Three decades of policy layering and politically sustainable reform in the European Union’s Agricultural Policy

The study of policy reform has tended to focus on single-stage reforms taking place over a relatively short period. Recent research has drawn attention to gradual policy changes unfolding over extended periods. One strategy of gradual change is layering, in which new policy dimensions are introduced by adding new policy instruments or by redesigning existing ones to address new concerns. The limited research on single-stage policy reforms highlights that these may not endure in the postenactment phase when circumstances change. We argue that gradual policy layering may create sustainability dynamics that can result in lasting reform trajectories. The European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has changed substantially over the last three decades in response to emerging policy concerns by adding new layers. This succession of reforms proved durable and resilient to reversal in the lead-up to the 2013 CAP reform when institutional and political circumstances changed

European Community Responses to the ‘Problem of World Hunger’: Food Aid, Food Security, Food Strategies and All That

SUMMARY The problem of ‘world hunger’ as it is conventionally understood in fact involves a number of related problems. A weakness of the North's response is its failure to recognise interrelationships between these problems, which often fall within the portfolios of different agencies. The EEC's agricultural production and trade policies, for example, have a major impact on the Third World food situation, but are normally regarded as a constant; hence, European attempts to help alleviate the ‘world hunger problem’ tend to focus exclusively on development assistance. Within these narrow confines, there are a number of policy changes that could benefit developing countries. These include an extension to the Stabex scheme to take account of food import costs, as well as major improvement in the Community's food aid programme to establish greater coordination with other donors and between the Community's programme and other elements of the recipients' food strategies. RESUMEN Pespuestas de la Comunidad Europea al ‘problema del hambre mundial’:ayuda alimenticia, seguridad alimenticia, estrategias alimenticias, etc. El problema del ‘hambre mundial’, como se entiende convencionalmente, involucra de hecho problemas interrelacionados. Una debilidad de la respuesta del Norte deriva de no reconocer estas interrelaciones, las que, a menudo, aparecen en las carteras de diversas agencias. Por ejemplo, las políticas de producción y comercio agrícolas tienen mayor impacto en la situación alimenticia del Tercer Mundo, pero normalmente se consideran como una constante. En consecuencia, los intentos europeos para ayudar a aliviar el ‘problema del hambre mundial’ tienden a concentrarse exclusivamente en la asistencia al desarrollo. Dentro de estos estrechos límites, hay algunos cambios de política que podrían beneficiar a los países en desarrollo. Estos incluyen una extensión del programa Stabex para considerar los costos de importación de alimentos, así como un importante mejoramiento en el programa de ayuda alimenticia de la Comunidad, tanto para establecer mayor coordinación con otros donantes, como entre el programa de ésta y otros elementos de las estrategias de los receptores de alimentos. RÉSUMÉ Les réponses de la Communauté Européenne au ‘probleème de la faim dans le monde’: assistance alimentaire, sécurité alimentaire, stratégies alimentaires et tout ce qui s'en suit Le problème de la ‘faim dans le monde’ auquel on se réfère habituellement comprend en fait un nombre de problèmes apparentés. Une faiblesse de la réponse du Nord est son incapacité à reconnaître la corrélation entre ces problèmes, qui souvent font partie de portefeuilles d'organismes différents. La politique de la CEE sur le commerce et la production agricole, par exemple, a un impact majeur sur la situation alimentaire dans le Tiers?Monde, mais est normalement considérée comme une constante; de ce fait, les tentatives européennes d'aide à la réduction du ‘problème de la faim dans le monde’ tendent à se concentrer exclusivement dans une assistance au développement. Dans ces limites réduites, il y a un certain nombre de changements de ligne d'action qui pourraient profiter aux pays en voie de développement. Ils comprennent une extension du projet Stabex en vue de prendre en compte le coût de l'importation de denrées alimentaires, ainsi qu'une amélioration majeure dans le programme d'assistance alimentaire de la Communauté pour établir une coordination plus grande avec les autres donateurs et entre le programme de la Communauté et d'autres éléments des bénéficiames des stratégies alimentaires

Report from the commission to the Council on the out come of the consultations with Spain concerning certain cheeses under the EEC-Spain Agreement of 5 June 1970. Recommendation for regulation of the Council on the conclusion of the Agreement amending the Agreement of 5 June 1970 between the European Economic Community and Spain on certain cheeses

Negociaciones sobre lás condiciones de comercialización de ciertos tipos de queso bajo el mandato del Acuerdo Comercial España-CEE de 197

Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for sherry falling within heading Nº ex 22.05 of the Common Customs Tariff, originating in Spain. Submitted to the Council by the Commission

negociaciones de tarifas aduaneras impuestas a productos españoles: jere

Opting for opting in? : an evaluation of the European Commission’s proposals for reforming VAT on financial services

This paper provides a legal and economic analysis of the European Commission’s recent proposals for reforming the application of VAT to financial services, with particular focus on their “third pillar”, under which firms would be allowed to opt-into taxation on exempt insurance and financial services. From a legal perspective, we show that the proposals’ “first and second pillar” would give rise to considerable interpretative and qualification problems, resulting in as much complexity and legal uncertainty as the current regime. Equally, an option to tax could potentially follow significantly different legal designs, which would give rise to discrepancies in the application of the option amongst Member States. On the economic side, we show that quite generally, when firms cannot coordinate their behaviour, they have an individual incentive to opt-in on business-to-business (B2B) transactions, but not on business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. We also show that opting in eliminates the cost disadvantage that EU financial services firms face in competing with foreign firms for B2B sales. But, these results do not hold if firms can coordinate their behaviour. An estimate of the upper bound on the amount of tax revenue that might be lost from allowing opting-in is provided for a number of EU countries