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This article analyses the Finnish political response to the refugee influx connected with the Syrian war and violent conflicts in its neighbouring states. In July 2016, a law amendment on the Finnish Aliens Act about a secured income prerequisite for family reunification applications came into force. Using argumentation schemes as outlined by Fairclough & Fairclough (2012), this article analyses the discursive framing of the law amendment in Parliament. The paper benefits from the social ontology of John Searle (1995; 2010) and utilises his concept of institutional facts. The analysis shows that, as normative sources for action, the institutional context of the EU, as well as the Human Rights, possess different degrees of deontic modality which in turn shapes the representation of social reality in the context of the refugee crisis and its global and local impact.
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In the 1990s, following the conflict in the Balkans, the European Union began implementing the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). In 1999 the first steps to build common defensive capacity which was to be of autonomous character, were begun. This lead to conflicts and disagreements in the triangle USA - NATO - EU, as there was no agreement on the division of competences and tasks. Together with France, Germany under Schroeder/Fischer were considered the main promoters of the CESDP. When Poland joined NATO in 1999, the country sought principal guarantees for its security in the North Atlantic Treaty, and it was not without major resistance that she agreed to the development of the CESDP. Such a position provoked conflicts with Germany, whose apogee came at the time of Iraqi crisis and the international intervention on its territory.The Federal Republic of Germany opposed the American action, believing that to the peaceful means of pressure on Iraq had not been exhausted, while Poland diplomatic support for the American action and participated in the stabilization mission on its territory. Poland’s accession to the European Union in May 2004 automatically forced Poland to support more strongly EU’s security and defense efforts. An opportunity to find a common platform of understanding for the European Union and NATO arrived after the normalization o f American-German relations that resulted from the coming to power of the CDU/CSU-SPD Alliance with A. Merkel at the helm. The strengthening of the North Atlantic is a live interest Poland, much like the active participation in the development of the CESDP and close cooperation with Germany in this field.
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Europska unija kao kompleksna nadnacionalna organizacija – nastala, dakako, u europskom kontekstu – zajednica je različitih kultura, jezika i nacija. Premda proklamira nadnacionalni identitet, Europska unija ne odustaje od nacionalnog pa čak niti od regionalnog identiteta, što dokazuju i neki regionalni jezici koji imaju status službenih jezika u regijama zemalja članica, a koji se odlukom Vijeća ministara 2005. godine počinju koristiti i u europskim institucijama (primjerice baskijski, katalonski i galicijski). Europska je stvarnost uistinu kompleksna s obzirom na svoju jezičnu, historiografsku, kulturnu i političku raznolikost, tj. na pluralizam identiteta, multikulturalizam i multilingvizam.
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The main position of the article is that the last parliamentary election of the EU took place under the sign of politicization of significant pubic policies issues. Electoral campaign demonstrated the polarization of actors along the systemic/nonsystemic viewpoints line, i.e. programmes. The election outcomes show the fragmentation of the prosystemic party groups, as well as a relative strengthening of the nosystemic groups. Due to this fragmentation, it is expected that at least three party groups would be sufficient to achieving a decision, whereas for crucial decisions all four would be required. The Parliament has for the first time got majority and opposition; such clear division could dynamize its work. The author, however, considers that that EP has a principle problem with its own representation capacity; the permanent declination of the turnout is a significant indicator. The inclining turnout percentage at the last election (7%) is the consequence of the public scene polarization process within the member states, as well as at the EU level. It will not change constitutionally weak position of the EP within the EU system of government; however, the new EP composition might be a medium of necessary public debate on the crisis exit path.
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In this paper we examine the reasons of the green parties’ electoral success in the European Parliament elections held in May 2019. The claim made in the paper is that the success of the Greens is due to a number of complex factors. Firstly, the EP 2019 elections showcased a dynamic relationship between the electoral success of the Greens and the “new right” parties, especially in the case of Germany. Theoretically, we rely on the Pierre Ignazi’s argument that there is a correlation between the results of the green and the new right parties. Secondly, we argue that the Greens’ partial success is due to the intensification of the debate on climate change and the particular mobilization of younger voters. Finally, we stress out the possibility for the further strengthening of the new right parties if the Greens do not channel the electoral “take-off” into a political success by the next EP elections.
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The ageing population, demographic change and a lack of skilled labour in the EU are increasingly provoking governments to apply direct measures to aggressively recruit economic migrants, particularly high skilled individuals (HSIs). As most countries in the EU face similar challenges, attracting HSIs from the third countries are predominantly vital. One of the EU-wide programs to attract skilled professionals is the Blue Card program, which was introduced in 2009 as part of the European Council Directive to focus on highly qualified employment, aimed at making Europe an appropriate host region for qualified workers from the non-EU countries. The EU Blue Card programme is adopted by 25 EU member states, apart from Ireland, Denmark and the United Kingdom. In this article, we discussed underlying features of the EU Blue Card program with a particular focus on the Finnish experience as one of the most successful the EU countries in attracting and retaining talent and HSIs.
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There is an urgency, today, to find the proper way to face the rule of law backsliding in the European Union, as some member states are backtracking on the respect for it. The debate today refers to this issue as part of the “Copenhagen dilemma”: eventually outlined in Art.2 TEU, the principle of rule of law started being more carefully assessed and implemented during the 2004 EU enlargement towards Eastern European countries, as it was included in the legal requirements for acceding to the EU (the so called Copenhagen criteria). The dilemma refers to the fact that as of today the EU top-down instruments seem not to be enough in addressing this problem. This Paper aims at reflecting on how a bottomup approach could be introduced in the debate on the protection of the rule of law. Civil society and active citizens, indeed, are playing a key role in becoming protagonists standing for the EU core values: the case of Romania shows how citizens gave a great contribution to the protection of the rule of law. It would be advisable therefore to start developing an institutionalized partnership between public institutions and civil society: the model of participatory democracy could be tabled as a viable proposal for empowering citizens in the protection of the rule of law.
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