The Budget of the European Union. IES WORKING PAPER 4/2010

This paper first provides a short history of the European budget, focusing on the development of the EU’s “own resources”. It then elaborates on the fundamental changes to the financial system and the budgetary procedure that the Treaty of Lisbon introduced. It is posited that with the amendments the budgetary process has lost clarity. Whilst the multiannual framework may provide for long-term stability, it stands in contradiction to a central principle of parliamentary democracy: annual budgets. The EU’s search for a fair and transparent budgetary system has not yet come to full fruition. Europe needs a fairer and more transparent system. Since the Luxembourg agreement of 1970, the Union has not done anything with the VAT as own resources. The VAT is related to the welfare standards and developments in the Member States. A fixed share of this indirect tax could form the base of a long term financing plan for the general EU budget

The Military Expenditures of the NATO Members

This study examines the defence expenditures of NATO’s member countries over the recent years. It makes use of the original budget figures of the states as verified by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and published by this military organization. There search of this study is to examine the following points: -            How has defence spending by the member states evolved in the period under consideration (2010-2019);-            Which states already meet the targets of the 2014 Wales summit? (2% GDP for defence and 20% of this budget for investment);The current figures are based on the primary budgetary sources as published by NATO, namely: the latest year report of 2018 (NATO, AR) and especially the most recent figures in the NATO yearly press release (NATO, PR-CP)

Is There Money for a European Defence Force?

This article examines European defence expenditure and more specifically the question of whether there is sufficient financial leeway to establish a European defence initiative.In view of the numerous defence threats on Europe’s external borders: Russia, Turkey, growing migration pressures and the ineffectiveness of the external borders of the “Schengen-zone”, this article will examine the following: -        What are the defence expenditures of the European members of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and of non-NATO members in Europe;-        Would it be possible to establish a European army with these financial resources?The current figures are primarily based on NATO financial sources (see references). These NATO figures refer to defence spending, including military pensions and militarized police forces such as the “Gendarmerie” in France and the “Koninklijke Marechaussee” in The Netherlands.In conclusion the article tries to respond to the question of which states would be necessary and/or potentially available for the creation of a European defence force?First, this study gives a short overview of the defence history in western Europe after the second world war, followed by the European attempts concerning this item. Finally, this article examines the topic of this article in point three; namely: which European countries are potential partners for an European defence system

Is more Benelux cooperation the future for the low countries?

The article examines the possibility of greater cooperation within the Benelux structure. What might the opportunities and consequences of maximizing the synergies of cooperation between Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands be ? In particular the article examines closer Benelux cooperation between the numerous European and international institutions. In addition the possibility of a single Benelux diplomatic service and a joint army is discussed. Finally the future position of the Benelux institutions are the topic of this study. Seeing the present problems with the working of the European Union, more integration of the three Benelux countries can be a solution in a divided Europe. Can more Benelux integration gives an upgrade of political power for the low countries

Voting with your wallet? Municipal budget policy and election results

In this research letter, we examine the impact of municipal budget policy on the percentage of votes for the incumbent majority parties in subsequent elections. We contribute to the academic literature by examining the combined influence of taxes, expenditures and debt. Based on data for Flanders (Belgium) between 1994 and 2012, we find no significant association between these budget variables and the actual election results

Tracklet-based vessel re-identification for multicamera vessel-speed enforcement

In crowded waterways, maritime traffic is bound to speed regulations for safety reasons. Although several speed measurement techniques exist for road traffic, such systems are not available for vessels. This paper proposes a new approach for tracklet-based re-identification (re-ID) as a solution for vessel-speed enforcement. For evaluation, the Vessel-reID dataset is used that we introduced in previous work [2]. The core of the tracklet re-ID approach is based on a novelTracklet-based Querying Procedure as a more effective alternative to the Common Querying Procedure (CQP) found in popular re-ID datasets [7, 8]. The existing procedure randomly selects a single image from the whole query-vesseltrajectory (in one camera view). This is improved by (1) detecting a set of most representative images per tracklet of a query-vessel, and by (2) raising the matching accuracy based on accumulating the gallery similarity scores for all imagesin the set. In the experimental validation, we adopt two well-known person reID algorithms, TriNet [3] and MGN [6], since most re-ID literature focuses on person re-ID. Results show a significant increase in performance by applying thetracklet-based approach instead of CQP: a gain of 5.6% and 8.1% Rank-1 for MGN and TriNet, respectively

Tracklet-based vessel re-identification for multicamera vessel-speed enforcement

In crowded waterways, maritime traffic is bound to speed regulations for safety reasons. Although several speed measurement techniques exist for road traffic, such systems are not available for vessels. This paper proposes a new approach for tracklet-based re-identification (re-ID) as a solution for vessel-speed enforcement. For evaluation, the Vessel-reID dataset is used that we introduced in previous work [2]. The core of the tracklet re-ID approach is based on a novelTracklet-based Querying Procedure as a more effective alternative to the Common Querying Procedure (CQP) found in popular re-ID datasets [7, 8]. The existing procedure randomly selects a single image from the whole query-vesseltrajectory (in one camera view). This is improved by (1) detecting a set of most representative images per tracklet of a query-vessel, and by (2) raising the matching accuracy based on accumulating the gallery similarity scores for all imagesin the set. In the experimental validation, we adopt two well-known person reID algorithms, TriNet [3] and MGN [6], since most re-ID literature focuses on person re-ID. Results show a significant increase in performance by applying thetracklet-based approach instead of CQP: a gain of 5.6% and 8.1% Rank-1 for MGN and TriNet, respectively

Breath analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and electronic nose to screen for pleural mesothelioma : a cross-sectional case-control study

Rationale: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is mainly caused by previous exposure to asbestos fibers and has a poor prognosis. Due to a long latency period between exposure and diagnosis, MPM incidence is expected to peak between 2020-2025. Screening of asbestos-exposed individuals is believed to improve early detection and hence, MPM management. Recent developments focus on breath analysis for screening since breath contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which reflect the cell’s metabolism. Objectives: The goal of this cross-sectional, case-control study is to identify VOCs in exhaled breath of MPM patients with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and to assess breath analysis to screen for MPM using an electronic nose (eNose). Methods: Breath and background samples were taken from 64 subjects: 16 healthy controls (HC), 19 asymptomatic former asbestos-exposed (AEx) individuals, 15 patients with benign asbestos-related diseases (ARD) and 14 MPM patients. Samples were analyzed with both GC-MS and eNose. Results: Using GC-MS, AEx individuals were discriminated from MPM patients with 97% accuracy, with diethyl ether, limonene, nonanal, methylcyclopentane and cyclohexane as important VOCs. This was validated by eNose analysis. MPM patients were discriminated from AEx+ARD participants by GC-MS and eNose with 94% and 74% accuracy, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 100%, 91%, 82%, 100% for GC-MS and 82%, 55%, 82%, 55% for eNose, respectively. Conclusion: This study shows accurate discrimination of patients with MPM from asymptomatic asbestos-exposed persons at risk by GC-MS and eNose analysis of exhaled VOCs and provides proof-of-principle of breath analysis for MPM screening