spotlight europe #2012/06 - September 2012: The value of Europe

Do the citizens of the EU actually know what it is worth to them personally? The surveys increasingly suggest that they reject it and regard it with contempt. After living for years in a state of emergency, many people have started to cast doubt on the whole notion of integration, and on the ability of the politicians involved to find meaningful solutions to the crisis.

spotlight europe #2012/06 - September 2012: Der Wert Europas = The value of Europe

No abstract.

Should Europe be fracking? CEPS Commentary, 5 October 2012

Underlining the fact that shale gas, like all natural resources, can only be used once, Daniel Gros observes in this CEPS Commentary that the real issue is not whether this resource should be developed in Europe, but when it should be used: today or tomorrow? Europe is already a heavy user of gas, but its consumption is stagnating (along with its economy). Despite the hype about the shale gas revolution, the extraction cost of (onshore) conventional gas remains below that of fracking. And lots of pipelines have already been built so that the marginal cost of bringing this ‘conventional’ gas to Europe is thus rather low. Thus, from an economic and environmental point of view, Gros argues that fracking is unlikely to bring large benefits for Europe and that shale gas might just substitute for conventional gas, which is plentiful.

Which economic model for a water-efficient Europe? Report of a CEPS Task Force. CEPS Task Force Report, 27 November 2012

This CEPS Task Force Report focuses on how to improve water efficiency in Europe, notably in public supply, households, agriculture, energy and manufacturing as well as across sectors. It presents a number of recommendations on how to make better use of economic policy instruments to sustainably manage the EU’s water resources. Published in the run-up to the European Commission’s “Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters”, the report contributes to the policy deliberations in two ways. First, by assessing the viability of economic policy instruments, it addresses a major shortcoming that has so far prevented the 2000 EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) from becoming fully effective in practice: the lack of appropriate, coherent and effective instruments in (some) member states. Second, as the Task Force report is the result of an interactive process involving a variety of stakeholders, it is able to point to the key differences in interpreting and applying WFD principles that have led to a lack of policy coherence across the EU and to offer some pragmatic advice on moving forward.