Publication Archive

 

 

This archive contains all documents published by cep over the last few years:

cepAdhoc: Incisive comment on current EU policy issues

cepPolicyBrief: Concise reviews of EU proposals (Regulations, Directives, Green Papers, White Papers, Communications) – including an executive summary

cepInput: Impulse to current challenges of EU policies

cepStudy: Comprehensive examination of EU policy proposals affecting the economy

 

 

2018

With the creation of an EU Finance Minister, the European Commission wants to improve coordination of economic policy in the EU. With this aim, he will combine three offices into one - EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Union, Chair of the Eurogroup and Chair of the Board of Governors of the European Monetary Fund.

2018

The EU Commission wants to improve cybersecurity in the EU and for this purpose strengthen the cybersecurity agency ENISA. In cep’s view, this is urgently needed. The proposal to give ENISA a permanent mandate and increasing its funding and staff is also appropriate.

2018

By introducing new support criteria for "combined transport", the EU Commission wants to shift more freight traffic off the roads and onto railways and waterways. In cep's view, this may reduce CO2 emissions, but there is also a risk that inefficiencies will be subsidised.

2018

The European Commission wants to give the European Banking Authority (EBA) more responsibility for financial supervision. In cep’s view, however, the EBA’s new tasks, to allow for “ecological and social factors” and to promote consumer protection, may lead to a conflict of interest with its actual task - safeguarding financial stability.

2018

The EU Commission wants to use a "stabilisation function" to protect Member States, and particularly eurozone countries, from the consequences of an economic shock. For this purpose, it has submitted a Communication which has been taken up by the German grand coalition. Although the stabilisation function reduces the risk of a state having to apply for financial aid, cep nevertheless takes a critical view of the idea.

2018

Due to reasons of cost, traders refrain from offering their goods across borders and consumers shy away from purchasing in other countries due to legal uncertainty. The Commission wants to change this by way of a Directive. It wants to remove barriers in cross-border trade with extensive full-harmonisation of guarantee law for sales of goods.

2018

In order to reduce CO2 emissions in road transport, CO2 limits on cars and light duty vehicles will be further tightened. The EU Commission has made a proposal for a Regulation in this regard of which cep takes a primarily critical view because stricter CO2 limits give rise to high CO2 avoidance costs.

2018

As the cepDefault-Index shows, the trends in creditworthiness over the last year have varied between the eurozone countries. Thus the ability to repay debts of two-thirds of eurozone countries (including Germany) is steadily increasing whilst in others it has been falling continuously or is already lost.

2018

The creditworthiness of Greece and Portugal continues to decline. This is the conclusion reached by cep, which has just updated its Default-Index for these two countries. In the case of Greece, the three rescue packages undertaken since 2010 have, in cep’s view, done nothing to change this. Sooner or later, Greece will therefore need a fourth rescue package.

2018

The EU Commission wants to increase efforts to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance. With this aim, it has submitted a European Action Plan in line with the concept of “One Health”. In cep’s view, this is a sensible European initiative because resistant pathogens spread across borders thus making it necessary to take both EU-wide and global combating measures.

2017

By way of a Regulation, the EU-Commission wants to facilitate the free flow of non-personal data and improve competition between cloud providers and other data-processing services in the EU.

2017

Against the backdrop of increased Chinese foreign direct investments in the EU, the Commission wants to create a legal "framework" for screening foreign direct investments (FDI). The Regulation does provide clarity about the screening procedure to be used by Member States. Vague terms however carry a protectionist risk.

2017

The EU Commission wants to give provisions on driving times and rest periods greater clarity and make them more flexible. In addition, enforcement will be improved by ensuring more efficient use of tachographs. In cep’s view, expanding the time frame, for the drivers’ compulsory weekly rest periods, to four weeks, creates more scheduling flexibility.

2017

With the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS), the EU Commission wants to ensure that electronic toll collection systems become interoperable EU-wide. In cep’s view, the removal of legal requirements and the additional options for EETS providers facilitate the latter’s market entry. This creates a broader range of cross-border interoperable solutions.