Policy Papers

The principle of free movement of capital, goods, people and services comprises the main pillar of the European Economic Area. Excessive regulation, however, prevents EU Member States from reaching its full potential. Such untapped potential is particularly evident in the free movement of financial services.

Although many agree that tax competition is a healthy and natural economic process that drives economies, the EC now sees tax harmonization as an essential factor for the functioning of the single market. Together with the CCCTB initiative, the ATA Directive could be seen as a first step toward this harmonisation.

Bulgaria’s population is aging and shrinking. Labor Market demands are shifting quickly from low skill to high skill. Twenty percent of Bulgaria’s youth are NEEDS (not in employment or education). Almost 50% of Roma in the country have primary or lower education.

Since trust in the Union is strongly correlated to the support of TTIP, and Euroscepticism is on the rise due to the multiple crises the EU currently faces, more public debate will be also needed in the future to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of TTIP-like trade agreements.

Today, the bestknown cryptosystem, i.e. cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. However, not many people recognise the revolutionary potential which cryptosystems entail — the paradigm shift in many social phenomena, not only those of a financial nature.

The article analyses the present state of regulation of accommodation and taxi services in Slovakia. We then briefly describe the arrival of sharing economy platforms such as Uber and Airbnb into Slovakia. We present our recommendations for changes in the public regulations.

Some old Member States request the principle of “equal pay for equal work in the same place”, meaning that posted workers would not receive lower pay than the minimum wage of the recipient country. During the discussion accusations of social dumping by new Member States with regard to old Member States surfaced.

The emergence of the sharing economy shook things up in many sectors and within their regulatory frameworks. The greatest upheavals are currently being experienced by the taxi and accommodation services, since these are the services where the sharing economy has managed to compete with traditional service providers by (re-)employing idle capital.

This paper is intended to elicit and substantiate criteria that should be used as a basis for the division of functions between the central government and local government (municipalities) according to the principle of subsidiarity.

This paper firstly briefly provides a political perspective on the FDIs flow within the debate in the UK and consequently discusses the difference between FDIs and trade exchange. After setting the goals and methodology, a summary of the main findings reflecting the data available in the chart attached follows.