SME taxation in Europe: An empirical study of applied corporate income taxation for SMEs compared to large enterprises. CIP Programme 186/PP/ENT/CIP/12/F/S01C24

This report analyses tax incentives for SMEs in 20 EU countries and five non-EU countries between 2009-2013. Its findings and recommendations are based on a review of tax codes, modelling of tax burdens using two different models, a descriptive analysis of company financial ratios, and the perceptions of tax advisers and companies in each country

Participation and Political Competition in Committee Report Allocation: Under what conditions do MEPs Represent their Constituents?

The paper models the consequences of committee report allocation for political representation in the European Parliament (EP). The range of legislators involved in each policy area affects the values, interests and constituencies that the Parliament represents. Thus, representation is defined as an MEP’s participation in salient policy areas. The allocation of salient reports follows inter-and intra-party group dynamics. First, party groups compete for salient reports in a context of open voting rules in committee and plenum. Second, group coordinators distribute these reports among their MEPs in an attempt to maximize the cohesion of the group. The model is tested on data from the fifth European Parliament (1999-2002). The results confirm the impact of selective participation on political representation. The EP has evolved into a ‘normal’ Parliament featuring coalitions and competition along a left-right cleavage across party groups and a hierarchical allocation of legislative spoils within parties

Government of the people and for the people? Legislative specialisation and party representation in the European Parliament

This thesis develops and tests a model of political representation based on the participation and specialisation decisions of individual MEPs. Political representation is determined by the institutional and party-political incentives that guide legislative behaviour at different stages of the policy process. Proportionality requirements, majority rule and intra-party politics affect whether MEPs engage in different legislative activities in the European Parliament and the extent to which they specialise in the policy areas that their national party stands for. The model can be adapted to a wide range of legislative activities and to different institutional environments. At the decision-making stage, majority rule makes participation most attractive to MEPs from party groups that are pivotal under the majority thresholds required to pass legislation. In contrast, minority MEPs limit their participation to the policy areas that are salient to their national party. In other words, minority legislators are more responsive than majority MEPs. In policy formulation, an auction system enforces a proportional allocation of committee reports, which favours the representation of a broad range of values and interests across the political spectrum. However, competition among party groups affects who gets the most desirable reports. Open rule enforces a distribution of salient reports in line with voting coalitions in the plenary and on the committee floor. Within party groups, the leadership distributes reports in an effort to maintain group cohesion. As a result, majority legislators who are loyal to their party groups are more responsive than other MEPs. Finally, in parliamentary oversight at Question-Time, party groups do not have any gate-keeping powers. Also, national parties rather than party groups are the primary actors in legislative-executive relations. MEPs without national party ties to the Commission attribute a greater role to overseeing the executive in a large range of policy areas than 'governing' MEPs. As a result, such 'opposition' MEPs are better represented at this stage of the policy process but they specialise less in salient policy areas

Towards a paradigm of proximity economy for competitive and resilient cities and territories

This paper explores the concept of the Proximity Economy, a human-centered model focused on short value chains and social interactions within local contexts, as a strategic response to global challenges like climate change, supply chain disruptions, and the twin green and digital transitions. Amid ongoing crises, e.g., pandemic, economic, geopolitical, and environmental, reconceptualizing economic development paradigms is crucial for fostering resilient and sustainable solutions. The Proximity Economy integrates local production, distribution, and consumption, supporting sustainable innovation and the competitiveness of local enterprises. It aligns with the European Union’s industrial strategy and Sustainable Development Goals, such as climate action (SDG 13) and reducing inequalities (SDG 10). This paper reviews the socio-economic impacts of the Proximity Economy, considering its connections with the circular and social economies, and identifies relevant policies for its promotion at the European, national, and local levels. Through sectoral analysis and examples, the paper provides a framework for evaluating the economic, environmental, and social outcomes of this model, offering recommendations for its future development and implementation

Criminalidade hipercentral um estudo sobre o hipercentro de Belo Horizonte e os impactos das ações de requalificação do espaço urbano sobre os crimes de roubo consumado entre 1998 e 2015

This thesis studies the process of transformation of the hypercentral region of Belo Horizonte since its foundation in the light of the main sociological theories that interpret the criminal phenomenon based on its environmental components, which allows us to examine the problem of the evolution of crime in the Hipercentro from a different point of view regarding the role of urban planning and environmental interventions, it also analyzes the criminal dynamics of robberies between 1998 and 2015, encompassing a historical series of data that includes a period before, during and after the accomplishment of the largest and most recent program of urban requalification of the area: the Centro Vivo Program. For the analysis of this data, we constructed heat maps and maps of hot spots using QGIS software and graphics. The results corroborate with our hypothesis that hot spots would not be distributed throughout the hypercentral territory, nor behave in a random way, but would concentrate in certain regions and would remain stable in periods which there were no interventions in the territory; that the interventions of the Centro Vivo Program would alter the criminal dynamics of robberies; the hot spots would reduce after the interventions; there would be no dispersion or migration of crime into the surrounding area; and that the upward trend in crime would be weaken. The results also showed that most of the Hipercentro exhibited low densities of robberies during the analyzed period and that the hot spots appeared in spaces that had the same characteristics that were identified by our theoretical body as positively related to high criminal rates: areas that had been neglected by public authorities, whose buildings and street furniture were in a poor state of conservation, with high rates of vacancy, predominantly commercial use, intense flow of pedestrians and vehicles, high concentration of bus stops, presence of marginalized population, illegal activities and/or prostitution, and weak vigilance.Esta dissertação estuda o processo de transformação da região hipercentral de Belo Horizonte desde a sua fundação à luz das principais teorias sociológicas que interpretam o fenômeno criminal a partir de seus componentes ambientais, o que nos permite examinar a problemática da evolução da criminalidade no Hipercentro sob uma ótica diferenciada quanto à consideração do papel que o planejamento urbano e as intervenções ambientais possuem, e analisa a dinâmica criminal de roubos consumados no Hipercentro entre 1998 e 2015, englobando uma série histórica de dados que compreende um período antes, durante e após a realização do maior e mais recente programa do Poder Público Municipal de requalificação urbanística direcionado à região: o Programa Centro Vivo. Para a análise destes dados foram construídos mapas de calor e mapas de hot spots através do software QGIS e gráficos. Os resultados corroboraram com a hipótese que os hot spots não se distribuiriam por todo o território hipercentral, nem se comportariam de forma aleatória, mas se concentrariam em determinadas regiões e manter-se-iam estáveis nos períodos em que não houveram intervenções no território; que a dinâmica criminal dos roubos modificaria após as intervenções do Centro Vivo; que os hot spots reduziriam após as intervenções; que não haveria dispersão nem migração da criminalidade para as adjacências; e que a tendência ascendente da criminalidade enfraqueceria. Os resultados também mostraram que a maior parte do Hipercentro exibiu densidades baixas de roubos consumados durante o período analisado e que os hot spots apareceram em espaços que possuíam as mesmas características que foram identificadas pelo nosso corpo teórico como relacionadas positivamente com elevadas taxas criminais: áreas que haviam sido negligenciados pelo poder público, cujas edificações e o mobiliário urbano encontravamse em estado ruim de conservação, com elevadas taxas de vacância e/ou subutilização dos imóveis, uso predominantemente comercial, grande fluxo de pedestres e veículos motorizados, concentração de pontos de transporte coletivo, presença de parcelas da população marginalizada, atividades ilegais e/ou prostituição, e baixa vigilância

Learning on the job?: EU enlargement and the assignment of (shadow) rapporteurships in the European Parliament

This article investigates the determinants of assignments to European Parliament negotiating teams comprising both rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs. We re-examine the argument that under-representation of MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) from new Member States on these key posts after enlargement might have been due to a 'learning phase'. We find that MEPs from newer Member States remain considerably less likely to act as rapporteurs during the second term after enlargement (2009–14). Most importantly, this trend also holds for shadow rapporteurships under the co-decision procedure, which is when they matter most. This structural under-representation entails important implications for European integration, most importantly that MEPs from newer Member States are less able to influence legislation. We suggest that the patterns we find could be the result of reduced willingness, a more limited skill set, or a structural disadvantage of MEPs from the accession states in the report allocation process

Requalificação urbana e dinâmica criminal: estudo de caso do programa Centro Vivo em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil

This article studies the transformation process of the central region of Belo Horizonte-MG focusing on the main sociological theories which interpret the criminal phenomenon through its environmental components, examining the evolution of criminality in this space based on the analysis of the criminal dynamics of robberies in the so-called “Hipercentro” between 1998 and 2015, encompassing a historical series of data which comprises a period before, during and after the realization of the largest and most recent program of the municipal government for urban requalification directed to the region: Centro Vivo. The notes generated show that the hotspots of robberies are not evenly distributed throughout downtown, but concentrated in certain regions, and that, after the urban interventions of Centro Vivo, those hotspots suffered attenuation, without dispersion or migration of criminality.Este trabajo estudia el proceso de transformación del centro de la ciudad de Belo Horizonte a la luz de las principales teorías sociológicas que interpretan el fenómeno delictivo a partir de sus componentes ambientales, examinando la evolución de la delincuencia en este espacio, mediante el análisis de la dinámica delictiva de los robos cometidos en el centro de la ciudad entre 1998 y 2015, abarcando una serie histórica de datos que incluye un período antes, durante y después del mayor y más reciente programa del gobierno municipal de regeneración urbana dirigido a la región: el Centro Vivo. Las notas generadas muestran que los focos de robo no se distribuyen de forma homogénea por todo el territorio hipercentral, sino que se concentran en determinadas regiones, y que, tras las intervenciones urbanas de Centro Vivo, sufrieron una atenuación, sin dispersión ni migración de la delincuencia.Esse artigo estuda o processo de transformação da região hipercentral de Belo Horizonte-MG à luz das principais teorias sociológicas que interpretam o fenômeno criminal a partir de seus componentes ambientais, examinando a evolução da criminalidade nesse espaço, através da análise da dinâmica criminal de roubos consumados no Hipercentro entre 1998 e 2015, englobando uma série histórica de dados que compreende um período antes, durante e após a realização do maior e mais recente programa do poder público municipal de requalificação urbanística direcionado à região: o Centro Vivo. Os apontamentos gerados mostram que os hotspots de roubos não se distribuem de forma homogênea por todo o território hipercentral, mas se concentram em determinadas regiões, e que, após as intervenções urbanísticas do Centro Vivo, sofreram atenuação, sem dispersão ou migração da criminalidade

Final Evaluation of Security Research under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration.

This report is the Final Report of the ‘Final Evaluation of Security Research under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration (FP7)’, which was commissioned, in 2014, by Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry (DG ENTR).3A consortium led by Technopolis Group and including VVA, as well as the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, conducted the research for this study in the period from August 2014 to August 2015. This report presents the detailed results and analyses, conclusions and recommendations from the evaluation. These are based on findings from data collection and analyses, drawing on desk research, data from the CORDA database, surveys of participants and end-users, stakeholder interviews, a series of case studies, and a stakeholder workshop

Exploratory study of consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platform markets: final report

This is a report published by the European Commission. For re-use please see the publisher's terms and conditions.This study explores consumer issues in five online peer to peer platform markets: (Re)sale of Goods; Sharing/renting of goods, Sharing/renting accommodation; Sharing/hiring rides; and Odd jobs. The study estimates that 191m citizens across the EU-28 spend EUR 27.9 billion per year on online P2P platforms. Of this total, an estimated EUR 10.61 billion consists of platform revenues and revenues of third parties. The study defines three main peer-to-peer platform business models: (a) hosting of listings where platforms do not get involved in the peer to peer transaction (b) active management of transactions where platforms foster trust among peers to facilitate a larger number of transactions and (c) platform governed peer transactions where the platform sets one or more contractual terms for the peer-to-peer transaction and exercises control over the performance of the transaction. The study identifies five key consumer issues that emerge from this new kind of economy: (1) transparency and clarity regarding the nature of transactions concluded through online P2P platforms, applicable consumer rights and obligations, the applicable legal framework and its enforcement; (2) reliability of peer review and rating systems and accuracy of identity information provided on the platform; (3) discrepancy between exclusion of platform responsibility and liability for the performance of online P2P transactions and platform practices; (4) access to redress for peer consumers and peer providers; and (5) data use and data protection issues.This report was produced under the EU Consumer Programme (2014-2020) in the frame of a service contract with the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (Chafea) acting under the mandate from the European Commission.Published versio