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The premise of our research paper is that large (by the size of the population) municipalities are more complex to govern and manage, and this, in turn, calls for a more professional and apolitical local government. Using data from the largest European survey of mayors, we analyzed the influence of mayors and chief administrative officers in Europe and checked for correlations with the size of the local government. We present empirical evidence to support that the perceived influence of mayors varies with the size of the municipality regardless of the institutional configuration of power relationships. We found that very large municipalities (80,000 or more inhabitants) had weaker mayors. The presumption that a larger, more complex local (urban) environment calls for more professional leadership has been addressed in numerous publications; however, the answer was usually beyond the reach of the empirical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major theme of the European Enlightenment was the rationalization of value, the use of reason to determine the value of things, from diamonds to civilizations. This view of the Enlightenment is well-established in the human sciences. It is ripe for extension to the natural sciences, given the rich recent literature on affect, evaluation, and subjectivity in early modern science. Meanwhile, in art history, the new history of connoisseurship provides a model for the historical study of the evaluation of material things. Historians of natural history have already noted the connections between science, Enlightenment, and connoisseurship. The time has come to extend their insights to other areas of Enlightenment science. This means recognizing the breadth of connoisseurship – the social, linguistic, and disciplinary diversity of the practice – as understood in Europe in the eighteenth century and the latter part of the seventeenth century. An outline of the three papers in this special section gives an indication of how this historiographical project might be carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the salient features of the recent populist turn in Europe has been a redefinition of the European. Traditionally, (far) right-wing parties defined themselves as Eurosceptic and focused on national identity. Increasingly, however, they have referred to pan-European heritage, although against the mainstream conceptualization of it. The article looks at the case of Hungary and the image of Europe constructed by the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose rhetoric has become a key reference point for other European populist movements. The past decade his government has witnessed, on the one hand, a tendency to redefine what is European against the dominant and institutionalized interpretations, and, on the other, an attempt to single-out the concept of Central Europe as the locus for maintaining and nurturing European values in contrast to perceived Western decline. This paper examines this discourse through a close reading of major speeches delivered by Orbán on the anniversaries of historical events. Analysis of these speeches reveals the ideological foundations of his political project and presents historical and philosophical interpretations of the European political situation. It seeks to identify how Orbán's discourse evolved across time, by putting the speeches about the past into the present political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines ways of knowing "the Roma" as a category of people. It attends to mobility and its obstructions, and the ways that coincide with bureaucratic, institutional, and everyday modes of sorting and racializing groups of people. Our case study is situated in Romania. Whereas "the Roma" do not exist as a category in the Romanian national registry of citizens, mainstream public discourses regarding "Roma migration" have significantly proliferated over the past decades. Yet, how do authorities come to know "the Roma" and how do they render groups of citizens into racialized populations? We examine two bureaucratic practices in Romania, the census and the registry of citizens, and show how the latter is enacted through various "technologies of vision." We focus on the category of "the Roma" as a material semiotic configuration enacted by various "data" regarding issues such as territorial segregation, phenotypic appearance, smell, and dialect. Situated at the intersection of Border and Surveillance Studies, Romani Studies, and Science and Technologies Studies, this paper contributes to debates about how "the Roma" are rendered visible in practices of identification and migration management in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an investigation into missionary-refugee relationships in Europe. The main research question guiding this study was: How do missionaries understand and describe their relationship with the refugees they serve? The data for this study were collected at an international consultation on ministry with refugees held in the fall of 2017 from 21 missionaries using semi-structured interview protocols. Findings demonstrate that missionaries shared a liminal identity with the refugees in their ministry, viewed hospitality as a Christian lifestyle, perceived Christianity to be an inclusive faith, and discussed the challenges and opportunities in their ministry with refugees. Based on the findings we offer implications for mission theorizing and practice in the 21st century church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report and analyse, for 83 European cities, the share of respondents aged 65 years or older agreeing that the city where they live is a good place to live for elderly people. Results contribute to identify common patterns and inform policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration is not readily seen. A vast infrastructure supports its visualization, making migration visible and actionable. Recent scholarship on the visuality of migration has clearly shown how visualizing migration is an integral part of governing it. Concepts and research approaches from Science and Technology Studies (STS) are particularly appropriate when studying these connections between knowing and doing. In this paper, the performativity of visual methods and their data practices are analysed with respect to the monitoring infrastructure of European border management. Three such methods – patrolling, recording and publicizing – are reconstructed through analysis of their histories and their present. Patrolling involves the tactical domination of terrains. Recording involves the production of documentary objectivity. Publicizing involves the pictorial capture of fleeting realities. These methods are irreducibly political. Their political significance is explored through the concept of demonstrative effects that helps to show how methods of visualising migration at once involve specific demonstrations of the European association that is operative in them. These demonstrations make visible what Europe can and cannot do. The so-called 'migration crisis' of Europe turns out to be more than political discourse but entangled with the very methods that render migration apparent and governable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study effects of energy market uncertainty shocks on energy transition on the 28 European Union countries from 1990 to 2015 using annual frequency data. We assess the effects of oil price as well as the energy market supply, demand, and residual price shocks using a time-varying parameter panel data stochastic volatility model. We show the importance of reducing energy market uncertainty for the success of a clean energy transition in Europe as uncertainties have strong time-varying effects on the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The oil price and residual energy price uncertainties are the key factors encouraging renewable energy transition that reduces the vulnerability of economies to energy shocks. Energy supply shocks affect the transition negatively while the demand shocks work similarly to residual energy prices shocks, requiring a robust energy base that is less volatile. The paper also discusses policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on original empirical research to investigate popular understandings of prejudice in two national contexts: Poland and the United Kingdom. The paper demonstrates how common-sense meanings of prejudice are inflected by the specific histories and geographies of each place: framed in terms of ‘distance’ (Poland) and ‘proximity’ (United Kingdom), respectively. Yet, by treating these national contexts as nodes and linking them analytically the paper also exposes a connectedness in these definitions which brings into relief the common processes that produce prejudice. The paper then explores how inter-linkages between the United Kingdom and Poland within the wider context of the European Union are producing – and circulating through the emerging international currency of ‘political correctness’ – a common critique of equality legislation and a belief that popular concerns about the way national contexts are perceived to be changing as a consequence of super mobility and super diversity are being silenced. This raises a real risk that in the context of European austerity and associated levels of socioeconomic insecurity, negative attitudes and conservative values may begin to be represented as popular normative standards which transcend national contexts to justify harsher political responses towards minorities. As such, the paper concludes by making a case for prejudice reduction strategies to receive much greater priority in both national and European contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interdependence of electricity and natural gas is becoming a major energy policy and regulatory issue in all jurisdictions around the world. The increased role of gas fired plants in renewable-based electricity markets and the dependence on natural gas imports make this issue particular important for the European energy market. In this paper we provide a comprehensive combined analysis of electricity and natural gas infrastructure with an applied focus: We analyze three different scenarios of the long-term European decarbonization pathways, and analyze the interrelation between electricity and natural gas markets on investments in the long run and spatial aspects in the short run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse infrastructure needs of the European natural gas market in response to decarbonisation of the European energy system. To this end, we use numerical modelling and apply the Global Gas Model. We investigate three pathways of future natural gas consumption: i) a decreasing natural gas consumption, following the scenarios of the EU Energy Roadmap 2050; ii) a moderate increase of natural gas consumption, along the lines of the IEA's New Policies Scenario; and iii) a temporary increase of natural gas use as a "bridge" technology, followed by a strong decrease after 2030. Our results show that current import infrastructure and intra-European transit capacity are sufficient to accommodate future import needs in all scenarios. This is despite a pronounced reduction of domestic production and a strong increase in import dependency. However, due to strong demand in Asia, Europe must increasingly rely on exports from Africa and the Caspian region, leading to new infrastructure capacity from these regions. When natural gas serves as a "bridge" technology, short-term utilisation rates of LNG import capacity temporarily increase instead of instigating large scale pipeline expansions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an analytical approach to comparative political economy that focuses on the relative importance of different components of aggregate demand—in the first instance, exports and household consumption—and dynamic relations among the “demand drivers” of growth. We illustrate this approach by comparing patterns of economic growth in Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom over the period 1994–2007. Our discussion emphasizes that export-led growth and consumption-led growth have different implications for distributive conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The evolution of the provision of palliative care specialised services is important for planning and evaluation. Aim: To examine the development between 2005 and 2012 of three specialised palliative care services across the World Health Organization European Region – home care teams, hospital support teams and inpatient palliative care services. Design and setting: Data were extracted and analysed from two editions of the European Association for Palliative Care Atlas of Palliative Care in Europe. Significant development of each type of services was demonstrated by adjusted residual analysis, ratio of services per population and 2012 coverage (relationship between provision of available services and demand services estimated to meet the palliative care needs of a population). For the measurement of palliative care coverage, we used European Association for Palliative Care White Paper recommendations: one home care team per 100,000 inhabitants, one hospital support team per 200,000 inhabitants and one inpatient palliative care service per 200,000 inhabitants. To estimate evolution at the supranational level, mean comparison between years and European sub-regions is presented. Results: Of 53 countries, 46 (87%) provided data. Europe has developed significant home care team, inpatient palliative care service and hospital support team in 2005–2012. The improvement was statistically significant for Western European countries, but not for Central and Eastern countries. Significant development in at least a type of services was in 21 of 46 (46%) countries. The estimations of 2012 coverage for inpatient palliative care service, home care team and hospital support team are 62%, 52% and 31% for Western European and 20%, 14% and 3% for Central and Eastern, respectively. Conclusion: Although there has been a positive development in overall palliative care coverage in Europe between 2005 and 2012, the services available in most countries are still insufficient to meet the palliative care needs of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tolerance is everywhere. The Council of Europe endeavours to build it, schools are required to teach it, and neighbours are asked to extend it. It features in citizenship ceremonies, city-marketing campaigns, and religious texts and is attached to a variety of different objects, people, and behaviours. Yet despite its ubiquitous circulation as a moral good, critiques of tolerance as a way of relating have called for its rejection in favour of alternative projects such as respect and equality. In this paper I contextualise recent critiques and ask what possibilities remain for a politics of tolerance in multicultural Europe. In so doing, I argue that critiques are insufficiently attuned to the different contexts in which tolerance becomes productive and offer a starting point for further empirical research on its embodied practice. Using an example of dialogue, I argue that tolerance can be intrinsic to the development of alternative relations when positioned as part of an ongoing struggle to multiply ways of thinking and acting. I finish by reflecting on the relationship between tolerance, agonism, and dialogue, to outline a more pragmatic politics of difference, arguing that it is not enough to call for alternative projects without attending to the difficult and incremental learning that such projects demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European pharmaceutical manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with pharmaceutical players established outside Europe. As a result, Europe has witnessed the migration of jobs, R&D centres and production units to other parts of the world, leading to the gradual deindustrialization of the European pharmaceutical sector. This paper seeks to address this concern by showing that minor adjustments in the Intellectual Property rights regime in Europe may lead to a relevant impact on fostering innovation, high-tech employment and reindustrialization, thus contributing to the competitiveness of the European industrial pharmaceutical activity and to the European economic recovery. Two major pragmatic measures are discussed and evaluated: the manufacturing provision and the export provision. As illustrated below, over the next 9 years, the European ratification of the manufacturing provision and of the export provision could potentially represent a €3,339 million business volume (at ex-work prices); generate up to 8,890 new direct jobs and 35,560 new indirect jobs; and potentially generate the investment associated to the enhancement of manufacturing capacity equivalent to the creation of 37 new medium-sized pharmaceutical enterprises. It should be emphasized that for this study only 73% of the European market (manufacturing provision) and 11% of the non-European market (export provision) was considered for calculation purposes. Hence, these already impressive numbers are just a sample of the full potential of these Provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to report on the ‘Innovation through generics’ roundtable, which was convened at the European Parliament in April 2008 to discuss the role of generic medicines in stimulating innovation in the pharmaceutical sector. The roundtable identified a number of factors that hamper generic market entry in Europe and, thus, inhibit competition and innovation in the pharmaceutical sector. These factors include the decline in true innovation in the pharmaceutical sector; shortcomings in current patent and registration systems; pricing and reimbursement delays for generic medicines; greater intellectual property protection and market exclusivity for originator medicines than in the United States; price linkage between generic and originator medicines in some member states; and a lack of demand-side measures that encourage physicians, pharmacists and patients to use generic medicines. There is a need for a pan-European policy relating to patents, registration, pricing and reimbursement, prescribing and dispensing of medicines. In particular, the creation of an internal market will benefit European healthcare by helping to drive down costs. The overall goal should be to support competition and true innovation and, thus, provide sustainable healthcare for patients throughout Europe.Journal of Generic Medicines (2008) 6, 3–8. doi:10.1057/jgm.2008.30; published online 4 November 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Association for Palliative Care Task (EAPC) Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe was created in 2003 and the results of its work are now being reported in full, both here and in several other publications. The objective of the Task Force is to assess the degree of palliative care development in the European Region as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Task Force is a collaboration between EAPC, the International Observatory on End of Life Care, Help the Hospices and the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care. The University of Navarra have collaborated in the dissemination of results and is involved in further developments of this group. Four studies, each with different working methods, made up the study protocol: a literature review, a review of all the existing palliative care directories in Europe, a qualitative ‘Eurobarometer’ survey and a quantitative ‘Facts Questionnaire’ survey. The work of the Task Force covers the entire WHO European Region of 52 countries. In this article we present a comparative study on the development of palliative care in Europe, drawing on all four elements of the study. Different models of service delivery have been developed and implemented throughout the countries of Europe. For example, in addition to the UK, the countries of Germany, Austria, Poland and Italy have a well-developed and extensive network of hospices. The model for mobile teams or hospital support teams has been adopted in a number of countries, most notably in France. Day Centres are a development that is characteristic of the UK with hundreds of these services currently in operation. The number of beds per million inhabitants ranges between 45–75 beds in the most advanced European countries, to only a few beds in others. Estimates on the number of physicians working full time in palliative care are shown. The countries with the highest development of palliative care in their respective subregions as measured in terms of ratio of services per one million inhabitants are: Western Europe - UK (15); Central and Eastern Europe - Poland (9); Commonwealth of Independent States - Armenia (8). This paper also presents indicators on the development of palliative care based on the bibliometric analysis of scientific journals and on the vitality of the palliative care movement in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In relation to the development of medicinal products within Europe, the European Commission seeks to strike a balance between the encouragement of innovation and the avoidance of unnecessary research. This balance is supposedly represented by the rules that afford research-based companies a degree of protection against the use by the authorities assessing subsequent applications, of data submitted in support of the application made by the innovator. This paper reviews these rules as they presently stand, how the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the national courts have interpreted the many `grey areas' in such rules and the proposals for change for the current regime within the overall review of pharmaceutical regulatory rules to be implemented in time for the enlargement of the Community in early 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the high-profile and increasingly frequent international movement of elite players in association football, with a particular focus on migration involving the countries of the European Union and UEFA, Europe's soccer confederation. The complex patterns and structures that characterize the player movements are mapped out and analysed. The global political economy of soccer is examined with specific reference to the European Court of Justice freedom of movement rulings in the Bosman case. The principal data sources are FIFA transfer certificates and player directories. Consideration is given to the interweaving and impact of both broad societal and soccer- specific processes on migrant patterns. The analysis of soccer migration provides insights into both labour migration in other sports and moves towards increased labour mobility in Europe and greater European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]