This CEPS book examines two interrelated questions: 1) How has the European External Action Service (EEAS) functioned in the EU institutional architecture in the first two years of its existence? 2) What improvements can be made through the 2013 review and the 2014 revision of the EEAS’ mandate? The study contributes to the current debate through an in-depth examination of the EEAS’ relations with the EU member states, the European Commission, the European Parliament and its Delegations.

Takeovers are one-off events, altering control and strategy within an organisation. But the chances of becoming the target of a bid, even where remote, daily influence corporate decision-making. Takeover rules are therefore central to company law and the balance of power among managers, shareholders and stakeholders alike. This study analyses the corporate governance drivers underpinning takeover bid regulations and assesses the implementation of the EU Directive on takeover bids and compares it with the legal framework of nine other major jurisdictions, including the US.

Launched in March 2010 by the European Commission, the Europe 2020 strategy aims at achieving “smart, sustainable and inclusive” growth. This growth is intended to be driven by three sets of engines: knowledge and innovation, a greener and more efficient use of resources and higher employment combined with social and territorial cohesion.

To ward off the threat of a worldwide depression that loomed at the end of the 2000s, governments opted to run up substantial fiscal deficits. In doing so, they sowed the seeds of the sovereign debt crisis. Saddled with often high debt burdens and modest growth prospects, developed countries’ governments must now rebalance their budgets. Doing so too rapidly, however, will choke growth. Faced with this dilemma, Japan and the United States have pursued growth policies while the euro area members are quickly trying to rebalance their budgets.

The EU has not been perceived as reacting very rapidly or effectively to the so-called Arab Spring. Events do appear to validate the idea underpinning the European Security Strategy (ESS) and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP): only where governments guarantee to their citizens security, prosperity, freedom and equality, can peace and stability last – otherwise, people will revolt. But in practice, in its southern neighbourhood the EU has acted in precisely the opposite manner, so the Arab Spring is occurring in spite of rather than thanks to EU policy.

International standards and norms in banking regulations have, once again, leapt to the forefront of policy discussions in developed nations due to the recent crisis in the world’s financial markets. These discussions are not new, nor do they apply exclusively to the world’s most advanced economies. A sound and well-enforced regulatory regime can help developing nations to channel financial resources more efficiently into investments. For open economies, it can also act as a buffer and an important stability factor in today’s shaky market situation.

The simmering debate in Europe about multiculturalism versus assimilation has now come to a boil. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, famously stated in October 2010 that “multiculturalism in Germany (Multikulti) had failed, completely failed”. In February 2011, both Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicholas Sarkozy could also be heard declaring that multiculturalism was a failure, although only the French President endorsed assimilation as the alternative. Others argue that both assimilation and multiculturalism have failed.

The system for financing the EU today is on its last legs. Indeed, with the EU budget being predominantly financed by national contributions, member states attach great importance to what they get in return, which in the end affects the European principle of solidarity and makes every budgetary negotiation a potential arena for political blockage. The economic and financial crisis, with its corresponding increase in the public deficit of member states, has unfortunately worsened the situation.

This study, conducted by researchers at Sciences Po in Paris, CEPS and the New Economic School of Georgia, assesses the present state of the EU-Georgia discussions on a free trade agreement and finds there is an urgent need for the European Commission to reshape its approach. To this end, the authors put forward concrete proposals that should be set in motion well before the autumn 2011 Eastern Partnership Summit.

How, for what and to whom can citizens hold accountable the expenditure of some €120 billion each year by the EU budget? This book highlights three main factors that lie at the root of an accountability gap: opaque revenue arrangements making citizens unaware of their contribution, the setting of numerous and grand objectives whose vague expectations are hard to account for and, finally, the delegation of the main management to member state bodies that are not accountable at EU level.

Together with researchers from two other Brussels-based research institutes ¬Egmont (Belgium’s Royal Institute of International Affairs) and the European Policy Centre (EPC), CEPS examines the institutional innovations that are gradually being introduced as a result of the Treaty of Lisbon.
Contributors:
CEPS: Piotr Maciej Kaczyński, Peadar ó Broin
EGMONT: Franklin Dehousse, Philippe de Schoutheete, Tinne Heremans, Jacques Keller, Guy Milton (in association), Nick Witney (in association)

This book celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) by bringing together the views of key practitioners and policy-makers who have played an outstanding role in thinking about and shaping EU policies on freedom, security and justice.

This new CEPS-FRIDE paperback offers the first assessment of the ambitious strategy to upgrade the EU’s cooperation with the five states of the Central Asia region: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Undertaken by independent analysts from the EU and Central Asia within the context of the EUCAM project, the book looks at the role of Russia, China, the US and others in Central Asia, as well the current state of politics and economics in the region.

Economic theory and empirical findings suggest that the way in which agricultural support is provided has an influence on land markets. Support payments tend to become capitalised into land values to some degree, affecting both the sales and rental prices of land. These effects in turn have a bearing on the transfer efficiency of the support and structural change in agriculture.