patronati (trade union aid societies) of the CISL and CGIL and the tools by which trade unions deal with daily assistance and social security issues. To summarize, the final goal of this essay is to show how the Italian welfare state experience represents, in the European postwar context, an original “union way” which questions traditional descriptions of the Italian welfare state. In particular, it challenges the description of Italian social policy that uses only the categories of clientelism and familism and instead highlights elements of discontinuity and the central role of trade unions in social policy implementation.

Delivering Distance Learning in Rural Solomon Islands: Practical Issues and Concerns

This paper is intended to inform readers about the use of on-line learning in rural Solomon Islands. The Distance Learning Centre Project is still in its early stages of implementation and therefore, this paper is not intended to provide a rigorous evaluation of the project or to assess student attainments. The objective of the project was to improve access to quality education in rural communities. The implementation of the project was funded by European Union and New Zealand Aid. There are nine Distance Learning Centres currently running and are located in rural communities across the country. The centres were equipped with network services, solar power and learning technologies. The learning technologies were hooked onto the network with six laptop computers in each centre. There were 15 courses offered on-line using the synchronous tuition tools. Observing the first year of the project, some practical issues and concerns are examined that relates to empowerment and access to quality education. The paper concludes with reflections on the issues of adequacy, practicality of teaching technical and vocational skills on-line, future sustainability, the importance of follow up and the need for further research to investigate the pertinent issues highlighted in this paper.

Authoritarian Versus Democratic Diffusions: Explaining Institutional Choices in Russia's Local Government

Two political scientists address questions posed by the puzzling survival of the institution of elected city mayors in Russia despite the efforts of the national government to abolish it. Based on datasets not only of local government reforms across all the regions but also of the regional component of European Union aid, statistical analysis is used to challenge dominant approaches to democratic institution building and diffusion theories are applied. The findings with regard to the spatially uneven and poly-nuclear nature of institutional influences challenge prevalent approaches to authoritarianism and democratic institution building.

Explaining European Union Aid to Russia

An expert on local government in Russia analyzes patterns of aid allocation that are a key component defining the relationship between the EU and Russia. In an analysis of donor intentions and choices based on a dataset of all EU projects conducted in Russia's regions during 1991–2005, as well as interviews with EU and Russian officials involved in EU-funded projects and key EU policy and strategy papers, the roles that democratic performance and economic, strategic, and cultural factors have played in the EU's and its members states' choices of projects to fund in Russia are examined. A fifth factor, bureaucratic efficiency, is also considered.

Explaining European Union Aid to Russia

Explaining European Union Aid to Russia

Working at the intersection—a story from Australia

Conceived by nurses in the hospital of a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, and inspired by Norwegian People's Aid, the international aid agency of the Australian trade unions was designed to give a genuine material base to solidarity with national liberation struggles. Bridging the difficult division in Australian labour politics between the Catholic right and the social democratic and pro‐Moscow lefts, Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad (now Union Aid Abroad APHEDA) was able to channel funds from unions and the Australian government to agriculture, health, and vocational training projects in many countries in the South. Unlike most counterpart organisations in Europe and the USA, its earlier partners were rarely trade unions. Only recently has APHEDA directly supported trade union training in Cambodia, East Timor, and Indonesia, under pressure from Australian unions, who see workers' rights in neighbouring countries as crucial to their own fate. Yet unions in advanced capitalist countries don't spontaneously understand the humanitarian and development needs of countries, such as Papua New Guinea, where waged workers are a small minority of the population. Unionisation is only one part of the solution. The April 2000 Durban congress of the ICFTU called for trade unions to ‘organise the unorganised’, such as informal‐sector workers, and to build alliances with NGOs and civil society around shared values. As a trade union NGO, APHEDA is located in the middle of a challenging intersection. Mandated to educate Australian workers on globalisation issues, APHEDA finds itself often more partisan than other international development NGOs in Australia, sometimes more circumspect. With attacks on union rights and the increasing share of the Australian aid budget delivered through private companies, APHEDA faces decisions about its independence, alliances, direction, and sustainability.

SCIENTIFIC R&D CO‐OPERATION WITH CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND WITH THE NEW INDEPENDENT STATES OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

A brief outline of the European Union aid projects in support of science and R&D in eastern and central Europe, going back to 1992, is given. The overall objective has been to establish durable contacts between researchers in the European Union and those in central and eastern Europe, to develop research networks, and to promote the preparation of joint research projects.

Trade Union Law and Aid to Political Parties

Trade Union Law and Aid to Political Parties