To better understand the need for a change in policy, this article first provides a brief overview of the current legislation and its implementation in member states and then looks at how current proposals for new minimum rates were formed. Finally, it evaluates whether increasing taxes on alcohol is the best course of action.
Following the tragic attacks in Paris and subsequent events in Africa, the debate on multiculturalism and immigration has been given a brand new flame. Both camps have thrown in their big guns.
Let’s be honest. Governments remember deregulation in their talks with businesses or during election campaigns. But they do not pay nearly as much attention to deregulation as they do to expanding regulatory obligations, increasing taxes, or telling people how to behave.
The “green mechanism”, which will become actually effective on 1 January 2016, should work. No sooner than next year we shall see, though, whether it will function effectively and meet the expectations of the majority of players.
No-fee regulation will have its limits (they should prevent abusing of the cheap prices of cross-border calls), first proposals are very restrictive – the maximum 40 minutes of calls and 100 text messages per year from abroad. However, it is definitely one of the biggest intervention to the entrepreneurial freedom the European Union has seen.
Slovakia is experiencing situation common to many European economies. The price of electric energy on the market is falling, so is the overall consumption of electricity. And yet, the final price for consumers, especially in the industrial sector, remains high.
After years of being ignorant to the ICT and the digital economy in general, the Czech Republic has now changed its position and declares its full support to the digital agenda as well as the EU Digital Single Market Strategy. The problem, however, is that the actual implementation of these promises has been lagging behind for a long time.
Security is the biggest challenge for our economy. To counteract a similar challenge, Israel, for example, is entirely militarized, regardless of the fact that numerous international lobbyist groups assist it, including financially. A country facing such security challenges might have armed forces three or four times stronger than Georgia and a defense budget 10 times larger.
The objective of this paper is to comment on the “Better regulation for better results – An EU agenda” from May 19, 2015 (hereinafter – EU BR Agenda) in a broader context. The EU BR Agenda confirms the existing schemes and frameworks of EU Better Regulation policy, expresses a firm political commitment to continue efforts in this regard, and embraces evolutional – not revolutionary – novelties.
A common EU cyberspace market is expected to transform cyberspace into a favourable environment for new businesses and provide even the smallest digital companies with access to 500 million consumers across the EU. It is indeed an excellent intention, but what are the steps to a successful implementation?
