From six to ten and beyond: The European Community at the crossroads
The purpose of this paper is to assess the main factors causing the impasse which the EC has reached. The next section examines the lack of consensus of the member states on the aims of the EC and on the means to achieve them. Subsequently, this is related to the EC enlargement. Finally, recommendations will be made on major policy issues in order to provide a new stimulus to the integration process in Western Europe.
Discriminatory Membership and the Redistribution of Enlargement Gains: A Rational Expectations Approach to EU Membership Accession
Conflicts between EU members about enlargement result from its re-distributive effects. EU members are more likely to suffer from enlargement if they profit from EU transfers and if they are relatively close to applicant countries in which unemployment is significantly higher than in member countries. Phasing-in membership rights serves to compensate the opponents of enlargement in order to accomplish EU widening. Using data from all previous enlargement rounds, we demonstrate that EU members are more likely to demand a discrimination of new members if distributional conflicts arise. The existence of these distributional conflicts in turn increases the odds of EU members and the accession candidates actually agreeing on a phase-in period.
Experimental study of water fluxes in a residential area: 2. Road infiltration, runoff and evaporation
Lack of accurate data has led some hydrologists and city planners to assume that urban infiltration is zero and runoff is 100% of the rainfall. These assumptions lead to an over estimation of road runoff volume and an underestimation of direct recharge to groundwater, which is already rising under some UK cities. This study investigates infiltration and runoff processes and quantifies the percentage of rainfall that contributes to storm drainage, and that which infiltrates through different types of road surface. Access tubes were installed for measuring soil water content using a neutron probe in three car parks, a road and a grass site at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford. Storm drainage was recorded at the exit of the Thamesmead Estate in Crowmarsh Gifford, just before the drain joins the River Thames at Wallingford. Rainfall and water table depth were also recorded. Weekly measurements of soil moisture content indicated that the top 40 cm layer is not influenced by water‐table fluctuations and, therefore, positive changes in soil moisture could be attributed to infiltration of rainfall through the surface. Depending on the nature of the surface, subsurface layers, level of traffic, etc., between 6 and 9% of rainfall was found to infiltrate through the road surfaces studied. The storm drainage generated by road runoff revealed a flow pattern similar to that of the receiving watercourse (River Thames) and increased with the increase of infiltration and soil water content below the road surface. The ratio of runoff to rainfall was 0·7, 0·9 and 0·5 for annual, winter (October–March) and summer (April–September) respectively. As the results of the infiltration indicated that 6 to 9% of annual rainfall infiltrates through the road surface, this means that evaporation represents, 21–24% of annual rainfall, with more evaporation taking place during summer than winter. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.