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Transitions Online_Around the Bloc-Trans-Caucasus Railway Opens
Decades in the making, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars could further isolate Armenia.
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Decades in the making, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars could further isolate Armenia.
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A new law gives municipalities the power to exclude recipients of housing subsidies.
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Bosnia’s two entities cannot agree on route, placing political considerations above cost efficiency matters.
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A series of disputes with its neighbors has left Turkmenistan reliant on China to purchase its gas.
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Euros and dollars are beating out rubles in new remittance data, indicating a significant pattern shift.
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EU officials could consider the initiative at Eastern Partnership summit.
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Risk of poverty is high in Balkans, Baltics, and southern Europe, while Slovenia and Czech Republic are doing better.
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Time Warner-owned company dominates TV market across a wide swathe of Central and Eastern Europe.
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In the largest protests this fall, around 30,000 people expressed their discontent with several legislative proposals put forth by the Social Democrat coalition.
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Government says that after years of promising to shutter a filthy power plant, real action is on the horizon.
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The aim of this article is to analyse the strategic goals of the energy policy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Key political motives behind Germany’s energy policy strategy The aim of this article is to analyse the strategic goals of the energy policy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Key political motives behind Germany’s energy policy strategy are reviewed, with the author applying the geo-economic approach. Noting that energy security and competitive economy of the Federal Republic of Germany rest on its energy partnerships with the Russian Federation, energy infrastructure and EU climate policy, the author reiterates the significance of stable political partnerships, determination to build a position as a distribution centre for energy and energy resources in Europe, as well as export of technology and imposition of national preferences on other countries. The American announcement of a renegotiation of the climate agreement may exert an unfavourable impact on the geo-economic interests of Germany in the area of energy.
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Around the middle of the current decade the EU’s division into the euro zone and states outside it has begun to consolidate. The states that had intended to join the zone have already done so, while the remaining ones are either not interested in joining or unable to make swift access. This situation now seems to have stabilised due to several factors, in particular the economic weakness of the euro area, the relatively high political and economic significance of countries outside the zone and hence their considerable influence on the EU, and the general stagnation of integration processes. However, it is becoming clearer in 2017 that the role of the above factors is dwindling, and this might transform relations between the euro area and the remaining Member States. Consequently, more dynamic enlargement of the single currency area and deeper divisions within the Union cannot be ruled out.
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A consistent growth of energy efficiency is one of the three pillars of Austria’s energy policy,alongside a development of renewable energy sources and a reduction of environmentallyhazardous emissions. Austrian policy aims at establishing a stable and effective energy systemthat guarantees secure energy supply, at the same time minimising environmental hazardswhile remaining economically efficient. Austria is a good example of a state that successfullyimplements energy efficiency measures, as it has the highest number of passive houses perresident in Europe and a sound policy on waste management. The text outlines the challengesfacing Austria with respect to energy efficiency and consumption reduction and examines thestrategies for the future, taking into account the country’s specific natural conditions.
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One of the rules of international economic relations is that small countries are more dependent upon intense international economic cooperation than are large states. This cooperation is not, in principle, completely liberalized, but depends upon a number of multilateral and bilateral agreements. Aspiring to put in order its own economic position internationally, Croatia was first directed to regulate its relations with the European community. In these efforts, Croatia was faced with unequal treatment compared to Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia. The author shows that this unfavorable attitude towards Croatia is partially the result of political demands and the interests of the European community.
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The author analyses fundamental concepts of the school of rational expectations (RATEX, an offspring of the Chicago school of economics). Theoretical foundations of the neoclassical macroeconomy are set out: the hypothesis of rational expectations in the circumstances of perfect competition and the principle of strategic interdependence. Central to that are the hypotheses of variants, misallocation of resources and neutrality of economic policy. Outlined are rent-seeking and direct unproductive profit-seeking as well as alternative models in the new theoretical economy: economic constitutionalism, deficitarians, the theory of political business cycles, supply side economics.
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The author, who sees himself primarily as a “longtime practitioner”, thinks that the government policies have failed to achieve national consensus and boost economy. In order to find a way out of the present situation, an agreement among the major political and economic forces is essential. In economy, the author - in accordance with the HSLS programme - advocates liberalization of exports, fast denationalization and restitution, a ban on further capitalization and the free granting of company shares, the traditional budgeting and cutting down on governement subsidies in economy.
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The article analyses the problems of cluster development in Poland and Ukraine in order to identify directions for possible cooperation between the countries. Specificity and priorities of the national policies of clusters development, regional systems of support and examples of good practices of clustering in the both countries were considered. The comparative analyses of prospects for clusters development in Poland and Ukraine were conducted, the basic determinants influencing the cluster development were identified and evaluated. There were recognized the areas and direction of Polish-Ukrainian clusters cooperation including: the opportunities to projects conducting within the European Funds, the possibilities of bilateral cooperation of cluster members with the support of cluster coordinators, the feasibility of joint Polish-Ukrainian projects run in third countries markets.
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The article investigates cluster approach to arrange economic policy in world countries. Cluster implication is discussed as a formation with its specifics and main characteristics. Cluster policy contents, essence, goals, types and differences are reviewed. Practical implementation of cluster policy in leading European countries is researched; problems and achieved results are determined. The problem of identifying and building up cluster formations is debated. Challenges and prospects for creating territorial clusters are determined together with cluster policy implementation in Ukraine as well as public and regional policy in supporting clusters’ development is reviewed. The article proves that public authority bodies’ activities in the sphere of cluster model implementation for Ukrainian industry development should be directed on activating the government role in cluster formation on the basis of public-private partnership as well as on creating favorable macro-economic, information and legal-regulatory environment to develop cluster-type business networks.
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The problems of the Russian transformation are strongly related to the policy model adopted by the chief financial regulator, which in the case of this article is the Central Bank of Russia. It is argued here that the policy followed by the CBR is obsolete and rooted in the 1990s, and not up to date with the needs of the current economic conditions. These conditions are specific only to Russia and deserve the name of a “small cold war”. The CBR continues to pursue a liberalisation policy based on concepts borrowed from the West. Their core is a complete liberalisation of the international currency flows, at the expense of protecting the domestic market from international speculative capital, and at the price of encouraging capital flow away from Russia. At the same time this policy has managed to discourage long term domestic investments.
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The paper entitled “Counteracting Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion in Selected EU Directives on Direct Taxes” discusses the provisions of Directive 2003/49/EC, Directive 2009/133/EC and Directive 2011/96/EC that are capable of withdrawing the benefits provided under the directives in the case of tax fraud and abuse, tax evasion or tax avoidance. The paper reviews provisions of the directives and also the case law of the European Court of Justice concerning tax fraud and abuse. The jurisprudence of the ECJ plays a key role in setting standards for regulations on the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance adopted by Member States of the European Union. The paper’s centre piece argument is that the solution adopted by the EU legislator, which shifted the burden of preventing tax escape from the EU to Member States, is ineffective and falls short of fulfilling its proper role. The paper emphasises that many tax payers take advantage of the fundamental treaty freedoms and applicable directives to obtain tax benefits or double non-taxation. Limitations imposed by a strict jurisprudential approach of the European Court of Justice also pose a significant barrier to effective tackling the negative phenomenon of aggressive tax planning based on EU laws, the paper suggests. By assessing the effects of the application of the existing regulations and juxtaposing them with the current scale of the problem, the author presents an argument for changing the direction of measures taken to curb international tax avoidance and evasion.
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