The Future of Diplomacy: European and Global Challenges

Author(s): Ondřej Horký / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

As identified by the participants of the 1st Czech-French Forum of Young Talents, diplomacy needs to face globalization, geopolitical shifts, the call for transparency and budgetary restrictions. The diplomat has to act as a manager and interpreter of knowledge in a world characterized by an overflow of information. The need for a strong and effective EU diplomacy is not disputed but the European interest has not been clearly defined so far. The European External Action Service seems to offer an institutional setting that will help to articulate the European interest through everyday practice. The contradictory ideal of a generalist diplomat has not waned, but the diplomat must update its competences, enter the public debate and keep updated with technological progress.

The future of Europe: a commitment for You(th) – the main outcomes of the Jean Monnet Seminar held in Rome in March 2017

The Rome event

Author(s): Vito Borrelli / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

The Jean Monnet Seminar “The future of Europe: a commitment for You(th)” was held in Rome on 23-24 March on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Rome treaties. The seminar debated the future of the EU in the light of the current challenges (migration crisis, Brexit, recent and forthcoming elections in Member States, etc.) and the need to further involve young generations in the construction of the European project.

The Future of International Police Missions in the New Global Security Environment – Contribution of Western Balkans Police Forces to EU’s International Policing

Author(s): Andreja Bogdanovski,Uroš Živković / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2016

The existence of a police component in UN peace operations is not a novelty. It goes back half a century ago and was first introduced in the Congo in the 1960’s. Embedding police components in UN missions became more extensive at the end of the 90’s, when different types of it (support of country security reforms, advice, monitoring etc.) were incorporated in all UN Security Council approved missions after 1999.

The future of long-term care in ten European countries: Review of policy reports and qualitative study among country experts

Author(s): Lena Praznovszky,Milena Pavlova,Marzena Tambor,Wim Groot / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2019

The provision of good quality long-term care to citizens represents a challenge for many European countries due to tight public budgets and ongoing societal transitions. To gain insights on the future of long-term care in Europe, an explorative study was conducted consisting of a review of policy reports and qualitative study among country experts from Albania, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. For the purpose of the analysis, a conceptual framework was developed. Based on this framework, the method of qualitative directed content analysis was applied to extract and analyze information from the reports and study transcripts. The results suggest four key directions for long-term care development: (a) integration, coordination and cooperation across structures and actors for better service quality; (b) increased scope and scale of formal service provision; (c) improved workforce planning and capacity building; (d) use of e-health and information technologies. The exact direction is however dependent on the country-specific guiding principles, governance capacity and funding constraints. To adequately respond to current challenges, policy-makers need to acknowledge the interconnectedness of long-term care issues and approach them from a more holistic perspective.

THE FUTURE OF OUR NEIGHBOURS: EU’S EASTERN PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE

Author(s): Gabriela Drăgan,Iulia Serafimescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2009

While debates are on regarding the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, the future of Europe is also called into question, although in different terms, in the region to its East. The present article points to some of the aspects associated with the new EU initiative towards its East while trying to catch a glimpse at the (Eastern) future.

THE FUTURE OF SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN THE BLACK SEA AREA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOLVING DISPUTES BETWEEN RIPARIANS

Author(s): Marius Hanganu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2009

During its existence, up to now, the Black Sea area was not the host of some naval sounding conflicts. The most famous confrontation was between 1853 and 1856, known as the Crimea War, when the belligerents were the Russian Empire on the one hand, and the alliance between England, France, Sardinia, Turkey, on the other hand, the stake being the Crimean Peninsula and the stopping of the Russian expansion tendencies. The naval confrontations during the period of the two World Wars happened in the context of the land actions and were not characterized by vast naval actions, able to influence significantly the land actions. The previous periods of the 19th century were marked by the domination within the Black Sea of the some states’ navies, ones that were great continental powers (Russia, Turkey, and during the Middle Ages and Ancient History, the Byzantine Empire or Greece), and that used sea for transport, the problem of domination within the maritime area being out of question. In other words, the disputes within the Black Sea were tightly bound to the land space. At present, the situation has not been changed too much. The whole activity inside the Black Sea area is tightly bound to the troubles and problems from the land.

THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN GEOPOLITICS BETWEEN POWER, CULTURE AND IDENTITY

Author(s): Mirela Atanasiu / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2010

To who will belong the future century? What kind of power will be the EU and what role will it play into a multipolar world? Will EU remain a second echelon power, predisposed to intern crises, with major geopolitical structural vulnerabilities and predisposed to dependence on its stronger neighbours or will it succeed to gain its own valence as essential power in this space? Will the EU states succeed to overpass the cultural and identity differences and accept Turkey as their equal into the already built circle? Those questions we’ll try to give a direct answer or, at least, present them into a contextual shape to elucidate the existent options.

The Future of the European Union

Author(s): Titus Corlăţean / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

The European project known as European Union has brought during the years lasting peace, democracy and respect for fundamental human rights and liberties, prosperity and welfare for its member states and peoples. The current challenges and transformations of EU redefine the project and different scenarios were proposed from this perspective by the European Commission and a number of political European leaders. This is why the future of the European Union became one of the main topics under the Romanian EU Presidency of the Council in the first semester of 2019. Each of the main 4 priorities of the Romanian Presidency of the Council reflects important dimensions of the integrated vision related to the profile, role and weight of the future European Union. The Inter-parliamentary conference organized in Bucharest in the beginning of April 2019 brought therefore a substantial contribution to this vision through the Declaration adopted by the members of the EU national parliaments on this occasion.

THE FUTURE OF THE EUROZONE: DO WE HAVE A PULSE?

Author(s): Alina Buzăianu / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2015

We have been accustomed, at least for the last few years, to portray the economic crisis within the European Union mostly as “money troubles” (money laundering, bank insolvency, bad investments, sovereign debt, etc.). Very rarely we considered looking for potential causes of default, elsewhere, meaning incomplete but desperately needed political integration within the European Union, ambiguous political decisions at EU level, insufficiently addressed conflicting cultures, and maybe promoting all the wrong standards of financial governance or the absence of the right financial instrument to make the promise believable – the promise to rescue the legitimacy of EU. Furthermore, how the outcome of all this great engagement to save the appearances for the entire European landscape will turn out is yet to be determined.

The Future of the Free Movement of People after the Brexit Referendum

Author(s): Jolanta Szymańska / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2016

The freedom of movement of people will be a key element of the negotiations on the future relations between the UK and the EU. Achieving compromise on the issue of the relationship may take years. One reason for that is that the British side does not want the quick trigger of Article 50 (TEU). The most likely scenario is to guarantee Britain “special” status in its relationship with the Union. As a result, EU citizens would have limited access to the British labour market. It’s worth considering, however, to avoid future restrictions on the right of free movement within the EU.

The Future of the Normative Power Europe Concept from the Visegrad Group’s Perspective

Author(s): Anna Skolimowska / Language(s): English / Issue: 26/2018

The European Union (EU) is becoming an independent actor of International Rela-tions. Its external activities are diverse: ranging from economic relations (mainly through the Common Commercial Policy or association agreements) to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Also, the geographical scope of its presence is wide – from the nearest neighborhood in the European continent to the countries of Africa, Far East or South America. For this reason, in the academic as well as in the public discourse, questions are posed on the EU’s role in international relations. One of the leading concepts is an idea of the European Union as a normative power (Normative Power Europe, NPE). This article will analyze the status quo and future of the NPE concept among Visegrad countries expressed in the discourse of their po-litical elites in: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is assumed that the changing nature of the international reality in recent years, i.e. the Russi-an-Ukrainian conflict and the migration crisis undermined the dominant narration about the EU in International Relations as a Normative Power and led to new forms of expression of its international identity. Political discourse in the new member sta-tes of the EU will be analyzed in searching for an answer to the question: what is the perception of the NPE in the selected Central European countries?

The Gas Target Model for the Visegrad 4 Region

Author(s): Sergio Ascari / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2013

The similarity of issues and geographical proximity have led the Visegrad 4 countries (V4) to undertake closer collaboration in natural gas policy, notably by agreeing on a common security of supply strategy, including regional emergency planning, and a common implementation of the Gas Target Model (GTM) that European regulators have proposed for the medium-long term design of the EU gas market, and which has been endorsed by the Madrid Regulatory Forum. As a contribution to this collaboration, the present paper will analyse how the GTM may be implemented in the V4 region, with a view to maximize the benefits that arise from joint implementation. A most relevant conclusion of the GTM is that markets should be large enough to attract market players and investments, so that sufficient diversity of sources may be reached and market power indicators are kept below dangerous levels. In most cases, this requires physical and/or virtual interconnection of present markets, which is also useful to achieve the required security of supply standards, as envisaged in the Regulation 994/2010/EC.

The Geo-economics of the ENP: The Eurozone Crisis and the Global Financial Crisis

Author(s): Anna Visvizi,Joanna Stryjek / Language(s): English,Polish / Issue: 3/2017

The global financial crisis 2008+ and the euro area crisis high lighted how fragile the institutional set-up of today’s world is. Moreover, the secrises reminded us that questions of international collaboration and multilateralism as well as questions of security, in all its dimensions, remainas valid as ever. Taking these observations as a point of departure, this paper asks the question of how these twin-crises and their implications influenced the ENP and its efficacy. To this end, an integrated two-pronged approach to the study of the ENP is employed to gain a more comprehensive insight into the ENP, its evolution and the impact it can actually exert on the EU’s neighbourhood.

The geopolitical dimensions of the TurkStream pipeline

Author(s): Kinga Smoleń / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2019

The empirical goal of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the geopolitical dimensions of the TurkStream pipeline, with special consideration given to its determinants as well as a diagnosis of the geopolitical implications of its geographical extent. To explore this problem, the following hypotheses are offered. First, the inauguration of the second branch of the TurkStream pipeline in the beginning of 2020 will strengthen the monopolistic position of Russia as a supplier of natural gas to the countries of the European Union. This will increase the dependency of the EU on Russia and severely hamper its ability to formulate a unified, cohesive energy policy. Second, two factors that underlie the geopolitical importance of the TurkStream pipeline are Turkey’s and Southern Europe’s natural gas needs on the one hand and the political and economic interests of Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine on the other. Third, the TurkStream project should be seen as an instrument that serves to build a tactical partnership between Turkey and Russia – a partnership underpinned by the strategic interests of both countries in the Middle East. Fourth and finally, Russia’s gradual withdrawal from directing its natural gas through Ukraine will generate serious economic problems and potential energy shortages in that country. In the long term, this pressure is geared toward forcing Ukraine to re-evaluate the pro-Western trajectory of its foreign policy.

The Geopolitics of Tolerance: Minority Rights under EU Expansion in East-Central Europe

Author(s): Lynn M. Tesser / Language(s): English / Issue: 03/2003

Post-communist states aiming to join European organizations such as the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the European Union felt pressure early on after 1989 to adopt emerging European norms on minority rights. Though scholars have already noted frequent acceptance of these standards, the question remains of how Europeann orms actually affect the political salience of identity. Pressure to adhere to them undoubtedly reigned in potential conflict over the Hungarian minority in Slovakia as well as over Russians in Latvia and Estonia. Yet such beneficial results can be offset, first, when political elites’ strategic acceptance of European standards undermines the legitimacy of liberal values, and second, when such norms create friction by unintentionally encouraging ethnic groups such as Moravians in the Czech Republic and Silesians in Poland to transform themselves into “nationalities.”

THE GERMAN TURKEY DEBATE UNDER THE GRAND COALITION. State of the Debate – October 2006

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2006

Before 1998, the coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP under Chancellor Helmut Kohl had opposed Turkey’s EU aspirations. In 2004 Angela Merkel, still lobbied for her party’s preference of a privileged partnership for Turkey. Since autumn 2005 Germany has been governed by a Grand Coalition of Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel. There were some expectations that the departure of the SPD/Green coalition under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer would yet again change German policy on Turkey. So far, however, this has not happened.

The German–British Reform Initiative for Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Fresh Start or Lowering the Standards of Conditionality for European Union Membership?

Author(s): Fabian Möpert / Language(s): English / Issue: 6/2015

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is currently considered as a potential candidate for EU membership. However, a huge backlog of reforms led to a standstill in the process of rapprochement with the EU. One of the factors hampering BiHs progress on necessary reforms is its complex political system and the lacking will of some of its political decision makers to find compromises. A new German-British initiative set out to restart BiH’s process of reform and rapprochement. This paper will discuss the contents and prospects of this initiative in the context of EU’s standards of conditionality for membership and the key challenges for BiH on its way to submit a credible application for membership in the Union.

The Golden Staitjacket of Poland's Membership in the EU

Author(s): Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse / Language(s): English / Issue: 17/2014

This article aims to evaluate the first decade of Poland’s membership in the European Union. The analysis covers three major aspects: modernisation of the economy, state administration, and shaping a democratic political system. The article attempts to show that the processes of EU integration resemble a ‘golden straitjacket’ – a garment that seems desirable and even resplendent, but turns out to be a constraint on freedom.

The Good Neighbourliness Condition in EU Enlargement

Author(s): Elena Basheska / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Good neighbourliness is one of the most important principles relating to harmonious interstate relations. It primarily developed in international law around the idea of territorial sovereignty of states. The principle was further translated into an important accession condition in EU enlargement policy. A violation of the good neighbourliness principle can lead to serious confrontations or military conflicts between states. Yet, the respect of the principle requires precise definition of its legal substance. As a paradox, the good neighbourliness principle has not been codified in international law. The lack of sufficient clarification of the essence of the principle potentially undermines the success of the Union's engagement with it,threatening to lead to inconsistent interpretation and even to wrongful implementation of the good neighbourliness principle. The paper clarifies the legal basis of the principle in international law and traces the application of the corollary condition in EU enlargement policy where conditional¬ity is deployed. It focuses on the application of the condition to settlements of bilateral disputes in the enlargement process. The paper concludes that the EU 's efforts to implement the good neighbourliness

The Good Neighbourliness Principle in Relations Between the European Union and its Eastern European Neighbours

Author(s): Adriana Kalicka-Mikołajczyk / Language(s): English / Issue: 9/2019

The good neighbourliness principle is one of the most important principles in international law which designates a model of peaceful cooperation and mutual tolerance among neighbouring states. Its violation in the past, however, very often led to military conflicts and many international disputes and may lead to serious disputes among neighbouring states in the future. Thus, the good neighbourliness principle has a clear legal value. This article analyses the good neighbourliness principle as a key principle that obligates neighbouring states to develop and to maintain peaceful interstate relations. The focus is twofold: firstly, on the scope, content and nature of the good neighbourliness principle in international law and secondly, on the impact of the good neighbourliness principle on the relations between the European Union and its Eastern Neighbours within the framework of the neighbourhood policy and the enlargement policy.