Changing competences

The European Union often concludes international trade agreements, which contain shared competences with the Member States (the so-called mixed competences agreements), thus they require …

Why tax competition benefits Europe

The latest International Tax Competitiveness Index, published by the Tax Foundation, illustrates the wide variation in the quality of tax systems across Europe. Many …

The DSA and Small and Medium Enterprises as users of online services

The proposed EU Digital Services Act (DSA) aims to protect users of digital services, but unfortunately it also creates serious new risks for both …

Mind the Gap: Pay Transparency Provisions in the EU

The European Commission seeks to strengthen the principle of equal pay for work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and …

The EU’s digital package and the role of national competition authorities

The European Union has targeted large online platforms as potential threats to competition in the digital world. According to the Commission’s Vice President and …

The New European Digital Services Act: Risky for Consumers and Innovation

The EU Commission proposed the new Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) in December 2020. Collectively, these proposals are an important …

The Digital Markets Act: Precaution over Innovation

On 15 December 2020, the EU Commission released a proposal for a Regulation on Contestable and Fair Markets in the Digital Sector – referred …

We’ve got a serious pan-European constitutional problem

Debt mutualisation across EU Member States has recently been brought to the forefront of discussion. Firstly, because of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) balance-sheet operations, …

Vaping’s image problem

Surveys suggest that public understanding of the risks and benefits of e-cigarettes has become divorced from the scientific evidence. A Eurobarometer survey conducted in …

Prices in a time of corona: the law and economics of price-gouging

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted widespread calls for stricter regulation of price gouging across the European Union. Whilst the calls come from a good …

Over-reach: the EU’s lifestyle regulation plans

A report published by the European Commission on 3 February 2021 proposes a range of nanny state interventions intended to reduce the consumption of …

Credit Day 2020

This year Credit Day for the European Union falls on the 17th of December. This is the day which, on average, EU member states …

A response to the SCHEER preliminary opinion

In September 2020, the EU’s Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) published a preliminary opinion (SCHEER 2020) on electronic cigarettes which …

CBAM: The Devil is in the Detail

The EU Commission launched a public consultation on the adoption of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), i.e. a fee to be levied on …

The Road to Post-Pandemic Recovery

Thus far, three recovery programs have been proposed in response to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The first recovery program was …

The future of Artificial Intelligence

In February the Commission published the White Paper On Artificial Intelligence – A European approach to excellence and trust. It includes some interesting proposals …

Achieving a carbon neutral economy by 2050

The new European Green Deal plans to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050 while opening up new possibilities for development and employment. The …

Credit Day: The return of fiscal prudence

16th December marks Credit Day across Europe. This is the day that, on average, EU Member State governments have exhausted their annual tax income …

Time To Liberate Libra?

Libra, the new private digital money system sponsored by Facebook and a consortium of other firms, was announced on 18th June 2019, and officially …

The Nanny State Index 2019

The Epicenter Nanny State Index is a league table of the best and worst places in the European Union to eat, drink, smoke and …

Two cheers for the EU-Mercosur Agreement

The new EU-Mercosur Agreement only superficially rejects protectionism. As much as it liberalises trade, it also protects European defensive interests and extends the EU’s …

Battle Resumes – the Copyright Directive is Back

The Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (the “Directive”) is back. The issues with the Directive were described in our September 2018 briefing …

Free to work: Employment regulations in 2019

The Employment Flexibility Index of LFMI quantifies a great divergence in employment regulations between EU countries. Of the 41 countries included in the index …

Commission consulting on move to qualified majority voting (QMV) on taxation

On 20th December, the European Commission launched a (relatively brief) consultation on moving from unanimity to qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council on …

Paranoid Android. Everything the Commission got wrong in its war on Google

The Commission’s decision to fine Google for unfair practice was based on a misunderstanding of the Android ecosystem and a mistaken definition of the …

Credit Day: improving appetite for fiscal responsibility

13 December marks Credit Day across the European Union. This is the day when, on average, European countries’ central governments exhaust their annual tax …

Competition in the High Technology Sector

The European Union’s approach to competition law and enforcement demonstrates an attitude in the high-tech and media sector, that – due to its anti-competitive …

Regulating the New Media Economy

The new media economy operates differently from other industries when it comes to regulation. The marginal costs of technological giants mean that their interactions …

The Copyright Directive – The EU Battles the Internet

The Commission put forward a legislative proposal in September 2016 for a new directive on copyright in the digital single market.  The aim is …

Why the EU’s digital turnover tax is a bad idea

The European Commission has proposed a tax on revenues raised from certain digital activities. However, this is essentially a political gesture with only weak …

The Impact of the Energy Taxation Directive

Instead of comprehensive re-examination of the Energy Taxation Directive, the European Commission is examining whether ETD should continue the exemptions and lower tariffs for …

Why the EU needs the City too

The UK might appear to have the most to lose from Brexit if City firms find it harder to sell financial services into the …

Non-tariff barriers to trade are damaging too

On average, the economic costs of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) now far exceed those of tariffs, which have generally been falling as new free trade …

How to develop secondary markets for non-performing loans?

The ECB seeks to increase trading in non-performing loans by reducing the pricing gap between prospective investors and banks. For this to happen, there …

Is neoliberalism to blame for Orbàn and Le Pen?

Populism is on the rise, especially in Europe. Determining the causes is of crucial political importance. Some claim that “neoliberal” policies such as deregulation …

How the municipal VAT exemptions promote tax increases in the EU

As a general rule, local governments are exempt from VAT in the EU. Thus, VAT is not payable on the tax-financed consumption of municipalities …

Extreme disparity in European labour markets: an Employment Flexibility Index

The recent Employment Flexibility Index uses data provided by the World Bank’s Doing Business Labour Market Regulation Questionnaire to compare labour market regulations.
The …

2017 Index of Liberalisations: a summary

The 2017 IBL Index of Liberalisations aims to shed light on the degree of openness of the 28 Member States by examining ten different …

Credit day: debt and deficit in a bipolar EU

6 December marks Credit Day across the European Union. This is the day when, on average, European countries’ central administrations will exhaust their annual …

Fair and efficient? On the EC’s proposals for corporate tax reform in the digital single market

In the wake of the Ecofin meeting that took place in Tallinn on September 15-16, the European Commission published a communication on “A Fair …

Health by stealth: Mandatory food reformulation

Food and soft drinks manufacturers are continually reformulating their products and bringing new products to market in response to consumer demand. In recent years, …

Accepting the scientific consensus: GMOs in the EU

The ECJ ruled that Italy had been wrong to ban the cultivation of an EU-approved genetically modified maize. This was a big victory for …

Financial technology and regulation

Recent years have seen a reduced supply of capital to domestic businesses by banks due to increased capital requirements and compliance costs.
Market finance …

Artificial intelligence and the EU labour market

Widespread automation is often named as the greatest long-term threat to human employment. But Europe’s immediate job market problems are of a different sort: …

The consequences of restricting the Posted Workers Directive

Posted workers are temporarily sent from one member state to another, usually for projects of short duration. There were 1.1. million posted workers in …

Basel regulations: a danger for European banks

The ongoing Basel IV discussions seek to impose additional capital requirement on banks, a move that would disproportionately affect those in Europe.
Whilst the …

Employment in privatised utilities

On 15 June 2017, the Directorate General for Internal Policies published a report which maps the recent history of privatisation and examines the risk …

Excessive labour market regulation will not help to combat inequality

On 28 September 2017, the European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) will vote on an initiative by Spanish MEP Javi Lopez (S&D) …

The CCCTB is not the corporate tax reform the EU needs

According to the Commission, the new CCCTB initiative is the most ambitious corporate tax reform ever proposed in the EU. However, despite the most …

The tax burden of workers in the EU: a summary

First published in 2010, the 2017 Tax Burden study by the Institut économique Molinari measures the tax and social security burdens on individual employees …

Populism Index 2017 Summary

The 2017 TIMBRO Authoritarian Populism Index is the only Europe-wide comprehensive study that aims to shed light on whether populism poses a long-term threat …

Minimum income policies in the EU: a misguided proposal

The European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs are currently promoting a new legislative proposal …

Antitrust and the challenge of regulation for online platforms

Platform businesses bring together distinct but interdependent sets of users in such a way as to improve the welfare of each side of the …

Time to re-think the EU trade policy

As of 2017, the EU has 44 trade agreements in place with more than 60 countries across the globe. In addition, five accords have …

Nanny State Index Summary

The EPICENTER Nanny State Index is the only comprehensive league table of lifestyle regulations. The latest data suggest that the EU is becoming a …

Reforming the Common Agricultural Policy

The EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has undergone several waves of reforms over the last few decades. Yet, many market- and trade-distorting practices still …

Some key facts about the EU-China relationship

Since the introduction of pro-market reforms in 1978, China has emerged as a global economic powerhouse and it is today the EU’s second-largest trading …

The EU and Norway: a complex relationship

The EEA Agreement was signed in 1992, and entered into force in 1994. Until now, EEA EFTA countries have been able to enjoy the …

Education 4.0

Current schooling systems are badly equipped to deal with rapid technological innovation and changing work patterns such as the sharing economy and the rise …

Roaming without borders

Following the latest European Commission proposal on wholesale roaming surcharges across the EEA, on 5 and 6 April, MEPs will debate on and vote …

A freer energy market can power Europe’s security

Recent EC proposals fail to explain how alternative energy technologies such as fracking, a deeper energy trade relationship with Europe’s biggest trading partner – …

Solvency II and the CMU: unlocking contractual savings’ investment

Even though the free movement of capital has been a legislative reality in the European Union since the Treaty of Rome, the markets for …

The importance of an anti-lobbying clause

The composition of civil society at the EU level is largely dictated by which groups the European Commission chooses to fund. Furthermore, citizens have …

Regulations and complexity harm EU labour mobility

Labour market mobility in the European Union is increasing, but it remains too low to provide sufficient internal socio-economic adjustments. This situation reflects non-policy …

The Economics of Industry 4.0

Viewed over the sweep of history, concerns about technological unemployment have always proved overblown. Over the last two-hundred years, technology has created more jobs …

The taxation of high-income earners: An international comparison

The effective marginal tax rate is the total tax on the last euro earned, taking into account income tax as well as social contributions …

High-powered reforms to EU energy policy

The achievement of efficient and secure energy supply and a clean environment do not have to be conflicting objectives. However, meeting both goals will …

The past and future of European federalism: Spinelli vs. Hayek

The year 2017 will mark the sixty-year anniversary of the Treaties of Rome. On this occasion, the European project will receive a thorough check-up, …

Android and the challenge of platform management

Google Android is usually described as a mobile operating system – the software that links mobile hardware with applications and thus enables users to …

Living on credit

November 30 marks Credit Day across the European Union. Credit Day is the day when member states’ central administrations exhaust their annual tax revenues …

Last call for TTIP

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is currently in a negotiatory limbo. Even though the European Commission has estimated such an agreement would …

Google Shopping: the arguments revisited

The arguments on which the various competition cases against Google are being fought involve core features of economic interaction in multi-sided digital markets. As …

Innovation in Agriculture

The Common Agricultural Policy
Population growth, natural resource scarcity and climate change will challenge agriculture to deliver food security in the coming decades. Innovative …

Innovation in harm reduction

18 October, 2016
Permissionless Innovation
 
Scientific research has made important breakthroughs in harm reduction in recent years. In the field of alcohol consumption, …

Innovation in Food Labelling

18 October, 2016
 
Geographical Indications
 
According the European Commission, a Geographical Indication (GI) is “a distinctive sign used to identify a product …

Innovation in regulatory approaches

18 October, 2016
 
The sharing economy and digital platforms
 
An important part of the digital platform revolution is the sharing economy, which …

Beware the Commission’s rotten Apple ruling

7 September 2016
The European Commission has ordered Ireland to recover €13bn worth of allegedly unpaid taxes from Apple. Reception of the decision has …

The EU and economic freedom: a complicated relationship

3 August 2016
The European Union is all things to all people. To proponents on the right, it is a force for international cooperation, …

Ever freer union? Economic freedom and the EU

3 August 2016
By performing an econometric analysis on the Fraser Institute’s “Economic Freedom of the World: Annual Report 2015,” it is found that …

Radical, but not equal: assessing corporate tax reforms

27 July 2016
A tax on turnover would tax profitable and loss-making firms equally, potentially posing an insurmountable hurdle to struggling firms, and eliminating …

The importance of being credible: Eurozone rules and Italian banks

13 July 2016
 
The conventional account of the Eurozone crisis is one of reckless bankers lending to households and governments far beyond their ability …

Corporation tax reform: theory, evidence and avoidance

06 July 2016
There are efforts at national, EU and international levels to put forward significant reforms to the corporate tax system. The 20th century …

Brexit: a natural experiment for the EU

29 June 2016
Can a country do better after leaving the EU? Indeed, we can perform an even more granular analysis and seek to …

The Authoritarian Populism Index: Main Findings

16.06.2016
The Authoritarian Populist Index (TAP) includes both right- and left-wing populist parties and covers all national elections in 33 European countries, from 1980 …

The policy implications of the sharing economy

15 June 2016
The emergence of the sharing economy is rapidly changing the way in which goods and services are provided across the EU. …

France: the hottest economy you’ve never heard of

08 June 2016
France badly needs economic reform. But we shouldn’t let negative news headlines blind us to the fact that the French economy …

The EU goes digital (sort of)

01 June 2016
While entrepreneurship and innovation are flourishing across much of the EU’s private sector, public policy has lagged behind most recent technological …

Tobacco harm reduction and the new TPD

25 May 2016
The new Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2) dramatically tightens regulation of cigarettes, rolling tobacco and e-cigarettes. Yet, it is unclear that it …

Pricking the balloon on Eurozone deflation

18 May 2016
As growth rates in the Eurozone gather steam, policymakers’ concerns are increasingly shifting to low inflation. According to Eurostat, consumer prices …

TTIP: a pre-mortem

11 May 2016
To say that negotiations for an EU-U.S. trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), have lost momentum since they …

Bans on homesharing won’t redress Berlin’s housing shortage

4 May 2016
A law banning short-term apartment rentals just came into force in Berlin. The measure, which was passed in 2014 but only …

Is Android harming competition in mobile software?

21 April 2016
In sum, the Commission’s Statement of Objections concerning Android is not justified in light of the existing arrangements between Google and …

Prospects for agricultural reform in the EU

6 April 2016
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is today the EU’s most expensive policy, taking up almost half of the annual budget. It …

Regulatory approaches to the sharing economy

18 February 2016
The sharing economy is based on reductions in transaction costs which enable exchanges that were previously not possible. Sharing economy firms …

Understanding online platforms

21 December 2015
While platforms can operate online and offline, the internet has created new opportunities to lower transaction costs by linking users. Recently, …

Openness can pay off: the economic impact of migrants

1 December 2015
Existing evidence from large refugee migrations and the recent influx of Syrian migrants into Middle Eastern countries shows no adverse effects …

E-cigarettes and Article 20 of the Tobacco Products Directive

15 September 2015
 
From 2016, e-cigarettes will face additional regulation under Article 20 of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Given that non-smokers …

Position: Digital Single Market proposals

15 June 2015
 
The digital revolution is increasingly making barriers to access, trade and innovation obsolete. Remaining obstacles to more efficient exchange of …

La politique de concurrence dans l’économie numérique

1 mai 2015
 
À la lumière des affaires récentes dans le secteur numérique, la politique de concurrence doit changer. Les chiffres portant sur …

La politique de concurrence dans l'économie numérique

1 mai 2015
 
À la lumière des affaires récentes dans le secteur numérique, la politique de concurrence doit changer. Les chiffres portant sur …

Competition policy in the digital economy

 
17 April 2015
 
In light of recent cases in the digital sector, competition policy needs to change. Market share figures tend to …

Company finance in the EU, and the Capital Markets Union

 
7 April 2015
 
Post-crisis financial regulation of banks and new regulations being developed for insurance companies have likely contributed to the dearth …

The Energy Union: why liberalisation matters

12 March 2015
 
The Energy Union can further the process of opening up and integrating energy markets within the European Union. However, there …

Response: European Commission report on investment protection in TTIP

 
14 January 2015
 
A response to the European Commission’s findings in its 2014 consultation on investment protection and the investor-state dispute settlement …

Updating the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base

16 December 2014
 
The Commission should work to preserve the highest degree of tax competition between Member States. The CCCTB poses the danger …

Position sur le “dégroupage” des moteurs de recherche

 
20 avril 2015
 
Le « dégroupage » réduirait sévèrement la capacité des moteurs de recherche à innover, tout en augmentant également les …

Position sur le "dégroupage" des moteurs de recherche

 
20 avril 2015
 
Le « dégroupage » réduirait sévèrement la capacité des moteurs de recherche à innover, tout en augmentant également les …

"Unbundling" search engines

26 November 2014
 
Given the lack of evidence of anti-competitive behaviour in the search engine market, action by the European Commission is unjustified. …

“Unbundling” search engines

26 November 2014
 
Given the lack of evidence of anti-competitive behaviour in the search engine market, action by the European Commission is unjustified. …

Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Myths and Reality

20 November 2014
 
With cross-border trade volumes reaching new heights every year, and with governments still prone to arbitrary action, there is a …

The European Union and lifestyle freedoms

Christopher Snowdon, October 2014
 
Dealing with public health challenges requires some degree of government action to protect the population from contagious diseases and …

Promoting competition and energy security in Europe

Žilvinas Šilėnas, October 2014
 
The success of the internal market for products can and should be repeated for energy. Natural barriers to market …

The TTIP and the future of EU free trade agreements

Pierre Desrochers, October 2014
 
The free-trade deal between Canada and the European Union has often been described as a template for the potentially …

Taxation and the Digital Economy

Massimiliano Trovato, October 2014
 
It is widely acknowledged that Europe lags behind when it comes to digital entrepreneurship. The largest players in the …

Free movement of labour and the future of the welfare state

Malin Sahlén, October 2014
 
The free movement of workers across Member States is one the main historic achievements of the European integration process. …

Towards a robust financial sector – how should tax and regulation evolve?

Cristina Berechet, October 2014
 
The economic and financial crisis has affected the ability of the EU financial sector to channel funds towards the …