Think Tank

Fisheries in Europe's marine environment use different types of mobile and static fishing gears that come into contact with the seabed, including mobile bottom-contacting gears (MBCGs) towed through the water and across the seabed. This study explores: the innovative gears that could be deployed as an alternative to the exclusion of bottom trawling in EU marine protected areas (MPAs); the efficacy and feasibility of implementing such innovations; and the environmental and socioeconomic effects on ...

The European Council consists of the 27 Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States, who are voting members, together with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission, who have no vote (Article 15(2) Treaty on European Union). The chart shows the current members, the national office they hold, their most recent European political affiliation, and the year their membership began.

The EU has grown less, and has become less productive, than the US in the last twenty years. The differences are small, but a healthy ambition to do better justifies analysing the sources of this difference and how policy can affect them. This paper focuses on the pattern of specialisation of the EU economy and discusses the role of large firms in generating innovation. It documents the large US-EU gap in the ability to scale large firms and grow them into world leaders, and discusses the reasons ...

The Energy Taxation Directive (ETD) lays down EU-wide minimum excise duty rates on motor/heating fuels and electricity. Member States are free to set their own tax rates as long as the ETD's minimum rates are respected. The directive also provides a number of (mandatory) tax exemptions on certain energy products, such as maritime and aviation fuels. Since its enforcement in 2003, the directive has remained unchanged, despite the EU's world-leading climate ambitions and many advances in clean energy ...

This infographic provides an insight into the economic performance of Indonesia compared to the EU and looks at the trade dynamics between them. Indonesia’s economy managed to maintain sustained growth after the 2020 economic recession. The EU’s GDP growth, on the other hand, faced a slowdown starting in 2022. Divergent trends are also found in the foreign direct investment and remittance net inflows. For the former, Indonesia presents a more stable time series; for the latter, the EU remittances ...