The gradual integration of EU energy policy has implications for the national energy policies of its neighbors. While members of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Energy Community implement large parts of the EU’s energy acquis, other third countries are also affected. Switzerland—physically integrated in the European energy grid but lacking a formalized mechanism of regulatory adaptation with the EU—is an interesting case in this respect, not least because of...
1/2020
GOVTRAN Briefing Paper: Energy Cooperation between the EU and Switzerland – Partners by Destiny in Search of a New Model
Philipp Thaler
08/2019
The Nexus between Migration and Development in EU External Action: No Quick Fix
Alexandra Berger
For the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the Commission has proposed a new mega instrument in the area of external action that will make migration a key focus of the EU’s development cooperation. The nexus between migration and development will thus take centre stage in the EU’s engagement with third countries. In this context, it is interesting to look at current policies combining external migration governance with development cooperation. While the EU seems to assume that...
07/2019
Sustainable reintegration: identikit of a popular policy objective
Rossella Marino
Ine Lietaert
Among the objectives composing the 2018 UN Global Compact for Migration, Objective 21 deals with the return of migrants to their countries of origin. This objective includes a reference to sustainable reintegration occurring when returnees have access to psycho-social assistance, justice and occupational prospects. The policy objective of sustainable reintegration apparently enjoys broad support in the face of some countries increasingly opposing the global...
05/2019
KF-VUB Korea Chair Policy brief - The global 5G race: South Korea speeds ahead
South Korea has become the first country in the world to launch commercial 5G services on 3 April. 5G economic benefits are estimated to include worldwide revenues of €225 billion by 2025 and a wealth of job creation. The US, China, South Korea and the EU are economic powerhouses vying to lead the unfolding global 5G market. US and China are strongly positioned in the current telecom market, but their growing 5G competition is spilling over into geopolitical competition. Wary of being...
06/2019
The Case for Public Investment in the EU
It took almost a decade for the European Union (EU), and the euro area in particular, to recover from the Great Recession. Something that has not fully recovered in the EU, nevertheless, is investment. The current debate about the status of the European economy often points to the need to boost investment. The efforts focus, on one side, on creating better conditions for the business sector to engage in more investment, and, on the other side, on changing the composition of public finances...
4/2019
Can Donald Trump save South Korea-Japan relations?
Tongfi Kim
President Trump is reportedly planning to demand payment from host countries of U.S. troops covering the entire cost of stationing plus 50 percent. Seoul and Tokyo should treat this so-called “Cost Plus 50” as a wake-up call to deal collaboratively with the threats their U.S. alliances are facing. South Korea and Japan need to coordinate their Special Measures Agreement negotiation strategies, not just to save money, but to preserve the long-term viability of U.S. alliances in...
05/2019
The Status of Foreign Immigrant Crime in South Korea
Dohee Jeong
This policy brief gives a brief statistical survey of the immigration situation in South Korea and looks at the legal status of foreigners in the country. It examines the question of whether, as is commonly assumed, immigrants are responsible for the increase in criminal offences.
04/2019
The EU’s Fight Against Transnational Crime in the Sahel
Eva Magdalena Stambøl
The pursuit of internal security objectives has become increasingly important in EU foreign policy and external relations. The EU now invests a growing amount of efforts towards fighting ‘security threats’ and transnational crime in the (extended) neighborhood. This is particularly evident in the Sahel region of West Africa, where initiatives focusing on bolstering internal security apparatuses and borders are mushrooming. The question is whether the EU’s emerging role as a...
2019/15
Science, technology and innovation diplomacy: a way forward for Europe
Jos Leijten
This policy brief explores how innovation becomes an increasingly important topic in international relations, with a deep impact on collaboration as well as on competition between countries. It analyses how the patterns of techno-economic change lead to changes in the global distribution of innovative activities around the world. It outlines three near future scenarios of the international politics of innovation. The first, called “populism and protectionism” describes an...
03/2019
How does the LULUCF Regulation affect EU Member States’ forest management?
Seita Romppanen
- The new EU land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) Regulation takes a novel approach to emissions accounting, giving EU Member States discretion in sustainable forest management.
- The Forest Reference Levels (FRLs) in the National Forestry Accounting Plans required by the Regulation need to be in line with other requirements of the Regulation, including the critical requirement to maintain or strengthen long-term carbon sinks.
- The FRL does not constrain...
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