scholarly journals A Process Oriented MCDM Approach to Construct a Circular Economy Composite Index

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Garcia-Bernabeu ◽  
Adolfo Hilario-Caballero ◽  
David Pla-Santamaria ◽  
Francisco Salas-Molina
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
National Level ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Composite Indicator ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Monitoring Framework

The purpose of this contribution is to develop a Circular Economy Composite indicator to benchmark EU countries performance. Europe is at the forefront of the global transition towards a sustainable and circular economy. To this end, the European Commission has launched in 2015 a Circular Economy Action Plan including a monitoring framework to measure progress and to assess the effectiveness of initiatives towards the circular economy in the European Union (EU) and Member States. Still, this monitoring framework lacks a composite indicator at the national level to aggregate the circular economy dimensions into a single summary indicator. Although there is a wide range of sustainability composite indicators, no aggregate circular economy index exits to this date. We use a multi-criteria approach to construct a circular economy composite index based on TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preferences by Similarity to Ideal Solutions) methodology. In addition, we introduce a novel aggregation methodology for building a composite indicator where different levels of compensability for the distances to the ideal and anti-ideal (or negative-ideal) values of each indicator are considered. In order to illustrate the advantages of this proposal, we have applied it to evaluate the Circular Economy performance of EU Member States for the year 2016. This proposal can be a valuable tool for identifying areas in which the countries need to concentrate their efforts to boost their circular economy performance.

European experience in transition to circular economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 598-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.V. Ratner
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
National Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
European Experience ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
The Eu

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.

scholarly journals Regional Convergence in the European Union, new Member States and Croatia

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davor Mikulić ◽  
Željko Lovrinčević ◽  
Andrea Galić Nagyszombaty
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
National Level ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Regional Convergence ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Potential Growth ◽  
Member States ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Over the past two decades, the issue of regional convergence in the European Union has been the subject of a wide range of empirical research. This paper aims to provide more information on the differences in regional growth patterns of new member states (NMS), as well as Croatia, in addition to the factors influencing regional disparities within each country. This research provides an analysis of regional convergence in the period 2001-2008 at the NUTS II and NUTS III level. The most widely used model for testing convergence hypotheses is beta-convergence analysis. Other factors commonly included in the econometric modelling of convergence are demographic variables, labour market conditions, industrial structure, institutional factors and overall government policy. The main hypothesis is that the process of regional convergence in NMS and Croatia is not strong enough to dominate over other factors, influencing regional potential growth (mainly industry structure and quality of human capital). Absolute β-convergence can be found at the national level for EU countries. Convergence also can be found for NMS regions, but the pace of convergence on the regional level is lower in comparison to the national level and the estimated β-convergence parameter is less significant.

‘Biodiversity damage’ liability in the Environmental Liability Directive – its definition and delimitation from more stringent EU, international and national norms

elni Review ◽  
2008 ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
Volker Mauerhofer
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
National Level ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Environmental Liability ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Early Beginning ◽  
National Norms

The Environmental Liability Directive (‘ELD’) of the European Union entered into force on 30th April 2004 and had to be implemented by 30th April 2007. It had been already from the early beginning up to today subject to multiple considerations by many scholars and is implemented quite differently in the different EU Member States. The ELD contains provisions concerning the liability for ‘environmental damage’, which is further defined inter alia as a specific damage of certain species and habitats (‘biodiversity damage’). Besides the ELD there are already other legal provisions on the European as well as on the international and national level covering several aspects of these liability issues more stringently. Hence the question arises as to how the new provisions of the ELD delimit from these similar but other EU, international and national norms.

scholarly journals Are the EU Member States Ready for the New Union Customs Code: Emerging Legal Issues On the National Level

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-75
Author(s):  
Gediminas Valantiejus
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Trade ◽  
National Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Eu

AbstractIn 2016, the European Union has launched a new and ambitious project for the future regulation of international trade in the European Union and the rules of its taxation: since the 1 May 2016, the new Union Customs Code (UCC) has entered into force. It revokes the old Community Customs Code (CCC), which was applied since 1992, and passed in the form of EU regulation sets brand-new rules for the application of Common Customs Tariff and calculation of customs duties (tariffs) in all the EU Member States. It is oriented to the creation of the paperless environment for the formalisation of international trade operations (full electronic declaration of customs procedures) and ensuring of a more uniform administration of customs duties in the tax and customs authorities of the Member States in the European Union. Therefore, the article raises and seeks to answer the problematic question whether the Member States of the European Union themselves are ready to implement these ambitious goals and does the actual practice of the Member States support that (considering the practice of the Republic of Lithuania). The research, which is based on the analysis of case law in the Republic of Lithuania (case study of recent tax disputes between the taxpayers and customs authorities that arose immediately before and after the entry into force of the UCC), leads to the conclusion that many problematic areas that may negatively impact the functioning of the new Customs Code remain and must be improved, including an adoption of new legislative solutions.

scholarly journals Europeanisation and German Public Administration

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Hans Hofmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
National Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Level ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Legal Remedy ◽  
Administrative Procedures ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis chapter discusses how public administration in Germany is influenced by the making and implementation of law by the organs of the European Union (EU). Although the public administrations of the EU Member States are, in principle, responsible for enforcing the laws made by the EU, the EU’s influence on the public administration of Germany as EU Member State is constantly growing. This is true, not only of those areas in which the Member States have transferred to the EU the authority to make laws, but increasingly also of those areas in which the Member States have retained such authority. At the same time, however, there is no systematic codification of the law on administrative procedures at European level and no system of legal remedy for Union citizens equivalent to those at national level.

scholarly journals RISK-BASED APPROACH IN THE EUROPEAN UNION LEGISLATION TO PREVENT MONEY LAUNDERING AND FINANCING OF TERRORISM

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-52
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
National Level ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Eu

Money laundering and terrorism financing are serious and internationally emerging issues that must be approached and confronted at European Union level. The latest terrorist attacks and periodic banking scandals highlight the necessity for additional attention in this particular direction. In regard to the internal EU market, financial flows are integrated and trans-border by nature, thus funds can circulate rapidly, from one country to another, offering the possibility to perpetrators and terrorists to transfer money across Member State avoiding detection by authorities. This specific situation generates the necessity to identify and understand the particular ML/TF risks generated by services and products offered within the EU economic and financial ecosystem. In order to ensure an efficient mechanism for identifying the ML/TF risks associated with the products and services provided on the territory of European Union, the 4AMLD provides the obligation of the EU Commission to perform once in two years the so-called European Union Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Supranational Risk Assessment. Since 2017 two supra-national risk assessments were carried out and the final results are used by Member States to monitor the evolution of risks at Union level and to implement the necessary recommendation for ensuring a proper minimization of threats and vulnerabilities at the national level. This paper aims to analyze, understand and compare the main outcomes of the two assessments, namely the identified risks and their links with vulnerable sectors, as well as the evolution or devolution of certain risks as a result of mitigation measures applied by EU Member States. Another task of this article is to provide additional recommendations in terms of mitigating measures and efforts, which must be taken into account by Member States

scholarly journals Downloading Europe: A Regional Comparison in the Uptake of the EU Forest Action Plan

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 3999
Author(s):  
Filip Aggestam ◽  
Helga Pülzl
Keyword(s):  
Action Plan ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Implementation Strategies ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The first EU Forest Strategy was adopted in 1998 to provide general guidelines for an EU forest policy designed to coordinate other EU forest-relevant policies. The implementation of the first strategy was done under the auspices of the EU Forest Action Plan, covering the period from 2007 to 2011. The Forest Action Plan was a tool that facilitated voluntary cooperation between EU Member States (no enforcement capabilities), with some coordinating actions being implemented by the European Commission. The reason for returning to the Forest Action Plan in this article is to provide further insight into how it was employed by EU Member States—in contrast to the majority of similar articles on the topic, which are primarily concerned with an examination of EU forest-relevant policies by either analyzing the impact of EU decision-making on forestry at the national level or studying EU Member States’ influence on the EU rather than how EU Member States actually react to EU strategies. This paper addresses this empirical gap and highlights the significant variations of the Europeanization effects on EU Member States when deciding upon and implementing a non-legally binding policy instrument when compared to legally binding policy instruments. Individual Member States exhibit varied strategies when implementing a soft policy instrument, as their respective decision spaces are substantially different, particularly when the costs and benefits of complying are not comparable to those of a legally binding instrument. These results highlight the need for a more nuanced and varied approach to the implementation of soft policy instruments by the EU, with the additional implementation strategies suggested in this article being presented to assist in meeting this need for variation.

scholarly journals The Influence of Fiscal Rules on the Fiscal Stability in the EU Member States

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 212
Author(s):  
Ryta Iwona Dziemianowicz ◽  
Aneta Kargol-Wasiluk
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Budget Deficit ◽  
National Level ◽  
Fiscal Rules ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Fiscal Discipline ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Eu

Due to the rapid increase of the budget deficit and public debt in many the EU countries after 2008, fiscal policy has faced a significant challenge for developing an appropriate tools to strengthen fiscal discipline and thereby improve the quality of public finance. Institutional mechanisms such as among others numerical fiscal rules play an important role in maintaining the fiscal discipline and support fiscal credibility of the state. Fiscal rules are most often defined as permanent constraints on fiscal policy, expressed by indicators introducing a limit for a particular fiscal aggregate, such as a budget deficit (real or structural), public debt, public expenditure or public revenue. The theoretical objective of the article is to analyze the institutional dimension of numerical fiscal rules (their type, legal basis, transparency, complexity, flexibility, adequacy and coherence). The empirical purpose, on the other hand, is to conduct a statistical analysis and to examine the relationship between the value of the fiscal rules index and the level of budget deficit and public debt in 28 Member States of the European Union. Examining the effectiveness of applied fiscal rules, at both European and national level seems to be the most valuable part of the analysis.

scholarly journals Obrót nieruchomościami rolnymi w świetle traktatowej swobody przepływu kapitału – rozważania na gruncie orzecznictwa Trybunału Sprawiedliwości Unii Europejskiej

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Beata Włodarczyk
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
National Level ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
General Interest ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Free Movement Of Capital

The aim of the article is to outline the legal issues of trading in agricultural property in the European Union, which is entirely subject to basic treaty rules. The free movement of capital, regulated in Article 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, is of particular importance in relation to cross-border operations connected with trading in agricultural property. Therefore the legislation in force and applicable in EU Member States should ensure that citizens of other Member States have the possibility of exercising this freedom. However, the free movement of capital is not absolute. In the light of the established case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, regulations limiting free movement of capital may be introduced at national level, provided that they pursue general interest objectives and comply with the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination.

scholarly journals Régimen jurídico de los drones: el nuevo Reglamento (UE) 2018/1139 = Drones legal framework: the new Regulation (UE) 2018/1139

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
María José Castellanos Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Aviation Safety ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Wide Range

Resumen: Los drones son una realidad en los cielos de muchos países. Existen muchas diferencias entre los distintos tipos de drones, no sólo en cuanto a si dicha aeronave es autónoma o pilotada por control remoto; sino en cuanto a otros aspectos como su tamaño, o el uso que se le vaya a dar al dron, que bien puede destinarse a operaciones especializadas (trabajos técnicos, científicos o aéreos), a uso recreativo, o en el futuro, incluso al transporte.La regulación existente de los Estados miembros en materia de drones se circunscribía al ámbito nacional y en relación con determinados tipos de drones. En España, al igual que en los países de nuestro entorno se había desarrollado una regulación limitada a algunos tipos de drones, concretamente los que tie­nen una masa máxima en el despegue inferior a 150 kg. También la FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) en Estados Unidos desarrolló su propia normativa sobre drones, que posteriormente ha ido modificando.Sin embargo, dada la fragmentación legal en esta materia, se desarrolló por parte de la Unión Eu­ropea, concretamente por la Agencia Europea de Seguridad Aérea o EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency), un marco regulatorio para el desarrollo de un mercado único europeo y favorecer así las ope­raciones transfronterizas de drones.Finalmente, el nuevo Reglamento (UE) 2018/1139 ha venido a establecer una regulación europea que es de aplicación a todos los drones, de manera que las legislaciones internas de los Estados miem­bros quedarían desplazadas por instrumento internacional. Por tanto, su objetivo es abarcar las aerona­ves no tripuladas, puesto que las aeronaves no tripuladas también operan dentro del espacio aéreo junto con las aeronaves tripuladas. Como las tecnologías de las aeronaves no tripuladas actualmente hacen posible una amplia gama de operaciones, éstas deben ser objeto de normas que sean proporcionales al riesgo de la operación o del tipo de operación en concreto, porque su regulación no se puede hacer de­pender únicamente del peso de la aeronave.Palabras clave: aeronaves, drones, aeronaves no tripuladas, aeronaves pilotadas por control remo­to, aeronaves autónomas, RPAS, UAS, UAV, regulación, transporte aéreo, espacio aéreo, aviación civil, FAA, EASA, incidentes, accidentes.Abstract: Drones are a reality in the skies of many countries. There are many differences between the different types of drones, not only as to whether the aircraft is autonomous or piloted by remote control; but in other aspects such as its size, or the use to be given to the drone, which may well be used for specialized operations (technical, scientific or aerial), for recreational use, or in the future, for transportation.The existing regulation of the Member States on drone matters was confined to the national level and in relation to certain types of drones. In Spain, as others Member States, a regulation limited to some types of drones had been developed, which have a maximum take-off mass below than 150 kg. Also the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) in the United States developed its own regulation on drones, which has subsequently been modified.However, given the legal fragmentation in this area, it was developed by the European Union, specifically by the European Aviation Safety Agency or EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency), a regulatory framework for the development of a European single market and promote thus cross-border drone operations.Finally, the new Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 has come to establish a European regulation that is applicable to all drones, so that the internal legislations of the Member States would be displaced by that international instrument. Therefore, its objective is to cover unmanned aircraft, since unmanned aircraft also operate within the airspace together with manned aircraft. As the technologies of unmanned aircraft currently make possible a wide range of operations, they must be subject to standards that are propor­tional to the risk of the operation or the type of operation in particular, because its regulation can not be made to depend solely on the weight of the aircraft.Keywords: aircrafts, drones, unmanned aircrafts, remotely piloted aircrafts, autonomous aircrafts, RPAS, UAS, UAV, regulation, air transport, airspace, civil aviation, FAA, EASA, incidents, accidents.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document