Wspólnota euroatlantycka i jej perspektywy w nowym systemie międzynarodowym, część I

Author(s): Józef M. Fiszer / Language(s): Polish Issue: 37/2015

This article refers to the Euro-Atlantic system today, i.e., twenty-five years after the fall of communism and the end of the Cold War, and shows its prospects in a new, global governance that is still in statu nascendi, meaning that we still do not know its final shape and when it will be formed. This transition period is not conducive to building a new international system that would provide peace and security in the world. On the contrary, it generates a variety of local, regional and global conflicts, and carries a serious threat to international peace and security.According to the author, the economic and financial crisis of 2007–2013 and the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the Arab revolutions and their consequences, or other earlier conflicts, show that the Euro-Atlantic system is weakening and becoming less and less effective at preventing and solving problems that pose a threat to the emerging new global order.The author highlights that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular, have contributed to the erosion of the Euro-Atlantic system. There has been a significant loosening of political, economic, military, and institutional ties between allies and partners. The states that are part of the Euro-Atlantic system have a lower sense of common interests and are less willing to bear the costs associated with its functioning. In addition, the US global position has been questioned and, in the institutional dimension, the position and role of the main pillars of the Euro-Atlantic system, i.e., NATO and the European Union, have been undermined. They have showed that there is an urgent need today to develop new joint strategies, and new mechanisms and principles of cooperation, relevant to the changes occurring in the world and in US relations with their European allies. The future of the Euro-Atlantic community, and thus of global peace, depends on a new arrangement of relations between Europe and the United States.

Granice Europy. Perspektywy rozszerzenia Unii Europejskiej

Author(s): Jakub Wódka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 37/2015

The aim of the paper is to show the prospects of EU enlargement. The analysis takes into account both the intra-EU conditions of the process (the strengthening of the intergovernmentalism of integration processes in the EU and their politicization, “enlargement fatigue”, and the rise of Eurosceptic sentiments) and changing attitudes towards the EU exhibited by candidate countries, which are increasingly reluctant to integrate into European structures. In times of crisis, membership in the European Union becomes a less attractive objective, especially for countries with significant international or even global aspirations — the best example here is Turkey. The article also presents the consequences of further EU enlargement for decision-making in the European Union, and the strength of arguments expressed by individual states. The article also includes the Polish perspective and the Polish government’s position on the issue of further enlargement of the EU-28. The article concludes that the enlargement process will continue, but it may not be the main driving force of reform dynamics in the European Union.

Parlament Europejski w polityce wschodniej Unii Europejskiej 2004-2014.

Author(s): Agnieszka K. Cianciara / Language(s): Polish Issue: 41/2016

Studies on the foreign policy of the European Union tend to focus on the intergovernmental process and rarely take into account the role of the European Parliament. However, the increase in the European Parliament’s competence, granted to it by the Lisbon Treaty, is reflected in the increasing legislative, supervisory and budgetary activity of the Parliament in external relations and in the increased interest of researchers in this issue. The activity of the EP and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) in the area of the EU’s foreign policy, including the Eastern policy, is characterized by a significant activism. There is a thesis that the autonomous identity of the EP in foreign policy, which is different from that of the Council, depends less on the interests of the Member States, and is more focused on the promotion of European values. The purpose of this article is to conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the role of the European Parliament in the EU's foreign policy in 2004-2014, based on the example of its Eastern policy, with particular emphasis on its activities towards Russia and Ukraine. The empirical analysis refers to the activity of MEPs depending on their party affiliation and nationality.

The Council of Europe's Human Rights System after Sixty Years - Political Evolution and Continuance

Author(s): Spasimir Domaradzki / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2009

An analysis of the European Enlargement Policy through years: the case of Western Balkans

Author(s): Albana Rexha / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

No matter its peculiarities, enlargement policy through its conditionality policy instrument is viewed as the most successful EU foreign policy. It is argued that enlargement has strengthened and stabilized democracy in Europe. This review article discusses the enlargement policy towards the Western Balkans since the 2003 Thessaloniki Summit and the Union’s efforts and mechanisms to maintain enlargement at the forefront. These mechanisms include forums and summits of discussion between EU and Western Balkan key actors, various strategies on enlargement, and financial dedications to fostering reform implementation like IPA. The 2003 Summit is considered a critical point in regards to refocusing attention and efforts to enlargement and reaffirming a European future for the Balkan region; therefore, it is important to consider all alternations from that point in time. Thus, the aim is to look at enlargement policy through years and provide an insightful view to the enlargement credibility that allows us to critically review it. To achieve the set goal, this article employees the content analysis methodology. The results show that although the Commission has shown its commitment to enlargement from time to time, the enlargement policy has been at stake at different times from 2003. The raise of the populism right wing parties in Europe, the growth of eurospectis and spread of terrorism are few of the contributing factors to the enlargement fatigue.

Energy as a Functional Area for European Integration

Author(s): Constantine Hadjilambrinos / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Energy policy has historically played an important role in the development of the European Union (EU). This study examines the reasons for the choice of coal and atomic energy as the bases for constructing community institutions of governance and analyzes their successes and failures as functional areas of integration. Functionalist theory has provided the ideological foundations for the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. Functionalist theorists advocate technocracy as the means for overcoming the conflicts inherent in traditional political processes. Coal and atomic energy were chosen as regimes of integration because of their technocratic character and the importance attached to them, respectively, as the dominant energy source of the time and the perceived source of energy abundance in the proximate future. This vision of a process of technical integration paving the way for political union was predicated on the assumption that the political and technical functions of governance could and should be separated. In fact, energy regimes could not be removed from the political context of national governance. Hard energy regimes, which include coal and atomic energy, are technocratic polities which exclude ordinary citizens from the exercise of power and intensify international conflict. Their choice as regimes of integration bestowed on the institutions of the EC a technocratic character and made it difficult for them to claim political legitimacy.

AVRUPA BÜTÜNLEŞMESİ’NDE FEDERALİZM – KONFEDERALİZM REKABETİ

Author(s): Caner Sancaktar / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 50/2021

The process of economic integration initiated among Western European states in the 1950s turned into the European Union after 1990. Two different integration theories and policies have been in competition during the process of European integration which has been going on since the 1950s. In this article, competition between “federal integration” and “confederal integration” theories and policies, which have deeply influenced the European integration process, are examined and explained.

Политическото визионерство на създателите на Вишеградската група

Author(s): Diana Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2021

The purpose of this article is to present the creation of the Visegrad Group as a result of the political visionary of the first post-communist leaders of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia - Lech Walesa, Jozef Antal, Arpad Gönz and Vaclav Havel. United by their identical views on the future, they put aside long-standing bilateral contradictions and chose to cooperate with each other in the name of successful integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. Built to speed up pre-accession negotiations, the Visegrad Group proved to be a viable and effective organization that even intensified its activities after the accession of its members to the EU in 2004, and three decades after its establishment it established itself as one of the most stable regional organizations.The article describes the domestic political conditions in the three countries after the fall of the totalitarian system, as well as the changed international situation. The new foreign policy priorities, which are the basis of the idea of unification, are clarified in detail. The activities of the three statesmen as dissidents and their ideas for the future development of the society, which are the basis of the partnership between the Central European countries, are presented. The factors that influenced the establishment of the Visegrad Group are clarified, as well as the principles on which the cooperation between the member states is built. The primary goals of the organization are revealed on the basis of the founding declaration. It is concluded that thanks to the political visionary of its founders, the Visegrad Group is an example of effective cooperation.

DECISION MAKING PROCESS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AFTER ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE TREATY OF LISBON

Author(s): Dan Vătăman / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2012

Unlike the national systems where the Parliament is the legislative forum, within the European Union the developing of a decision is a process involving several institutions and bodies of the European Union, the legislative procedure being based on the principle of institutional balance. Thus, the uniqueness of European integration is reflected primarily in the institutional architecture within which Members agree to delegate some of their sovereign powers to shared institutions created by the founding treaties, with successive amendments, institutions whose purpose is to ensure democratic participation of Member States to the decision-making. Given the complexity of the European Union legislative process and, especially, that by the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon it has been outlined a new institutional architecture and it was given new responsibilities and legislative powers to the European Union institutions, this study aims to highlight features of the European Union legislative process following the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty.

თურქეთი და ევროკავშირში მისი გაერთიანების პრობლემა

Author(s): Lasha Khozrevanidze / Language(s): Georgian Issue: 1/2022

In the twenties of the twentieth century, special political processes for the future of the country began in Turkey. In particular, Kemal Ataturk took over the presidency and created the Republic of Turkey, which laid the foundation for the transfer of the Turkish people to the European vector. All of the above opened a new window on Turkey-EU relations. It should be noted that the history of relations between Turkey and the EU dates back to 1987, when official Ankara applied for EU membership. For the successful coronation of the above process in 1990-2000. The Republic of Turkey has implemented a number of important reforms within the country that have met the declared criteria for an EU member state. The above-mentioned reforms were not delayed and Turkey received the first signal from the EU, which was reflected in the Republic of Turkey's accession to the European Customs Union in 1995.The "Justice and Prosperity Party" came to power in Turkey with a majority in 2002, with the aim of joining the European Union as the main political ideology of the party. The ruling party continued its ongoing political reforms within the country, which included improving its legislative framework, as well as a comprehensive package of constitutional amendments that were to become the basis for meeting the criteria for Turkey's EU membership. The article discusses a number of problems and lists the historical preconditions that prevent the Republic of Turkey from joining the European Union. It will be internal political crises or legislative gaps in the country.

Analysis of the Organization of the Council of Europe from a Historical Perspective

Author(s): Loredana Terec-Vlad / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

Before the start of the first world conflagration, the problem of the organization of the European territory was perceived as being stringent, and two main directions were advanced: on the one hand, by "simple cooperation, that respected the existing state sovereignties", and on the other hand, by "overcoming sovereignties through a process of unification, followed by integration" (Manolache, 2018). The two World Wars, that caused millions of victims in a relatively short time, and the establishment of totalitarian regimes, fascist ideology and communist tendencies determined the creation of systems for the protection of human rights.

International Relations of Regional Development Agencies–RDA in Romania. Opportunities and/or Challenges

Author(s): Lucia Surdu (Pantea) / Language(s): English Issue: LXI/2022

This paper aims to analyze how international relations is managed by RDAs and what impact they have on regional development and on collaboration between different regions from Romania and the EU. It examines certain scenarios / approaches that lead to significant changes and how they affect long term development strategies. We will have three scenarios. The first refers to the model of initiation of international cooperation by RDA s and which leads to the diversity of collaborations through actions. The second emphasizes the approach only in response to proposals received by RDA s for international cooperation. The third highlights the extent to which the opportunity offered by European funds and international organizations for cooperation is accessed, a scenario that combines several aspects, including the creation of an important context of financial support that facilitates international relations and experience exchanges. These scenarios are then merged into a single framework in which the international dimensions of the approaches will be compared. The sources of documentation are the databases, authors, direct discussions, and the information obtained after completing a questionnaire that had been applied to all RDA s in Romania. Possible models for approaching international cooperation for development agencies in Romania are analyzed. The result is a study on the impact of international cooperation on EU regional development.

Macedonian Translation of Ottoman Archival Documentation (Development and Experience)

Author(s): Dragi Gorgiev / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

This text shows the decades-long development of Ottoman studies, primarily in its translation segment, in the current Republic of North Macedonia. The beginnings and the development of the translation of Ottoman documents within the Macedonian history­iography are shown, as well as their meaning and use as historical sources by the Macedonian historians. Attention is paid to the problems faced by this translation segment in terms of the long editorial process that is needed to educate a translator in the Ottoman Turkish language, as well as the complexity of this language. There is also a brief overview of the collections and types of original Ottoman documents and manuscripts kept in the Macedonian archives and libraries which constitute the main corpus for translation by Mace­donian ottomanists.

After All These Years, Still Divided by Memories? East Central Europe and European Union Politics of Memory Twenty Years after the Enlargement

Author(s): Barbara Törnquist-Plewa / Language(s): English Issue: 04/2024

The article analyzes how central and eastern European members of the U relate to the main nodes of the U’s politics of memory, such as the first and second world wars, the Holocaust as Europe’s negative founding myth, Soviet Communism being equally as criminal as the Nazi regime, expulsions as a pan-European trauma, the legacy of colonialism, Europe as a continent of immigration, and Europe’s post-1945 success story. The author argues that mnemonic divides between the West and East in Europe remain visible despite the U’s efforts to bridge this gap over the twenty years since the 2004 enlargement.

DYNAMICS OF POLITICAL MEMORY IN EUROPEAN CONTEMPORARY SPACE: (NEO)NATIONALISM, TRANSNATIONALISM, AND AGONISM

Author(s): Alina Iorga / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

At the end of the Cold War, the geopolitical struggle for the shaping of reunified Europe, the rise of populism, and the reemergence of neo-nationalism on both sides of the old Iron Curtain created the premises for a competition between the new master narratives associated to the two dominant paradigms of the politics of the past: the cosmopolitan / transnational and the antagonistic / national(istic) one. Against the background of the persistent crises following the transition processes in Eastern Europe, the Great Recession, the new geopolitical challenges, and the subsequent waves of neo-nationalism, the “memory games” intensified on both national and European institutional arenas. These games had a significant impact, detectable especially at the level of the institutionalized memory formats (the political and the cultural memory focused on the “founding traumas”, including the revisionist national historical politics), which encompassed the deepening of the ideological, political, and cultural cleavages within and beyond the nation states. In the same time, the mnemonic and cultural struggles over the conflicting “painful pasts” allowed the preservation of the old fault line which has divided “Europe’s Europes” during the Cold War. Against this mnemonic background, the new paradigm of the “agonistic memory” seems to offer a “decent” and “realistic” third way for dealing with the contested pasts, by means of a multiperspectivist approach which also allows the overcoming of the impasses revealed by the two other competitive memory models.

LES CONSÉQUENCES CONSTITUTIONNELLES DU DEMI-TOUR DANS L’APPROCHE POLITIQUE DE LA HONGRIE VISANT LA QUESTION DE L’INTÉGRATION EUROPÉENNE

Author(s): Peter Kruzslicz / Language(s): French Issue: 37/2024

The purpose of this study is to take stock of Hungary’s twenty years membership in the European Union. A journey that began in an exemplary manner, but which has been experiencing turmoil due to the sovereignist positions defended by the Hungarian government, the hardening of its positions having had legal and constitutional consequences decried by the European institutions and leading, in recent years, to a growing confrontation between Brussels and Budapest.

LA POLOGNE DANS L’UNION EUROPÉENNE : ANALYSE DES RAPPORTS DANS LA PERSPECTIVE DES 20 ANS D’ADHÉSION

Author(s): Katarzyna Kubuj / Language(s): French Issue: 37/2024

Poland’s accession to the European Union 20 years ago was a real accelerator in the process of democratization of the country and the development of its economy. After the 2015 parliamentary elections, a fundamental change in the perception of the State and the law and their relations with the European Union occurred. A crisis that has gone through several phases, analyzed in this study, which end is expected since the Tusk government came to power in order to allow the Polish State to continue the economic transformation, with a return to the values of the Union desired by citizens.

LE CHEMIN PARCOURU PAR LA SLOVÉNIE DEPUIS SON ADHÉSION À L’UNION EUROPÉENNE: UN MODÈLE POUR LES PAYS CANDIDATS ?

Author(s): Nebojsa Vukadinovic / Language(s): French Issue: 37/2024

A small country of 2.1 million inhabitants, Slovenia is at the crossroads of Central and Western Europe. A bridge country between the European Union and the Western Balkans since its accession to the European Union in 2004, Slovenia is seen as a good student of the transition and a model country for all other Eastern European states, particularly the candidate countries for European integration. However, its model of transition from communism to capitalism is that of gradualism, with slower reforms whose consequences have been assessed in order to preserve the social achievements of the past. The article discusses the path taken since accession to the European Union and the successive crises that Slovenia has had to face.

VIEW TO COLD WAR THROUGH PERICENTRIC LENSES: TITO’S YUGOSLAVIA & KEKKONEN’S FINLAND

Author(s): Maja Vasiljević / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2013

: From a sociological and historical perspective, by looking through “pericentric glasses”,1 with awareness that during the Cold War, in addition to East and West, North and South existed too, the author explores the connections of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and the Republic of Finland. Complex geopolitics of the Cold War influenced the establishment of the position of the countries mentioned in this paper in the international community but it also allowed them to be relatively autonomous in their actions. It also provided them the potential to be catalysts and even mediators of certain ideas that will result in changes at the global level. Зis paper will highlight key points of gathering between the two countries, which are political and cultural cooperation, which were complementary to each other. Зe cooperation between the two countries will be presented as a result of a related political approach, namely, the principle of pacifism which both countries had supported, opposing at the same time the “arms race” and nuclear experiments. Зe conclusions are illustrated with tangible political projects of the two countries, especially their close cooperation in significant political bodies: the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Inspired by common policy objectives of the two authoritarian presidents, Urho Kekkonen and Josip Broz Tito, cultural ideologues of SFRY Education Ministry Secretariat for Foreign Affairs and of Finish Education Ministry’s International Cooperation Department have focused on the bilateral dialogue mainly in the field of visual and fine arts, and also in literature and music.

The Weight of History, Territory and Identity in the Accession to the European Union

Author(s): Vesna Lukovic / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

Purpose: The aim of the study is to explore the current enlargement dynamics of the European Union (EU) from the perspective of history, territory and identity. By looking at these issues in different country/case examples, the aim is to shed new light on why some enlargement processes have moved very slowly and how that compares to the current enlargement dynamics, taking into account new candidate countries from 2022. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses qualitative and explanatory approach. The method of inquiry is qualitative because it is focused on particular legal, political and social phenomena that cannot be captured by quantitative methods. That includes the question of minorities, their language, their national identities and the issue of territory “belonging” to a certain identity. Findings: The study finds that despite formal legal, economic, institutional and other requirements that candidate countries must achieve in order to join the EU, the current enlargement round is being affected by geopolitical considerations as never before. This has produced certain questions about relevant processes and brought to light some deep and unresolved issues between certain candidate countries and current EU members. Research limitations/implications: The analysis is based on legal texts and institutional country and other reports by the EU authorities and other international organizations and bodies. The research would benefit from additional sources, particularly from interviews with higher policy makers at the EU level in the current political setting following the European elections in June 2024. Originality/value: The originality of this study lies in its innovative approach to this theme. The value added is the examination of the current EU enlargement round from a particular viewpoint which has been largely neglected in research works on enlargement. This is particularly relevant in the context of the current geopolitical environment which has opened a plethora ofprocesses, questions and decisions on EU enlargement that were unimaginable just a couple of years ago.