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Of the 13 agreements that have been ratified between 2012 and 2019, the Italian Parliament has ratified only 4, all during the same parliamentary term from September 2015 to July 2019.The opposition parties in Greece, Italy and Spain tend to oppose the ratification of these agreements for environmental concerns and the protection of domestic companies from international competition. The parties in all three countries surveyed take advantage of populist concerns.

The opposition parties in Greece, Italy and Spain tend to oppose the ratification of these agreements for environmental concerns and the protection of domestic companies from international competition. The parties in all three countries surveyed take advantage of populist concerns.

Of the 13 agreements that have been ratified between 2012 and 2019, the Greek Parliament has ratified only 4, all during the same parliamentary term from September 2015 to July 2019.The opposition parties in Greece, Italy and Spain tend to oppose the ratification of these agreements for environmental concerns and the protection of domestic companies from international competition. The parties in all three countries surveyed take advantage of populist concerns.

Of the 13 Free Trade Agreements that have been ratified between 2012 and 2019, the Greek Parliament has ratified only four. All during the same parliamentary term from September 2015 to July 2019. This is reported in a new study published by the EPICENTER network. The study is in collaboration with three member organizations, including KEFIM, Fundacion Civismo, and Istituto Bruno Leoni.

Of the 13 agreements that have been ratified between 2012 and 2019, the Italian Parliament has ratified only 4, all during the same parliamentary term from September 2015 to July 2019.The opposition parties in Greece, Italy and Spain tend to oppose the ratification of these agreements for environmental concerns and the protection of domestic companies from international competition. The parties in all three countries surveyed take advantage of populist concerns.

Overall, the EU has an economic freedom score of 7.78 out of 10, which has been stable for the past decade. To put this in perspective, if the EU was a country, it would jointly rank 35th with Peru, and marginally above Jamaica and Bulgaria. Compared to, say, the U.S. which ranks 6th, the EU’s score is feeble at best.

Afghanistan is a textbook example of the sunk cost fallacy – where throwing additional financial and human resources at the problem will not improve the outcome. The fallout from two decades of Western military engagement is truly dire: 200,000 dead, including 50,000 civilians, a weak and unstable Afghani government, and radical islamist ideas as popular as ever before.

In order to deliver a successful strategy, to avoid conflicts between EU Member States and the European Commission, the best strategy is to conceive national competition authorities as the ‘executive arms’ of the new digital regulation, particularly when national players are affected. In this way, the knowledge and experience of national regulators can be put to best use.

The Consumer Choice Center interviewed our Director for a podcast on the Belarusian sanctions. Adam Bartha praised the EU for implementing further sanctions on the Lukashenko regime, but also expressed a need to go further to help the local population — through financial instruments and an open door policies for dissidents wishing to settle on EU soil.