Open Access

This doctoral thesis examines how European merger control law is applied to the energy sector and to which extent its application may facilitate the liberalisation of the electricity, natural gas and petroleum industries so that only those concentrations will be cleared that honour the principles of the liberalisation directives (IEMD and IGMD ). In its communication on an energy policy for Europe, adopted on 10/01/2007, the Commission emphasized that a real internal European energy market is essential to meet Europe’s three energy objectives, i.e. competitiveness to cut costs for citizens and undertakings to foster energy efficiency and investment, sustainability including emissions trading, and security of supply with high standards of public service obligations (Art. 106 TFEU). The EU issued three pre-liberalisation directives since the 1990s. Dissatisfied with the existing monopolistic structures, i.e. in Germany through demarcation and exclusive concession agreements for the supply of electricity and natural gas, which were until 1998 exempted from the cartel prohibition provision (§ 1 GWB), and the prevalence of exclusive rights on the energy markets, the Commission triggered infringement proceedings against four member states under Art. 258 TFEU. The CJEU confirmed that the Commission has the power to abolish monopoly rights under certain circumstances and the rulings had the effect of convincing the member states to enter into negotiations for an opening up of energy markets owing to the internal market energy liberalization directives of 1996 / 1998 / 2003 / 2009 / 2019 (IEMD and IGMD) . The core element of the IEMD and IGMD is to abolish exclusive rights and offer primarily at least large industrial electricity and gas consumers to choose their supplier (market opening for eligible consumers) and to grant negotiated or regulated third party access to transmission and distribution grids so to address natural monopolies. The second liberalization package of 2003 brought a widening of market opening and acceleration of pace of market opening to a greater number of eligible customers (all non-household consumers since July 2004 and all consumers since July 2007) and an increase in the provisions on management and legal unbundling. In parallel, two regulations regulate the access to cross-border electricity infrastructure (interconnectors) and the third party access to gas transmission networks. Two further Directives addressed the security of natural gas and power supply and a third deals with energy end use efficiency and services , a fourth dealt with the promotion of co-generation and a fifths covers marine environmental policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive in combination with the Hydrocarbons-Licensing Directive ) backed by the public procurement directive in the energy sector. A regulation covers energy statistics. The implementation of the second energy package was slow and the Commission launched infringement proceedings against 5 member states in front of the CJEU (Art. 258, 256 TFEU). The 3rd energy package of 2009 addressed ownership unbundling of key-infrastructure ownership and energy wholesale and retail supply consisting of three regulations and two directives, deals with independent regulators, an agency for the cooperation of energy regulators (ACER) and cross-border cooperation (the European Network for transmission system operators for electricity and gas [ENTSO-E/G] and a regulation on cross-border grid access for electricity and natural gas. Another new regulation deals with market integrity and transparency . Hence, new regulations regulate guidelines on electricity balancing, congestion management, long-term capacity allocation, the code for grid access and transmission system operation . Other regulations address the guidelines for a European cross-border energy infrastructure, which has to be interpreted in the context of European environmental impact assessment law, the submission of data in electricity markets, establish a network code on demand connection , rule on a network code for grid access for direct current transmission systems, define guidelines on electricity transmission system operation, regulate a network code on electricity emergency , deal with security of natural gas supply and establish a programme to aid economic recovery by granting financial assistance. Finally, Directives promote the usage of renewable energies, regulate common oil stocks, the safety of offshore oil and gas production and the quality of petrol and diesel fuels. The 4th liberalization package consists of a new IEMD2019 and IGMD2019, of a new regulation on European cross-border electricity trade, of a regulation on risk preparedness in the electricity sector, of a new agency for the cooperation of European energy regulators, addresses energy efficiency and rules on good governance in the energy union. Since 2008, the Art. 194 I-II TFEU governs the ordinary legislation procedure in the energy sector (internal market in energy, security of energy supply, energy efficiency, energy saving, renewable energies, interconnection of energy grids) notwithstanding of unanimous decision making in case of energy taxation matters (Art. 194 III TFEU). A brief analysis of the economic implications of concentrations is followed by an assessment of the evolution of European merger control law under Art. 66 ECSCT, Art. 101 and 102 TFEU, the merger control regulation of 1989 and its significant amendments of 1997 and 2004. Then, the theoretical findings are contrasted to the results of recent merger proceedings in the energy sector with a focus on the VEBA/VIAG decision. Several deficiencies are established which limit the efficacy of merger control as a tool of offsetting shortcomings in the secondary EC law with regard to the liberalisation of the electricity and gas supply industry (IEMD and IGMD). Commitments proposed by the parties of a given concentration and accepted by the Commission as being sufficient to remedy a serious potential of dominance may only be of subsidiary relevance to the liberalisation of sectors owing to a number of analytical and practical drawbacks. One dominant drawback relates to the fact that the commitments depend always on parties' proposals and can never be imposed ex officio. Others relate to the blunt authorisations provided by the wording of Art. 6 and 8 MR1997 and MR2004 as to the implementation of undertakings. With regard to acquisitions of U.K. regional electricity companies by EdF, it is elaborated that the current merger control law leaves no scope for reciprocity considerations regarding acquisitions by incumbent companies in liberalised markets even though the acquirer is a protected public undertaking. Moreover, it is established that different decisions apply inconsistent market definitions. By means of the VEBA/VIAG and RWE/VEW cases, the question is addressed which causes are responsible for the established analytical and practical deficiencies of merger control in the energy sector. It is stated that the weaknesses of the IEMD 2009/72/EC and IGMD 2009/73/EC are partly responsible for weak undertakings which do not sufficiently remove the scope for dominance on the affected markets and which do not rule out any possibility of impediments of effective negotiated or regulated TPA and do not remove any commercial incentive of the grid subsidiaries of the vertically integrated companies as to access which discriminates between intra and extra group applicants. It is reported that another argument relates to the limited scope that the Commission has if it wants to remedy deficiencies of written primary law owing to the extraordinary nature of the implied powers doctrine based on the principle of constitutional state. Adverse political influence against competition authorities is also judged. Further, it is analysed that accidental regulation based on incidental provisions imposed on undertakings which may or not implement a concentration is by no means a consistent and non-discriminatory and predictable tool to overcome drawbacks of primary or secondary European law in a given sector owing to the democratic principle and the constitutional state doctrine. It is discussed that secondary legislation with regard to energy networks is inter alia restricted by Art. 345 TFEU and provisions of national constitutions which protect property rights against dis-proportionate expropriations or re-definitions of property. Further, legal authorisations of said calibre will have to be connected to a system of state liability law. Adverse political pressures are considered. The same is true for egoistic national policies which abstain from transnational task forces in order to settle difficulties and disputes. Furthermore, the adverse effect of different stages of the maturity of domestic markets, different consumer patterns and a potential isolation of the system is not neglected, because these conditions make it more difficult to apply consistent standards as to the appropriate market definition in order to facilitate harmonisation. The implementation of the VEBA/VIAG merger is discussed, as the former was further complicated owing to specifically evaluated circumstances which were difficult to predict. Nevertheless, the Commission is not exempted from the duty to take due care concerning potential impediments as to the realisation of parties' commitments. In contrast to the negative aspects, it can be highlighted that the Commission quickly realised flaws of the energy liberalisation project as expressed by the present form of the IEMD and IGMD. Consequently, the co-ordinative and innovative mechanisms of Florence and Madrid were created in order to boost the development of effective cross border trade - i.e. tariff systems and interconnector congestion management. It will be concluded that undertakings put forward by the parties and accepted by the Commission should be restricted to a subsidiary legal instrument, only applied if strictly necessary to overcome certain detrimental aspects of given concentrations in order to provide a hint for the legislator, to specify its legislation. Competition as a de-central distributor of risk, wealth and power will be extended to its maximum extent, if wholesale consumers benefit from lower energy prices which allow greater productivity of European products on the world markets in combination with higher environmental standards owing to modern, cost-efficient plants. A successful implementation will be described by liquid spot markets for power accompanied by tools of financial risk management like forwards, futures and options. These will be valuable indicators of efficient liberalisation of the European electricity and gas supply industries.

The presence of pharmaceutical drugs and their by-products as environmental organic contaminants in a variety of eco-systems and their potential environmental impacts is a well-known aspect and has been raised in recent years. Studying the transformation of pharmaceutical drugs in the aquatic system is very important as it can lead to the formation of many new transformation products (TPs) that can have different properties (e.g. more mobile, toxic or present at higher concentrations) and this can enable them to reach the environmental compartments not affected by their parent compounds. Yet, many of the pharmaceutical drugs are not well regulated or controlled and they can cause a lot of adverse ecological and/or human health effects. In addition, impact of the continuous change in the environmental conditions such as pH, temperature and initial concentration on the transformation behaviour of pharmaceuticals is overlooked in many researches although it is of high interest. Psychotropic drugs are among the pharmaceuticals which their potential hazards including environmental fate and behaviour is still not well understood compared to other drugs such as antibiotics. Psychotropic drugs are highly used, and their worldwide consumption has been increasing nowadays especially in developed countries such as Europe and the United States. Furthermore, they are highly found in different environmental compartments and can cause a lot of toxicological problems. Trimipramine (TMP), Desipramine (DMI) and Chlorprothixene (CPTX) are three psychotropic drugs with closely related chemical structures and they are selected to be studied in this thesis as they are among the worldwide commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs and data available on their environmental fate (e.g., degradation or transformation and fate of the TPs) is lacking in the environmental researches. To investigate the ecological impact of the pharmaceuticals on water organisms and to study their fate in the aquatic system, laboratory biodegradation and photodegradation tests are recommended. The use of LC-MS/MS analysis with the combination of photolysis and biodegradation tests to identify the formed TPs and to study the biodegradability and the persistence of the TPs is a helpful new insight into the environmental behaviour of contaminants and their TPs. Different environmental conditions can affect the fate of pharmaceuticals in the environment, therefore answering the question how different variables such as temperature, pH and initial concentration could affect the degradation pattern of pharmaceuticals can provide valuable information regarding their environmental fate. Toxicity assessments of contaminants and their TPs using in-silico software based on quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) models can be a good choice especially in case of TPs because the TPs are mostly not available commercially and II are usually only formed in low concentrations within complex matrices so that isolation and purification are very difficult. Accordingly, the principle of this thesis was to study the environmental fate of three highly used psychotropic drugs and this achieved through: 1) examining the biodegradability of TMI, DMI and CPTX, 2) studying the behaviour of TMP, DMI and CPTX in photodegradation tests using Xe and UV lamps with studying the effect of different environmental conditions on their UV-photodegradation behaviour, 3) monitoring the primary elimination of TMP, DMI and CPTX during photodegradation and biodegradation tests using HPLC, and measuring their degree of mineralization by means of dissolved organic carbon analyser (DOC), 4) elucidating the structures of the TPs which formed during the degradation of TMI, DMI and CPTX by using LC-MS/MS analysis, 5) analysing the biodegradability of their TPs by laboratory tests and in-silico assessments in order to determine the fate and persistence of these TPs in the aquatic environment, 6) conducting in-silico toxicity predictions for the selected psychotropic drugs and their TPs in human (carcinogenicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity) and in eco-system (toxicity to microorganisms and toxicity in rainbow trouts). TMP, DMI and CPTX were found to be not readily biodegradable in Closed Bottle test (CBT), and in Manometric Respiratory test (MRT). They did not show any significant elimination or mineralization within 128 minutes of irradiation using a xenon Lamp. In UV-photodegradation samples, LC-MS/MS results showed elimination of the three psychotropic drugs with corresponding comparatively lower degrees of mineralization indicating formation of abundant photo-TPs. From the UV-photolysis tests, which were carried out under different environmental conditions, it can be concluded that the degradation rates of TMP, DMI and CPTX decreased when their initial concentrations increased. pH affected the photodegradation behaviour of TMP, DMI and CPTX with different pattern depending on many factors such as solubility, molar absorption coefficient (ɛ), ionisation form and chemical structure. Temperature elevation showed non-significant effect on the photodegradation performance of DMI and CPTX, while showed an enhanced effect on the photodegradation performance of TMP. This could be because the molecules of DMP and CPTX can reach the sufficient energy required for degradation at low temperature. While TMP`s molecules still require some more energy to undergo degradation and temperature helps them to reach easily these required activation energy. Elucidating the TPs and studying the degradation pathways for TMP, DMI and CPTX during UV irradiation indicated that hydroxylation is the most abundant pathway followed by oxidation and isomerization. De-chlorination pathway was observed during the UV-transformation of CPTX. III Deamination and loss of the aliphatic side chain were observed only during the UV-transformation of TMP, while not observed during DMI and CPTX transformation. This indicates that the bond between the amino- group and the aliphatic side chain in DMI and CPTX can be more resistant to photodegradation compared to the same bond in TMP. This could be due to the presence of extra methyl groups in TMP molecule which can decrease the previously mentioned bond strength. Biodegradation tests performed for photodegradation mixtures, which contain the psychotropic drugs and their TPs, showed low biodegradation results. Despite that, elimination of some TPs was observed in the LC-MS/MS analysis at the end of these biodegradation tests. This indicates the probability of biodegradation ability for some TPs and this ability was hindered by the predominant effect of other non-biodegradable compounds. In-silico predictions showed that for many endpoints, photo-transformation might lead to an increased toxicity in humans and to water organisms compared with the parent compound. As an overall conclusion, the present work demonstrates that a combination of laboratory simulation tests, LC-MS/MS analysis and in-silico tools result in valuable new information regarding environmental fate of three important psychotropic drugs and their TPs. This dissertation also highlights that different environmental conditions such as temperature, initial drug concentration and pH can differently affect the degradation behaviour of pharmaceuticals even when they are highly structurally related. Therefore, one cannot conclude from one pharmaceutical to another but each one needs to be investigated individually and this present a great challenge for risk assessment kinetics of chemicals in the aquatic environment. The results presented here showed that the investigated pharmaceuticals and their TPs can negatively affect the environment which may be harmful to the ecosystem as they might have been present for decades in the aquatic environment without any knowledge of their environmental fate or connected risk. Therefore, further work needs to be done including analysis of environmental samples (e.g., surface waters), as well as laboratory toxicity tests to further expand knowledge on their exact environmental impact.

Uganda has been plagued by political instability in the past and wide spread abuse of human rights coupled with failed economic policies. However, the country has witnessed increased economic growth and the government has embarked on several poverty eradication programmes despite rising income inequalities and poverty in the country. The task of ensuring poverty as a human right in the country has not been an easy one for those charged with the duty of ensuring the right to freedom from poverty. This research examines the complexity of attaining the right to freedom from poverty in a country like Uganda. This study will also give a philosophical view on poverty and human rights and those responsible for ensuring the implementation of this right. Through the analysis, the research examined the key challenges faced in attaining the right to freedom from poverty in Uganda, discussed how poverty was defined through different perspectives. The information provided in the analysis is further examined by putting the theoretical findings in correspondence with the gathered empirical information for more definitive results of the study. The fundamental results and conclusion of this research revealed the overall challenges faced in regarding poverty as a human right which include how poverty is defined, the mindset, the political history of Uganda and so on. However, the study has recommended extensive research into the role of the family in ensuring poverty as a human right and further research in the effectiveness of the laws in Uganda in ensuring poverty as a human right.

Water is vital for humankind and ecosystems alike. However, population growth, agricultural inten-sification, urbanization, and climate change embody potential hazards and pressures for water re-sources without existing long-term solutions. For two decades now, policy and governance literature has increasingly emphasised the role of learning in finding solutions to environmental policy prob-lems and effectively steering governance practices. Participation of non-state actors in decision mak-ing is widely considered to deliver learning products that support effective outcomes for environ-mental problems. Besides, the institutionalisation of participation through legislation opens up the necessity for (administrative) organizers to learn about participation as a governance mode in order to steer its effective working. Apart from participation, management approaches specifically aiming at driving learning, such as adaptive management (AM), are increasingly endorsed in water govern-ance. Despite the current prominence of learning in the environmental governance literature, evi-dence is lacking on which learning approaches function effectively regarding outcomes, whether participation aids learning, and how learning about successful governance arrangements is most effectively promoted. This doctoral dissertation aims to contribute to clarification of the potential of learning for water governance. The goal is to trace and understand the environmental impacts of learning through par-ticipation (research aim 1) and adaptive management (research aim 2), and the effect of learning on participation as a governance mode (research aim 3). For this goal, I engage in a predominantly qualitative research design following the case study method. For every specific research aim cases are selected and analysed qualitatively according to conceptual categories and mechanisms which are defined beforehand. Quantitative studies are used to corroborate the results for research aim 1 and 2 in a mixed-method approach to enhance the valid-ity of results. The empirical research context is European water governance, the implementation of the EU Water Framework and EU Floods Directive (WFD, FD) specifically. Eight cases of participa-tory decision-making across three European countries and five cases of AM in Northern Germany for WFD implementation are examined to identify whether learning in these processes enhanced envi-ronmental outcomes. To detect whether governance learning by public officials occurred, the design of participatory processes for FD implementation in ten German federal states is assessed. The findings of research aim 1, understanding learning through participation and its effects on water governance, reveal that participatory planning led to learning through improved understandings at an individual and group level. Learning did, however, hardly shape effective outcomes. In the AM cases (research aim 2) managers and participants of implementing networks improved their knowledge as well as capacities, and spread the results. Nonetheless, environmental improvement was not necessarily linked to ecological learning. Regarding learning about participation as a govern-ance mode (research aim 3) all interviewed public officials in German federal states reported some degree of governance learning, which emerged not systematically but primarily drawing on own experiences and intuition. These findings are condensed into three overarching lessons for learning in water governance: (1) Interactive communication seems to form the overall frame for participant and group learning. Framing of learning experiences turned out to play an important and potentially distorting role, for which professional facilitation and structured knowledge aggregation methods might be an im-portant counterbalance. (2) Learning did not automatically enhance environmental outcomes. It may thus not be an explanatory variable for policy outcomes, but a conditioning or intervening vari-able related to collective action, motivation for participation, and situating the issue at hand at wider societal levels. (3) The concepts of puzzling and powering might help understand learning as a source for effectiveness in the long-term when complemented with interest-based debates for creat-ing sufficient political agency of policy issues. Learning seen as puzzling processes might instruct acceptance and legitimization for new powering efforts. The perpetuation of learning in systematic ways and structures appears to characterize an alternative to this reflexive and strategic interplay, for which the water-related EU directives provide the basis. These insights are of practical and policy relevance, particularly for policy makers and practitioners in the pursuit of learning. They may further contribute to the academic understanding of learning in water governance and its potential contribution to transforming and adapting water governance re-gimes, as envisioned in the European water-related directives.

Excessive fertilizer use leads to nutrient imbalances and losses of these to the environment through leaching, runoff and gaseous emissions. Nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture is often low and improving it could increase the sustainability of agricultural systems. The main aims of this thesis were to gain a better understanding of plant-soil-microbe interactions in order to improve agricultural NUEs. The studies included experimentally tested how crops respond to addition of high carbon amendments, fertilizer application rates and timing, and crop rotations. Furthermore, methods for measurement of roots were compared and a protocol for measurement of roots was developed. The first experiment simulated an agricultural field using mesocosms. In this setting, we tested the effect of 4 previous crops (precrops), which either had or did not have a symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)/rhizobia, on the focal crop (winter barley). We also tested the addition of high carbon amendments (wheat straw/sawdust) for immobilization of residual soil nitrogen (N) at harvest of the previous crop. Overall, the findings were that non-AMF precrops had a positive effect on winter barley yield compared to AMF precrops. Wheat straw reduced N leaching, whereas sawdust addition had a negative effect on the yield of winter barley. Root traits are often measured in static environments, whereas agricultural fertilizer is applied once or multiple times at different crops growth stages. The second experiment tested the effect of different fertilizer (N/phosphorus (P)) application timings on plant traits grown in rhizoboxes. Overall, delaying N application had a more detrimental effect on plant biomass than delaying P application. The root system increased its root length initially due to N-deficiency, but was quickly thus N-limited that root length was relatively lower than the control group. This study emphasizes the need to dynamically measure roots for a mechanistic understanding of root responses to nutrients. Because of the many root related measurements in the second experiment, a step-by-step method for measuring root traits under controlled and field conditions was developed and included in this thesis. This method paper describes precisely how root traits of interest can be measured, and helps with deciding which approach should be taken depending on the experimental design. Additionally, we compared the bias and accuracy of several popular root measurement methods. Although methods well correlated with a reference method, most methods tended to underestimate the total root length. Overall, these results highlight the importance of crop choice in crop rotations and the plasticity of root systems in relation to nutrient application. Our results show high carbon amendments could reduce nitrate leaching after the harvest of crops, especially those with high risk of nitrate leaching, although they had only small impacts on yield. Future research should investigate the applicability in a farm setting, also taking into account financial and practical aspects. Non-AMF precrops could possibly increase yield of the next crop due to a shift to parasitism in agricultural fields, but whether this plays a large role in crop yields should be further investigated for specific soil, crop, and climate conditions. Our results also show the plasticity of root systems in response to nutrients. Understanding and using this plasticity can be useful for improving NUEs by optimizing fertilizer application and selecting root traits that are beneficial for specific environmental conditions.