Logistics in political economy: old notion in new applications

Views: 136After several decades of successful use in transportation and business management, logistics is slowly entering political economy’s spheres, and most recently in the energy sector. Thus, political economy has acquired a specific “logistics sphere” as part of a general instrumental arsenal in a national development, with long- and short-term tasks in modern sustainable growth […]

Perspective European gas supply: managing policy’s challenges

Views: 25Sufficient energy resources (like numerous fossil fuels, gas and/or oil, etc.) have always been vital for national political economy. As soon as energy serves certain interests in national, regional and political dimensions, the best way in energy policy is energy security. Recent EU’s politico-economic decision to avoid crises connected to logistics’ disruptions in energy […]

Housing taxes in Europe and the world: facing fundamental reforms

Views: 27Taxation issues concerning residential property are among most vital for citizens: housing is the main asset for most households, it plays an important role for the middle class, with owner-occupied housing representing on average 60% of middle-class wealth. Unprecedented growth in house prices over the last three decades has made access to the housing […]

European projects in innovative energy and clean technology

Views: 15Under the third round of awards under the Innovation Fund, the EU invests over €1.8 billion in 17 large-scale innovative clean-tech projects. Grants will help bringing breakthrough technologies to the market in energy-intensive industries, hydrogen, renewable energy, carbon capture and storage infrastructure, as well as in manufacturing key components for energy storage and renewables. […]

Hydrogen energy through innovative technologies: new Commission’s plan

Views: 13For the first time ever, the EU made public a European hydrogen initiative (called IPCEI Hy2Tech) along the Union’s projects of “common European interest”. It is aimed at developing innovative technologies for the hydrogen value chain to decarbonise industrial processes and mobility. In the project’s development and first industrial deployment of breakthrough hydrogen technologies […]

Modernising the EU-wide higher education (part II)

Views: 19The second part deals with the EU-wide cooperative efforts in higher education. Present national education policy is critically vital for perspective national development and sustainable growth. But education sector is almost fully in the hands of national governance, according to the division of competence between the states and the EU institutions. The latter can […]

Modernising European higher education (part I)

Views: 29The EU provides states with both advice and support for high quality and inclusive education. These efforts are aimed at giving students urgently needed knowledge and skills for adequate response to new challenges affected by globalisation and technological change. These challenges are to be incorporated into national education policies in order to tackle the […]

European Payments Initiative: learning from previous mistakes

Views: 22The European Payments Initiative, EPI was initially meant to develop joint payments frameworks rather than searching for a balancing instrument in interoperability of heterogeneous domestic solutions. However, the EPI has been under severe scrutiny since the opt-out of several European banks. The EPI could still play a vital role in stimulating EU’s payment system […]

Czech Presidency in the Council: delivering the EU’s common priorities

Views: 23Three main topics are in the Czech’s Presidency complex motto: “Europe as a task: Rethink, Rebuild, Repower”. To implement the motto’s idea, the Czech Republic has five main priorities during the Council Presidency: ramification of Russia-Ukraine war, energy security, strengthening defense/cybersecurity, resilience of the European economy and democratic values. The overall Presidency’s idea, however, […]

EU law in progress: rule of law report-2022

Views: 18During recent years, the rule of law has been a prominent European issue; newly published Rule of Law Report (RLR-22) assists in informing political and economic elites in the states on vital legal elements in the European integration. Besides, the annual RLR represents a central instrument in the EU’s efforts towards practical promotion of […]