This paper discusses how the technical foundations of the EU’s fiscal rules constrain the fiscal space in EU countries in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We review the evidence on how estimates of potential output, which are at the heart of essential control indicators in EU fiscal...

In April 2023, the European Commission issued a directive proposal on EU economic governance reform. The Council cut some tasks of Independent Fiscal Institutions (IFIs) that were in the Commission directive proposal; whether this cutting is justified is an open question. Early this year, the...

The bilateral WTO Agreement on Trade in Large Civil Aircraft (TLCA) of 1992 regulated the permitted levels of support for the European and American aviation industries. In October 2004, the US unilaterally withdrew from the TLCA, right as Boeing was about to lose its market leader status....

On 31 March 2011, the World Trade Organisation’s Dispute Settlement Body circulated the final Panel Report on US subsidies for the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. The long expected decision marks a turning point in the biggest trade dispute in WTO history, but its interpretations diverge...

According to the memorandum entitled “Microelectronics 2000”, the Japanese and American lead in semi-conductor technology threatens not only the existence of a number of European firms but the prosperity of all the European economies. It therefore concludes that if Europe is not to be at the...

Convergence among regions is explicitly defined as a political aim of the European Union. Overall, NUTS3 regions have indeed shown a path of convergence since the year 2000, but there are huge differences among the regions. Many Eastern European countries as well as several regions in Spain and...