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The aim of this article is to focus on the concept of flexicurity, accepted as the new labour market model balancing the needs of employers for greater flexibility in order to adapt to market forces, and the need of employees for security, which has recently been one of the most popular concepts of the debate on labour market reforms in the European Union (EU). While doing so, this article discusses the position of key European institutions, especially of the Commission of the European Communities (CEC). The main argument is that the concept is still very open to alternative interpretations at the EU level. Related to this openness is the fact that the Commission has deliberately instrumentalized the concept's ambiguity in order to absorb all the main actors into the debate in line with its own policy preferences

(1) Introduction: The European Union is a global leader in the transition to a low-carbon economy. The community's population has already reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 22%, while the gross domestic product (GDP) in its member states increased by 58% between 1990 and 2017. The Union has shown that economic growth is possible in the link between politics, nature, and the citizens' eco-empathy. It has implications for both the European and global economy, infrastructure, food production, public health, and biodiversity, the formula for political stability. The hallmark of the European Union is the blending of politics, culture, and nature in its quest for climate neutrality. The community's horizon is a zero-emission economy by 2050. (2) Theoretical framework: The cognitive assumptions of the article are the following theses: 1. The Union strives to accelerate the transition process to a regenerative growth model using technologies for obtaining and distributing energy for individual and collective needs ; 2. The Union and the European citizens want to hand over more to planet Earth than they take away from it, thus making progress toward keeping resource consumption within planetary limits. 3. The Union aims to reduce its consumption footprint and double the rate of applying closed-loop materials in the next decade. Finally, it fits in with the organization's policy projections. (3) Methodology and research results: Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in the research process. The literature has been analyzed on the subject and the applicable legal acts, making it possible to classify, generalize, describe, and systematize the facts collected during the research. A survey was conducted on 1106 students, and in-depth interviews were conducted with three energy experts: Krzysztof Tomaszewski (the University of Warsaw, researcher and lecturer on energy security issues), Dariusz Pachniewski (inventor in energy sector, businessman in hydrogen energy sector), and Tomoho Umeda (President of Polish Chamber of Commerce). The research aimed to identify the environmental and energy awareness, knowledge of renewable energy sources, and opinions of young Poles on their use in two areas: home and work. (4) Discussion: The reinforced narrative of creating a low-carbon society, a green economy, was adapted and evaluated for innovative individual and collective approaches in the research conducted in this paper. In the quantitative and qualitative samples, the assumptions made were double-checked. The former verified the students' views, while the latter, the experts' views. The procedure established the directions of knowledge evolution and approach to technologies and innovations among students of technical faculties related to the energy sector. There were existing individual and collective mental constructs on energy transition and climate neutrality identified. (5) Conclusions: The surveys conducted among university students of energy-related majors and specialties and experts revealed important information. First, it concerned the way knowledge is communicated and how it is interpreted ; second, informing and implementing the European Union's climate policy ; third, the creation of a low-carbon society ; fourth, the perception of climate neutrality among young Poles, and finally, preferences in energy generation and use in homes and businesses.

This paper has the goal of presenting experiences of Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade students during their Erasmus program stays and to provide insights into the ways in which it influenced their opinions of the European union and the European integration process. After presenting the goals of the Erasmus program and the strategic documents of the Republic of Serbia within the field off education, the paper places the process of forming political opinions in theoretical context. The experiences of students which participated in the Program within the 2017-2019. period are analyzed from the perspective of Erasmus program goals and the influence they have on the opinions and social networking of the participants. The paper concludes that all of the participants entered the Program with already formed positive opinions on the European integration process, while also noting a development of skills and values related to the concept of European identity, such as openness and tolerance. Furthermore, the research finds that among the Program participants there was no sense of otherness developed during their stay and that they were not faced with any serious administrative challenges which could negatively influence their perception of the European union. However, in order to encourage further development of the Program, one must keep in mind that there exist certain barriers in the area of communicating information about requirements and procedures during application, as well as during the process of selecting and approving classes.

Das neue Handlexikon der Europäischen Union setzt hier neue, verbindliche Standards. Präzise werden in einer für lexikalische Werke ungewöhnlichen Tiefe ca. 1.000 europarechtlich wie europapolitisch relevanten Begriffe erläutert.Die strukturellen Neuerungen durch den Vertrag von Lissabon treten klar zu Tage; für aktuelle Fragestellungen - ob Rettungsschirm für Griechenland, Grenzkontrollen, Funktionsweise der europäischen Asylpolitik - stellt das Werk eine hohe Verbindlichkeit her.

National high courts in the European Union (EU) are constantly challenged: the European Court of Justice (ECJ) claims the authority to declare national standing interpretations invalid should it find them incompatible with its views on EU law. This principle noticeably impairs the formerly undisputed sovereignty of national high courts. In addition, preliminary references empower lower courts to question interpretations established by their national 'superiors'. Assuming that courts want to protect their own interests, the article presumes that national high courts develop strategies to elude the breach of their standing interpretations. Building on principal-agent theory, the article proposes that national high courts can use the level of (im-) precision in the wording of the ECJ's judgements to continue applying their own interpretations. The article develops theoretical strategies for national high courts in their struggle for authority.

These comments by South Africa's Minister for Trade and Industry, Trevor Manuel, were made in November 1994 in a speech to the African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP)—European Union (EU) ministerial meeting in Brussels. Words, of course, can be interpreted in various ways. Contrary to the seeming clarity of Manuel's request, the underlying sub-texts illustrated both the past prevarication of the South African Government and the continuing uncertainty on the part of the EU as to the appropriate shape of a new long-term relationship.

The European Union has evolved into a system of multilevel governance. EU actions have facilitated the involvement of regional/subnational authorities in EU policy formulation and implementation, thus enabling a downward shift in competencies toward subnational authorities. In this article, I argue that regional attachment facilitates support for European integration. Specifically, I show that individuals holding inclusive regional attachment sentiments perceive EU policies that result in the empowerment of subnational authorities in a positive light. In the process, these individuals are more likely to be supportive of European integration. This article's findings contribute to the literature on public opinion and European integration by exploring regionalist sources of support for European integration. Moreover, these findings contribute to the growing research on the emergence of a 'Europe of the regions.'. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright holder.]

We derive the optimal fiscal transfer scheme for countries in a monetary union to off-set the welfare losses resulting from asymmetric shocks and nominal rigidities. Optimal transfers involve a trade-off between reducing national output gaps and the provision of consumption insurance across countries, where the weight of the former increases relative to the latter as consumption home bias rises. The welfare gains from optimal transfers increase in both home bias and export substitutability. When these parameters are calibrated to the data for specific euro area countries, the welfare gains from optimal transfers are as high as 3.6% of permanent consumption. ; The ADEMU Working Paper Series is being supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 European Union funding for Research & Innovation, grant agreement No 649396.

Focusing on recent studies of European Union legislative decision-making, this research note evaluates the current literature that attempts to improve the explanatory power of bargaining models by integrating game-theoretic spatial models with micro-level data gained from expert interviews or from document analyses. 18 References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright 2005.]

The article contains analyses of the formation of a new strategy of EU towards Afghanistan taking into account recent dramatic changes of strategic environment in connection with the withdrawal of the US and NATO forces from the country. The author devotes attention in this context to the reasoning for adaptation of the previous EU strategy on Afghanistan which was based on the prioritization of a «soft power» concept. The article enumerates possible elements of a perspective EU strategy – support to international efforts aimed at a comprehensive peaceful regulation of the Afghan crises, suppression of international terrorism, strengthening security of the country and providing large-scale economic assistance for sustaining development of Afghanistan as a guarantee of its stability in the future. The article underlines that the concept of interconnectivity between Central Asia – Afghanistan – South Asia and strategic partnership with India are actively used by EU for integration of Afghanistan into the regional cooperation and strengthening its sustainable development and security. The author sheds light on the convergence of the approaches of the EU and Russia on peaceful settlement of the Afghan crises including possibility of joint actions through different international formats aimed at peaceful and sustainable post-conflict development of Afghanistan.