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This thesis examines the implementation of EC company law Directives relating to the formation and capital of public companies in three Member States, namely the UK, France and Germany. In each of the chosen areas the thesis first examines the relevant EC provisions in detail and discusses their objectives. It then assesses the correctness and effectiveness of their implementation in the national systems of the UK, France and Germany by evaluating not only the formal compliance of their laws with the Directives concerned, but also their actual compliance in terms of their interpretation and enforcement by the national courts. Where non-compliance is detected, use will be made of the principles of direct effect and of interpretation (the so-called indirect effect) as established by the European Court of Justice and amendments of the existing regime will be proposed. The thesis is divided into four parts. Part One of the thesis serves as a starting point and discusses the EC harmonisation programme. Part Two deals with the formation of public companies. It concentrates on four areas: pre-incorporation contracts, corporate capacity, formation of companies and disclosure, and nullity of companies. Part Three and Four consider the raising and maintenance of capital in public companies. Part Three looks at the power to allot new securities, the statutory pre-emptive rights of the shareholders and the payment for share capital. Part Four discusses share reacquisitions and the related rule prohibiting a company from giving financial assistance for the purchase of its own shares, and it examines the law relating to dividends and reductions of capital.

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One of the most significant features of the Third Pillar, which came into being as part of the Treaty of European Union, is the so-called 'implementation gap' between the expectations and aspirations of the member states in this area and the empirical reality. This regularly features in the standard literature on the Third Pillar, yet there has been little detailed research done to either measure or determine the root causes of such an occurrence. Rather than simply accept that such a 'gap' exists, this thesis attempts to measure the implementation gap in two distinct areas of internal security co-operation. These are two of the most under-researched areas within the Third Pillar, namely the development of the European Police Office (and related elements of police cooperation) and progress in the related area of a European counter-terrorist framework. A model of 'perfect implementation' has been devised utilising tests from three distinct schools of decision-making - foreign policy analysis, the implementation school (which has its own distinct subset of literature) and European decision-making. By applying tests in relation to the establishment of objectives, the question of leadership, the scale of the 'sacrifice' made and a detailed analysis of the legislative output of each area, the thesis measures how close the reality is to the ideal. In terms of the nature of objectives, an examination of the clarity and consistency of such aims will be determined at two levels. The overall 'metapolicy' of the Third Pillar - the creation of 'an area of freedom, security and justice'- is compared to the current enlargement process, in order to determine both the meaning of such a concept and to ascertain where the priorities of the member states actually lie. Certain terms used within the European Union and replicated within the literature, such as describing such areas as 'matters of common interest', will be analysed to determine their meaning and their applicability to the empirical reality. As a result, and complimenting the 'Good Governance' initiative of the European Commission, which aims to determine the appropriate level for each of the competencies of the EU, the legitimacy of the European level of decision-making will be examined in each area. In terms of determining the root causes of the 'implementation gap', the solution most commonly offered - both by practitioners and in the secondary literature - relates to the process of communitarisation, which has already begun for the areas such as immigration and asylum and judicial co-operation on civil matters. Yet, in the case of the two case studies examined in this thesis - European police cooperation and the European counter-terrorist framework - communitarisation is not forthcoming, with little mention made of the post-Amsterdam elements of the Third Pillar in the draft Treaty of Nice. As such, the control factor of the institutional framework of the European Union does not apply as directly in either case study. Both have shared the same institutional structure since the inception of the Third Pillar, a structure that is likely to remain untouched by the process of enlargement. Therefore, there is a need to look beyond the potential panacea of communitarisation for other potential explanations as to why greater progress has been made in one area as opposed to the other.

Author: Andrey Khayrullaev Title of the Thesis: EXPANSION STRATEGY OF RUSSIA'S GAZPROM INTO EUROPEAN MARKET AND EUROPEAN COUNTERACTION POLICY Year of defence: 2012 ABSTRACT In the period of globalization, energy security has substantial implications for the mutual security of supply and demand. It is dependent on several factors as security of supply, resilience and interdependence. As the result, multi-national corporations controlling wide energy resources are becoming more and more involved in the international politics - the situation when supplier is not just one of the contractual parities but "tool" for political pressure of its host state. Russian Gazprom, which operates on European natural gas market, is the vivid example of such situation. The research project is based on a deep review of relevant literature sources using the data analyzing, comparative analysis and the case study methods. The main research questions are the following: are European "fears" justified and what are the perspectives for Europe to decrease its dependency on Russian natural gas export? The main conclusions to be drawn from this study are that Europe has full grounds to be against growing dependence on Gazprom, taking into account Gazprom's involvement into politics, its aggressive actions directed toward prevention of...

Ireland joined the European Union (EU) in 1973 that was the most significant decision for the national development. The EU is highly supported by Ireland whose success in the 1990s was resulted from not only the correct industrial policies of the government but also the benefits from the aid of funds and the market of the EU. The regional peace in Northern Ireland provides an environment of stable development for Ireland. Ireland is the most globalized country where the Government adopts open and liberal developing strategies of Neoliberalism and considers itself to be the door of the EU. Moreover, the government attracts foreign capital aggressively, developes software industries and focuses on Research & Development for upgrading of the industries. Ireland was known as the ¡§Celtic Tiger¡¨ due to the remarkable economic growth. However, the financial crisis of 2008 impacted the Irish economy heavily. Therefore, Ireland became the first country to announce the recession in the EU. This study focuses on analyzing the crisis and the fragility of Irish industries with the perspective of Neoliberalism. The governmental policies overcoming the crisis in the case of sofeware industry will be furthermore analyzed.