scholarly journals Anti-Racism in Europe: An Intersectional Approach to the Discourse on Empowerment through the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan 2020–2025

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Carolin Müller

Anti-racism in Europe operates in political, policy, and civic spaces, in which organizations try to counter racial discrimination and violence. This paper applies a textual analysis to the European discourse of the transnationally connected anti-racism movement that shaped the European Union (henceforth EU) anti-racism action plan 2020–2025. The plan seeks to address structural racism in the EU through an intersectional lens. Alana Lentin, however, cautions that the structuring principles of anti-racism approaches can obscure “irrefutable reciprocity between racism and the modern nation-state”. Against the backdrop of a critique intersectionality mainstreaming in global anti-racist movements, this paper draws on Kimberly Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality to critically examine the practices outlined in the EU anti-racism action plan to understand (1) the extent to which the EU anti-racism action addresses the historical baggage of European imperialism, (2) the influence of transnational anti-racism organizations such as the European Network Against Racism (henceforth ENAR) in reinforcing universalisms about notions of humanity in anti-racism activism through language and (3) the limitations that the EU anti-racism action plan poses for the empowerment of racially marginalized groups of people.

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Gordon Kofi Sarfo-Adu

The European Union Forest Law Enforcement on Governance and Trade (EU-FLEGT) Action Plan seeks to promote widespread sustainable forest management and relies largely on transnational actors and international law in its operationalization. The EU FLEGT sets out EU custom regulation through Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) which is a bilateral agreement between the EU and wood exporting countries with instruments aimed at promoting sustainable practices within the forest resources value chain. Ghana became a signatory to the FLEGT VPA since 2007, as part of the process, it is required to use technology to track timber logging from source to point of export. Issues of networks and inter-agency collaboration and dealing with human elements remain crucial in ensuring effective operationalization. Adopting a qualitative case study design as well as theories and concepts from the public policy implementation literature, this study examines the implementation vagaries of the FLEGT VPA in Ghana. Although the VPA is a laudable idea of using Information Technology (IT) in effectively tracking timber to its original source to ascertain legality or otherwise of the timber, the needed IT infrastructure and resources have not matched up with the goal. Additionally, the VPA implementation is expensive and has come with additional cost to the implementers, The study further observes that the increasing ‘red flags’ that are raised on the Ghana Wood Tracking System is a blend of technical errors emanating from negligence or capacity challenges and human manipulation. This calls for regular consultations and workshops with relevant stakeholders in order to assess which skills are deficient and a need to beef up through on-the-job training. The domestic market and trading activities tend to fuel demand for illegal timber hence a constraint to the full realization of the VPA objective. The study makes policy suggestions on how to address these implementation challenges.


2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 1275-1294
Author(s):  
Athanasios Kouloridas ◽  
Jens von Lackum

The collapses of several US-businesses like those of Enron and Worldcom and a number of scandals in the EU – in the recent past that of Parmalat – have strongly affected public confidence in the operation and governance of large entities trading their shares in organized capital markets. The European Commission reacted by issuing the Action Plan on Modernizing Company Law and Enhancing Corporate Governance in the EU on 21 May 2003. The Action Plan contains measures which the Commission wants to implement over the short term (until 2005), medium term (until 2008) and long term (until 2010). The key issues set up in the Action Plan concern corporate governance, capital maintenance, recapitalization as well as decreasing capital, groups of companies, international corporate restructuring and the introduction of a new legal form of incorporation. The fact that the big rating agencies have begun to rate the corporate governance performances of major companies, can well be seen as a further indicator that good corporate governance has an important concern for managers, shareholders and for policy makers. As part of the Action Plan, the Commission has recently launched consultations on board responsibilities and improving financial and corporate governance information, on directors’ remuneration and on the role of (independent) non-executive or supervisory directors. In the light of these recent consultations and the results of the public consultation on the Action Plan, this Article offers an overview and assessment of the corporate governance measures planned at Community level.


2011 ◽  
Vol 161 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-122
Author(s):  
Halina ŁACH

After the collapse of communism, the countries of Central Europe, including Poland, be-came a “buffer zone” for the European Union. This was not the result of a deliberate policy by the EU; Poland and the other countries in Central Europe wanted to begin cooperation with the EU as soon as possible, hoping to become its members.Future membership in the Union required Poland to adopt and implement the regulations of the Schengen legal order, which included control on its external borders, a common visa regime, combating cross-border crime, migration policy, infrastructure for border protection, as well as cooperation of border, customs and police services. Adopting the EU standards formed the basis for drawing up and implementing strategic governmental projects: The Action Plan for the Implementation of the Schengen Legal Heritage in Poland as well as the Strategy for the Integrated Border Management.Membership in the EU entailed a wide range of legal, institutional and infrastructural adjustments along the Polish and Russian border, as Poland came to be responsible for the safety of each specific section of the external border. In order to meet the Schengen regulations on the Polish and Russian border, the authorities of the Province of Warmia and Mazury began implementing projects and plans for managing the national border with respect to modernising its infrastructure and construction of border crossings. On the other hand, The Warmia and Mazury Division of the Border Guard took action in border protection consisting in adjusting border protection standards to the border crime threats, illegal migration as well as the intro-duction of regulations to allow for free transfer of persons and objects across the border.


2000 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Happold

There is a question mark over the future of the nation-state in Europe. National monetary policy has been transferred to the European level in most European Union member States. Over the next ten years the EU will have a stronger role in defence and foreign policy, immigration and law enforcement. The very policies that supposedly define the concept of national sovereignty are no longer the exclusive domain of national governments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-77
Author(s):  
Zuzana Bajusová ◽  
Jana Ladvenicová ◽  
Tatiana Bullová ◽  
Ľubomír Gurčík

Abstract The increasing consumption of energy, as well as exhaustibility of fossil resources, initiate the necessity of finding renewable resources. Especially biofuels represent the important role in terms of renewable resources, development of which is often question under debate in many countries. By increasing of blending mandate in the European Union (EU), the SR after joining the EU forced to implement the changes in its action plan for renewable energy in transport and set benchmarks share of methyl ester of rapeseed oil in diesel fuel. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the economic impact of biodiesel production in the Slovak republic. At the same time, biofuel production has an impact on the price of conventional fuels. The relationship between biofuel production and prices of agricultural crops as well as conventional fuels we examined through regression and correlation analysis, which showed that between production of biodiesel and the prices indicated exists certain dependency.


Author(s):  
Kateryna Vodolaskova

The signing of the Common Aviation Area (CAA) Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union (EU) is one of the priority task on the agenda in Ukraine. The implementation of the CAA Agreement is envisaged in the Association Agreement (2014) between the EU and Ukraine, the Action Plan of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (CMU) and the Strategic Development Plan of the aviation transport. Despite of the officially announced readiness of the Ukrainian side, the signing of the CAA Agreement has been postponed since 2013. Investigation of the external and internal problems for the integration of Ukraine into the CAA creates the topicality of this paper and leads to the purpose of the article. Purpose of the article is comprehensive study of the legal basis and background of ECAA, analyzing the neighborhood policies and hence, the determination of the main directions of incorporation of the EU civil aviation requirements and standards regarding market access, air traffic organization, flight safety, the environment and other issues in Ukraine’s legislation. The article is based on usage of the general and special-legal scientific methods of cognition, as well as formal legal and dialectical approaches. Legal basement of this work, in particular, consists of: a) the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU of 2014; b) National Program of Adaptation of the Legislation of Ukraine to the Legislation of the European Union (adopted by the Law of Ukraine on November 04, 2018, № 2581-VIII); c) the Strategic Plan for the Development of Air Transport (adopted by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on December 21, 2015, Decree № 546) and d) the Action Plan to Prepare for the Introduction of a CAA of Ukraine with the EU and its Member States (adopted by the CMU on February 8, 2017, Order № 88-o) and other regulations. Results of the paper include the conceptual theoretic investigation to reveal external and internal problems on the way to the Ukraine’s integration into the CAA of the EU, practical recommendations for the process of approximation of Ukraine's legislation to the EU’s standards, and contribute to the liberalization of regulation of international air services.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-120
Author(s):  
N. V. Govorina ◽  
S. A. Kuz’min ◽  
A. I. Usov

The article provides an outline of key events involving the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes. A key aspect of ENFSI activities is participation in the implementation of the European Union Council plan to create an integrated European Forensic Science Area 2020. This work is based on the EU system of direct grants, usually issued for a two-year period. A number of batch themed grants is discussed. The results of the Board, Standing Committee and Working Group activities, as well as scientifc projects coordinated by the ENFSI are presented. The interaction of ENFSI with external partners, primarily with members of the International Forensic Strategic Alliance uniting all major expert networks is briefly analyzed.


Author(s):  
Olga Potemkina ◽  

The article examines the EU’s response to a series of terrorist attacks in European cities in the autumn of 2020, after which the topic of terrorism once again came to the fore on the EU political agenda. The author analyses the new Counter-Terrorism Action Plan and the Regulation on the removal of terrorist content from the Internet adopted after a protracted inter-institutional dialogue between the EU Council and the European Parliament. The article also looks at the problem of expanding the mandate of the Europol agency in the field of big data analysis, while the author emphasises that member states still doubt the need to grant the agency access to data encryption. The author comes to the conclusion that the European Union quite adequately fulfills the tasks outlined in the documents to respond to terrorist attacks, but has not been very successful in preventing them. It is noted that in the plans of international anti-terrorist cooperation, the European Union, as before, does not include Russia, which can not but reduce the effect of global and regional confrontation with new security challenges.


Author(s):  
Gönül Tol

Migration has always been a feature of human affairs, though in recent decades it has become a major phenomenon. In fact, the growing diversity of the European population as well as the inevitable changing of borders within the European Union (EU) reveal that Europe has become an immigration continent. These developments have, however, prompted concerns over the EU’s external borders and control of immigration, as well as the need for further inquiry by international relations scholarship. Although the regulation of immigration has received a European dimension only recently, the EU has taken steps to cooperate on the issue of immigration. The changing nature of immigration had, after all, led to a perception among European electorates that immigration was not only a demographic or an economic issue but had other dimensions. It could have multiple impacts on their societies, including welfare, social services and social cohesion. Furthermore, until recently, theories of international migration have paid little attention to the nation-state as an agent influencing the flow of migration. When the nation-state has been mentioned, attention has focused primarily on immigrant-receiving countries. Little has been written about the regulation of emigration in countries of origin. As a result, the role of the state in limiting or promoting migration is poorly understood. Though there is a growing body of scholarship attempting to address these gaps in understanding the EU’s case for immigration, there are still further avenues of research many have yet to pursue.


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