Enhanced Cooperation in the EU Abstract Enhanced cooperation has been a widely discussed in the context of the further possible development of the European integration and its direction. It represents a mechanism which introduces elements of flexible integration into the EU law. This thesis aims to provide a complete view of the process of enhanced cooperation. The first part focuses on the definition of flexibility and its theoretical concepts. The following parts of the thesis are then fully focused on enhanced cooperation as a specific legal instrument regulated by the Treaties. First of all, it mentions its historical development from the Treaty of Amsterdam to the Treaty of Lisbon and the changes it has undergone. After that there is the analysis of the legal provisions on enhanced cooperation itself. It discusses the whole process of establishing enhanced cooperation and the conditions necessary for that. There are also discussed special rules for activation of enhanced cooperation in the area of the common foreign and security policy and the police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Furthermore, a substantial part of the work is devoted to the application of enhanced cooperation in practice. Five cases of enhanced cooperation established so far are analysed in that part. In each case, the...

The goal of the diploma thesis is the characterization of the tax on financial transactions with its origins. The main content lies primarily in the description of the tax on financial transactions within the frame of the enhanced cooperation of some of the member states of the European Union and assessment of the assumed impacts of its implementation. The first chapter describes in more detail the development in the international field after the financial crisis which attracted attention to the various ways of taxation of financial sector. Options that were considered are briefly summarized in this chapter and then the detailed attention is paid to the path chosen by the European Union, i.e. the tax on financial transactions. The second chapter of the thesis examines the aspects of the enhanced cooperation and its specifics in comparison with the whole-union system. The chapter is finished with the case of the European Court of Justice where the claim of Great Britain disputing the conformity of the Council's decision approving the enhanced cooperation with the law and the principles of functioning of the European Union is decided. The main elements of the tax are analyzed in the third and the fourth chapter in accordance with the directives on which they are based. These two chapters which are more of the...

The theme of this dissertation thesis is: The perspectives of harmonization of direct income taxes in the European Union. The reason for choosing this topic was firstly the current issue, which offers a wide scope for research and polemic over new approaches and solutions in the European and international tax law. The European Union is a supranational organization founded on the principle of conferral of powers. The ideas of the approximation of the laws are not only its own, but occur throughout the world community, because thanks to the harmonization of certain legislation the benefits of international trade can maximize. The idea of exclusion from economic cooperation today is practically unrealistic. In the European Union the harmonization of laws is directly related to the development of the internal market. The European Union has a long-term goal to create a market that acts as a market of one country. The instrument of harmonization seeks to eliminate differences in legal systems so as not to impede the implementation of the four fundamental freedoms of the internal market. Taxation is a very specific and also sensitive area. The area of taxation is traditionally perceived as a sovereign expression of state sovereignty. The aim of this thesis is the attempt to find the best solutions how to...

La thèse propose une esquisse des enjeux juridiques de l'adoption d'une taxe sur les transactions financières par le biais de la coopération renforcée en Europe. Les recherches portent plus précisément sur la technicité fiscale de la conception de cette imposition levée sur les transactions financières et les défis juridiques qui dérivent de son adoption par le biais de la coopération renforcée. La taxe, telle que conçue ne présente pas d'éléments de nature à la rendre contraire au droit international et européen et dans quelle mesure le cadre institutionnel qui l'accueille, celui de la coopération renforcée, est susceptible de remédier à ces possibles obstacles. La taxe sur les transactions financières telle que conçue par Tobin est destinée à s'appliquer par une communauté ample de juridictions fiscales. Son adoption à l'échelle régionale pose des problèmes juridiques qui tiennent à deux chefs. D'une part, l'imposition d'un secteur mobile et internationalisé dans son activité est confrontée à la planification fiscale d'évitement de l'impôt, facteur fragilisant les attendes sur son potentiel fiscal. D'autre part, l'extraterritorialité de l'imposition, qualité inhérente aux contours conceptuels de la taxe produit des effets dont la justification, tant en droit international et européen, primaire que dérivé, n'est pas aisément obtenue. Les difficultés découlant de la technicité fiscale de l'imposition ne s'épuisent pas dans les arguments précités. Elles demeurent intimement liées à l'élaboration d'une politique fiscale européenne de répartition de ressources fiscales entre États membres. / This thesis stems from European Taxation and it aims at providing for a legal appraisal of the contemplated introduction of a EU Financial Transaction Tax (FIT). The thesis, divided in three parts, is dedicated to the 2013 FIT Proposal, tabled in by the Commission and gaining support among some EU Member States, which wish to proceed by Enhanced Cooperation in this area. Part I of the thesis sets up the stage, focuses on interpreting the draft Proposal, and seeks for the "missing links": those unresolved issues, raised by tax academics, for making the tax legally consistent and coherent. Modelling an efficient and fair financial transaction tax is a delicate affair for tax experts. Within this appraisal, inconsistencies and incoherence, in the actual wording of the Proposal, have been overviewed. Part II focuses on the alleged infringement of international law, primary and secondary from FTT's implementation. Beyond the academic interest, by delving into that area of law, the conclusions drawn may be ground for further reflexion in regard of tax payers' protection. In the chapters that follow, we scrutinize the general institutional conditions granting competence to the EU for harmonising indirect taxes and we survey the requirements to be met in the specific legal frame of the Enhanced cooperation. More, we shed some light on the FTT's shape under the 2013 Proposal in regard of the European Treaties and secondary law.

This dissertation is devoted to the analysis of various aspects of inefficiency in the political economy. It consists of four self-containing theoretical essays. The first two chapters deal with the interplay between inefficiency and commitment. Chapter 1 studies the problem of commitment in autocratic regimes and its implications for growth. Chapter 2 argues that the absence of commitment undermines the validity of the Coase theorem. The next two chapters address alternative sources of inefficiency, abstracting from commitment-related problems. Chapter 3 discusses inefficiencies arising in organizations whose members possess veto power and suggests a way of mitigating the problem. Finally, Chapter 4 analyzes the impact of demand linkages on the efficiency of lobbying for trade policy. Chapter 1. “Autocracy, Devolution and Growth” Some autocracies have sustained high economic growth for many decades; others have stagnated at low levels of production. Paradoxically, the stagnating autocracies appear to possess more natural resources and be more resistant to political change than the growing autocracies. The paper argues that the scope for capital accumulation and growth in an autocracy is largely determined by the autocrat's incentive to cling to power. The main result of the paper is that there will be private capital accumulation only if the autocrat’s benefits from political control are not too high. The reason is that, as capital accumulates and growth slows down, the autocrat faces an increasing temptation to expropriate the capitalists. Since expropriation eliminates growth, the autocrat may voluntarily refrain from expropriating if future growth is sufficiently large; otherwise, the temptation to expropriate can only be resisted through a credible commitment, that is, by devolving some political power. For autocrats with large benefits of control, for example valuable natural resource rents, devolution of power may always be unattractive. As a result, capitalists realize that they will eventually be expropriated, and capital accumulation therefore never starts. On the other hand, autocrats with small resource rents will eventually devolve power, since this commitment is necessary to sustain growth. Therefore, capitalists are willing to start accumulating despite the autocratic regime. In other words, autocracies are vulnerable to the resource curse.   Chapter 2. “The Coase Theorem Is False” (with Tore Ellingsen) The paper provides simple and robust counterexamples to the Coase Theorem. More precisely, we show that equilibrium investments in club goods can be suboptimally small despite the presence of well-defined and perfectly protected property rights and the absence of transaction costs and informational asymmetries. The reason is that, in equilibrium, a club of owners will typically not exercise their right to exclude outsiders, preferring instead to exercise their right to sell access. As long as the club of owners does not have all the bargaining power in such ex post access negotiations, strategic non-membership provides a valuable free-riding opportunity. Chapter 3. “Club-in-the-Club: Reform under Unanimity” (with Erik Berglöf, Mike Burkart and Guido Friebel) In many organizations, decisions are taken by unanimity. We analyze a model of an organization in which members with heterogeneous productivity privately contribute to a common good. Under unanimity, the least efficient member imposes her preferred effort choice on the entire organization. In the presence of externalities and an incomplete charter, the threat of forming an “inner organization” can undermine the veto power of the less efficient members and coerce them to exert more effort. We identify the conditions under which the threat of forming an inner organization is never executed, and under which inner organizations are equilibrium outcomes, and provide a rationale for the diversity of decision rules. Chapter 4. “Protection for Sale to Oligopolists” This paper modifies Grossman and Helpman’s "Protection for Sale" model by allowing demand linkages and oligopolistic competition. It shows that increased substitutability between products weakens interest groups’ incentives to lobby. For the case of two industries it obtains a particularly simple result: the protection of the organized industry’s product falls, whereas the protection of the unorganized industry’s product increases with product substitutability. The model suggests that empirical studies of the "Protection for Sale" may overstate the lobby groups’ desire for protection. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006

The main task of the thesis entitled Differentiation of European Integration Process is historical excursus into the development of the policy of differentiation and flexibility within the European integration member countries. The thesis points out the comparison of the speeches delivered by leading representatives that helped forming theoretical basis of this european policy. The thesis then also characterises the main models of differentiated collaboration and evaluates their present contribution and future utilisation. With help of theoretical foundings the thesis then analyses three particular examples of differentiation in existing European integration process.

Il Trattato di Lisbona contiene la base giuridica per l’istituzione della Procura europea, tramite regolamento da adottare con il voto unanime in seno al Consiglio. Essa avrà il compito di «individuare, perseguire e rinviare a giudizio gli autori di reati che ledono gli interessi finanziari dell'Unione» (art. 86 TFUE). Il 17 luglio 2013 la Commissione ha adottato una proposta di regolamento a riguardo. Tuttavia, i negoziati fino ad ora condotti fanno ritenere che sarà difficile adottarlo all’unanimità, motivo per cui si è deciso di indagare il tema dalla prospettiva della cooperazione rafforzata. L’obiettivo della tesi consiste nel dimostrare la concreta esistenza di un valore aggiunto dell’istituzione della Procura europea da parte di un numero ristretto di Stati rispetto all’abbandono di un tale progetto per assenza di unanimità. La tesi mira a dimostrare la sua fattibilità, costruendo un sistema capace di funzionare in un contesto d’integrazione diseguale. L’elemento di novità consiste nella riscrittura della proposta di regolamento per adattarla al diverso contenuto (non più l’istituzione della Procura europea, ma l’attuazione di una cooperazione rafforzata ai fini di una tale istituzione) e nella predisposizione di modelli degli accordi disciplinanti la cooperazione tra gli Stati membri non partecipanti e l’organo di accusa europeo. / The Treaty of Lisbon contains the legal basis for the institution - by means of a regulation to be adopted by the Council acting unanimously - of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which shall be «responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment the perpetrators of offences against the Union's financial interests» (art. 86 TFEU). In July 2013 the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation on this matter. However, the ongoing negotiations lead to retain that it will be difficult to reach unanimity. This is the reason why this dissertation analyses the theme from the perspective of enhanced cooperation. The purpose of this thesis consists in demonstrating the concrete existence of an added value deriving from the institution of the EPPO by only some States rather than neglecting this project. Thus, it aims at proving the feasibility of this project, by constructing a functioning system, even in a context of unequal integration. The redrafting of the regulation in order to adapt it to the new object (the implementation of the enhanced cooperation for the institution of the EPPO) and the provision of the text of the agreements between non participating States and the EPPO constitute its originality.

La différenciation entre les États membres de l’Union européenne s’est progressivement transformée en un leitmotiv du débat sur l’avenir de l’intégration. Ce débat a resurgi avec l’activation de la clause du retrait par le Royaume-Uni, qui pose dans un cadre renouvelé la question de la compatibilité du processus de création d’une « union sans cesse plus étroite » avec la possibilité pour les États membres d’emprunter différentes voies d’intégration. L’objectif de la présente étude est d’apporter un éclairage sur cette question, en se focalisant sur l’amplification des manifestations de la différenciation en droit positif. La première partie de l’étude vise à cerner la tension entre l’uniformité du statut d’État membre de l’Union et la participation asymétrique des États aux actions engagées pour la réalisation des objectifs assignés à l’Union. La différenciation s’avère ainsi un facteur de relativisation de l’homogénéité du statut d’État membre, sans néanmoins mettre en cause son unicité en tant que catégorie juridique. La seconde partie s’intéresse aux effets de la différenciation sur la structure de l’Union. La prise en compte de la différence d’implication des États n’est pas sans incidence sur le système institutionnel et juridique de l’Union, sans que cela traduise un désordre affectant l’intégrité de l’Union. Il devient alors évident que, dans la creatio continua que constitue la construction européenne, la différenciation pose une question de degré, plutôt que de principe. / Differentiation between the Member States of the European Union has gradually turned into a leitmotif of the debate regarding the future of the European integration. This debate re-emerged in the context of the activation of the withdrawal clause by the United Kingdom, by raising once more the question of the compatibility of the "ever closer union" concept with the possibility for the Member States to follow different paths of integration. The aim of this study is to clarify this question by focusing on the amplification of the various forms of differentiation in positive law. The first part of the study aims to identify the contrast between the uniformity of the EU membership and the asymmetrical participation of the Member States in actions undertaken to achieve the objectives assigned to the Union. Differentiation proves thus to be a relativizing factor of the homogeneity of the Member State's status, without, however, questioning its uniqueness as a legal category. The second part of the study focuses on the effects of differentiation on the structure of the Union. The different extent of participation of each Member State in EU policies has an impact on the Union's institutional and legal framework, even though this impact does not create a disorder affecting the integrity of the Union as such. It is thus apparent that within the creatio continua of the European construction, differentiation poses more a question of degree rather than principle.