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The article is an analysis of European Union legislation on conservation and protection of biodiversity. It emphasizes the achievements of the activity of the EU in this area, mainly the establishment of the Natura 2000 Network, examining the obligations of the Member States that are stipulated in the Birds and Habitats Directives. It points out to the integration of biodiversity protection in other fields of EU sectoral policies as well.

This article tests if the democratization process in Central and Eastern Europe
coincides with a decrease in number of invalid votes. Using descriptive
statistics, we seek for evidence from 67 elections in ten countries from the
regions during the period 1990-2012. By the beginning of the 2000s, ten years
after the breakdown of communist regime, the percentages of invalid votes
in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe reached levels comparable to
those of the Western European democracies. However, significant differences
between regions and countries endure. This article adds to the literature by
being the first to inquire into the subject of invalid votes in the Central and
Eastern Europe.

The image of the European culture is given by the association of the concepts people – culture – history – territory, which provides certain local features. From this relation, we identify a cultural area with local, regional and national features beyond a certain European culture. Thus, we identify at least two cultural identity constructions on the European level: a culture of cultures, that is a cultural area with a particular, local, regional and national strong identity, or a cultural archipelago, that is a common yet disrupted cultural area. Whatever the perspective, the existence of a European cultural area cannot be denied, although one may speak of diversity or of "disrupted continuity".
The paper is a survey on the European cultural space in two aspects: 1. Europe with internal cultural border areas; 2. Europe as external cultural-identity border area. From a methodological point of view, we have to point out that despite the two-levelled approach the two conceptual constructions do not exclude each other: the concept of "culture of cultures" designs both a particular and a general identity area. The specific of the European culture is provided precisely by diversity and multiculturalism as means of expression on local, regional, or national levels. Consequently, the European cultural area is an area with a strong identity on both particular and general levels.

Ombudsman, unlike the court, cannot make binding decisions, but usually public authorities follow its recommendations, otherwise he may bring the case to the attention of politicians and the public by informing Parliament. The link between the two fundamental European institutions, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Ombudsman, may be defined as a strong direct link between the problems of EU citizens. Requests to each institution represent an interest of each petitioner, which is intended to be solved by matching laws with moral rules and general principles of law.