German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
Taxation is above all a political rather than a technical issue. But what happens if new digital technologies cause profound power shifts in the relationship between revenue authorities and taxpayers? The paper seeks to lay the conceptual groundwork for the analysis of this interplay.
Stefan Pahl, Clara Brandi, Jakob Schwab, and Frederik Stender
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
This paper estimates the economic vulnerability of developing countries to disruptions in global value chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic and reveals that adverse demand-side effects reduce GDP up to 5.4 percent, and collapsing foreign supply generates a drop in GDP of a similar magnitude.
Topic:
Developing World, GDP, Economy, Global Value Chains, and COVID-19
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
Addressing human mobility in the context of land and forest degradation and desertification (LFDD) in global and national policy and legal frameworks remains essential for improved management of population movements related to slow onset processes.
Topic:
Environment, Population, Mobility, Land, and Forest
Anna Pegels, Stefanie Heyer, David Ohlig, Felix Kurz, Lena Laux, and Prescott Morley
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
How can recycling in developing countries be shaped to be socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable? Our research synthesizes the ideas and expectations of a diverse set of actors in the recycling sector of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Negotiations on the adoption of the multi-annual financial framework 2021-2027 and the "Next
Generation EU" recovery fund continue. Although hope of an agreement allowing deployment from
1 January 2021 has not yet been lost, there are still many sticking points. This is illustrated by
the strong tensions that have recently emerged between the European Parliament and the Council
of the European Union, but also between Member States, themselves reluctant to question the
precarious balance of the 21 July agreement.
Topic:
Budget, European Union, Finance, and Economic Recovery
Europe has an excess of savings and its companies lack equity capital. This diagnosis was made
a long time ago and the crises the continent has been going through over the last 10 years have
accentuated this gap. European growth companies are rapidly falling prey to large non-European
firms that benefit from a deep and liquid stock market. Thus, despite the existing arrangements,
Europe is unable to impose world champions that would allow it to build its sovereignty against the
United States and China. The creation of a new category of UCITS funds open to all EU savers, the
European Sovereign Funds, would help us respond to this challenge by providing medium-sized
companies with the fresh capital they need to ensure their development and independence.
Topic:
Financial Crisis, European Union, Economic Growth, and Capital
The European Union is one of the main promoters of free trade agreements (FTAs). This position is not
new: since the mid-2000s, and even more so in the decade now ending, the Commission, supported
by the Council and the European Parliament, has constantly sought to negotiate and conclude new
trade agreements. This strategy has paid off. In 2018, almost a third of trade between Europe and
the rest of the world was covered by the preferential provisions of an FTA, a figure that is expected
to increase significantly in 2020, following the entry into force of the agreement with Vietnam, and
to rise in the coming years to more than 40% if the agreements currently being negotiated with
Mercosur, the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and possibly the United Kingdom come
into force.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, European Union, Free Trade, and Trade
The United Kingdom officially left the European
Union on 31 January 2020 following the signing
of the exit agreement. This departure went hand
in hand with the opening of a transitional period
until 31 December 2020, during which the rules of
the internal market continue to govern relations
between the two sides. However, negotiations have
not yet been completed, since the framework for
the future relationship between the United Kingdom
– which has now become a third country – and the
27 Member States of the European Union has yet
to be established. The joint political declaration of
30 January 2020 accompanying the exit Agreement
provides for : "an ambitious, broad, deep, flexible
partnership in trade and economic cooperation
– with a comprehensive and balanced free trade
agreement at its centre –, law enforcement and
criminal justice, foreign, security and defence
policy, as well as broader areas of cooperation"[1].
Initiated in February 2020 the negotiations on the
future Agreement have been hampered by the
Covid-19 pandemic. The 27 Member States decided
that the defence of their positions would, as with
the exit Agreement, be entrusted to the European
Commission represented by a single negotiator,
the Frenchman Michel Barnier. On the British
side, former diplomat, David Frost, is in charge of
defending the positions of the British government
led by Boris Johnson, however the former will be
called to another post as Government Adviser for
National Security from September 2020. Although
face-to-face negotiations resumed in Brussels at
the end of June 2020, in substance they have made
very modest progress. Hence a legitimate question:
can an agreement on the future relationship
between the United Kingdom and the European
Union be reached by 31 December 2020, while
Boris Johnson's government has refused to make
use of the possibility offered of extending the
transition period and thus the negotiations until 30
June 2020? Is there a risk of ending the year 2020
without a no deal and to have economic relations
between the United Kingdom and the European
Union governed by the common law of the World
Trade Organisation?
The protests against Belarusian President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka, which have continued beyond the August
9 presidential election, have been surprising in terms
of their scale and level of politicization. The protest
promises to be long-lasting bringing together people
of all ages and professions, but the authorities are
refusing to recognize it and are not satisfying any of
its demands: to organize new this time democratic
elections, to stop repression, to release detainees and
political prisoners, to investigate crimes committed
by the representatives of law enforcement agencies.
Quite the opposite is happening: the crackdown
orchestrated by Lukashenka’s regime, after a certain
lull between August 12 and 16, is intensifying with
hundreds of arrests per day, the repression against
the emerging leaders and journalists (from the private
media) who report the facts. What are the scenarios
of the development of this crisis which seems to
have reached an impasse? Can Belarus emerge from
it without resorting to foreign mediation? What role
could the European Union play?
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will enter the
next decade relieved by Brexit of its fiercest opponent
but weakened by the external pressures to which it
has been subjected, and disrupted by the enlargement
of the European Union.
In the 2020s, it will have to take full account, in
conjunction with the European Commission's Green
Deal, of the environmental and climate issues that are
so important for agriculture.
It will also have to improve the management of climate,
health and market risks, which global warming could
aggravate, and strengthen the negotiating capacity of
producer organisations with their powerful buyers in
the food industry and supermarkets.
Budgetary pressure may lead the European Union to
distribute direct payments, (which account for three
quarters of CAP expenditure), more fairly by placing
the burden rather more on large farms, in order to
spare the medium-sized family farms, which are still
numerous in the western part of the continent.
Finally, the CAP should be coordinated with other
European policies, particularly trade policy.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Budget, European Union, and Trade Policy