Voting in the European Union – Central Europe’s Lost Voice

Ten Central European countries became members of the European Union in the years 2004 - 2007. They constitute 20% of the EU’s total population; and even though their economic output is much lower, it rises dynamically. New members’ impact on the EU policies has nevertheless been limited. This is due not only to the arcane voting rules within the EU, but also to the lack of a common agenda among the Central European countries. Our paperillustrates that the new members rarely vote together and that their influence is thus fairly limited. We argue that as the EU seemingly lacks energy to implement further reforms that would stimulate its economy, impetus for change may come from Central European countries. To that end, however, they have to coordinate their voting and become a more coherent voting group than they are now.European Union, voting system, European Council, new member states

The EU Budget Dispute - A Blessing in Disguise?

This paper analyses the European budget and the net position of the ten new member states. We argue that the EU budget should be reconsidered, as the Union has expanded to 25 member states and has become more heterogeneous. We demonstrate how the ten new members fared with respect to the budgetary plans outlined in the budget proposal approved at the 2002 summit at Copenhagen. We show that, in 2004, the new member states failed to qualify for the whole planned budget within the agricultural policy and the structural funds. On the other hand, they qualified for more than planned from a set of internal policy programmes and also from compensation transfers. We discuss the financial outlook for 2007–2013 and its recent developments. We argue that for the EU budget to support economic growth, the priorities must be re-oriented towards potentially productive spending programmes, and spending on oldfashioned programmes, such as the Common Agricultural Policy, should be scaled down or possibly re-nationalised. We show, however, that it is exactly these programmes that remained unchanged in the final negotiations for the 2007–2013 perspective. A simple economic growth model illustrates that the current EU budget setting is, at best, neutral with respect to the EUwide long-term growth potential and may actually hamper growth in the majority of the EU countries if the distortionary nature of taxation is taken into account.Budget, European Union, growth.

The EU Budget Dispute – A Blessing in Disguise?

This paper analyses the current budget of the European Union and the relative position of the new member states. The author argues that the EU budget should be reconsidered, as the union has expanded to 27 member states and has become more heterogeneous. The budget priorities should be re-oriented toward growth enhancing spending programs. A simple economic growth model illustrates that the EU budget is, at best, neutral with respect to EU-wide long-term growth potential, and may actually hamper growth in the majority of member states if the distortionary nature of taxation is taken into account.budget, European Union, growth

Implicit Public Debt of the Czech Social-Security System

The Czech social-security system is hampered by the ageing population, similarly as all European systems. The discussion of remedies is still very rudimentary. Pro-reform arguments concentrate on the non-sustainability of the current system in the long term and on the miserable returns the system produces for the taxpayers. Funded systems are consequentially quoted as a viable alternative. The main argument of the non-reformers, on the contrary, rests with the sky-high costs of such a reform and on the societal instincts that may clash within an attempt. In this paper, we try to carry out an objective and comprehensive appraisal of the implicit debt of the Czech social-security system. Such an estimate would be crucial if a reform, at least partially based on the switch to a funded system, were to be conceived. Currently, the government is considering no such reform. Therefore, for the short-term fiscal outlook, costs of unreformed system should be taken into account. In a longerterm, though, future governments will have to deal with the pension system and implement some aspects of the pension reform. We show that the current social-security system based on the PAYG principle is heavily indebted, though the debt is thus far .implicit.. Taken all parts of the system together, the Czech social security system has accumulated debt in excess of 250% GDP, level similar to other European countries. The debt level is, indeed sensitive to the valorisation coefficient. Should the future governments apply very restrictive policies and keep social security benefits fixed in real terms, the overall implicit debt would decrease to 199% of GDP. On the other hand, more generous valorisation by 4% in real terms would lift the implicit debt to 324% of GDP.Public Debt, Czech Republic, Social Security System

Labour Market Institutions and their Effect on Labour Market Performance in the New EU Member Countries

This article focuses on the role of labour market institutions in explaining different labour market developments in European countries, with a special attention to the new European Union member countries. This may allow us to analyse effects of various institutional setups and of their changes on major labour market indicators. We aim at complementing several studies from the late 1990’s by using more recent data that allow us to compare institutional setups from the mid 1990’s and early 2000’s both in “old” and “new” EU member states. We estimate effects of labour market institutions on various performance indicators (unemployment, long-term unemployment, employment, activity rate). Our results confirm that high taxes increase unemployment, while active labour market policies tend to reduce it. We also show that stricter employment protection, higher taxes and larger economic burden represented by the minimum wage decrease employment and activity rate. Moreover, statistical tests indicate that there is a difference in the institutional effects between “old” and “new” EU members.labour market, unemployment, European Union, labour market institutions

Present and Future Fiscal Policy Problems in the Czech Republic

This paper is focused . using the example of the Czech Republic since 1993 . on a description of the hidden risks, implicitly existing in the system of public finances during the transition period (from a centrally planned towards market economy). The starting assumption is that public budgets have in time of economic transition certain specific functions. These consist explicitly in supporting the transitional process by transferring part of the economic and social costs, attached to it, over time and various categories of population. These functions are to be carried out at time, when the economic performance of those countries tends to be rather poor and the revenue side of the budgets is not buoyant. Since the financial capacity of the budget is restraint, governments try to find ways by which transition functions could be carried out while their financing would not take the form of instant cash outlays. Evidence of the Czech Republic suggests that measures, conceived to meet the expectations attached to the budget in respect to part of the transitional costs, though conceived originally as temporary, tend over time to become of a permanent nature. Issues such as a risk of moral hazard then occur. The analysis also points to the fact that these sorts of phenomena may not be the only factor that contributed to the deterioration of the Czech public finance in recent years. The evidence of fiscal developments in quite a number of transitional economies suggests that elements of these features tend to exist in most of those countries.Fiscal Policy, Czech Republic

Labor institutions and their impact on shadow economies in Europe

This paper analyzes the role of labor market institutions in explaining the development of shadow economies in European countries. The analysis uses several alternative measures of the shadow sector, and examines the effects of labor institutions on the shadow sector in two specific regions: new and old European Union member countries, as their respective shadow sectors exhibited a different development in the past decade. Although the share of the shadow economy in gross domestic product averaged 27.5 percent in the new member countries in 1999-2007, the respective share in the old member states stood at 17.9 percent. The paper estimates the effects of labor market institutions on two sets of shadow economy indicators -- shadow production and shadow employment. Comparing alternative measures of the shadow sector allows a more granulated analysis of labor market institution effects. The results indicate that the one institution that unambiguously increases shadow economy production and employment is the strictness of employment protection legislation. Other labor market institutions -- active and passive labor market policies, labor taxation, trade union density, and the minimum wage setting -- have less straightforward and statistically robust effects and their impacts often diverge in new and old European Union member countries. The differences are not robust enough, however, to allow for rejecting the hypothesis of similar effects of labor market institutions in new and old European Union member states.Labor Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Debt Markets

What are their Words Worth? Political Plans and Economic Pains of Fiscal Consolidations in New EU Member States

In this paper, we track fiscal authority behaviour in the ten new EU member states (NSM) in the period which immediately preceded their EU accession. We first present basic stylized facts about public budgets of those countries. The paper then analyses reasons which led to periods of fiscal consolidation in the NMS. Secondly, we also present evidence from Pre-Accession Economic and Convergence programmes of NMSs concerning planned steps of the fiscal authorities and try to contrast them with reality. Throughout the paper, we identify two different groups of countries which significantly differ in their fiscal behaviour. On the one side is the group of Baltic countries, displaying strong reform effort and responsible fiscal policy usually supported by strong economic growth. On the second extreme, we identify fiscally irresponsible central European countries and two Mediterranean islands displaying lax fiscal policies and little political will to implement costly reforms. Somewhere between stand Slovenia and Slovakia, first without a strong reform performance yet with budget deficits in compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact and later with recent reform efforts.Our key finding concerning the behaviour of the fiscally irresponsible group of countries is that their current problems with high budget deficits originate in their lax approach and inability to implement politically costly expenditure cuts which is apparent from their revision of budget plans and endeavour to shift envisioned deficit reductions into the future. Yet, this strategy has led those countries to an uncomfortable position vis-à-vis European fiscal rules.fiscal policy, new member states, consolidations, Stability and Growth Pact, excessive deficit procedure, convergence programmes

Conditions of emergence of the Sooty Bark Disease and aerobiology of Cryptostroma corticale in Europe

The sooty bark disease (SBD) is an emerging disease affecting sycamore maple trees (Acer pseudoplatanus) in Europe. Cryptostroma corticale, the causal agent, putatively native to eastern North America, can be also pathogenic for humans causing pneumonitis. It was first detected in 1945 in Europe, with markedly increasing reports since 2000. Pathogen development appears to be linked to heat waves and drought episodes. Here, we analyse the conditions of the SBD emergence in Europe based on a three-decadal time -series data set. We also assess the suitability of aerobiological samples using a species-specific quantitative PCR assay to inform the epidemiology of C. corticale, through a regional study in France comparing two-year aerobiological and epidemiological data, and a continental study including 12 air samplers from six countries (Czechia, France, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland). We found that an accumulated water deficit in spring and summer lower than-132 mm correlates with SBD outbreaks. Our results suggest that C. corticale is an efficient airborne pathogen which can dis-perse its conidia as far as 310 km from the site of the closest disease outbreak. Aerobiology of C. corticale followed the SBD distribution in Europe. Pathogen detection was high in countries within the host native area and with longer disease presence, such as France, Switzerland and Czech Republic, and sporadic in Italy, where the pathogen was reported just once. The pathogen was absent in samples from Portugal and Sweden, where the disease has not been reported yet. We conclude that aerobiological surveillance can inform the spatial distribution of the SBD, and contribute to early detection in pathogen-free countries

European Language Grid: A Joint Platform for the European Language Technology Community

Europe is a multilingual society, in which dozens of languages are spoken. The only option to enable and to benefit from multilingualism is through Language Technologies (LT), i.e., Natural Language Processing and Speech Technologies. We describe the European Language Grid (ELG), which is targeted to evolve into the primary platform and marketplace for LT in Europe by providing one umbrella platform for the European LT landscape, including research and industry, enabling all stakeholders to upload, share and distribute their services, products and resources. At the end of our EU project, which will establish a legal entity in 2022, the ELG will provide access to approx. 1300 services for all European languages as well as thousands of data sets