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The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of research development on auditing in the European Union over the past decade and suggest future research directions.

Following the PRISMA protocol, the authors systematically reviewed the relevant literature and conducted a qualitative content analysis of 107 studies on auditing in the European Union published between 2012 and 2023.

The results indicate increased auditing literature in the European Union from 2012 to August 2023. Around 40% of the papers were focused on six nations: Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, Sweden and France. Additionally, 35.5% of papers have been published in three major journals: Accounting in Europe, International Journal of Auditing and the European Accounting Review. Moreover, 82.24% of papers used quantitative methods, with a few using qualitative or mixed methods. Also, most of the studies in the sample endorsed the European Union’s auditing reforms, which included implementing a cap on nonaudit fees and enhancing the independence of audit committees. Contrary to this viewpoint, multiple studies have expressed disagreement with enforcing a total prohibition on nonaudit services, as certain services can enhance auditing quality. Similarly, other studies have contested the necessity of mandatory auditor rotation every 10 years, citing the significant additional expenses associated with this practice. Finally, further studies supported the European Union’s decision to make the joint audit voluntary, as it is related to high audit fees and low audit quality.

The limitations of this research primarily stem from the authors’ choices in selecting the database and defining the criteria for searching the studied papers.

This paper offers valuable insights into the future research prospects in the European Union’s auditing field. Hence, this analysis can be helpful for researchers and practitioners in developing this field based on future research recommendations and the identified themes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first study to systematically review the developments of the European Union auditing literature over the past decade.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception and experience of counter pharmaceuticals in Nigeria compared to the European Union.

The findings from this paper are based upon a survey of 362 Nigerians sourced in public places with the data and then compared results from a survey by the European Union.

The key findings from this research showed some areas of similarity between Nigerians and Europeans on their views on the acceptability of purchasing counterfeits. However, Nigerians were more open to purchasing counterfeits despite the risks. There was also more anxiety over the risk of purchasing counterfeit medicines compared to the European Union.

Due to security issues, survey data could only be sourced from Abuja, Lagos and the relatively peaceful southwestern region of Nigeria. The data is, therefore, not representative of Nigeria.

The purchasing experience of counterfeit medicines by Nigerians along with their anxieties highlights the need for more enforcement action to tackle this problem and reassure the public.

The paper highlights the challenges of securing genuine pharmaceutical products in the Global South and the need for more greater cross-border action to tackle the problem.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first survey of Nigerian citizens on this issue.

The European Union (EU) and Russia are considered to be trapped into security concerns in a form of spillover, in a zero sum perspective, considering each step of the other as directed against another. Such an approach seems to prevail, after attempts of engagements for decades after the Cold War. Rather history prevailed in informing perceptions and currently driving the behaviors toward each other, in other words in othering each other.

Discourse analysis

The move in Eastern Europe of both parties is perceived with suspicion from both sides, materialized through their policies, culminated in clash of interests and crash of policies between both parts, manifested by Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014 and recently in 2022 in one side, and the EU response through massive, unprecedented sanctions against Russia. This has created a context that fosters not just keeping a status quo of clash and struggle for influence between them in the region, but also nourishes further securitization of their respective policies toward the Eastern Europe and beyond. In 2014 and more recently in 2022 Russian aggression in Ukraine, the EU and Russia appear to have the same image to each other as they had during the Cold War, or even beyond. Having this in mind, this paper will address those developments, with particular focus on attempts to avoid them, the failure to do so and how they are impacting the EU, Russia and global politics in a form of emerging new world (dis)order.

This paper is an original paper having a critical approach toward the current conflicts going on in Eastern Europe.

This paper aims to contribute to the current debate between the mainstream and the non-mainstream literature on the effect of the growth of finance on the level of income inequality, for which the empirical evidence has also been providing mixed results.

We estimate a linear model and a non-linear model by employing a panel autoregressive distributed lag approach and relying on the dynamic fixed-effects estimator because of the existence of variables that are stationary in levels and stationary in the first differences.

Our findings confirm that finance, economic growth, educational attainment and degree of trade openness have a positive long-term effect on the level of income inequality in the European Union countries, whilst government spending has a negative impact in the short term.

Our findings imply that policy makers should rethink the functioning of the financial system in order to restore a supportive relationship between finance and income inequality and adopt public policies that are more in favour of the poor in order to constrain the growth of income inequality in the European Union countries.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that, simultaneously, focuses on the European Union countries, assesses the nexus between finance and income inequality, uses three different variables as proxies for the level of income inequality (the Gini coefficient, the top 1% income share and the top 10% income share), measures the variables that are proxies for the level of income inequality in terms of pre-tax and pre-transfer values and as post-tax and post-transfer values, takes into account four different variables as proxies for the role of finance (credit, credit-to-deposit ratio, liquid liabilities and stock market capitalisation) and identifies the long-term and short-term determinants of income inequality.

In this paper, the impact of the 2004 European Union accession on income inequalities within New Member States is analyzed.

An empirical analysis is conducted with nine New Member States over the period 1991–2015, with 55 economies serving as a control group. The newly introduced (by de Chaisemartin and D’Haultfœuille, 2023) method belonging to the family of difference-in-differences (DID) estimators is applied to allow for multiple non-binary treatments.

While accession to the European Union had a positive and significant impact on the market and net Gini coefficients in the treated countries, no evidence of the impact of accession on redistribution was found. Single-unit estimates signal that income inequalities rose due to EU membership in some member countries; the most convincing evidence shows that income distribution in Latvia was especially affected.

The author applied the method which addresses the presence of multiple non-binary treatments. Full-fledged membership was preceded by association status, and accession to the EU was accompanied or followed by engagement in other layers of integration (European Monetary Union and Schengen Area). Controlling for these features, the author was able to assess whether the pure EU effect contributed to increases in income inequalities.

The purpose of this paper that will address in this paper are: how to implement and test a reliable Block-chain-based energy system for the EU energy payments and logistic? What are the main results, impacts and implications of a Block-chain-based energy system for the EU energy payments and logistic?

The main aim of this study is to propose a Block-chain-based method to offer a secure, reliable and transparent method for energy logistic and payments for European Energy Transactions. To accomplish that aim, the research method of the study follows the design science research approach of smart contracts in the EU Energy logistic and payments. This research approach mainly consists of five sequential steps which are (1) problem and motivation identification, (2) solution objectives definition, (3) design and development and (4) demonstration and evaluation.

Results of data model demonstrate that the Block-chain-based energy system here can be used for any EU energy payments and logistics. Based on the data results of the model that mentioned above enhance the security and the integrity of the energy payments and logistic by using cryptographic techniques and consensus mechanisms to prevent and detect any tampering or falsification of the data on the Block-chain.

This paper represents a genuine piece of research that contributes to the field by providing new insights and understanding. The findings presented are the result of rigorous analysis and have not been previously published or submitted elsewhere for consideration.

This paper examines the relationship between flexicurity and employment inflows in the EU28 countries over the 2007–2019 period. Flexicurity is defined as the mix of flexible contractual arrangements, social security systems, active labor market policies and lifelong learning strategies.

Using two-way fixed effects two-stage least squares, we estimate the employment inflows as a function of an equal-weighted flexicurity composite indicator and other labor market, economic and business environment characteristics. To ensure the robustness of results, in additional specifications, we test the sensitivity of the flexicurity’s coefficient to: (1) the change of instruments; (2) the removal of different non-core variables and (3) the consideration of recessionary periods European regions. In addition, we estimate regressions with separate flexicurity components and with differently constructed flexicurity indices.

In all the estimations, increased flexicurity efforts are positively related to employment inflows. Increased flexicurity efforts benefit Eastern European countries more than the Northern and Anglo-Saxon groups. Not only a synergistic policy action that uses an equal combination of the four pillars of flexicurity has a positive impact on the employment inflow rate. Strategies that give more weight to the formation of skills seem to favor the labor market reinsertion most.

To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study in the flexicurity–employment inflows literature since it: (1) follows all the European Union countries over more than a decade; (2) brings some tentative findings on the socio-cultural moderation of flexicurity’s impact on employment inflows and (3) explores different country-level flexicurity indices.

This study aims to analyze the implications of the recent European Union Regulation 2023/1542 on the circular economy and stakeholder strategies within the electric vehicle lithium-ion battery (EV-LIB) sector. It aims to explain the policy intentions, recommend practical strategies for stakeholders and examine how the new regulation exerts pressure on stakeholders to transition from older directives to more sustainable practices and operational standards, while also highlighting policy gaps.

The research employs a dual-method approach, combining text analysis of EU legislation with semi-structured interviews of industry stakeholders. This methodology allows for a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory impacts by integrating legislative intent with practical, on-the-ground insights from key players in the EV-LIB sector.

Our findings show that the three aggregated dimensions of operational sustainability, R&D and new technologies and collaborative dynamics are the key dynamics underlying the intended outcomes. The findings also highlight the policy’s historical development, the stakeholder categories, the implications for each and practical recommendations in responding to the policy requirements. Additionally, the findings identify policy gaps, such as weak incentives and broad economic operator classifications, with examples from international markets. The regulation creates proactive stakeholders driving innovation and collaboration and reactive ones adapting to changes, where static implicit implications may affect their viability by imposing unequal burdens.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze the new EU Regulation 2023/1542, offering novel insights into the strategic responses required by stakeholders to adapt to the regulatory pressures. By focusing on the latest regulatory framework and its practical implications, the study bridges the gap between policy and practice, providing valuable guidance for industry players navigating the evolving regulatory environment.

• (1)

  EU’s policy shift from Directive to Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 has extended implications on the Electric Vehicles battery sector.

• (2)

  Duel qualitative methods of text analysis and semi-structured interviews validated three aggregate dimensions and policy gaps.

• (3)

  R&D with advancing technology, Operational sustainability and safety and Collaboration dynamics are dominating the scene.

• (4)

  Emergence of Proactive vs Reactive stakeholder dynamics.

• (5)

  The broad classification of “economic operators” and insufficiently detailed incentives, hinting at potential competitive imbalances and underexplored roles of end-users in achieving circular economy goals are appearing policy’ gaps.

EU’s policy shift from Directive to Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 has extended implications on the Electric Vehicles battery sector.

Duel qualitative methods of text analysis and semi-structured interviews validated three aggregate dimensions and policy gaps.

R&D with advancing technology, Operational sustainability and safety and Collaboration dynamics are dominating the scene.

Emergence of Proactive vs Reactive stakeholder dynamics.

The broad classification of “economic operators” and insufficiently detailed incentives, hinting at potential competitive imbalances and underexplored roles of end-users in achieving circular economy goals are appearing policy’ gaps.

We investigate the role of fiscal policy, through several measures of government revenues and expenditures and redistribution, on disposable and market income inequality and economic growth as well as the interaction between inequality and growth for 31 European countries from 1995 to 2019.

We use a simultaneous equations model to assess the linkage between economic growth, inequalities and fiscal policy variables.

(1) While disposable income inequality has a negative effect on all fiscal policy variables, market income inequality has a mixed effects; (2) for Eastern European countries, public consumption and direct taxation positively influence economic growth; conversely, for Western European countries, the effects are negative; (3) disposable and market income inequality have a positive effect on growth for Eastern European countries, and a negative influence on growth for Western European countries; (4) growth contributes to the increase of disposable and market income inequality for Eastern European countries; for Western European countries, the effects are opposite; and (5) fiscal policy allows for the attenuation of disposable income inequality.

The different results between the role of market and disposable income inequality levels lead us to suggest tax progressivity as an important feature to consider when analyse the trivariate relationship between inequalities, fiscal policy and growth. Furthermore, there are different dynamics between inequality and growth, and the role of fiscal policy, on both Eastern and Western European countries.

“The latest available cross-country data presented in the PEPPER V Report (Lowitzsch and Hashi, 2024) can be viewed by examining EFP in and of itself as an isolated subject or it can be viewed in a much wider set of contexts. Widening the lens in order to examine EFP in the context of the concentration of capital ownership and the concentration of capital income can help observers establish EFP’s span of relevance. In particular US data on capital income show that policy makers need to be aware that EFP can have an important role in narrowing the income and wealth gap for the working middle class when the concentration of capital ownership and capital income is high and when real wage growth is low.”

“Against this background, this article makes a very straightforward observation that the relevance of EFP in an economic system, in a country, and for the average employee in a country is related to the trend in the concentration of capital ownership and capital income. Interest in the idea is potentially increased or decreased by trends in real wages. Atkinson, who many consider the founder of modern wealth concentration scholarship, “focuses on the increasing share of capital incomes a source of income inequality among individuals” (Cirillo et al., 2017, p. 1). Indeed, we consider the difference between labour’s share and capital’s share to be a critically important fundamental problem of political economy. This essay asserts that when this concentration is high and real wages are flat, other things being equal, EFP may be more relevant. When the concentration of capital ownership and capital income is high, this means that ownership and income on that ownership is thinly spread in the population. When real wages are flat, this means that the rate at which fixed wages can replenish wealth is decreasing. As a result, both trends would make EFP more relevant.”

The conceptual model suggested for this article asserts that the relevance of EFP can be viewed as a function of narrowing income and wealth options for the working middle class when the concentration of capital ownership and capital income is high and when real wage growth is low. Does this relevance change across economic systems? There is no question that the future understanding of these issues requires adding metrics to the statistical methodologies of different regions and countries and adding to existing reports and analyses that focus on both the dynamics of and trends in capital income (property income in the EU) and on the EUR and USD value of EFP at the mean and at the median for different income levels of the population

This article presents – for the first time – a society-wide measure of the impact of EFP on one economy, namely, the US For further research, it makes sense to build on the comparable data available on the distribution of capital ownership and have similar research on the distribution of capital income for both the EU and the US along with measures of the EUR and USD values of EFP.