Külgazdaság Vol. 11-12/2015

Nationalizations: Hungarian specialty or a new European trend?

ÉVA VOSZKA

The expansion of public ownership after 2008 is a new phenomenon in many developed countries. How can we interpret the Hungarian nationalizations, having been accelerated form 2010 on: as part of a general trend, or as an element of the unique, „unorthodox” Hungarian economic policy? Based on an ongoing research, the paper summarizes the main characteristics of the European nationalizations, and analyses the Hungarian decisions against this background. It shows that starting form a relatively low level, the growth rate of state ownership put the country at the vanguard at European level. Comparing the goals, the sectors concerned, the methods  and  financing of  nationalizations  we  find similar  characteristics,  but also significant modifications. The main difference is that the expansion of public ownership in Hungary might be regarded as an element of changing the model of capitalism rather than a short-term crisis management tool.

Transit or target country? Asian migrants in Hungary

ÁGNES HÁRS

The article presents the Hungarian findings of an international empirical research based on 80 interviews per country with the persons representing the diverse communities of temporary migrants between Asia and Europe.  The article focuses on the results based on the Hungarian semi-structured interviews, conducted with economic migrants from Asian countries to Hungary. An overview will be given on the size, structure and institutional environment of Hungarian migration, followed with the presentation of the reasons, purposes and the success of economic migrants to Hungary based on the interview results. The article concludes with the discussion of the reasons and the consequences of the low level of migration in Hungary

Relations of youth unemployment and labour market flexibility int he EU

BEÁTA UDVARI – JÚLIA MEZŐ URBÁNNÉ

One of the greatest problems in the European Union today is high unemployment, including the large proportion of young people who are not in education, employment or training. As a consequence, boosting employment is a top priority for the EU. There is no widely accepted theoretical concept about the methods of increasing youth employment. This paper therefore aims to investigate the effects of labour market flexibility on youth employment (especially for young people under the age of 25) in the EU member states. To reach this goal, we compare the results of two time periods: one immediately prior to the 2008 financial and economic crisis (2005-07) and the years of 2011-13. Our empirical examination led to the conclusion that youth unemployment is usually lower in more flexible labour markets. Before the crisis, member states formed relatively homogeneous groups in the dimensions of labour market flexibility and youth employment, but in the aftermath of the crisis, these groups were broken up and relatively more labour markets became rigid among the EU members.

The survival of the developmental state in globalization: The experiences of South Korea and Singapore

LÁSZLÓ FIKÓ

The paper examines the survival of the developmental state from the point view of the social groups. Answering this question it takes the experiences of South Korea and Singapore. According to the conclusions, the survival of the developmental state has been determined by the power sharing between the state and the social groups. It is the globalization process that opens the door for the recovery of the state autonomy what helps the survival of the developmental state. The danger of the globalization has been assuming state intervention as it helps to exploit the possibilities arising by it.

Legal supplement

Sanctions against Russia and Hungary’s particularist policy

VERONIKA CZINA

In the past years Hungary has conducted a particularist strategy in the European Union from several aspects, meaning that its main strategic priorities diverged from those of the European Union. This particularism manifested in the dynamics of the Hungarian-Russian relations, during which the two countries established a close relationship despite the fact that the EU imposed economic and political sanctions against its Eastern neighbor. This study examines Hungary’s particularist policy focusing on its strategy towards Russia. The theoretical framework for the analysis is provided by the EU’s constitutional principles, which expect a cooperative behaviour from the Member States with the purpose of attaining common EU goals. One of the main conclusions of the study is that the EU permits a certain divergence from its main policy lines, if the Member States have a good reason to do so. However, when common principles or goals are at stake, then the EU is ready to step up, or at least to investigate the case. Moreover, the article concludes that the examined constitutional principles expect a rule-abiding behaviour from the Member Stater, and it is the duty of EU law to enforce this behaviour, and also to provide the boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate Member State conduct.

The Economic Sanctions Imposed by the European Union on Russian Federation and

the Law of the World Trade Organization

BALÁZS HORVÁTHY

The escalation of the crisis in Ukraine reached a tipping point, when the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation occurred, and as a result the European Union has shown a greater-than-ever capacity to carry a cohesive foreign policy and triggered a concerted response in the form of a series of restrictive measures labelled “economic sanctions”. Beyond the restrictive economic and commercial measures  against  Russia  and  Crimea,  these  sanctions  cover  also  specific  measures imposed on individuals, and punitive economic diplomacy as well. Since the EU, its Member States and also Russia are members of the World Trade Organization, the real question can be posed how these sanctions can be understood in the light of the WTO law. The present paper intends to analyse these questions, examines the general background of the sanctions, and tries to put it into the context of the WTO law, and it hypothetically considers, how these measures could be justified under the WTO obligations.

 The effectiveness of economic sanctions introduced by the European Union against Russia

VIKTOR SZÉP

The  effectiveness  of  the  economic  sanctions  imposed  by  the  European Union (EU) has been a highly debated issue in the current Ukrainian crisis. This pessimism may be partly explained by the fact that the majority of the analyses tend to overemphasize the economic impacts of these restrictive measures on Europe. Indeed, it may be shocking to see the economic costs of the sanctions applied against Russia. However, this article argues that the political effectiveness of the sanctions cannot be measured by taking (only) the economic impacts of these restrictive measures into consideration. This article claims that once a predetermined foreign policy objective by the literature has been achieved by an actor (in this situation by the EU), any case can be considered effective. Consequently, it is true that the sanctions have not been able to alter Russia’s behaviour, as one would have expected. Nevertheless, by applying sanctions, the EU achieved to deter Russia from “future wrong doing” in Ukraine and it is recognized internationally because it has showed that the Member States could all agree to stick to their core values.

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