The Stability and Growth Pact from the Perspective Of the New Member States

The purpose of this paper is to examine the fiscal characteristics of the new members in the light of the requirements of the SGP and the criticisms levelled against the Pact and to see in what ways their initial conditions differ from those faced by the current euro zone countries in the run-up to the adoption of the euro. Overall, because of the lower debt levels and greater yield convergence already achieved, the new members will be able to rely less on gains from yield convergence than the current euro zone members were able to do. EU accession will also have a negative net impact on the budgets of the new members in the early years of membership. We also look at the cyclical sensitivities of the budgets and find that in the new members the smoothing capacity of the automatic stabilizers might be weaker than in the current euro zone members. Beyond these general characteristics, we also emphasize that there are large differences in the starting fiscal positions of the new members. Some of the policy implications of our findings are discussed.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40095/3/wp709.pd

Promoting Public Health and Safety: A Predictive Modeling Software Analysis on Perceived Road Fatality Contributory Factors

Extensive literature search was conducted to computationally analyze the relationship between key perceived road fatality factors and public health impacts, in terms of mortality and morbidity. Heterogeneous sources of data on road fatality 1970-2005 and that based on interview questionnaire on European road drivers’ perception were sourced. Computational analysis was performed on these data using the Multilayer Perceptron model within the dtreg predictive modeling software. Driver factors had the highest relative significance. Drivers played significant role as causative agents of road accidents. A good degree of correlation was also observed when compared with results obtained by previous researchers. Sweden, UK, Finland, Denmark, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Austria, where road safety targets were set and EU targets adopted, experienced a faster and sharper reduction of road fatalities. However, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Portugal experienced slow, but little reduction in cases of road fatalities. Spain experienced an increase in road fatalities possibly due to road fatalities enhancing factors. Estonia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Hungry, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland experienced a fluctuating but decreasing trend. Enforcement of road safety principles and regulations are needed to decrease the incidences of fatal accidents. Adoption of the EU target of -50% reductions of fatalities in all countries will help promote public health and safety

HELSINKI CORRIDORS – WAYS OF EUROPEAN EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT

Efficient distribution of human and goods transport has always been an important element in maintaining the economic systems cohesion. Together with the economic and technological development, the purposes to attain this goal have considerably evolved. .The integration of the Centre, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries’ infrastructure in the European transport networks has as a main goal the promotion of networks’ interconnection and interoperability. This is done through concentrating upon some specific infrastructure routes located on the trajectory of 10 pan-European transport corridors, which pass through geographical zones in many countries, some of them EU members, and others undergoing a process of negotiation (Turkey). Pan-European Corridors will have immediate effects like: the growth of investments in infrastructure thanks to European funds – for developing countries, this will represent an important part as it welcomes a development of the economy, especially in crises; the favoring of conditions for the functioning and administration of globalization; the growth of cooperation both among Eastern countries and between such countries and Western countries; conditions for the recovery of economic differences between West and East; conditions for the recovery of the development in accordance with the policy of European countries and other candidate countries.corridor, transport, connections, efficiency, sector

Leaders And Followers In The Effectiveness Of Public Safety Services In European States – A Spatial Frontier Approach

This research indicates that despite many differences among states’ public safety policies, improvement and regional development can be stimulated and achieved by implementing the “learning-from-the-best” policy

The Stability and Growth Pact from the Perspective of the New Member States

The purpose of this paper is to examine the fiscal characteristics of the new members in the light of the requirements of the SGP and the criticisms levelled against the Pact and to see in what ways their initial conditions differ from those faced by the current euro zone countries in the run-up to EMU. Overall, because of the lower debt levels and greater yield convergence already achieved, the new members will be able to rely less on gains from yield convergence than the current eurozone members were able to do in the run-up to EMU. EU accession will also have a negative net impact on the budgets of the new members in the early years of membership. We also look at the cyclical sensitivities of the budgets and find that in the new members the smoothing capacity of the automatic stabilizers might be weaker than in the current euro zone members. Beyond these general characteristics, we also emphasize that there are large differences in the starting fiscal positions of the new members. Some of the policy implications of our findings are discussed.EU enlargement, fiscal policy, fiscal rules, Stability and Growth Pact.

The Stability and Growth Pact from the Perspective Of the New Member States

The purpose of this paper is to examine the fiscal characteristics of the new members in the light of the requirements of the SGP and the criticisms levelled against the Pact and to see in what ways their initial conditions differ from those faced by the current euro zone countries in the run-up to the adoption of the euro. Overall, because of the lower debt levels and greater yield convergence already achieved, the new members will be able to rely less on gains from yield convergence than the current euro zone members were able to do. EU accession will also have a negative net impact on the budgets of the new members in the early years of membership. We also look at the cyclical sensitivities of the budgets and find that in the new members the smoothing capacity of the automatic stabilizers might be weaker than in the current euro zone members. Beyond these general characteristics, we also emphasize that there are large differences in the starting fiscal positions of the new members. Some of the policy implications of our findings are discussed.EU enlargement, fiscal policy, fiscal rules, Stability and Growth Pact