Cuardaigh
European Parliament work in the fields of Impact Assessment and European Added Value: Activity Report for July 2019 to December 2020
This activity report summarises and explains the work undertaken by the European Parliament in the fields of impact assessment and European added value during the first 18 months of the current 2019-24 EU institutional cycle. It details the support given by the Directorate for Impact Assessment and European Added Value within the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) to assist parliamentary committees in their oversight and scrutiny of the executive in the fields of ex-ante impact assessment ...
Japan: Shinzō Abe wins a new mandate
Shinzō Abe won the snap elections he called for the lower house on 22 October 2017. Despite her popularity, Tokyo's governor Yuriko Koike failed to convince the electorate to oust a prime minister in charge since December 2012. The newly created Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan became the main opposition force in the House of Representatives. In coalition with Kōmeitō, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party holds a two-thirds majority enabling it to pass constitutional amendments.
Oversight of the US executive: The Congressional experience and its lessons for the EU
Based largely on a set of interviews with policy practitioners and observers in Washington DC, this analysis aims first to examine the instruments and system for oversight of the US Administration by the US Congress, and then to draw comparisons with the equivalent instruments and systems in the European Union, and in the European Parliament in particular. Please click here for the full publication in PDF format Available language versions:
Role of the US Congress in trade agreements: The 'Fast-Track' procedure
Since 1974 the United States Congress has enacted several Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) acts to ensure speedy ratification of trade agreements in the United States, while maintaining a congressional hold on the objectives to be pursued by US negotiators. TPA defines the conditions and procedures for using a streamlined or expedited procedure, also known as the fast-track procedure, to vote in Congress on international trade agreements negotiated during a specific defined period of time. The current ...
The US President's State of the Union Address
Since 2010, the European Parliament holds an annual State of the Union debate in the September plenary session, in which the President of the European Commission delivers an address taking stock of the current year and looking at future priorities. The EU State of the Union address is largely modelled on the US President's annual address to Congress. Every January, the President of the United States presents his policy priorities to Congress. The speech, called the State of the Union Address, ...
Transparency, Public Consultation Practices and Government Accountability in U.S. Rulemaking
This paper provides basic information on transparency, public participation and government accountability in U.S. rulemaking procedures, in constitutional and historical context. Under the U.S. Administrative Procedure Act, regulatory agencies must (1) provide the public with sufficient specific information about a regulatory proposal to fairly apprise interested parties of the subjects and issues involved so that they may present responsive data or arguments, and (2) consider, analyze and address ...
Political parties in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan has a presidential system of government. The president, Islam Karimov, has played a principal role in all areas of the political landscape since independence in 1991. Although some recent steps empower the legislature against the executive, all political parties represented in parliament are pro-regime and far from providing political alternatives.
Kazakhstan: political situation
The Republic of Kazakhstan has a presidential form of government characterised by a monopoly of the executive branch and limited parliamentary power. Since independence in 1991, progress in Kazakhstan in terms of democratisation, human rights and the rule of law have not matched its economic development. As Kazakhstan approaches another snap presidential election on 26 April 2015, uncertainty about the political situation in the country continues.
Kyrgyzstan: political situation
The Kyrgyz Republic is the only Central Asian state in which power has transferred peacefully, following the April 2010 political uprising against the regime of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Since the adoption of a constitution paving the way for a democratic and pluralist system, Kyrgyzstan has been governed by coalitions of the political parties represented in the parliament. The prime minister's office is gaining in influence, whereas the president's authority has been circumscribed.
Future scenarios for US-Cuba relations
On 17 December 2014, US President, Barack Obama, announced the start of a new phase in US-Cuba relations. The US embargo to Cuba has been in place for more than 50 years. International opposition to the embargo has grown since the beginning of the 1990s when US embargo legislation started to present extraterritorial implications. More recently, domestic support for the embargo has also started fading. US economic interest in the island has risen since Cuba became an importer of US agricultural products ...