The fifth EU’s enlargement: “ever growing Union” and some expectations

Views: 49On 1 May 2004, the then Commission President R. Prodi pronounced the fifth and the largest in the EU’s history; since then, three more countries have joined the EU. Presently, the desire to join the EU is growing: the Western Balkans wanted to be a “part of the family” and negotiations with Ukraine and […]

Digital platforms in Europe: the size matters

Views: 62There are presently more than twenty digital platforms and search engines in the EU-27; they all have to comply with the general obligations under the digital law. Some main general provisions include the obligations for online marketplaces to: a) ensure the traceability of traders on their platforms; b) design their interface to facilitate traders’ […]

Sustainable investment through circular economy and outsourcing

Views: 32Responsible investing is becoming more popular globally; however, there is a lack of clarity as to what constitutes its objectives and what a sustainable investment actually is. Some argue that states invest responsibly only promoting more sustainable and equitable future. Others add that strategic investments in the “care economy” are increasing productivity and promoting […]

External aspects of European integration: energy transition in Africa

Views: 38The European integration process has been proceeding along two fronts, i.e. through internal and external facets: on the former, there are several integration blocks (i.e. numerous “unions” like energy and security, health and digital, etc.), on the latter, there are several partnerships with other global regions and countries. For example, closer relations appeared recently […]

Education policy’s integration: an issue of an EU-wide graduation certificate

Views: 50Educating new workforce to tackle modern challenges has become a vital issue at the contemporary level of European integration. Dealing with a complex composition of climate, sustainability and green transition issues in socio-economic growth requires fundamental reform of national education policies, including acceptance of a “commonly” agreed European graduate certificates.

Open and competitive digital market in Europe: urgent necessity

Views: 45During last four years the EU’s institutions, mainly the Commission, have been elaborating effective measures to manage the digital challenge in the member states. Two vital legislative acts have been adopted and enforced recently involving both the digital market and the services:  a) concerning the EU-wide digital services’ facilities, and b) optimizing the functioning […]

Some basic freedoms’ aspects in the EU’s internal market

Views: 32Membership in the EU means accepting “four basic freedoms of movement”: people, capital, goods, establishing and providing services. They are supposed to cope with the EU-wide main values: representative democracy, equality, rule of law and human rights. Besides they are serving as a safeguard for the European competitiveness in the world.

Modern European defense strategy based on a specific industrial program

Views: 45The newly created European defense strategy, EDIS is a reaction of the EU institutions and the member states on the EU-wide security challenges. It is aimed, generally at enabling to “transit” from “crisis response” to more feasible “structural defense readiness”. The European defense spending have become too complicated recently: there are too many different […]

Monitoring SDGs in the European Union

Views: 44National obligations to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs require more active monitoring and control over reforms and measures. In eighth monitoring reports issues by Eurostat during last fifteen years some progress and drawbacks are seen to show national efforts in sustainability.  

European Semester: economic compass in development

Views: 31Due to strong and coordinated EU-wide policy response, the member states managed “to navigate” stormy economic waters. However, the EU still faces many challenges; geopolitical turbulence just added a great deal of uncertainty: hence the growth in the EU-28 is around 1.3 percent. The EU Commissioners made in the new Semester some assessments…