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FOUNDING PRINCIPLES AS GUIDELINES FOR EU TODAY AND TOMORROW: SCHUMAN’S FRAME OF REFERENCE
We know some of the new challenges that divide this family of nations, but what once brought them together? Given today’s rumblings of discontent, it is worthwhile to reflect on the founding principles of the European Union, for they are still capable of uniting Europe and bringing it to prosperity. The European unification project started in 1950 with the objective of achieving peace and security on a devastated continent. A flourishing economy was seen as a means to an end. Implementing this political integration project would lead to peace, make states interdependent and thereby war impossible. The main architect of this project, Robert Schuman, highlighted four key principles to guide unification: a) reconciliation b) effective solidarity, c) subsidiarity, and d) supra-nationality. Schuman hoped to see the unification of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe realised as soon as possible. Borders should become lines of communication rather than rigid lines of separation. Above all, Europe needed a soul. Today’s crises can be partly explained by Schuman’s frame of reference in which the person is at the heart of the economy, technology, and politics and not the other way around. Schuman’s key principles can contribute in a crucial way to solve crises and strengthen the ties between the European countries and beyond.
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The United Kingdom’s path inside the European Union can be defined as a roller-coaster ever since its first years as a member state a Member States. As BREXIT talks are touching key issues such as the unity and prosperity of the European Union, this article seeks to analyze BREXIT through a comparison between the two referendum campaigns UK held, first in 1975 - two years after joining the Union – and then in 2016. Although not entirely a mirror image of Wilson’s strategy, Cameron’s decision to hold a referendum followed the same line of thinking but within a completely different political and economic context.
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The paper investigates the interaction of conceptual blending and conceptual metaphor in producing figurative creativity in discourse. The phenomenon of figurative creativity is defined by Kövecses (2005) as creativity arising through the cognitive mechanisms of metonymy, metaphor, and blending. Specifically, the paper examines the use of creative figurative language in the British public discourse on the topic on Brexit. The aim of this paper is to show that conventional metaphors can be creatively stretched through conceptual blending, producing instances of creative figurative language. Specifically, applying blending theory, we will analyse innovative conceptual blends, motivated by the conventional MARRIAGE/DIVORCE metaphor. In addition, the paper also examines the way in which creative figurative language produced in metaphorical blends provides discourse coherence at intertextual and intratextual levels.
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Kosovo is the youngest country in Europe and continues to have problems in consolidating its state sovereignty. Moving from a serious process of gaining citizenship and consolidating democratic institutions, Kosovo remains in the agendas of the great powers as an unfinished matter. Serbia's territorial claims, unlikely membership in the UN, lack of recognition by the EU's five states, is stagnation in political, economic and social developments in general. In the state building process is national security and consolidation of security institutions. Its national security remains challenged by Serbian parallel structures assisted by Belgrade officials. The purpose of the article is to present the premise, key components, challenges and risks of Kosovo's National Security. The analysis will include strategic documents created by Kosovo institutions, which set out the national security objectives of the country and the means to achieve them. The work will also analyze the institutional structure of national security in the Republic of Kosovo.
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Currently Romania is in the process of regionalization whose foundations were laid in the "Green Paper regional development in Romania", elaborated under the aegis of the EU Delegation in our country. Regional development is a defining concept of EU construction and at the same time it constitutes a monitoring parameter of any country that wishes to join this structure. Not incidentally, one of the most important directions of the European Commission is called "Regional development and social cohesion”. Against the background of regional development trends, the brand of the region is the one that will make the difference. The concept of branding applied to countries, cities and regions began to be used in the mid-90s in order to support these geographical areas in their fierce competition in the competitive environment. In this era of "super-brands" is nothing unusual to consider a city, a country or a region as being a successful brand.
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A possible European macroeconomic administrative pattern based on a higher administrative capacity of the macroeconomic system so that the portfolio of used administrative instruments fits the complexity of the system of transmission channels from the real economy, may be considered as solution for the macroeconomic administration of the problems caused by the current conjuncture. Within this context, the analysis will use as input the option of most EU member states to approach such pattern of the macroeconomic administration.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the problems of the European Union. The key issue lies, from a constructivist perspective, in the identity European member states perceive when it comes to "European".
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According to the OECD, competitiveness is a measure of a country's advantage or disadvantage in selling its products on international markets. While economists consider productivity and growth rate as basic indicators of competitiveness, those dealing with economic- and social policy - including the OECD and various bodies of the EU - also emphasize the importance of high level employment rates. The regional policy of the EU,which is targeting balanced territorial development, considers the improvement of the competitiveness of its regions as the most effective tool achieving cohesion. The study contains an analysis of the GDP of the 12 member states that joined the Union in 2004 (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia) and those in 2007 (Romania and Bulgaria) in relation with the employment rate, corporate tax, personal income tax values, imports and exports value.
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The main idea of this paper consists in offering a general view regarding a comparative analysis between different EU countries on public debt and economic growth. In the meantime, this is the evidence that the annual shift of the public dues ratio and the budget deficit to GDP ratio are seen in a bad way and linearly associated with per-capita GDP increase. The conduits term through government`s obligation (level or change) is expected to have a big impact over the economical increased rate as: i) secret saving; ii) social investments; iii) all the productivity factors; iv) unlimited long-term nominal and real interest rate. From a political point of view, the results will bring basically arguments for dues reduction to support long-term increase prospect.
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This paper analyzes the new conceptual framework of the Cohesion Policy for 2014-2020. Thus, the paper presents a change of perspective in the Cohesion Policy regarding territorial development and a new vision on integrated development. This new vision presents explanations about the new family of concepts (Structural and Investment Funds, Europe 2020 Strategy, Common Strategic Framework, Partnership Agreement, etc.) used in 2014-2020. The changes made by the European Commission at Cohesion Policy level for 2014-2020 programming period, open new opportunities for the development of integrated operations leading to strengthening economic, social and territorial cohesion of the entire union. The herein used research method consists in bibliographic research performed based on information found in the literature and on the official websites of the European Union.
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The European Union today faces difficult challenges. Numerous political, economic, social, cultural and identity issues in the European Union have not been treated satisfactorily, causing direct consequences in its political life. More and more citizens are unhappy with the way in which the current political elite of the European Union responds to these challenges, while the opposition political parties (whether left-wing or right-wing center parties) do not offer a significantly different alternative. For these reasons, over the past two decades, the European Union has gradually revived the political right-wing. Whether it's a new right-wing center, far right-wing or an extreme right-wing - a new wave of the right-wing gives citizens of the Union an authentic alternative policy. It is about parties that are ready to deal with the problems of migration, culture, religion, identity, as well as the integration of minorities into the European model of life. Although still media-satanized and labeled as a fascist or Nazi, the European right-wing year after year is stronger - from Hungary, through Slovakia, Poland, Germany and Austria, all the way to the Netherlands and Great Britain. The ruling political elite in Brussels called the wave of the rise of the right-wing in the Union a " false alarm", while the relevant data from the previous election cycles of the same, as well as public opinion polls show a completely opposite tendency - the desire of a large part of the citizens to create "New Europe".
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The European Council has gradually evolved into a center of political decision making in the EEC/EU and its range of formal and informal powers continues to grow. The following political decisions and legal regulations marked a significant step in this process because it identified and acknowledged the European Council’s position and its leading role within the EEC/ EU. This article examines the sources and manifestations of the institutional changes within theEuropean Council in the period 1961-1977. Its purpose is to analyze the factors which influence the creation and development of the European Council in light of political decisions, Treaty’s provisions and the practice of its activities. The issue discussed in the article is based on the assumption that the structural order is characterized by a significant asymmetry. The increasing interdependence in the relations between states, together with the need and the necessity of the idea of cooperation, has coincided with the process of change necessitated by the new functions of the European Council. This has significantly affected the pace of inter-institutional transformation. In defining the determinants affecting this transformation, the functionality of the system, as well as the limitations in terms of its ability should be emphasized.
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The research objective of the article is the reconstruction of Germany’s influence on the system reform of the European Union in the Treaty of Lisbon (December 13, 2007). The author formulates a research hypothesis that the Treaty of Lisbon has strengthened Germany’s position in the European Union. Instead of connecting Germany with the Union even more, veto restrictions on the Member States and the radical strengthening of the community method in the EU provided by the treaty formed possible grounds for their domination in the EU.
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Cooperation between France and Germany is crucial for the future of the European Union. Slowed down by lengthy coalition negotiations in the aftermath of German elections, chancel- lor Merkel has been late to give an answer to reform proposals from president Macron. There have been a few improvements concerning European defence policy and the Posting of Workers Directive. More important topics, including European financial policy, are still being vividly debated. Aside from current difficulties and strong reservations from within Merkel’s conservative party, the way for a practicable compromise seems to be paved.
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In the paper, the author analyses three years of the rule of the left-wing SYRIZA in Greece. She discusses the basis of the party’s historical victory in the parliamentary elections in 2015. In addition, she analyses the course of negotiations with Greek creditors regarding the third economic adjustment programme for Greece. She also points out the necessity of gradual resignation from anti-austerity agenda and social reactions against introduced reforms. In the final part, the author of the paper outlines the current challenges of the Greek government.
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In this article, the authors analyze the most significant achievements of the current dynamics of the accession of the Western Balkans to the EU (Process of Stabilization and Association), with a special emphasis on numerous issues that stand in the “European way” of these countries. In this context, a specific analysis will be linked to numerous internal problems in the Western Balkans countries, as well as in their bilateral relations, and how does this affect the possible acceleration of the European integration process. Of course, the authors in this paper devoted considerable attention to the role of “non-EU” countries in the region of the Western Balkans, especially the Russian Federation, the Republic of Turkey and the People’s Republic of China. Also, the presentation will discuss how the countries of the Western Europe, which obviously will remain dominant in the European Union in the next period (Germany, France and Italy) will position themselves concerning a new enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans. Also, the unfinished process of Brexit (2016) opens up some problems when it comes to the entering the countries of the Western Balkans into the European Union. Certainly, there are some “weak points” in the European integration process of the Western Balkans countries (corruption and organized crime in the case of Montenegro, relations with the government in Pristina when it comes to Serbia, etc.).
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Political leaders create narratives about their actions and leadership: a narrative created by the leader aims to function as a comprehensive framework not just to present the need for a policy measure or decision, but to convince the electorate via the narrative about the correctness of the leader’s politics. narrative creation has at least three important functions: firstly, the leader’s interpretation of the situation, vision, and political community becomes familiar by examining the stories; secondly, it has a legitimacy function, since the leader aims to persuade the electorate about the exactness of his/her interpretation and the need for and validity of a decision; and thirdly, it functions as a way in which the leader tries to gain the ability to mobilise and integrate followers.
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The paper analyzes the decisions of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the possibility of re-examining them before the domestic court cases and the European Court of Human Rights. The extent to which the role of the High Representative plays a significant role will also be demonstrated through this work, that is, only one segment of his overall work and position. Short general information will be given on the Office of the High Representative and the Special Representative of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina (OHR), competencies, decisions taken by the High Representative using the Bonn Powers, and as the most important part, the decisions that were the subject of judicial review and to which the manner in which these court proceedings have been terminated. This analysis will once again confirm the accuracy of the authority of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as clearly defined constitutional provisions, which the courts of different instances confirmed in their decisions.
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