Completed task forces

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Aligning the EU Budget to the Europe 2020 Competitiveness and Growth Objectives

The economic crisis has exposed the weaknesses of the European economies and emphasised the needs to boost competitiveness of the private sector by means of further economic integration and growth enhancing policies. Climate change has made the world aware that energy production and use needs a fundamental restructuring towards low carbon solutions. Competitiveness, employment and energy security are Europe’s central challenges.

The EU Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan: From concept to practice

Creating a global economy that emits a fraction of its current greenhouse gas emissions will not only require wholesale changes in the ways economies are structured, but more importantly a new and unprecedented innovation drive in the EU and beyond. This is especially true for the energy sector, which is responsible for up to 80% of total GHG emissions. There is consensus now that economic growth, welfare and competitiveness of the EU will depend on the EU’ success in developing, deploying and competing in new low-carbon technologies.

MiFID Review: What is Next for European Capital Markets?

The European Capital Markets Institute and the Centre for European Policy Studies wish to engage in the international debate with European regulators on the review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) run by the European Commission and the Committee of European Securities Regulators. The revision of MiFID represents a new challenge for Europe, which strives to improve efficiency and integration of its capital markets.

A New Retail Credit Regime for Europe - Setting the Right Priorities

The recent institutional re-shuffle has charged new internal market Commissioner Michel Barnier with the task of evaluating costs and benefits of re-designing the regulatory framework currently governing the EU’s retail credit market(s).

Barnier’s team will have to set its sails for the headwinds if in favor of a policy decision tightening the legislative grip on a sector that moved into the spotlight in the wake of the financial crisis.

Critical Infrastructure Protection in the EU

Over the past few years, the attention of policymakers and industry players towards the protection of critical infrastructure has grown remarkably. In the era of networks, citizens and businesses have become increasingly dependent on a large set of infrastructures encompassing energy networks, the banking sector, telecommunications, the Internet etc. In the US, a national programme to protect critical infrastructure was launched in 1998, under the Clinton administration, and was confirmed and updated under the Bush administration in 2003.

European Investors’ Working Group

Corporate and Commodity Standards and the Implications for Sustainable Trade and Development

Changes in consumer attitudes in the EU and other developed countries are having a major impact on the organization of commodities’ trade and global production systems. Demands on corporate practices, including environmental and labor conditions, are affecting global trade and supply systems. Similarly, EU food safety crises in the past decade, as well as the resistance against genetically altered products, have caused a tightening of process and product standards for EU food imports and supply systems, including demands for traceability and tighter SPS standards.

Solvency II Regime: A Revolution Underway for (Re)insurance Companies

The new regime whose financial requirements are based on an economic total balance sheet approach, addresses the valuation of liabilities, including technical provisions and their margins; the quality, liquidity and valuation of assets; the matching of assets and liabilities; suitable forms of capital; and capital adequacy requirements.The new regime will drive a revolution in insurance and reinsurance companies’ solvency regulation.

CDM and post-2012 Flexible Mechanisms

The CDM has been a great success to build up the institutional framework for a carbon market in developing countries, including monitoring, reporting and verification and provide a carbon signal in these countries. It has also leveraged considerable investment in developing countries. At the same time, there have been a number of concerns such as environmental effects, transaction costs, uneven distribution of the benefits between counties but also a real or perceived lack of technology transfer.

E-communications: Regulatory Challenges for the Post-Lisbon Era

As technology progresses and consumer demand evolves, the communications sector poses new challenges and hard questions to sectoral regulators and public policy-makers.

Innovation Policy: Boosting EU Competitiveness in a Global Economy

While globalisation has increased the prospects for many European businesses, open markets have also brought challenges as competition has increased. In order to remain competitive, European firms are facing increased pressure to be more inventive so that they can react quickly to consumer demands, and respond to global challenges such as climate change and fluctuations in energy prices.

EU and Global Climate Change Policy and the Increasing Role of Cities

There has been an increasing interest by different stakeholders for cities to play a bigger role in climate change policy. According to some estimates, cities are home to 80% of EU citizens, responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. Urban areas will play a key role in improving energy efficiency and develop low-carbon business and economic development. This is increasingly recognised by policy makers at member state and EU level. The European Commission under the auspices of DG Transport and Energy has launched the “Covenant of mayors” initiative.

Banking Crisis Resolution Procedures

A number of major international banks and numerous banks of lesser size in developed countries still are crippled by large amounts of “legacy” assets which they are unable to value and which impede their return to normal lending activity, while capital markets are unable or unwilling to provide them to sufficient equity capital to pull them out of their dire straits.

Benchmarking in the EU ETS and Beyond

The revised EU Emissions Trading Scheme foresees auctioning of allowances as the default option. However, Article 10a of the Directive allows for transitional free allocation, based on Community-wide ex-ante benchmarks (if feasible) based on a number of objectives, essentially related to providing incentives for GHG reductions and the use of energy efficient techniques.

The Corporate Tax Regime of the European Company

CEPS Task Force Report:
Corporate Taxation and the European Company Statute
Author: Emrah Arbak, CEPS

Sectoral industry approaches to address climate change

CEPS Task Force Report:
Global Sectoral Industry Approaches to Climate Change: The Way Forward
Authors: Christian Egenhofer & Noriko Fujiwara

EU ETS Review II: Completing the Review of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Main Findings of the Task Force

Chair:
Ulrika Raab, Senior Advisor, Swedish Energy Agency and Member of the CDM Executive Board

Concrete Steps Towards More Integrated Financial Oversight in the EU

CEPS Task Force Report:
Concrete Steps towards More Integrated Financial Oversight: The EU’s Policy Response to the Crisis
Author: Karel Lannoo

The financial crisis exposed dangerous weaknesses in the regulatory and oversight structure that need to be urgently corrected to restore confidence in the financial system and to keep the single market alive. Towards this end, this CEPS Task Force report puts forward three main policy recommendations to the EU:

Pouring Old Wine in New Skins? UCITS & Asset Management after the White Paper

CEPS Task Force Report:
Pouring old wine in new skins? UCITS & Asset Management after MiFID
Authors: Karel Lannoo (CEO, CEPS) & Jean-Pierre Casey (Associate Fellow, CEPS)

Energy Policy for Europe

CEPS Task Force Report:
Energy Policy for Europe: Identifying the European Added-Value
Authors: Arno Behrens and Christian Egenhofer (CEPS, Rapporteurs)

EU Climate Change Strategy and the Gleneagles Plan of Action: The G8 + 5 Climate Change Dialogue

CEPS Task Force Report:
Making the most of the G8+5 Climate Change Process: Accelerating Structural Change and Technology Diffusion on a Global Scale
Authors: Noriko Fujiwara, CEPS Fellow & Christian Egenhofer, CEPS Senior Fellow

Achieving the Internal Market for E-communications

CEPS Task Force Report:
Achieving the Internal Market for e-communications
Author: Andrea Renda, CEPS Senior Fellow

The Treatment of Exclusionary Abuses under Article 82

The application of Article 82 of the EU Treaty to exclusionary abuses is currently subject to an in-depth review following the publication of a Discussion Paper drafted by a group of economists for the European Commission in December 2005.

Review of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

CEPS Task Force Report:
Reviewing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme: Priorities for Short-Term Implementation of the Second Round of Allocation (Part I + II)
Authors: Christian Egenhofer & Noriko Fujiwara

Communications: Policy Challenges for the Information Superhighway

CEPS Task Force Report:
Last call for Lisbon? Suggestions for the Future Regulation of E-Communications in Europe
Author: Andrea Renda

Internal Market for Retail Financial Services

Since the formation of the euro area, the integration of both wholesale and retail financial markets has been a European priority. Indeed, if the elimination of currency barriers has brought markets together, it has also drawn attention to the opportunity costs of fragmentation.

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