Search results for "Treaty"
showing 10 items of 79 documents
Operating and stock market performance of state-owned enterprise privatizations: The Spanish experience
2007
Abstract We investigate the operating and stock market performance of Spanish state-owned enterprises (SOEs) privatized through public share issue offerings (SIPs) from 1990 to 2001, when the last SIP was conducted. We compare the performance of SOEs and privately-owned firms. We find significant operating improvements in Spanish SOEs after the privatization. Specifically, they show significant increases in income efficiency, real sales and employment. Spanish governments tried to minimize the foregone proceeds when selling SOE shares and underpriced them lower than private firms. We relate these results with the pressure of the Maastricht Treaty fiscal criteria, as well as lower informatio…
OS ECJ-TF 1/2020 on the General Court Decisions of 24 September 2019 in The Netherlands v. Commission (Starbucks) (Joined Cases C-760/15 and T-636/16…
2020
This article provides a comprehensive exame of the decisions of the EU General Court in the cases The Netherlands v. Commission (Starbucks) (Joined Cases C-760/15 and T-636/16) (hereinafter Starbucks NL) and Luxembourg v. Commission (Fiat Finance and Trade) (Joined Cases T-755/15 and T-759/15) (hereinafter Fiat), decided on 24 September 2019. These are the first in a series of expected decisions concerning the legality of the European Commission's decisions considering certain transfer pricing rulings granted by Member States to multinational enterprises (hereinafter MNEs) to constitute State aid. The GC reached different verdicts in the two cases. Whereas in Starbucks NL it annulled the Co…
The Place of Indications of Geographical Origin in the Intellectual Property System
2014
As indicated in the introductory chapter of this book, different designations are used for denoting goods and services in the trade which are not congeneric from the legal point of view. Among those designations, there are also those which contain a reference to a particular geographical place, i.e. geographical designations. This situation is successfully revealed in materials of one international conference by indicating that many designations which are used in commerce may contain a geographical reference (yet their legal nature is different) by distinguishing three different groups of such designations:
Opinion Statement ECJ-TF 4/2019 on the CJEU Decision of February 26, 2019, in Case C-135/17, X-GmbH, Concerning the Application of the German CFC Leg…
2019
This article deals with case, X-GmbH (Case C-135/17) concerning the compatibility of German CFC legislation with regard to third countries. In Germany, CFC legislation only applies in cross-border situations and not in purely domestic situations. In general, the application of CFC legislation requires that the shareholders have control over the foreign subsidiary, that the foreign subsidiary be taxed at a lower rate and that it earn passive income. Concerning a special type of passive income, there is even no control requirement. In relation to other EU and EEA countries, Germany does not apply its CFC legislation if the taxpayer proves that the company carries on a genuine economic activit…
BUILDING FOREIGN AFFAIRS CAPACITY IN THE EU: THE RECRUITMENT OF MEMBER STATE OFFICIALS TO THE EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE (EEAS)
2013
The Treaty of Lisbon introduced common action capacities in the EU's external relations administration, notably the European External Action Service (EEAS). One essential capacity is staff resources. This article analyses to what extent and under what conditions the practice of staff recruitment to the EEAS is independent of government influence, and in particular the recruitment of officials temporarily assigned from EU member states. The data draw on interviews with officials from all 27 member states as well as the EEAS which is charged with the selection of national public servants to the EEAS. Key findings suggest substantial independence of recruitment to the EEAS, and this independen…
Ekspansja militarna Rosji w regionie zagrożeniem dla grupy państw nadbałtyckich : Litwy, Łotwy i Estonii
2015
The authors of this article introduce the issue of the threat of the Baltic States from Russia. Consideration of the potential hazard of the Baltic States by the Russian Federation, manifested increasingly imperialistic aspirations, we want to identify the main causes that underlie such a policy of Russia. Membership in the Baltic states of NATO and the European Union gives hope for the unity of the members of NATO and the EU, these countries will be effectively defended against growing Russian militarism.
„Dyplomatyczna Republika Europy”?
2018
‘Diplomatic Republic of Europe’? Reflections on the Impact of Selected Lisbon Solutions on EU Diplomacy in a Multilateral International Environment The aim of the reflections in this article is to analyze the impact of selected institutional solutions adopted by the Treaty of Lisbon on the EU diplomacy in contemporary international relations. The article does not refer to all regulations that concern broadly defined EU External Policy, but those which, by the nature of their connections, content of competence and meaning, became the object of special interest of the treaty architects and whose implementation was to counteract deficits in continuity, coherence and leadership in EU External P…
The Commission’s informal agenda-setting in the CFSP. Agenda leadership, coalition-building, and community framing
2020
This study contributes to the literature on informal governance by examining politics of informal agenda-setting in the European Commission. As a ‘hard case’, the paper examines how the European Commission exceeds limited legal Treaty provisions in foreign and security policy (CFSP). This system, where the Commission has come to play a more prominent role than stipulated in the treaties, is interpreted as a normalization of CFSP governance. Three complementary propositions on the informal agenda-setting role of the Commission are developed: agenda leadership (#1), coalition-building (#2), and community framing (#3). To illuminate these propositions, we examine their relevance across three e…
The Song of the Crusade against the Albigensians (1st quarter of the 13th century) and the Treaty of Meaux-Paris (1228). Literary mimesis and legal c…
2020
En aquest article analitzem els mecanismes de la construcció del relat (oficial), des de diversos punts de vista, de la Croada contra els albigesos i l’expoli d’Occitània per França en el transcurs d’aqueixa cruel campanya militar (1r terç del segle XIII). Analitzarem dues fonts textuals que són testimonis d’excepció dels fets i de la construcció i la narració d’aqueix relat, a través de la mimesi historiogràfica en un cas, la Cançó de la Croada contra els albigesos, i, en l’altre, del formalisme d’un text jurídic (document històric, pròpiament dit) del més alt rang, el Tractat de Meux-París (1229), signat pels màxims representants de les dues contraparts. I també analitzarem qui es benefic…
Crises and the EU’s Response: Increasing the Democratic Deficit?
2020
Since the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty and the end of the permissive consensus, the European Union (EU) has—with varying intensity and emphases—been criticized for its democratic deficits. Whereas previous crises often ended up in further integration and strengthening institutions with popular anchoring (notably the European Parliament), this time many commentators are in doubt as crises pile up and common solutions seem hard to find. The EU’s problem is that the technocratic, non-majoritarian bodies dominate policymaking and, on top of that, are not anchored in other sources of legitimacy than its ability to deliver desirable outcomes. In other words, the crises highlight the fact tha…