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The main goal of the research project outlined in the present paper is to initiate systematic monitoring of the size and dynamics of the hidden economy in Bulgaria (HEM). The project envisions conducting a series of representative surveys of the country's adult population and of the business sector at three-month intervals. This will make it possible not only to examine the dynamics of the problem, but also to collect reliable information about the differences in the attitudes of the general population and the business community to the manifestations and reasons for the development of the hidden economy in this country.
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The importance of changing the Croatian Labour Law became general opinion in the analysis of Croatian economy and proposals for improvement. That is almost self-implying. Thus, in various mass media there have been opinions by different journalists, experts, employers and politicians that changes in the Labour Law are one of the crucial factors and precondition for the exit from the economic crisis and recovery. There are conflicting opinions of social partners: while employers are striving and promoting flexible approaches, trade unions are looking for rigid and fixed mechanism and inclusion of automatism into wage setting. There is also difference between trade unions in civil/public and private sector – while the first tend to be rigid, the latter are forced by economic outlooks to look for flexible solutions with employers. In this article the author tried to give short retrospective of negotiation - government position, social partner’s position and in the end author’s position, as a lawyer. The Labour Law as all other forms of regulation should be thoughtful, simple, clear and stable. Frequent changes are the detriment to full and successful implementation, they damage legal certainty and enable a harmonization of court practice because all attention and human capacities are constantly oriented towards new regulation and not to its implementation. This is time - and energy - consuming and not cost effective.
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Analiza pravnih tekovina EU u oblasti Tradicionalnih sopstvenih sredstava ukazuje da je uspostavljanje sistema Tradicionalnih sopstvenih sredstava veoma složeno, i zahteva formiranje novog informacionog sistema vezanog za sistem računa A i B, postavljanje mehanizama kontrole sistema, determinisanje odgovarajućeg zakonodavnog okvira saradnje sa drugim državama članicama na području naplate tradicionalnih sopstvenih sredstava kao i obezbeđenje administrativnih kapaciteta za pravilnu primenu svih pravnih tekovina u ovoj oblasti. Pored navedenog, najveći izazov će predstavljati odabir modela obezbeđenja novih prihoda usled gubljenje suvereniteta nad tradicionalnim sopstvenim sredstvima koja danom pristupanja postaju prihod EU. Pri tome, važno je da se poštuje princip neumanjenja ekonomskog kapaciteta građana, do koga bi svakako došlo povećanjem poreskih stopa određenih vrsta poreza. Uspostavljanjem koordinacione jedinice za sistem Tradicionalnih sopstvenih sredstava i planiranje aktivnosti u pogledu jačanja administrativnih kapaciteta se mogu oceniti kao početna faza uspostavljanja ovog sistema. U trenutnoj fazi procesa pregovaranja Srbija je načinila tek početne korake za primenu EU regulative u ovoj oblasti. Imajući u vidu činjenicu da je Evropska komisija dala preporuku za otvaranje Poglavlja 33 - Finansijske i budžetske odredbe, Republika Srbija bi nužno morala da ubrza aktivnosti koje su neophodne za uspostavljanje sistema Tradicionalnih sopstvenih sredstava jer će zatvaranje navedenog poglavlja biti uslov za zatvaranje celokupnih pregovora. Iz navedenih razloga nadležni organi i koordinaciona jedinica koji su uključeni u ceo sistem moraju pravovremeno da jačaju svoje administrativne kapacitete za pravilnu primenu sistema Tradicionalnih sopstvenih sredstava. Iako danom pristupanja EU tradicionalna sopstvena sredstva u velikom procentu (80%) neće predstavljati prihod Republike Srbije, obavezu jačanja i obezbeđivanja administrativnih kapaciteta za njihovo prikupljanje treba shvatiti i kao obezbeđenje unapređenog alata za prikupljanje prihoda od poreza na dodatu vrednost iz uvoza na koje se budžet Republike Srbije u velikoj meri trenutno oslanja, a s obzirom na slobodu izbora privrednog subjekta u pogledu države carinjenja u okviru EU.
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Analiza Rešenja Ustavnog suda, povodom inicijative za ocenu ustavnosti Zakona o privremenom uređivanju načinu isplate penzija, navodi na zaključak da je ovaj organ, od organa kontrole ustavnosti akata političkih vlasti, preobražen u apologetu trenutne politike. Naime, prema rečima sudije Olivere Vučić, „Ustavni sud se najmanje bavio odgovorom na osnovno pravno pitanje da li je osporeni Zakon o privremenom uređivanju načina isplata penzija saglasan Ustavu ili je neustavan, te ga treba kasirati i onemogućiti dalje važenje normi koje su u njemu sadržane, zato što se protive Ustavu. U mnogo većoj meri, Ustavni sud se bavio pitanjem celishodnosti donošenja ovog Zakona i obrazlaganjem opravdanja za njegovo donošenje“. Dakle, kao što je i dosadašnja analiza rezonovanja Ustavnog suda ukazala, ovaj organ je pružio prevashodno politički, a daleko manje pravni odgovor o spornim ustavnopravnim pitanjima. Osim toga, sve činjenice su ukazivale na opravdanost pokretanja postupka ocene ustavnosti osporenog Zakona, a nakon toga i organizovanje javne rasprave, koja bi prethodila donošenju meritorne odluke. Premda se prevashodno fokusirao na odlučivanje o opravdanosti preduzetih mera, odnosno o celishodnosti donošenja osporenog Zakona, izvesno je da Ustavni sud nije raspolagao nizom relevantnih podataka koji su neophodni za procenjivanje proporcionalnosti ustanovljenih zakonskih mera smanjenja penzija. Ustavni sud se u potpunosti oslonio na obrazloženje Predloga zakona. Takođe, održavanje javne rasprave je moglo da rasprši dilemu da li su uštede u budžetu mogle da se ostvare preduzimanjem nekih drugih ekonomskih mera, odnosno da li je smanjenje penzija zaista taj nužni, poslednji korak za spas javnih finansija Srbije. Neodrživo je pravno gledište Ustavnog suda u pogledu određivanja pravne prirode prava na penziju, jer je ovo pravo nelogično razdvojeno od prava na penzijsko osiguranje i devalvirano na rang zakonskog prava. S druge strane, Ustavni sud nije ni pokušao da utvrdi prirodu preduzete zakonske mere, već je, imajući u vidu da je pravo na penziju zakonsko pravo, prepustio zakonodavcu da ga svojevoljno oblikuje. „Ustavni sud je ovakvim odnosom prema pitanju smanjenja penzija uspostavio legalnu i legitimnu mogućnost vlasti da uvek kada to nađu društveno opravdanim, iz razloga ekonomski rđavih prilika koje su nastupile, posegnu za sredstvima iz zakonito zarađenih penzija i tako, po nekoj formuli koja će odgovarati tadanjem trenutku, sprovodeći načelo socijalne pravde, ostvaruju naznačeni društveni interes kao legitimni cilj“. Osim toga, izostao je odgovor na pitanje koja je to granica koju zakonodavac ne može da pređe u situacijama nužnosti smanjenja penzija kada to zahtevaju promenjive ekonomske i socijalne prilike. Ustavni sud, takođe, nije bio uverljiv kada je obrazlagao privremeni karakter osporenog Zakona. Naime, trajanje zakonskih mera o smanjenju penzija, kada već izričito nije vremenski limitirano, vezuje se za okolnosti koje nisu izvesne i koje se ne mogu predvideti. Ustavni sud je propustio da odgovori na najbitnije pitanje kada je reč o zakonskoj meri smanjenja penzija, „da li postoje i gde su ustavne granice zakonske mere kojom se umanjuju zakonito stečena imovinska prava, odnosno penzije. Kako je reč o privremenom (!) važenju mere umanjenja penzija, trebalo je dati odgovor i na pitanje od kojeg momenta jedna pretpostavljeno u svemu zakonita, legitimna i razumna mera postaje nezakonita, nelegitimna i nerazumna“. U tom smislu, predviđeno je smanjenje penzija na neizvesno dug period, pa se istovremeno može osporiti i činjenica da preduzeta zakonska mera ispunjava test proporcionalnosti. Dakle, zakonodavac nije u potpunosti uvažio sve ustavne pretpostavke koje su neophodne da bi se pristupilo ograničenju ovog ljudskog prava. Sudija Dragan Stojanović je izneo mišljenje da bi, bez obzira na to što zakonodavac nije izričito predvideo trajanje osporenog Zakona, trebalo periodično preispitivati, za svaku budžetsku godinu, da li su ispunjeni svi oni uslovi koji se zahtevaju za primenu zakonske mere smanjenja penzija. U svom izdvojenom mišljenju Katarina Manojlović Andrić se poziva na dotadašnju jurisdikciju Ustavnog suda, koji je u više svojih odluka, povodom kvaliteta zakonskih normi, zauzeo stav koji glasi: „Da bi se jedan opšti akt smatrao zakonom, ne samo formalno, nego i u sadržinskom smislu, taj zakon, odnosno njegove norme moraju biti u dovoljnoj meri precizne, jasne i predvidive“. Izvesno je da osporena zakonska rešenja nisu saglasna sa zahtevom pravne sigurnosti i načelom vladavine prava. Inače, Ustavni sud je u nekoliko simplifikovao ustavno načelo vladavine prava i izjednačio ga sa načelom legalnosti. Naime, prema rezonu Ustavnog suda osporeni Zakon nije povredio načelo vladavine prava, budući da „sadržina prava na penzijsko osiguranje nije utvrđena Ustavom, već se u celini uređuje zakonom, a u konkretnom slučaju, mere privremenog umanjenja penzija ustanovljene su upravo zakonom, koji je, pored Ustava, osnovni izvor prava, a ne podzakonskim aktima Vlade ili opštim aktima koje donosi Republički fond za penzijsko i invalidsko osiguranje“. Kada je reč o primedbi inicijatora da osporeni Zakon ima retroaktivno dejstvo, nema sumnje da je u pitanju proizvoljna konstatacija, jer je ovaj akt stupio na snagu narednog dana od dana objavljivanja, a njegova primena je počela od isplate penzija za novembar 2014. godine. Naposletku, čitavo dosadašnje izlaganje bi se moglo sumirati u konstataciji da je Ustavni sud trebalo da pokrene postupak kontrole ustavnosti zakona, ali i da osporeni Zakon proglasi neustavnim. Međutim, budući da Ustavni sud nije zauzeo ovakvo stanovište, istaknuto je da ova odluka ne predstavlja nužno i kraj ustavnosudskog angažovanja na ovom polju. O ponavljanju postupka ne bi moglo biti reči samo u slučaju da je Ustavni sud doneo utvrđujuću odluku. Budući da je Ustavni sud odbio da se izjasni o ustavnosti osporenog Zakona, protek vremena bi opravdao da se iznova pokrene ustavni spor, jer bi se privremenost zakona, kao suštinski element opravdanja preduzetih mera, mogla uverljivije osporavati.
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The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted in July 2014 the amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance of the Republic of Serbia in urgent procedure, without prior public debate and participation of the social partners. This paper aims to highlight the importance of adopting laws in the field of labor and social legislation with the participation of the social partners, in accordance with the principle of tripartism. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of the pension system of the Republic of Serbia since the reforms and the adoption of the law in 2003, until the last amendment of the Law, the Author of the work gives his critical vision of the newly adopted amendments to the Law, with special emphasis on the institute of early age retirement pensions and the institute of special insurance service. This paper examines in detail the new conditions for entitlement to age pension, and the conditions for early retirement. Starting from the comparative analysis of similar institutes in the region, the author takes equidistance between the existing and potential future solutions, emphasizing caution in further legal regulation of this institute.
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Republic of Serbia has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights in 2004, as a part, at that time, of the State Union Serbia and Montenegro. After the dissolution of the State Union in 2006, Republic of Serbia, as the successor, has continued being a member of the Council of Europe and the party of the Convention. By the end of November 2010, the European Court of Human Rights has delivered 47 judgements in cases against Serbia. In only 3 of them, were found no violations of the Convention. In all other cases at least one Convention right was violated. Regarding the number of applications pending before the Court Serbia is very high on the list, somewhere around 10th place. Statistically speaking, the number of applications compared with the number of citizens (including Kosovo), gives Serbia index of 1, 60. It is not very easy to make a logical and comprehensive overview of the judgments against Serbia. However, the issues mentioned in the judgments, which are more or less problematic in the Serbian legal system are the following: fair trial and length of proceedings, detention issues, freedom of expression and enforcement of national judicial and administrative decisions (including the issue of socially owned companies and labour related benefits).
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This paper analyzes the current RTV tax collection model within the framework of positive legal regulations with an emphasis on legality of the model and its relation with the legislation regulating the consumer rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and provides the reasons for alteration of the existing model due to its drawbacks. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, each household and legal entity in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina that possesses a radio or television receiver is obliged to pay the tax. The difficult financial situation in which the public RTV service in BiH currently is, requires alteration of the model of tax collection, which is one of the financial resources. The new model of tax collection was established based on the business contract signed between Javno preduzeće Elektroprivreda BiH d.d. Sarajevo (Public Enterprise Electric Utility of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the public RTV service (BHRT and RT FBiH), which entails that the tax is to be paid as part of the energy bill. Strong public reaction against the alteration of the collection tax model ensued, since the model has not been legally established because there had been no affirmative decision of the system's Board, as well as due to its contradiction to consumer rights and interests. It is in consumers' interest to receive a separate bill for each service provided, including the RTV tax, which was not fulfilled in the new model. The model is also discriminatory taking into consideration that it has not been implemented in the area of BiH, but it includes only the consumers whose electrical energy provider is JP Elektroprivreda BiH d.d. Except for JP Elektroprivreda BiH d.d, the electrical energy service is provided by Elektroprivreda RS and HZ HB Mostar, which did not sign the business contract on the new tax collection model, and thus their consumers are not obliged to pay the tax. The current model should be modified in a way that the existing drawbacks, thoroughly explained in the paper, are eliminated and thus a model of tax collection corresponding with the interests of the public RTV service of BiH as well as the rights and interests of the consumers will be established.
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Dialysis treatment is often the only hope for patients with renal insufficiency, which is why it is extremely important that the system of providing this type of health care service is organized in an adequate manner. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dialysis services are performed exclusively within public health institutions, which are faced with a number of problems, some of which are caused by the healthcare system itself, and the other are the effect of the lack of financial resources. In addition, there are significant differences in the scope and manner of achieving certain rights of dialysis patients in the area of social protection, depending on which canton they live in. Possible solutions to some of these problems are the introduction of new models of providing dialysis services and the development of transplantation medicine. However, without the constitutional reform in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it will be almost impossible to introduce a model of providing dialysis based on the principles of public-private partnership, and for the further development of transplantation medicine it is necessary for BiH to become a member of Eurotransplant, and one of the conditions for that is the state-level legislative framework.
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Services of general economic interest in European law have a special legal status because of the public interest involved in their performance. Since the initial instrument of restriction of market freedom of services on a single European market for consumer protection, the concept of services of general economic interest has evolved to the legal principle of respecting access to services of general economic interest, which presupposes a universal service and a protected customer of the household category. After accession to the European Union, the concept of services of general economic interest in Croatian legislation gradually replaces the notion of public services.
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At the end of November 2018, the official confirmation of the BiH Ministry of Defense appeared in local media was related to the problematic delivery of the canned meat for the Ministry. It was officially confirmed that the inadequate deliveries were already terminated since content of the tested meat-cans confirmed presence of the pork meat in a cans that were marked as the beef meat product in accordance with the manufacturer's declaration. Delivery of the meat cans was forgotten soon, but unfortunately, this case confirmed again a continuity of the multi-annual trend of the questionable public procurement for the BiH Ministry of Defense. Public audit reports confirmed in a 14 years long continuity of the shortcomings related to the procurement procedures performed by the BiH Ministry of Defense. This trend is clearly visible in the attached table (Annex 1) consisted of audit findings related to the public procurement procedures, audit recommendations, and issued auditor’s opinions copied from public audit reports for the BiH Ministry of Defense from 2004. to 2017. Despite to the intensive parliamentary oversight of the BiH Defense Ministry and the BiH Armed Forces performed by the three Committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the "Joint Committee for Defense and Security of BiH", and two "Finance and Budget Committees" from both Houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Ministry was not able to overcome shortcomings of its public procurement procedures. Even more, the BiH Ministry of Defense from 2004 to 2017 did not received even single positive auditor’s opinion on the annual financial statements and financial operations. For all these years, annual financial statements and financial operations were rated with the “reserved auditor’s opinions” (conditional opinion) except for 2011, when the Ministry received a "negative auditor’s opinion" (negative qualification). In accordance to the new practice, the BiH Supreme Audit Institution published several years back a separate audit report on the “Major annual audit findings and recommendations”27 that covers the most frequent audit findings and the systemic deficiencies as well. It would be very useful for the Ministry to undertake comprehensive analysis of the Chapter “Financial Audit” (3.2.), at least for the three years back, in order to create appropriate comparisons with the audit findings that were addressing deficiencies of the procurement procedures presented here in “Annex 1” (attachment). Moreover, it will be necessary to organize the highest level of internal consideration of the audit recommendations for improvement of the procurement procedures published in annual financial audit reports for the BiH Ministry of Defense. In addition to the internal consideration of the recently received audit recommendations, it will be very important to discuss and to apply the following measures in order to reduce the risks of repetition of the already reported procurement problems of the Ministry of Defense: a) To enable wider participation to the training sessions on the implementation of the “BiH Public Procurement Law” of the majority of staff and the key personnel of the BiH Ministry of Defense, especially for those employees that confirmed their interest in participating to the procurement procedural activities (constant training should reduce risk that procedural mistakes will be repeated due to the incompetence); b) To adopt internal Decision by which any staff member/manager who participated to the procurement procedure that was subject of any chapter of the last audit report (starting from the 2018 budget year) will be banned to participate in any procurement procedure for the period of next three to five years; c) To establish procedure by which any staff member/manager who is going to participate to any procurement teams or to any procurement procedural step, will receive the “engagement decision" that will precisely define his/her work assignments, responsibilities and sanctions for failures and/or for breaches of the legal and procedural obligations. These “engagement decisions" could be standardized in a form of several textual definitions given in the “engagement decision” for the leading member of a working group", for the "working group member" etc., in order to simplify preparations and the execution of the given tasks; d) In cooperation the “Internal Audit Unit”, all public procurement procedures could be segmented by stages and it is possible to define pre-conditions or requirements for the each following stage of the each legally defined procurement procedure. In addition, it is possible to establish internal obligation (the mandatory one) that each procurement stage should be performed in consultation with the internal auditor and/or procurement stages should be certified (approved) by internal auditor (please consider option to learn more about the stage-certification practice active in internal audits of Spain); e) To establish obligatory practice of documenting of each procurement procedure in order to enable follow-ups, to prevent the repetition of the same mistakes, to trace individual responsibilities and to avoid "collective responsibility"; f) To establish prevention measures against of the corruptive misuses of assignments in procurement or misuse of public resources, as well as to establish system of internal sanctions for those individuals or members of the procurement teams who will breach regulations or will try to avoid obligatory steps/procedures; g) In a case that the BiH Ministry of Defense will not succeed to overcome inherited public procurement problems, or will continue with the low level implementation of the audit recommendations related to the public procurement, it will be useful to consider and to initiate adoption of the new legal solutions that will enable “outsourcing” procurement service solution for the BiH Ministry of Defense and for other institutions that were not able to overcome their deficiencies in their procurement for many years back (please consider learn more about the Swedish solutions applied for the public procurement performed by the outsourcing service providers/agencies).
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The application of the earlier Pension and Disability Insurance Act caused constant losses that resulted in a high deficit in the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute. This finally raised serious questions about the pension system solvency in FB&H, pension adequacy and regular pension payments. In addition, bad economic and demographic situation, decline in working-age population, emigration of the young working class population etc. are just some of the reasons that also indicated the need for pension system reform in FB&H. This paper deals with the current reform of the pension system in FB&H through the analysis of the recently adopted Pension and Disability Insurance Act and the novelties introduced by it. Special emphasis is given to the provisions containing the elements of unlawful discrimination as well as unconstitutionality. As such, these provisions are contrary to the European and regional trends, the international conventions and to the Constitution of FB&H. As an obvious example of unlawful discrimination the paper particularly stresses the provision denying unmarried partners’ access to the survivor's pension. Also, the provision suspending the pension payments to one group of pensioners represents a violation of the right to property guaranteed by the FB&H Constitution and as such could be used as the basis for initiating a procedure for assessing its constitutionality. The analysis of the disputed provisions of the Pension and Disability Insurance Act points to their discriminatory and unconstitutional character and to the need for their amendment in order for FB&H to follow the European path and comply with the constitutionally accepted obligations with regard to the international conventions.
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On September 7th, five weeks after the European Central Bank (ECB) started buying Spanish bonds as part of its Securities Market Programme, and four weeks since Merkel and Sarkozy announced their proposal of writing debt limits into national laws, the Spanish Parliament has approved a constitutional reform that, by constraining the general government’s spending and borrowing capacity, aims to mitigate concerns over public finances. This reform, the second since the current Constitution was enacted by referendum in 1978, has been made possible by an agreement between the ruling socialists (PSOE) and the main opposition party (conservative PP).
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The recent decision by the European Commission (EC) prohibiting Siemens from taking over Alstom was perceived by their respective German and French governments as a blow to plans to create a “European champion” in the railway sector. Both states declared that they will strive to change the EU competition rules that prevent similar transactions. According to the traditional approach to competition protection, the implementation of most of the proposals would have negative consequences for the EU economy and indirectly for Polish enterprises and consumers.
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Decyzja Komisji Europejskiej (KE) zakazująca Siemensowi przejęcia Alstomu została odebrana przez rządy Niemiec i Francji jako cios w ich plany utworzenia „europejskiego czempiona” w sektorze kolejowym. Oba państwa zadeklarowały, że będą dążyć do zmiany unijnych reguł konkurencji stojących na przeszkodzie tego typu transakcjom. W świetle tradycyjnego podejścia do ochrony konkurencji realizacja większości zapowiedzi pociągnęłaby za sobą negatywne skutki dla unijnej gospodarki, a pośrednio dla polskich przedsiębiorstw i konsumentów.
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Unia Europejska pracuje nad stworzeniem wykazu pozaunijnych rajów podatkowych. Ma on zapobiegać unikaniu opodatkowania przez korporacje. Może się jednak okazać nieskuteczny w walce z transferem nieopodatkowanych zysków poza UE. Polska, jako państwo tracące nawet do 10 mld euro rocznie na unikaniu płacenia CIT, może dołączyć do grupy państw najaktywniej zabiegających o zacieśnianie współpracy w tej dziedzinie.
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State capture is a combination of different forms of corruption which have a single objective: to secure wholesale and long-term privileges to captors by exploiting the power of government for private benefit. This phenomenon is a specific security risk for the EU. The European Commission (EC) recently published a communication on the need to further strengthen the rule of law in the EU Member States (MSs) aiming to improve its existing policy instruments. Nevertheless, there is a lack of proper prevention and detection tools in place to curb corruption effectively in its many forms and across the different jurisdictions in the EU. While state capture problems vary in substance and intensity among MSs, the negative impact of corruption is felt across the EU. As corrupt practices evolve, EU Member States need to respond by deepening their capacity to tackle new and more complex forms but also to better share existing knowledge. This media note was funded by the European Union’s Internal Security Fund – Police
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Although the adoption of the Law on Public Procurement for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014 introduced a series of new provisions aimed at improving transparency in the public procurement process, there are still significant limitations in this domain that can have significant negative implications in practice. Among other things, the legal framework has not ensured adequate availability of information on planned public procurement, given that public procurement plans are not published on the public procurement portal. The published procurement plans do not include procedures for lower value contracts, and decisions on these contracts are not published. There is a manifest lack of provisions that would contribute to publishing the contracts signed between the public sector and the suppliers. In addition, there are no guidelines developed for the application of tender evaluation criteria, especially criteria for the economically most favourable tender. It is, therefore, crucial to improve legal regulations to remove the identified shortcomings and ensure a significantly higher level of transparency in public procurement in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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The European Commission (EC) has proposed a directive that provides protection of people performing work for digital platforms, especially in professions that do not require specialist qualifications. If the proposal is accepted in the shape presented by the EC, it will be a breakthrough solution on a global scale that adjusts labour law to the challenges of the digital economy. It will also strengthen the EU’s position in relations with platforms.
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Shaken by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, the EU has adopted a series of legal acts to reduce dependence on authoritarian powers, create new instruments to defend against unfair competition, and facilitate the modernisation of the industrial sector. The smooth implementation of the green and digital transitions will be crucial to the success of these measures, but it requires additional financial resources. Furthermore, the drive to increase self-sufficiency in strategic sectors and build a low-carbon, sustainable economy is difficult to reconcile with a liberal approach focused on deregulation and short-term profit maximisation.
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