The climate crisis and related events are often in the headline in recent years. The climate agreements reflected these concerns and called the researchers’ attention to the urgent need for climate ...mitigation and adaptation policies. Many countries made new commitments during the latest United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) in November 2021 in Glasgow. In turn, scientists and experts worry that new pledges are not ambitious enough. The first environmental regulation was ratified in Great Britain in 1863. Later, the industrial and agricultural revolution stimulated pollution and brought about the emergence of environmental issues. The first agreement aiming to mitigate environmental pollution and stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere was the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Behind the European Union, the contribution of the biggest polluter countries to climate change is also significant. The objective of the paper is to investigate the explanatory factors of CO2 emission, focusing on the contribution of economic growth, agriculture, and trade along with free trade and climate agreements on climate change in Non-European Union member states, including the biggest emitters in the past two decades. In addition, it investigates the role of specific free trade agreements in emission cuts. The results showed an increase in CO2 emissions in third countries, the reduction in the impact of agricultural export on greenhouse gas emissions, underlining the potential hidden effect of trade-related emissions between 2000 and 2018. NAFTA was encouraged while EFTA, ASEAN and MERCOSUR reduced emission growth. The USA, China, and Russia have the highest responsibility in controlling climate change. The findings reflect the limited progress and implementation of climate and trade policies and agricultural-related emissions in Non-EU countries.
•Confirmed the validity of the U-shaped EKC curve in Non-EU countries.•Economic development stimulates while agricultural development reduces CO2 emission.•Agricultural export has a sinking impact on GHGs in the rest of the world.•NAFTA encouraged while EFTA, MERCOSUR and ASEAN hindered CO2 emission.•The USA, China, Russia have the highest responsibility in controlling emission.
Raw beef imported into the European Union (EU) from third countries must fulfill the same legal requirements as products from EU member states. Recently, the microbiological quality of 100 raw beef ...samples imported from third countries into the EU was investigated. Samples were quantitatively analyzed according to DIN ISO standard methods for aerobic mesophilic colony counts (ACC), counts of Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, coagulase-positive staphylococci and qualitatively for L. monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. Samples were also screened for the presence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). Detected STEC isolates were subjected to whole genome sequencing. An E. coli prevalence of 3 % was detected, with one sample exceeding the critical value of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM). Coagulase-positive staphylococci were found in one sample, but at a level below the DGHM guidance value. In three samples, L. monocytogenes were detected quantitatively, but none of these surpassed the critical value. Salmonella spp. were not detected, but Enterobacteriaceae were present in 83 % of the samples, of which 40 % surpassed the critical value. Combined with detected high values of ACC, this may indicate hygiene deficiencies. Additionally, STEC-screening showed a prevalence of 2 % and both STEC isolates harbored stx1 and stx2. Overall, the occurrence of foodborne pathogens in the samples analyzed was low, but DGHM requirements for raw beef were not completely fulfilled. In combination with the detection of STEC, this may represent a potential health hazard for consumers.
•The microbiological quality of raw beef imported into the EU was evaluated.•Occurrence of foodborne pathogens within raw beef samples was low.•STEC-screening revealed a prevalence of 2 %.•An unusual B17 STEC genotype was detected by whole genome sequencing.•High values for Enterobacteriaceae indicated hygiene deficiencies.
β-adrenergic agonist ractopamine is increasingly used in the swine industry due to consumer demand for leaner pork products. Ractopamine redirects nutrients to favor leanness rather than fat ...deposition, improves growth and carcass traits of finishing pigs. However, countries around the world are split over whether to allow the use of ractopamine in meat production. While this substance has been authorized as a feed additive in a limited number of countries, in pigs and cattle, the vast majority of jurisdictions, including the European Union (EU), China, Taiwan, Russia has banned its use on safety grounds. This legal division finds reflection into the long-standing opposition existing between countries supporting the establishment of maximum residue levels and those who oppose it within the Codex. In fact, the international debate over ractopamine bans, restrictions and maximum residue level standards have intensified and a trade war may be looming. A conflicting debate between countries has started. In this article, we discuss about the criteria of “level and not a limit”, comprehensive methods used for ractopamine monitoring on every stage of the production chain, and the recommended tissue for analysis.
•Ractopamine is widely used as a feed additive in meat production.•World is split over whether to allow or not use ractopamine.•International debate over ractopamine has intensified and a trade war is looming.•Comprehensive methods for ractopamine monitoring need to be considered.
The processes of objectively conditioned integration in the economic, political, legal, and institutional spheres of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) Member States took place step by step, starting ...from preferential trade agreements, passing to the customs union, the common market and other stages of integration. This process is accompanied by the gradual deepening of trade liberalization with potential partners. The selection of potential partners should be carried out through a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the structure and volumes of foreign trade of the EEU Member States (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia) with third parties, their markets structure, existing customs regulation, trade barriers, and possible export potential. The research evaluated the EEU's possible enlargement effects on the Member States' economic indicators. The research aimed to assess the possible consequences of EEU expansion and signing free trade agreements, considering Pakistan, Korea, and Malaysia as potential trade partners. Modeling the effect of an FTA assumes horizontal zeroing of tariffs between partners. Then, using the GTAP model, a new state of general equilibrium was calculated corresponding to the changed parameters of customs and tariff regulation. In this case, most variables, such as change in GDP, production output, and export-import volumes, were estimated, manifesting the economic effect of trade liberalization.
Abstract
EU decentralised agencies dispose of a wide network of external relations giving third countries various degrees of access to their management boards, secondary bodies and/or operational ...cooperation. These venues constitute hitherto under‐explored opportunities for third country influence on EU laws and policies. Based on an original dataset, this article maps the widening scope and depth of third country de jure access to 26 EU agencies over time and provides first explanations for the variation across agencies and countries. We find that agency autonomy and international mandate as well as third country democracy, regulatory capacity, and wealth are positively correlated with access. Whilst the de jure provisions examined in this article capture the formal institutional scope for third country influence, they underline the potential for more detailed case studies on de facto third country influence and its determinants.
Abstract
This article discusses the democratic implications of third country incorporation for the EU and for third countries. The more the EU transforms sovereignty in an open and inclusive manner, ...the greater the scope for third country presence, participation and influence. For the EU, the greater the presence and influence of third countries, the more pressing the democratic incongruence. For third countries, the better included and the more they participate, the less incongruent their affiliation, and the more similar to members they become. These considerations depend on how the EU structures its relations with third countries and the nature of the EU's political order. It is in the EU's internal market and flanking areas that the pooling and sharing of sovereignty is the most pronounced. The conundrum facing third countries and the EU is that the internal market is central to the EU's constitution as a political system.
This article examines the ways in which third countries can engage with, and respond to, European Union policy-making processes. A novel analytical framework based on the concept of network ...resilience which consists of an institutional, political and policy dimension is operationalised to understand third country access to European Union policy-making. Empirically, the article examines the experiences of three non-European Union countries, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway in the context of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy. The article concludes by presenting a research agenda based on an in-depth analysis of network resilience and reflects on what the findings mean for future research, particularly within the context of understanding the development of UK–EU post-Brexit relations.
Abstract
The COVID‐19 crisis provides important examples whereby Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (the EEA EFTA States) deemed it necessary to influence the content of EU rules. Despite ...participating in the internal market through the EEA Agreement, they were not initially excluded from the EU's restrictions on the export of personal protective equipment and later the export of vaccines against COVID‐19, and they sought to reverse these decisions. This article explores how the EEA EFTA States influenced EU policy in this regard and which methods proved to be most effective. Did the nature of the COVID‐19 crisis have an impact on EU decision‐making processes as well as the methods and channels used by the EEA EFTA States? The EEA EFTA States’ relationship with the EU is also examined as it relates to their ability to influence EU legislation and the legitimacy of such influence.
(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2023 8(2), 985-1011 | Article | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. – II. The establishment of the European Border and Coast ...Guard. – III. The enhancement of the Agency’s mandate. – III.1. The conferral of executive powers on the Agency’s staff. - III.2. The emergence of a supervisory role. – IV. Cooperation with third countries in the framework of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation. – V. The implications of the extraterritorial Frontex joint operations. – V.1. The deployment of border management teams on the territory of third countries. – V.2. The delimitation of responsibilities between the actors involved in the operations. – V.3. Redress in case of fundamental rights breaches. – VI. Conclusions. | (Abstract) The aim of this Article is to examine the role played by Frontex in the process of externalisation of EU migration policies. It is not surprising that the external dimension of Frontex’s powers has been reinforced in the successive reforms of its legal framework. There is a common agreement between Member States on the need to intensify international cooperation with third countries in order to face current challenges in the area of migration. The deployment of border management teams on the territory of third countries raises complex legal and political questions as regards the legal regimen applicable and the delimitation of responsibilities between the different actors involved in the extraterritorial operations. The allegations of fundamental rights violations in which Frontex was reportedly involved in the Aegean Sea show that it will be very difficult to clarify the role of Frontex in any wrongdoing that will happen in the context of operations implemented on the territory of third countries.
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