Download or read book Comments on the Composition of EU Commission Expert Groups written by Dimitris Xenos and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is my submission to the European Ombudsman's public consultation on the composition of EU Commission expert groups conducted between May and August 2014. The comments concentrate on the unbalanced representation of interest groups, the inadequacy of safeguards for the selection and external monitoring of experts groups and their work (esp. in the area of intellectual property), and the institutional weaknesses and inertia that facilitate the ongoing expansion of lobby practices (e.g. MEPs, including Chairs of European Parliament's Committees can hold second jobs with corporations).It is observed that although a great number of EU projects are initiated and implemented in the name of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), their representation is not reflected in the composition of expert groups. In addition, the current procedures for the selection of experts do not provide for effective safeguards to prevent or minimise conflicts of interests. Moving beyond the narrow scope of the European Ombudsman's consultation, it is stressed that for an effective monitoring system to exist the targeted area should cover all experts in the EU who influence legislative decisions and important development policies.

Download or read book Review of Status of the Commission s Register of Expert Groups and Their Composition written by and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report aims to provide insights into the development, since 2016, of the European Commission’s system of Expert Groups, including the Register of Expert Groups, thus updating the European Parliament’s study ‘Composition of the Commission’s expert groups and the status of the register of expert groups’ (September 2015). The Update finds that the European Commission’s revised Horizontal Rules, introduced in May 2016, triggered important improvements in terms of balance of interests, transparency and gender balance. Notwithstanding, there is further room for enhancing the system, and this Update recommends: further strengthening balance with a specific focus on the Expert Groups that continue to experience imbalance; further enhance transparency of Expert Group deliberations; remind Expert Groups about the requirement for gender balance; for the European Commission to report on the system and evaluate the system’s performance; and to conduct further research on specific types of Expert Group members and the use of Expert Groups.

Download or read book Composition of the Commission s Expert Groups and the Status of the Register of Expert Groups written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study aims to provide insights into the development, since 2012, of the European Commission's system of Expert Groups, including the Register of Expert Groups. The specific focus of this study is an assessment of the European Commission's compliance with a set of European Parliament conditions attached to repeated European Parliament budget reserves for the Expert Group budget. The European Parliament conditions aim to strengthen the balanced representation of interests in the Expert Groups, address conflicts of interest, and ensure transparency, in terms of open access to the working and outputs of the Expert Groups. The study finds that the European Commission, despite some progress, continues to fall short of full compliance with the European Parliament conditions on balance and transparency. Based on this study's findings, it is considered that a more systematic approach to balance would help overcoming information asymmetries and contribute to throughput legitimacy. Enhanced transparency also has potential to enhance Expert Group outputs. This study therefore recommends a systematic approach to balance, the promotion of full transparency, more resources for Secretariat General oversight and enforcement, and the systematic evaluation of Expert Group performance at the level of the system of Expert Groups and for all individual Expert Groups.

Download or read book The European Commission s Expert Groups and Their Use in Policy Making written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The European Commission Expert Groups and the Policy Process written by Julia Metz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges the assumption that policy makers' work with advisory committees is emblematic of technocratic governance. Analyzing how and why the European Commission uses expert groups in the policy process, it shows that experts not only solve technical problems, but also function as political devices and negotiators in modern governance.

Download or read book Assuring the Quality of Health Care in the European Union written by Helena Legido-Quigley and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2008 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People have always travelled within Europe for work and leisure, although never before with the current intensity. Now, however, they are travelling for many other reasons, including the quest for key services such as health care. Whatever the reason for travelling, one question they ask is "If I fall ill, will the health care I receive be of a high standard?" This book examines, for the first time, the systems that have been put in place in all of the European Union's 27 Member States. The picture it paints is mixed. Some have well developed systems, setting standards based on the best available evidence, monitoring the care provided, and taking action where it falls short. Others need to overcome significant obstacles.

Download or read book The Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence ALTAI written by Pekka Ala-Pietilä and published by European Commission. This book was released on 2020-07-17 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the 17 of July 2020, the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG) presented their final Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. Following a piloting process where over 350 stakeholders participated, an earlier prototype of the list was revised and translated into a tool to support AI developers and deployers in developing Trustworthy AI. The tool supports the actionability the key requirements outlined by the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI), presented by the High-Level Expert Group on AI (AI HLEG) presented to the European Commission, in April 2019. The Ethics Guidelines introduced the concept of Trustworthy AI, based on seven key requirements: human agency and oversight technical robustness and safety privacy and data governance transparency diversity, non-discrimination and fairness environmental and societal well-being and accountability Through the Assessment List for Trustworthy AI (ALTAI), AI principles are translated into an accessible and dynamic checklist that guides developers and deployers of AI in implementing such principles in practice. ALTAI will help to ensure that users benefit from AI without being exposed to unnecessary risks by indicating a set of concrete steps for self-assessment. Download the Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (ALTAI) (.pdf) The ALTAI is also available in a web-based tool version. More on the ALTAI web-based tool: https://futurium.ec.europa.eu/en/european-ai-alliance/pages/altai-assessment-list-trustworthy-artificial-intelligence

Download or read book Participation and Social Assessment written by Jennifer Rietbergen-McCracken and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Bank Technical Paper No. 406 (Fisheries Series). In the past six years, the world's fishery sector has reached a turning point with global fish production reaching a plateau of approximately 100 million tons annually. While aquaculture output continued to grow, yields from capture fisheries were uneven and showed increasing signs of stagnation because of widespread overfishing and overcapitalization, ineffective management, deteriorating resource health, declining or flat global harvests, and inefficient economic and trade policies. This paper examines the role of subsidies in fisheries.

Download or read book Dynamics of Change in the European Union written by Daniel Naurin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agreements concerning inter-institutional rules in the treaties of the European Union often give rise to reactions and processes of adaptation within the EU institutions. Recent literature on EU legislative politics has increasingly examined decision-making within the EU institutions, but has largely overlooked how these internal processes react and adapt to changes in relations between the EU bodies. To fill this gap the authors present a series of empirical studies that examine how shifts in inter-institutional rules and procedures affect intra-institutional politics. They show that the resulting intrainstitutional adaptations may in turn both have distributive consequences and affect the efficiency of the initial inter-institutional reforms. In addition, they provide some stepping stones for theory-building on how treaty reforms affect organizational structure and decision-making within the EU institutions by outlining a series of mediating variables that link these two types of change processes. This book was originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.

Download or read book A Fiduciary Approach to Delegated and Implementing Rule Making in the EU written by R. Eljalill Tauschinsky and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-10 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the evaluation of delegated and implementing rule-making, based on Articles 290 and 291 TFEU. These articles have attracted considerable attention since their introduction in 2009, and their implementation is one of the most hotly debated questions in European Administrative Law. The book takes up this timely topic, discusses it in an innovative way and offers valuable new insights. Delegated and implementing acts are the most common form of EU legal acts. However, despite their ubiquity and relevance, it is unclear how the Commission’s powers to adopt these important acts relates to subjects’ democratic rights. Accordingly, the book explores the question of how the Commission’s powers to adopt delegated and implementing acts can be justified. The relationship between the Commission and the persons within the Member States who are directly affected by its rule-making should be seen, the book argues, as one of institutional trust, and as a result as a fiduciary relationship. The book begins by defining the theoretical conditions for a justificatory approach, before explaining the background and foundations of fiduciary law. It then links this theoretical perspective with the realities of delegated and implementing acts, describing how the various roles in fiduciary relationships map onto the rule-making process that produces delegated and implementing acts, and explains how the fundamental tenet of fiduciary relationships – loyalty – can be included in the rule-making process.

Download or read book Lobbying in the European Union written by Doris Dialer and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-11 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book sheds new light on how lobbying works in the European Union. Drawing on the first-hand professional experience of lobbyists, policymakers, and corporate and institutional stakeholders, combined with a sound academic foundation, it offers insights into successful lobbying strategies, such as how alliances are formed by interest groups in Brussels. The authors present key case studies, e.g. on the shelved EU-US trade deal Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), lobbying scandals, and the role of specific interest groups and EU Think-Tanks. Furthermore, they highlight efforts to improve transparency and ethical standards in EU decision-making, while also underscoring the benefits of lobbying in the context of decision-making. Understanding the tools and techniques of effective lobbying, as well as the dynamics and trends in EU lobbying, will allow professionals involved in the lobbying process, such as policymakers and corporate and institutional stakeholders, to improve their performance and achieve better results when pursuing their respective interests.

Download or read book Voluntary Health Insurance in Europe Country Experience written by Sagan A. and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2016-07-20 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No two markets for voluntary health insurance (VHI) are identical. All differ in some way because they are heavily shaped by the nature and performance of publicly financed health systems and by the contexts in which they have evolved. This volume contains short structured profiles of markets for VHI in 34 countries in Europe. These are drawn from European Union member states plus Armenia Iceland Georgia Norway the Russian Federation Switzerland and Ukraine. The book is aimed at policy-makers and researchers interested in knowing more about how VHI works in practice in a wide range of contexts. Each profile written by one or more local experts identifies gaps in publicly-financed health coverage describes the role VHI plays outlines the way in which the market for VHI operates summarises public policy towards VHI including major developments over time and highlights national debates and challenges. The book is part of a study on VHI in Europe prepared jointly by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Regional Office for Europe. A companion volume provides an analytical overview of VHI markets across the 34 countries.

Download or read book Insiders Versus Outsiders written by Andreas Dür and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What explains differences in the lobbying behaviour of interest groups? And what consequences do these differences have for the access that interest groups can gain to decision-makers and the influence that they can exert on policy outcomes? Building on an unprecedented amount of empirical evidence on lobbying in Europe, this book puts forward a distinction between lobbying insiders and lobbying outsiders. Lobbying insiders, most prominently business interests, try to establish direct contacts with decision-makers, enjoy good access to executive institutions, and manage to shape policy outcomes when mobilizing the public on an issue is difficult. Lobbying outsiders, in particular citizen groups such as consumer, environmental or health non-governmental organizations, put greater emphasis on mobilizing the public or changing public attitudes, find it easier to gain access to legislative decision-makers, and have the greatest impact on outcomes on issues that are amenable to an outside lobbying campaign. The book shows that a single argument, building on group type as the main variable, can explain variation across interest groups in their choice of strategy, their access to decision-makers, and the conditions under which they can exert influence. The existence of lobbying insiders and lobbying outsiders has important implications for both our understanding of political decision-making and the normative appraisal of contemporary democracy.

Download or read book A Reporter s Guide to the EU written by Sigrid Melchior and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-05-08 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Reporter’s Guide to the EU addresses a pressing need for an effective, in-depth guide to reporting on this major governing body, offering practical advice on writing and reporting on the EU and a clear, concise breakdown of its complex inner-workings. Sigrid Melchior, an experienced Brussels-based journalist, gives a detailed overview of the main EU institutions and explains the procedures for passing EU law. Interviews with professionals working for the EU, from areas including lobbying, public relations, diplomacy and journalism, are featured throughout the book. Building on this, the second half of the book provides useful journalistic tools and tips on how to approach EU reporting. It identifies common mistakes in reporting on the EU and how to avoid them, as well as offering guidance on investigative reporting. Melchior also details how to work with information gathered and maintained by EU institutions, including their audiovisual archives, the Eurostat and Eurobarometer, which are invaluable resources for journalists and journalism students. With few aspects of political life that remain untouched by EU decision-making the book demystifies the EU system and its sources, enabling professional journalists and students of journalism to approach EU reporting with clarity and confidence. For additional resources related to A Reporter’s Guide to the EU, please visit www.areportersguidetotheeu.com

Download or read book Commentaries on European Contract Laws written by Nils Jansen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-13 with total page 3650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book provides rule-by-rule commentaries on European contract law (general contract law, consumer contract law, the law of sale and related services), dealing with its modern manifestations as well as its historical and comparative foundations. After the collapse of the European Commission's plans to codify European contract law it is timely to reflect on what has been achieved over the past three to four decades, and for an assessment of the current situation. In particular, the production of a bewildering number of reference texts has contributed to a complex picture of European contract laws rather than a European contract law. The present book adopts a broad perspective and an integrative approach. All relevant reference texts (from the CISG to the Draft Common European Sales Law) are critically examined and compared with each other. As far as the acquis commun (ie the traditional private law as laid down in the national codifications) is concerned, the Principles of European Contract Law have been chosen as a point of departure. The rules contained in that document have, however, been complemented with some chapters, sections, and individual provisions drawn from other sources, primarily in order to account for the quickly growing acquis communautaire in the field of consumer contract law. In addition, the book ties the discussion concerning the reference texts back to the pertinent historical and comparative background; and it thus investigates whether, and to what extent, these texts can be taken to be genuinely European in nature, ie to constitute a manifestation of a common core of European contract law. Where this is not the case, the question is asked whether, and for what reasons, they should be seen as points of departure for the further development of European contract law.

Download or read book The Actors of Postnational Rule Making written by Elaine Fahey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite its centrality to academic discussions of power and influence, there is little consensus in legal scholarship over what constitutes an actor in rule-making. This book explores the range of actors involved in rule-making within European Union law and Public International law, and focuses especially on actors that are often overlooked by formative and doctrinal approaches. Drawing together contributions from many scholars in various fields the book examines such issues as the accommodation of new actors in the process of postnational rule-making, the visibility or covertness of actors within the process, and the role of social acceptance and legitimacy in postnational rule-making. In its endeavour to render and examine the work and effect of actors often side-lined in the study of postnational rule-making, this book will be of great use and interest to students and scholars of EU law, international law and socio-legal studies.

Download or read book The Contestation of Expertise in the European Union written by Vigjilenca Abazi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-11-16 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the position and role of expertise in European policy-making and governance. At a time when the very notion of expertise and expert advice is increasingly losing authority, the book addresses these challenges by empirically examining specific administrative processes and institutional designs in the European Union. The first part of the volume theorizes expertise and its contestation by examining accounts of the legitimate institutional design of knowledge production processes and exploring the theoretical links of Europeanisation and expertise. The second part of the book delves into empirical institutionalist accounts of expertise and maps the role of experts in a variety of EU institutions but also explains the implications when EU bodies themselves are in an ‘expert’ position, such as agencies. The book offers insights into how individual experts deal with the challenge of producing reports that will be heard by policy-makers, while at the same time preserving their independence. Broadening its scope, the book then expands the analysis to the role of advisory committees in light of the shift from a reliance primarily on in-house expertise to including more external experts in advisory groups in the European Commission and European Parliament as well as at the European External Action. In the third part, the book opens the lens to developments beyond the EU by taking into account two highly pertinent fields: climate change and trade. These fields are highly complex, fast-developing, and politicised issues, and the book engages with them in order to provide an outside-in perspective on expertise. Chapter 6 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.