The turn to the East. The flawed diversification of Russian foreign policy

Author(s): Witold Rodkiewicz / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2014

The ‘turn to the East’ proclaimed by Russia in 2010 has failed to bring about a fundamental breakthrough in her relations with Asian countries, nor has it produced impulses for the economic modernization of Russia’s Far Eastern territories. Although the energisation of Russian policy towards Asia which has taken place under this slogan has diversified Russian foreign policy somewhat, this diversification has two weak points: Firstly, it has occurred only in the political sphere. The share of Asian countries in Russia’s foreign economic relations has not risen significantly in comparison with the share of European and North American countries. Secondly, the ‘turn to the East’ has turned out primarily to be a turn towards China. In all spheres – diplomatic, economic, energy and military – it is Beijing that has become the most important Asian partner for Moscow. The result is that the policy that aimed to limit the excessive – in the Kremlin’s view – dependence of Russia on the West is likely to turn Russia into a ‘junior partner’ of the People’s Republic of China.

The twilight of the oil Eldorado. How the activity of Russian oil companies on the EU market has evolved

Author(s): Szymon Kardaś / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2016

The European Union has traditionally been the most important outlet for Russian oil exports. At the same time, during the period 2011-2014 a systematic decline was observed in crude oil supplies to the EU, while at the same time the export of petroleum products increased. It is now difficult to say that Russia is following a coherent oil strategy vis-a-vis the EU. The current shape of Russian activity is more the result of the business interests of individual companies, rather than the result of activities coordinated by the state.Although in the short term (up to 2020), the negative trend in crude oil exports to the EU could be halted (as confirmed by the figures for 2015), the long-term prospects for Russia's position on the EU market are pessimistic. This is because the importance of factors unfavourable to Russia is rising, such as the decrease in consumption of oil in the EU, the increased competition among exporters to the EU market, and the deterioration of the climate of Russian/EU cooperation in the context of the anti-Russian sanctions, as well as unclear prospects for the development of the upstream sector in Russia.

The two sides of globalization

Author(s): Ivan Rogić / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

There are two main difficulties in a discussion about globalization. The first is obvious in the tension between a demand for an applicable concept and a demand for an analytically extensive inventory of real processes that comes under the heading of globalization. The second is apparent in, it is not incorrect to say, the chaotic scientific archaeology, where patterns of thinking, which hardly conceal the needs or aims carried out in particular political or ideological programs have considerable importance. The expectation that these difficulties will be avoided in this paper is more than illusory. In addition, the demanding brevity of the paper (the organizer’s recommendation that this be limited to 5-7 pages) also needs to be taken into account. Thus, given the anticipated “genre-defining” scope of this paper it is difficult to exceed the limits of a few principal observations.

The U.S. Fight against Coronavirus

Author(s): Mateusz Piotrowski,Marek Wąsiński / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2020

The coronavirus outbreak is spreading throughout the United States. After its initial underestimation of the threat, the Trump administration has acted to fight against the pandemic, including the introduction of a national emergency. The effectiveness of these actions will be an important factor in whether Trump is re-elected. The limits on social life despite the enormous financial support from the government and the Federal Reserve have dramatically slowed the economy, heading into a recession. Public debt will increase much more rapidly, which may force budget cuts in the coming years.

The U.S. Trade Deal with Japan: Commerce in the Service of Politics

Author(s): Andrzej Dąbrowski,Marek Wąsiński / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2020

By limiting the scope of the trade agreement with Japan, the U.S. finalised negotiations on the deal in 2019 and implemented it on 1 January this year. The U.S. mainly wanted to reduce the effects of the fall in agricultural exports, due to retaliation duties imposed by China. President Donald Trump will present the agreement in his re-election campaign as an economic achievement, and his Japanese counterpart Abe Shinzo will utilise it to ease tensions with the United States. The agreement will not limit EU exporters' access to the Japanese market, but it may be used by the U.S. as an argument for increasing pressure on the EU.

The unfinished reform. An assessment of the energy transformation in Germany

Author(s): Rafał Bajczuk / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2018

In its time in power, which is shortly to end, the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition introduced key legislative changes enabling a further transformation of the energy sector. Due to a reduction in the amount of subsidies offered to renewable energy sources (RES), further rises in electricity prices could be brought to a halt. To date, this increase in electricity costs has been the major problem associated with the energy transformation. Despite this, many other problems surrounding the energy policy remain unresolved. This mainly concerns the overly slow pace of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the future of the coal energy sector, the energy transformation in the transport sector and the extension of electricity networks, which is of key importance for the development of RES. For the new German government, the energy transformation will continue to pose a major challenge. Moreover, Germany will need to redefine its role in the international arena. At the beginning of this decade, Germany was a leader in both the field of climate policy promotion and in low emission technologies. In spite of this early advantage, other countries – China in particular – are now equal competitors in the fight for leadership of international climate policy. For German companies, these new entrants represent a genuine threat across an increasing number of markets.

The United Kingdom: A Centrally Designed Clean Economy

Author(s): Aleksandra Gawlikowska-Fyk / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2018

The United Kingdom treats climate policy as an opportunity to accelerate economic growth. This approach is becoming more common both in the EU and globally, and the British strategy combining interventionism with market forces can be a model for regulatory policies in other countries. Poland, which is struggling with the decision to base industrial policy on clean technologies, can benefit from the UK’s experience in combining climate regulations with supporting growth.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Case Study: Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author(s): Marija Vishinova / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2018

Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a member state of the United Nations, committed itself to permanently contribute in improving the situation in the society, based on its priorities and needs. Im-plementation of the goals of sustainable development in Bosnia and Herzegovina coincides with the priorities in relation to its aspirations for membership in Euro-Atlantic integrations. This is confirmed by the statement of the Head of the European Union Delegation to Bosnia and Her-zegovina and EU Special Representative, Ambassador Lars Gunnar Wigemark, that the Reform Agenda is a great opportunity for Bosnia and Herzegovina to " to catch up with the rest of Eu-rope and join the EU family". In the document "Strategy of the Foreign Policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2018-2023", it is emphasized that "that the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina will intensify their activities in order to contribute to the global sustainable development goals by adopting an ac-tion plan and roadmap for achieving the goals of sustainable development in the forthcoming period". However, there is still a lot of work to be done by local and national government repre-sentatives in meeting the sustainable development goals, and in particular the activities to be carried out in the forthcoming period in order to develop and adopt the National Strategy for Sustainable Development. The creation and implementation of this document is of utmost im-portance, both due to a better vision of the representatives of the national and local authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the priorities of the implementation of sustainable devel-opment goals and the promotion of the visibility of the of sustainable development goals in the country. Finally, it should be emphasized that the willingness and interest of each country to fulfil the United Nations sustainable development is conditioned by its geographical position as well as economic, social and political conditions. Taking into account all these features, it is undeniable that Bosnia and Herzegovina's progress in implementing sustainable development goals is sub-ject to a lot of demanding work and planning, especially in those areas not explicitly mentioned in the United Nations Agenda.

The United States on the Three Seas Initiative

Author(s): Adrian Chojan / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2019

In this paper, the U.S. stance under the administration of President Donald Trump with regard to the Three Seas Initiative (TSI) is analysed. It shows the importance of Central and Eastern Europe in U.S. foreign and security policy, concluding that the Americans treat the TSI as an instrument for achieving their own goals, especially those in energy policy.

The unobserved economy and the Dutch national accounts after the benchmark revision 2015

Author(s): Brugt Kazemier,Michel Van Veen,Sander Ijmker / Language(s): English / Issue: 53/2019

In 2018, Statistics Netherlands carried out a general benchmark revision of their national accounts statistics. The base year was 2015. Special attention was paid to the exhaustiveness of the estimates. Among other, these include estimates for illegal activities and tax evasion. In the first step, the main (illegal and off the record) activities that were not included in the regular data sources underlying the national accounts were identified. In the second step, estimates were made for each identified activity, based on the scarce information data sources available, supplemented with assumptions. This paper describes the second step. The value added of illegal activities in 2015 was estimated at 4.8 billion euros, which is 0.7% of gross domestic product (GDP). The explicit adjustment for tax evasion was about 3.9 billion euros, which is slightly <0.6% of GDP.

The Un-sustainability of Neo-liberalism Theses from a viewpoint of social/global ecology in the year 2006

Author(s): Vladimir Lay / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

People are in pursuit of material growth – higher standards of living; Material growth has limitations – the planet Earth has its own biological/ chemical/physical holistic natural standards of reproduction of life, not always entirely discernible but solid nonetheless. The human race has, throughout history, systematically pursued the increase of material standards, constructing a network of goods and services designed to increase the standards of living, regardless of systems of belief, ideologies, social practices of reproduction of living, and even the relationship between work and capital.

The usage pattern of development method to assess the functioning of special economic zones: the case of Poland

Author(s): Luiza Piersiala / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2019

Research background: In this article the characteristics of the terms of an entrepreneurship of a region and a local development were presented. Likewise, it demonstrates the results of research about using the development model method to classify special economic zones (SEZ) in terms of the most important indicators referring to the economic activity of zones in Poland, as well as showing the potential of zones — by noting their advantage or distance in relation to another zone in terms of criteria for functioning of privileged areas forming together a group. Purpose of the article: The aim of the article is to show the possibility to use a multidimensional comparative analysis method to recognize the level of a region’s development in a time-space system on the example of SEZ operating in Poland. Methods: The essential data source about the article’s description were reports published by the Ministry of Economy and then the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology: Information on the implementation of the Act on Special Economic Zones. The empirical analysis used the method of multidimensional comparative analysis used to recognize the diversification of the functioning of fourteen SEZ operating in Poland in a time-space system. The examination procedure covered the years 2009–2017. A constant development pattern was adopted for all the years of the study. Findings & Value added: The results of conducted analysis show that in SEZ there were real development processes. However, these processes were accompanied by persistent disproportions in the level of development of individual zones.

THE USE OF EUROPEAN FUNDS FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN COASTAL COMMUNES ON THE BALTIC COAST

Author(s): Krzysztof Parzych / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

The article discusses the use of financial resources from European funds for tourism development in coastal communes on the Baltic Coast in Poland. A detailed analysis of the use of EU funds has been carried out, with particular emphasis on those priorities which are related to the improvement of the tourism attractiveness of coastal communes and to their tourism development. The analyses have been made on the basis of data from the Ministry of Regional Development concerning the allocation of European funds in 2007-13.

THE USE OF EUROPEAN UNION FUNDS FOR CULTURAL PURPOSES IN MAŁOPOLSKIE VOIVODSHIP FROM 2007 TILL 2015

Author(s): Halina Powęska / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2018

The paper explores the issue of the use of European Union funds for cultural heritage in Małopolskie Voivodship during the period 2007–2015, taking into consideration spatial categories which include: rural areas comprising rural communes and small towns, towns with health resorts, land counties, urban counties (town with county rights), and Cracow as the capital of the Voivodship. It examines the structure of the total value and of the amount of EU funding for culture-related European projects by the purposes of their implementation which included: revaluation of the objects of culture, creation and development of a new tourism product, renovation of sports and recreation facilities, promotion and other issues. The study was conducted using the statistical database of the National Information System of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development of the Republic of Poland (KSI SIMIK 07-13) as of 31 December 2015.

The Uses and Abuses of Neoliberalism and Technocracy in the Post-totalitarian Regimes in Eastern Europe: The Case of Macedonia

Author(s): Katerina Kolozova / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2015

The Varna Quadrilateral: A New Format for Regional Cooperation

Author(s): Jakub Pieńkowski,Tomasz Żornaczuk / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2018

Initiated at the end of 2017, the Varna Quadrilateral is a forum for cooperation between Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Romania. It is intended to improve coordination of cross-border infrastructure and energy investments between the largest countries in southeastern Europe. Meetings to date also show that collaboration can have clear political elements. However, a half year after the inauguration of the new initiative, its future is in doubt due to the great differences between its members.

The Visegrad Group from Hungary’s Perspective

Author(s): Veronika Jóźwiak / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2016

In the debate on the challenges facing Europe, Hungary’s ambition is to use the Visegrad Group (V4) to become a leader of a conservative political movement in the EU. Hungary has also strengthened its position within the group, in part due to the government’s firm position aimed at diminishing the effects of the migration crisis. The rejection of compulsory refugee quotas has unified the V4, due to which the EU might view Hungary as the driving force of the group. At the same time, the close similarity between Polish and Hungarian government positions on several issues enables Hungary to take advantage of the potential of Poland to reinforce its political position in the EU.

The Visegrad Group in Czech Policy

Author(s): Łukasz Ogrodnik / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2016

The Czech Republic sees the Visegrad Group as a platform to build regional economic ties and an ad hoc political alliance, mainly, at present, as an instrument of collective opposition to mandatory migrant quotas proposed by the European Commission. Czech policy in the V4 is based on the principle that cooperation within the group cannot take place at the expense of close relations with Germany, nor can it become a policy of sustained opposition to European integration. The parliamentary election scheduled for autumn 2017, and the related focus of Czech politicians on internal matters, will reduce their activity in international forums, including the V4.

The Watershed Year of the Pig in Sinolithuanian Relations?

Author(s): Konstantinas Andrijauskas / Language(s): English / Issue: 38/2019

The most alarmist perspective interprets the Chinese interest in the region in general and Lithuania in particular as an attempt to target the soft underbelly of both the EU and NATO and pursue the long-term “divide and rule” tactics on the European and even Euro-Atlantic dimensions. As the ongoing comprehensive rise of China is primarily driven by economic factors, its interest in Lithuania follows such imperatives and increasingly raises concerns due to their implications for the latter’s own competitiveness, prosperity and security. China is interested in affecting Lithuania’s public and political discourse related to the sensitive topics that it deems to be purely domestic and thus off-limits to foreign countries.

The Water‑wastewater‑sludge Sector and the Circular Economy

Author(s): Danuta Lipińska / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2018

The objective of this paper is a theoretical and empirical analysis and evaluation of the role, importance and opportunities of the water‑sewage‑sludge industry in the implementation of the circular economy. To realize this objective, a review of both the literature and the EU strategic documents concerning the subject of the study was conducted. The applied research method is a descriptive analysis based on available statistical data (Eurostat, EEA, EIO and the Polish Central Statistical Office) as well as on source materials. The theoretical part of the work presents the essence of the circular economy and the general characteristics of the analyzed sector, with a particular focus on the potential for the recovery of water from sewage and the reuse of wastewater, as well as the recovery of phosphorus from the wastewater treatment, processing and disposal of sewage sludge. The results of the study show that: (1) there are significant links between the development goals of the water‑sewage‑sludge sector and the circular economy. (2) it is necessary to seek and implement new solutions and technologies leading to the increased recovery of energy and biogens from sewage sludge. (3) there are still many barriers to the recycling of rainwater and graywater as well as to the reuse of wastewater. (4) the circular economy creates new opportunities for water‑sewage and sludge management at the local and national level.