scholarly journals European Union Legislation Overview about Used Vegetable Oils Recycling: The Spanish and Italian Case Studies

Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 798
Author(s):  
Jesus Ibanez ◽  
Sonia Martel Martín ◽  
Salvatore Baldino ◽  
Cristina Prandi ◽  
Alberto Mannu

The employment of used vegetable oils (UVOs) as raw materials in key sectors as energy production or bio-lubricant synthesis represents one of the most relevant priorities in the European Union (EU) normative context. In many countries, the development of new production processes based on the circular economy model, as well as the definition of future energy and production targets, involve the utilization of wastes as raw material. In this context, the main currently applied EU regulations are presented and discussed. As in the EU, the general legislative process consists of the definition in each State Member of specific legislation, which transposes the EU indications. Two relevant countries are herein considered: Italy and Spain. Through the analysis of the conditions required in both countries for UVOs’ collection, disposal, storage, and recycling, a wide panorama of the current situation is provided.

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 598-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.V. Ratner

Subject. The article considers the concept of circular economy, which has originated relatively recently in the academic literature, and is now increasingly recognized in many countries at the national level. In the European Union, the transition to circular economy is viewed as an opportunity to improve competitiveness of the European Union, protect businesses from resource shortages and fluctuating prices for raw materials and supplies, and a way to increase employment and innovation. Objectives. The aim of the study is to analyze the incentives developed by the European Commission for moving to circular economy, and to assess their effectiveness on the basis of statistical analysis. Methods. I employ general scientific methods of research. Results. The analysis of the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy enabled to conclude that the results of the recent research in circular economy barriers, eco-innovation, technology and infrastructure were successfully integrated into the framework of this document. Understanding the root causes holding back the circular economy development and the balanced combination of economic and administrative incentives strengthened the Action Plan, and it contributed to the circular economy development in the EU. Conclusions. The measures to stimulate the development of the circular economy proposed in the European Action Plan can be viewed as a prototype for designing similar strategies in other countries, including Russia. Meanwhile, a more detailed analysis of barriers to the circular economy at the level of individual countries and regions is needed.


2018 ◽  
pp. 10-37
Author(s):  
Barbara Curyło

In the discussion on the future of the EU, the topic of differentiated integration has become a strategic issue, with different variants beginning to appear as modus operandi of the European Union, which has become a subject of controversy among Member States. Significantly, the debate on differentiated integration began to be accompanied by reflections on disintegration. This article attempts to define disintegration on the assumption that it should be defined through the prism of integration, and that such a defining process can not be limited to concluding a one-way contrast between disintegration versus integration and vice versa. This is due to the assumption that the European Union is a dichotomous construct in which integration and disintegration mutually exclude and complement each other. This dichotomy is most evident in the definition of integration and disintegration through the prism of Europeanisation top-down and bottom-up processes that generate, reveal, visualize, stimulate integration mechanisms what allows to diagnose their determinants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4772
Author(s):  
Hanna Klikocka ◽  
Aneta Zakrzewska ◽  
Piotr Chojnacki

The article describes and sets the definition of different farm models under the categories of being family, small, and large-scale commercial farms. The distinction was based on the structure of the workforce and the relationship between agricultural income and the minimum wage. Family farms were dominated by the farming family providing the labour and their income per capita exceeded the net minimum wage in the country. The larger commercial farms feature a predominance of hired labour. Based on surveys, it was found that in 2016 in the EU-28 there were 10,467,000 farms (EU-13—57.3%, EU-15—42.7%). They carried out agricultural activities on an area of 173,338,000 ha (EU-13—28.5%, EU-15—71.5%). Countries of the EU-28 generated a standard output (SO) amounting to EUR 364,118,827,100 (EU-13—17.2% and EU-15—82.8%). After the delimitation, it was shown that small farming (70.8%) was the predominant form of management in the European Union (EU-13—88.2% and EU-15—79.8%) compared to family farming (18.4%) (EU-13—10.5% and EU-15—29%). In most EU countries the largest share of land resources pertains to small farms (35.6%) and family farms (38.6%) (UAA—utilised agricultural area of farms).


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna J Young ◽  
Denis Coulombier ◽  
Dragoslav Domanović ◽  
Hervé Zeller ◽  
Céline M Gossner ◽  
...  

West Nile virus (WNV) infection is notifiable in humans and equids in the European Union (EU). An area where a human case is detected is considered affected until the end of the mosquito transmission season (week 48) and blood safety measures have to be implemented. We used human and equine case notifications between 2013 and 2017 to define the WNV distribution in the EU and to investigate the relevance of using equine cases as a complementary trigger for blood safety measures. Adding areas with equine cases to the definition of an affected area would have a major impact on blood safety measures. Adding areas with equine cases where human cases have been reported in the past would increase the timeliness of blood safety measures with only a limited impact. Although the occurrence of human and/or equine cases confirms virus circulation in the EU, no evidence was found that occurrence of equine cases leads to human cases and vice versa. We conclude that information about equine data should contribute to raising awareness among public health experts and trigger enhanced surveillance. Further studies are required before extending the definition of affected areas to areas with human and/or equine cases.


Author(s):  
Eleanor Sharpston

The chapter examines the role played by the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) in ruling authoritatively on the meaning of European Union legislation. The EU legislative process differs from the parliamentary process in the United Kingdom for good reason. Within the European Union, there are many different traditions of how such drafting should be done; whilst, at EU level, multinationalism and multilingualism have a significant impact on what emerges as the final text. The chapter explains the difficulties encountered and gives illustrations from the Court’s case-law of instances where the Court has either decided not to take steps that might be construed as ‘legislating’ or, conversely, has gone to the limits of ‘constructive re-interpretation’. The chapter concludes by asking how far the Court should ‘bend’ a legislative text.


2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 337-346
Author(s):  
Szabo Luboslav ◽  
Grznar Miroslav ◽  
Zelina Michal

The paper is devoted to an analysis of the development of agrarian farms in Visegrad Group (V4) countries, primarily in terms of results and the most important production inputs of production factors and their efficiency in the period from 2004 to 2013 based on the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). The results of the analysis show that if farms in the V4 countries want to achieve the same performance as developed countries, they must invest more in purchasing intensification factors and adjust the structure of assets production specification. It will be necessary to stop the reduction in the numbers of livestock and to strive for growth in gross farm income, mainly through the processing of agricultural raw materials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-108
Author(s):  
Massimiliano Delfino

In Italy, workers’ mobility is a very complicated puzzle that is composed of different pieces. This paper deals with such different pieces under the perspective of workers' mobility within the European Union and highlights that the term mobility is not a synonym of posting (of workers), since the latter term indicates only one of the types (although the most relevant) of workers’ mobility. The author starts with workers’ mobility within the national border and beyond the European Union. Then, he concentrates his attention on the Italian way of transposing the EU Directives on the transnational posting of workers, which is very problematic, especially with reference to the role of collective bargaining agreements. Special attention is dedicated to the issue of public policy where an important role is played by Italian case law, which is very interesting and not uniform. The paper ends with some predictions about the forthcoming Italian legislation concerning both national and transnational mobility, which will be possibly influenced by the domestic political agenda.


Author(s):  
Katrin Auel

The role and position of national parliaments in European Union (EU) affairs have undergone a long, slow, and sometimes rocky, but overall rather remarkable, development. Long regarded as the victims of the integration process, they have continuously strengthened their institutional prerogatives and have become more actively involved in EU affairs. Since the Lisbon Treaty, national parliaments even have a formal and direct role in the European legislative process, namely, as guardians of the EU’s subsidiarity principle via the so-called early warning system. To what extent institutional provisions at the national or the European level provide national parliaments with effective means of influencing EU politics is still a largely open question. On the one hand, national parliaments still differ with regard to their institutional prerogatives and actual engagement in EU politics. On the other hand, the complex decision-making system of the EU, with its multitude of actors involved, makes it difficult to trace outcomes back to the influence of specific actors. Yet it is precisely this opacity of the EU policymaking process that has led to an emphasis on the parliamentary communication function and the way national parliaments can contribute to the democratic legitimacy of the EU by making EU political decisions and processes more accessible and transparent for the citizens. This deliberative aspect is also often emphasized in approaches to the role of national parliaments in the EU that challenge the territorially defined, standard account of parliamentary representation. Taking the multilevel character of the EU as well as the high degree of political and economic interdependence between the member states into account, parliamentary representation is conceptualized as extending beyond the nation-state and as shared across the EU, with a strong emphasis on the links between parliaments through inter-parliamentary cooperation and communication as well as on the representation of other member states’ citizens interests and concerns in parliamentary debates. Empirical research is still scarce, but existing studies provide evidence for the development of an increasingly dense web of formal and informal interactions between parliaments and for changes in the way national parliamentarians represent citizens in EU affairs.


2019 ◽  
pp. 195-212
Author(s):  
Roberto Reyes Izquierdo

The aim of this paper is to analyse how the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been a fundamental factor in the integration process of the European Union, in spite of the obstacles posed by the intergovernmental dynamics that have traditionally hindered the construction of a stronger, cohesive and more integrated Europe. Important principles such as direct effect or supremacy of EU law have been developed through ECJ rulings and case law, even when such principles were not literally foreseen in the foundational Treaties. Therefore, this paper argues that the role and power of the Court as an “indirect law-maker” have been essential for the construction of the European Union, and this has been possible due to the complexities and weaknesses of the legislative process involving the three main decision-makers: the Commission, the Council of the EU, and the European Parliament.


2020 ◽  
pp. 77-88
Author(s):  
Nikolay Kaveshnikov ◽  

The article explores the evolution of decision-making procedures and their use in the EU as one of the parameters of integration depth. The study used a database of secondary legislation covering 1990-2019. The final empirical data consists of 5,427 documents, including 1,272 directives and 4,155 regulations. The research empirically confirmed the increase in the frequency of procedures application that envisage a more active participation of the European Parliament in the legislative process. At the same time, the authorreveals that a significant part of secondary legislation is still adopted by the Council without the EPinvolvement. An important difference in the use of adaptation procedures of directives and regulations has been identified; working hypotheses about the reasons for such differences have been formulated.


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