The role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the process of direct tax integration in the European Union (EU) has been widely discussed in the academic literature, while another important actor, the European Commission, has attracted much less attention. The Commission’s input is commonly perceived to be limited to the right of legislative initiative. This study questions such an oversimplified interpretation and draws a more nuanced picture of EU tax harmonisation by integrating an analysis of the complex regulatory approaches adopted by the Commission for the establishment and smooth functioning of the Internal Market. It is argued that the past decade brought a notable change in the Court-dominated pattern of direct tax integration. This change is apparent first in the evolution of enforcement strategies under Articles 258 and 260 TFEU; and second, in the increased reliance upon non-binding regulatory measures. Both developments have strengthened the role of the Commission, supplying it with more possibilities for influencing national direct tax systems, despite the reluctance of Member States to agree upon legislative harmonisation. Against this background, the procedural and substantive problems associated with these instruments require closer examination. The normative scope of this research covers the key procedural problems related to the infringement procedure and non-binding regulatory measures. The empirical component explores the Commission’s enforcement and coordination practices, drawing particular attention to two case studies: the tax treatment of losses in cross-border situations and exit taxation. Following the analysis of enforcement and coordination in the field of direct taxation, the study argues the need and proposes potential solutions for (i) the developing of a more comprehensive procedural framework for the infringement procedure and non-binding regulatory acts; (ii) the strengthening of accountability mechanisms; and (iii) the enhancing of the effectiveness of their application.

L’ouverture à la concurrence des marchés de l’électricité et du gaz peine à aboutir aux effets escomptés. Si les directives issues du troisième « paquet » ont été en grande partie transposées au sein des États membres, les obstacles à la réalisation effective d’une Europe de l’énergie demeurent nombreux. Dans ce contexte nébuleux, une surveillance aux yeux d’Argus a émergé. En effet, comme pour forcer le processus de libéralisation, les autorités de concurrence et les autorités de régulation sectorielle redoublent d’efforts pour achever rapidement le marché intérieur de l’énergie, quitte à aller parfois, semble-t-il, à contre-courant de leur mission originelle. D’un côté, les autorités de concurrence semblent de plus en plus enclines à se comporter en « constructeurs » des marchés de l’énergie, agissant davantage sur la structure de ces derniers que sur les comportements dommageables. À l’inverse, les autorités de régulation sectorielle, dont les pouvoirs ne cessent d’être renforcés, sont de plus en plus incitées à détecter les entraves à la concurrence et à les sanctionner. De ce contrôle bicéphale résulte une confusion des rôles qui n’est pas totalement atténuée par la mise en place des « passerelles » entre les deux types de régulateurs. Au demeurant, face à cet enchevêtrement de compétences, les opérateurs évoluent sur des marchés peu propices au jeu de la concurrence et dans un cadre réglementaire aussi complexe qu’instable, sclérosant les investissements nécessaires pour dynamiser ces marchés. Toutefois, le système mis en place, que beaucoup aimeraient voir clarifié, peut être amélioré. Alors qu’une partie de la doctrine appelle à la fusion des autorités, hypothèse pourtant peu réaliste, la voie du réaménagement du cadre de surveillance, basée sur un renforcement de l’interrégulation, mais également sur l’établissement d’une véritable régulation européenne, ne semble pas avoir été suffisamment explorée. / The opening to competition of the markets in gas and electricity has hardly produced the desired impact. To a large extent, the directives flowing from the third package have been transposed amongst the Member States. However, the effective implementation of a European energy is still facing several challenges ahead. With this nebulous background, supervision has become all-seeing, Argus-like. In fact, while competitions authorities and sectoral regulators are significantly stepping up theirs efforts so as to push forward the liberalization process towards the swift completion of the internal energy market, they seem, at times, to work against the grain of their original assignment. On the one hand, competition authorities appear to be increasingly willing to act as « builders » for the energy markets as they tackle market structures rather than harmful behaviours. Conversely, sectoral regulators, with their ever-strengthening powers, are more and more incited to track down and take sanctions against barriers to competition. Such bicephalous management has resulted in a confusion of roles which has not been alleviated by the « bridges »built between both types of regulators. At any rate, in the face of such a tangled web of competences, operators find themselves in markets that are not very conducive to competition and in a regulatory framework which is both volatile and complex, thereby paralysing the investments required to render such markets more dynamic. The system as it stands may still be improved and many would like to see it clarified. Although the prospect is not very realistic, some commentators have called for the merger of authorities. It appears nonetheless that reworking the supervision framework with a view to strengthening inter-regulation but also implementing actual European regulations is a route that has not yet been sufficiently explored.

Les droits du patient sont de plus en plus fréquemment évoqués par les institutions de l’Union, ce qui peut surprendre tant ce sujet est éloigné des préoccupations initiales des Communautés. À défaut de compétence juridique spécifique, ce sont à la fois la voie des droits fondamentaux et celle du marché intérieur qui ont été exploitées. L’intérêt pour ce domaine est tel qu’il existe désormais un véritable foisonnement normatif (composé tant de sources déclaratoires qu’obligatoires) affectant l’accessibilité et l’intelligibilité. La réflexion conduit donc à proposer une codification visant à simplifier la lisibilité des droits du patient reconnus par le droit de l’Union. La théorie des droits fondamentaux permet par ailleurs de déterminer si les prérogatives reconnues constituent ou non de véritables droits subjectifs. Cet intérêt pour les droits du patient contribue à l’effectivité de leur protection. Toutefois, en raison de la répartition des compétences entre l’Union et les États membres, apparaît un double niveau d’effectivité : la dimension transfrontalière des soins est particulièrement propice à la réalité des droits consubstantiels à cette situation, tandis que l’effectivité est plus nuancée pour ceux sans lien spécifique avec la mobilité. La réflexion s’est alors orientée vers la question du perfectionnement de l’effectivité, dont les perspectives sont plus ou moins positives selon la nature de l’obligation que les droits font naître pour leurs destinataires. Cette analyse conduit in fine à une réflexion sur l’existence d’un statut juridique du patient en droit de l’Union et à des propositions destinées à renforcer la place du patient et le respect de ses droits / Patients and their rights have been increasingly talked about within EU institutions, which may surprise as this subject is so remote from the Communities’ original focus. In the absence of specific legal competence, both fundamental rights and the internal market have been tapped into by EU institutions. There is so much interest in this field that there now exists a real profusion of norms (consisting of both soft and hard law sources) impacting upon the accessibility and intelligibility. Our analysis eventually offers a codification whose ambition is to make patients’ rights as recognised by EU legislation more readable. Moreover, resorting to the theory of fundamental rights enable us to ascertain whether or not recognised prerogatives constitute real individual rights. The interest in patients’ rights contributes to the effectiveness of their protection all over the EU. However, on account of the distribution of competences between the Union and member states, effectiveness actually operates on two levels : the cross-border dimension of healthcare is particularly favourable to the reality of rights inherent to this situation while effectiveness is not so straightforward for those who have no specific links with mobility. In light of this, research has turned towards the question of improving effectiveness whose prospects are more or less fruitful depending on the nature of the obligation which rights give rise to for those they are aimed at. All in all, this analys entails consideration of the existence of a legal status for patients and proposals intended to further reinforce the place of patients and, therefore, the safeguarding of his rights

My diploma thesis is focused on German taxation and the impact on Czech subjects exporting to Germany. The main aim of this thesis is to give Czech entrepreneurs useful and current information about the German taxation system and to show basic tax calculations. My thesis is split into four chapters. The opening chapter deals with the internal market of the European Union, its history and its four freedoms. The second chapter outlines export of goods and services from the Czech Republic to Germany, the possibilities of entering the German market and the basic steps to be carried out while entering this area. Second part of the thesis presents the practical part. The third chapter includes particular German tax system and the comparison of Czech and German tax systems. The last chapter is focused on the use of German tax system in practice, especially VAT and it gives (as well as the third chapter) practical taxation examples.

This thesis deals with the process of development and completing of the EU single market. It analysis whether the development of the EU market deepens the integration in other than economical areas of the European integration and how does this process influence and improves the position of EU as an actor of international relations. The thesis compares two chosen period of time -- from 1985 to 1993 and from 2007/8 to present, and looks for such a model of EU integration development. In the chosen periods the analyse of strategic documents The White Paper on Completing the Internal Market and the Single Market acts is done. These documents are perceived as the triggers of the political integration deepening. Finally the development and state of EC/EU actorness is examined by a theory of four basic dimension of actorness taking into account its different sources. The conclusion of the thesis confirms or disproves the presented model of integration and compares the two chosen periods.

The tiploma thesis "The EU policy to fight public sector corruption in the member and in the candidate states: an instrument to reduce corruption or a cause of a paradoxical membership effect?" deals with the conception, the development and the current state of the EU anticorruption policy in the member and in the candidate states. It provides an introduction into the issue of corruption and its control, with a particular emphasis on the corruption in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The thesis explains the interest of the EU in this phenomenon and provides an overview of the EU instruments to fight corruption in the member and in the candidate states. At the same time, it compares the effectiveness of the two dimensions of the EU anticorruption policy. Exemplified by the case of the post-communist states that entered the EU in 2004, the thesis analyzes whether the EU accession is connected with weakening of obligations that arise from this policy. Due to possible negative consequences of such a paradoxical membership effect, the thesis searches for possibilities how to reduce it and how to prevent it in the future. The thesis also provides for a brief case study on corruption and anticorruption in the Czech Republic from the application for the EU membership until now.

No description available.

L’existence d’une multiplicité de figures juridiques de la concurrence pourrait conduire à un manque de cohérence et d’intelligibilité du régime européen de la concurrence. Ce dernier canalise d’ailleurs une partie des critiques relative au déclin du droit. Toutefois, l’étude de ses multiples traductions juridiques aboutit à un constat bien différent. Derrière un apparent désordre, l’approche européenne de la concurrence fait preuve d’une profonde cohérence. Dans chacune des figures juridiques de la concurrence, un même objectif officie au titre de standard. Il s’agit de la loyauté de la concurrence. Cette dernière intervient dans l’ensemble des régimes européens de la concurrence comme une notion autour de laquelle gravite un ensemble de solutions cohérentes par leur finalité et leur contenu. Cohérentes par leur finalité, tout d’abord, car les multiples traductions de l’ordre concurrentiel européen abordent la loyauté de la concurrence comme un moyen de protéger le bon fonctionnement du marché concurrentiel. Cohérentes par leur contenu, ensuite, car chacune des figures juridiques de la concurrence vise à assurer la loyauté de la concurrence en préservant l’égalité des chances entre les opérateurs économiques. De fait, le constat de la transversalité et de l’homogénéité de traitement de la loyauté de la concurrence révèle que l’objectif a, jusqu’alors, été largement sous-estimé. Cette mise à l’écart est regrettable car, en raison de sa neutralité axiologique, l’introduire dans les différents débats relatifs à l’approche européenne de la concurrence offre de véritables solutions en termes d’homogénéisation de la notion de concurrence et de meilleure intégration des figures juridiques de la concurrence. / The existence of various rules regarding competition could lead to a lack of coherence andintelligibility of the European system of competition. As a matter of fact, the latter channels a part of the criticisms relating to the decline of law. However, the study of its numerous legal translations results in a very different conclusion. Behind an apparent disorder, the European approach to competition shows profound coherence. In each legal aspects of competition, a common objective officiates as a standard. It is the fair competition. The latter intervenes in all European competition regulations as a notion around which revolve a set of solutions coherent by their finality and content.Coherent by their finality, firstly, because all the legal translations of the competitive order address fair competition as a way to protect competition and, more generally, public interest.Coherent by their content, secondly, because each legal aspects of competition ensures faircompetition by preserving the equality of opportunity between competitors.De facto, the observation of the transversality and homogeneity of the treatment of fair competition reveals that the objective has been, until now, widely underestimated. This sidelining is regrettable because, on the grounds of its axiological neutrality, introducing it into the different debates relating to the European approach to competition offers real solutions in terms of the homogenization of the notion of competition and better integration of the legal aspects of competition.

The purpose of the presented thesis is to analyse the developments of the regulatory framework relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions within the European Union (EU). One of the main reasons for this research is the development of the regulatory framework in the aftermath of the financial crises which showed its destructive effects after the financial collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The EU regulatory respond to the crisis led to the establishment of the new European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS). The new regulatory framework affects not only the role of the national standard setters and the work of national supervisory authorities but also rights and duties of all regulated and supervised entities of the financial market. The thesis is composed of five chapters. Each of them is dealing with the development of the regulatory framework concerning technical instruments of prudential supervision in the area of credit institutions. The introductory Chapter One defines instruments of prudential supervision which are applied by credit institutions and their supervisors under the present so- called Capital requirement directives (CRD). Chapter Two describes the evolution of the process of harmonisation in the area of credit institutions. The...

The issues of assurance of sources for national budgets are eternal topics which are apparently current in any phase of the economic cycle, and it holds still more for the period of recession. In response to the outbreak of a financial crisis it is always possible to see the needs of finding new sources of financing of government expenses. Even though taxation of wine is rather a marginal topic in this regard, it is necessary to ask why this is so and whether it is not just this area that hides a large potential. Taxation of wine, however, plays an important role not only as a source of incomes for the state budget, but also as a tool of regulation of consumption of this commodity, which is negatively perceived from the viewpoint of human health. The imposition of taxation of wine does not influence consumers' behaviour only, but it has also impacts on plant production in this sector. At the same time, the entire issue acquires an absolutely different dimension through the fact that the area of taxation of wine belongs among the fields which are subject to harmonisation on the part of the European Union. At the time of globalisation and continually intensifying European integration it is important to be able to gain maximum yields from these aspects of the economy. In connection with harmonisation...