Around the Bloc: Around the Bloc - Romanian High Court Hobbles Legal Reforms
Although meant to bring legal procedures in line with EU norms, critics say changes would hamstring the fight against corruption.
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Although meant to bring legal procedures in line with EU norms, critics say changes would hamstring the fight against corruption.
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Kateryna Handziuk spoke out on corruption and the influence of pro-Russian forces in Kherson, near Crimea
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Problem setting. The urgency of the analysis of the current experience of sociological assessments of the level of trust in social institutions, in particular, the court, is due to the fact that for European countries the paradox of mass consciousness becomes more and more characteristic: confidence in the court decreases even in conditions of increase of efficiency, accessibility, justice of justice, that are recorded according to the results of judicial reform. Requirements and expectations are growing (especially in more educated or socially adapted categories of the population), and, accordingly, there is a probability of inconsistency of pace of reforms and the presence of positive dynamics of trust in court. Recent research and publications analysis. The assessment of trust in the courts as a factor of trust in public authority is at the center of attention of domestic and foreign scholars. These problems were addressed by B. Barber, M. Buromensky, M. King, I. Lavrinenko, V. Lebedev, N. Luhmann, C. Morgner, O. Serdyuk, T. Habriyeva et al. How¬ever, each state is looking for its criteria for monitoring the activities of courts. Paper objective. The purpose of this article is to formulate the main principles of national monitoring of the level of trust in the court and the judicial system on the basis of analysis, firstly, of the most famous international sociological methodologies and, secondly, the peculiarities of the current Ukrainian situation in this area. Paper main body. Trust is a generalized indicator of the norms, attitudes and values that underlie social cooperation, and in public life, trust fosters community unity and community building, and in the economic sphere, it accelerates cooperation and interpersonal exchanges. As a socio-psychological category of trust, it is a characteristic of an open, positive relationship between the parties and reflects the confidence in the honesty and benevolence of the other party with which the trust is in one way or another based on his experience. From this point of view, trust has certain limits based on knowing about the other party that is trusted. Full trust is often identified with faith, because the mechanism of such trust is no longer based on rational principles, that is, on experience and on prediction and prior knowledge of one side of the second and includes irrational motives of the relationship. In social sciences, the level of trust one party can trust in another is measured in the belief in the honesty, charity and competence of the other party. Based on recent research, distrust can be forgiven much easier when interpreted as lack of competence than inadequate benevolence or honesty. The assessment of trust in the court is recognized as a measure of the rule of law (rule of law). This approach is used in a variety of international and national practical tools for assessing democratic regimes. Conclusions of the research. Institutional trust can be considered as a kind of indicator that determines social well-being of the population, in addition, it is an important condition of social communication, through which the consent, understanding and dialogue of the parties is achieved, and it becomes possible to seek new opportunities for further development. The increase of trust in the judicial system of Ukraine is one of the tasks of the judiciary and is outlined in strategic documents of the development of the judiciary of Ukraine in recent years. The level of trust (distrust) of citizens to justice is affected by a number off actors, the most important among which should be called: the quality of legislation, on the basis of which decisions are adopted and substantiated; the quality of the judiciary; the degree of accessibility and openness of justice; coverage of court work in the media; the degree of execution of court decisions. From trust in the court it is necessary to distinguish between the perception of justice by citizens, the level of which is influenced by the ability of citizens to protect their rights in court, the application of the law by the court in an appropriate and effective manner, equality and non-discrimination before the law, the legality of the adopted judgments, the effective struggle of the state with corruption, etc.
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Billion-dollar purchases are escalating, and not all of the added value is military-related.
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The concept of sovereignty has raised intense academic debates for more than a century. The notion in itself was and is under ongoing change, evolving at the same time with the political and historical circumstances. The present work is focused on searching for an answer to the question to what degree the post-modern multi-dimensional sovereignty affects the national classical sovereignty, known also as westphalian. Moreover, it will be analyze whether the European regionalization or integration represents a limit with regard to the state sovereignty or it insures its existence itself. The hypothesis from which it is started is that it was produced an expansion, a recalibration of the semantic sphere of the concept of sovereignty, the notion not being able to be understood in a classical form because, in the globalization context, the defense of the national territory depends upon the optimal cooperation. The efficient cooperation insures the regional security, and the growing tensions in the EU lead to the increase of insecurity and, implicitly, to the increase of the national insecurity. The national sovereignty depends on the regional structure of which it is part of.
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This paper presents several features of the Romanian electoral process. At the theoretical level, the study presents the main theoretical directions for exploring political behaviour. The recent theoretical perspectives underline the role played by cognitive and ideological variables in shaping electoral behaviour. At the empirical level, the study proposes the analyses of the Romanian parliamentary elections among 2000-2016. In this context, we have tested the relationship between: voter turnout, white and null votes, ideological vote, unemployment rate and inflation rate. The statistical results reflect a positive correlations between voter turnout and ideological vote (R2= 0.717, p = 0.01) and inflation rate (R2= 0.632, p = 0.03). Thus, at the behavioural level we can stress the hybrid model based on ideological beliefs and economic interest.
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E-government is the way in which institutions can govern citizens better by integrating innovations in the field of information transmission and processing. Through this material, I have shown that there are local institutions, who can use a facebook page to promote their most important events, but also to keep citizens informed about policies promoted at the community level. The article contains an analysis of the pages belonging to the county towns of Romania, with 41 cases being analyzed.
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One of the stringent and actual problem of Republic of Moldova is Transnistrian conflict. The current Russian- Ucrainian crisis, which has a direct impact on regional security, creates conditions that can contribuite to the resolution of the Transnistrian conflict, including the territorial reintegration of the country. This article analyzes some strategies for resolving the Transnistrian conflict.
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This study reflects the evolutions of the electoral system inthe Republic of Moldova, starting with the elections from1990 to the present. Especially in the 12th legislature’sParliament, there were deputies from Transnistria (5districts from the left bank of the Dniester).Than elections took place based on the majority electoralsystem. Because of the change in the electoral system, theelections of February 24, 2019 will take place inaccordance with the rules of the mixed system. There willformed 2 circumspections in Trasnistria, 48 on the state’sterritory and 3outside of it. There are about 15% of thecountry's electorat in Transnistria.
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As we know, this process has last for middle 90’s of XXcentury. Many political scientists did their best tounderstand all tips of Transnistria, but it’s still ‘open’ anddisputable, because of lack of information.In 2018, after a long break, in the negotiation process onthe Transnistrian settlement, the parties managed toachieve some progress. An agreement was established onthe recognition of university diplomas issued inTransnistria; on cooperation in the field oftelecommunications; about neutral car rooms; resolvedcontroversies around schools that are under the jurisdictionof Chisinau. These agreements should seriously simplify thedaily life of people living on both banks of the Dniester andcreate prerequisites for their further convergence.At the same time, noting the progress in the negotiations, itshould be noted that there is no progress on the main issue- the achievement of a comprehensive settlement of theconflict.Moreover, today there is no settlement plan.This means that the main topic of negotiations is stillfrozen. And, it seems, this circumstance, to a greater orlesser extent, suits everyone.Perhaps the time has come when it is time to startdeveloping a new settlement plan.Without such a plan,minor and private issues can be discussed and consideredendlessly.
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The book of journalist Corneliu Filip, a doctor in history,accumulates the tools of the two disciplines (journalism and historical research) to give a edited format to a key themefor the Moldovan society, but also for regional andinternational policy, of immediate interest to Romania, theEuropean Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.Under the title "Republic of Moldova - Prisoner ofGeopolitics between Brussels and Moscow", the authorinserts analytical texts of historical and political value,which appear in an optimal combination of logical andchronological criteria, explaining the vicious circle inwhich the Republic of Moldova is evolving - because of theroot cause of regional geopolitics, which is unhappilytransferring to domestic politics.In such a content economy, it was necessary and inevitablethat the issue of Transnistria should be present as adescription and explanation.
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The author has analyzed the image of the “Work of the New Millennium” Foundation in nationwide weekly magazines “Gość Niedzielny”, “Newsweek Polska”, “W Sieci” and on the websites http://gosc.pl, http://www.newsweek.pl and https://www.wsieciprawdy.pl. An attempt was made to determine to what extent the editorial line of the above-mentioned press titles and websites affects the presentation of ecclesiastical institutions. The analysis covered paper editions and websites of Polish opinion-forming weeklies, which are among the most influential and, at the same time, representing a different profile: Catholic and secular (left liberal and right-wing). The author used the method of press content analysis. Press studies confirmed the catholic profile of the “Gość Niedzielny”, while in the case of secular press titles, there was no reference to the topic of the foundation, which prompted the author to try to explain such a research result based on media studies.
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The article presents the regional dimension of the Bulgarian security policy. This wasdone on the basis of the newly created Three Seas Initiative. The priorities of theBulgarian security policy under this initiative were presented, as well as within theframework of Euro-Atlantic integration. Presented are the opportunities and threatsthat stand before the Three Seas Initiative, showing its potential and the involvement ofBulgaria in the implementation of the project. The aim of the article was also to answerthe question about the role and importance of the above-mentioned initiative forBulgarian politics and what role regional cooperation plays in foreign policy and securitypolicy of contemporary Bulgaria. The conducted analysis led to the conclusion that themain direction in politics is Euro-Atlantic integration. It is within this priority thatBulgaria partially implements tasks related to regional policy. Regional cooperation isintensified. There is potential for better cooperation within the framework of the ThreeSeas.
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The New Year’s Eve celebration, held on the streets of Belgrade on the night of December 31st 2003 and January 1st 2004, represents a multilevel event. The celebration has a number of socio-cultural meanings readable through different frameworks: political, economic and ritual, the latter being maybe the most expressive one. In fact, the celebration of New Year’s Eve on the streets could be seen as reminiscent of gatherings of a similar type held against Milosevic’s government during his regime in the 1990’s. The celebration of New Year, 2004, did not have such an explicit political character; nevertheless, it was suppose to establish certain social values once held and proclaimed by the organizers of the political rallies against Milosevic. The social values and attitudes were embodied in street rallies, including the New Year’s Eve celebrations. This paper examines the political aspect of the New Year’s Eve celebration, with the special emphasis on identity construction, that is, on how and why the participation in the celebration implies certain identity pursuits.
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The author raises the issue of current legal and financial aspects of international cooperation between local self-government units. Self-governmental cooperation that reaches across borders is sanctioned by the Polish Constitution, acts of international law – including the European Charter of Local Self-Government, ratified by Poland, as well as the European Framework Convention of Cross-Border Cooperation – and Polish legislation.International cooperation between units of local self-government is an important element of the EU policy of regional development, especially in terms of strengthening social, economic as well as territorial cohesion of the EU.Euroregions are a legal-administrative form of transborder cooperation between local self-governments and local communities. Their existence is based on agreements concluded directly between units of local self-government or associations of such units that belong to at least two states. In Poland there are currently 17 euroregions that join self-governments of Poland and those of other neighbouring states.One of the basic legal and financial instruments that underlie international cooperation of local self-government units of the EU is Interreg Initiative. The author also discusses the perspectives of international cooperation of local self-government units, particularly in the light of redefining the social and economic cohesion policy of the EU as well as new financial perspectives for the 2007-2013 budget.
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Public figures say the heated political climate in the country was a factor in the murder of the Gdansk mayor.
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´When I say yes to President Putin, then we do it,’ Serbian president boasts.
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Foes of freedom of the press surely welcome the new measures being proposed and discussed on the very highest levels of the EU.
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