Suchergebnisse

Throughout history, international relationships have always witnessed the forming of alliances, bilateral agreements, mutual treaties, conventions, partnerships or founding organizations. All these agreements have lasted as long as all the actors involved have shared a common interest, but during conflictual periods they have been reduced to simple sheets of paper. Certainly, the very same states have, again and again, been both 'friends' and 'enemies' because in international relations "nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests."1 Thus, in a world of growing interdependence and continuous change, globalization will not turn this world into a flat one, nor will it bring history to an end. On the contrary, it will generate new threats and will make differences more obvious and more striking. Moreover, the events that have taken place during the last few years clearly point this out. Starting with the 2013 Summit in Vilnius, the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership, in particular, have brought about major direct changes in Eastern Europe and indirect ones in Bruxelles, culminating in territorial changes in the immediate proximity of Romania. Taking into account both its significant geopolitical and geostrategic location and its membership to the European Union, Romania finds itself, as always, at a crossroads. In this context, the present paper aims at determining the role the European Union plays in Romania's relationship with Russia.

Tourism has important influence on socio-economic activities on national level, as well within international frames. Thus every country dedicates particular attention to conditions contributing tourism development and its benefits. EU as an integration of most developed European countries, achieves significant results in tourism. Among top 15 tourist destinations by tourist arrivals and revenues, nine are EU member-countries. The main purpose of this paper is to present the role of tourism in EU economic parameters, as well as politics in this sphere/field. During paper's preparation appropriate data is consulted. Tourism is important economic activity in EU. It's participation in total employment in the EU is approximately 5%, participation in international trade on services is 30%, and the participation in GDP is 5%. Such results are consequence of appropriate tourism policy in EU. Key words: tourism, EU, international tourism, incomes, arrivals, tourism policy.

Madame Guigou's prediction that a "single judicial space" might be in place by the year 2020 signals a brave new horizon for the rule of law in the European Union. Yet even her dramatic claim fails to convey the range, depth, and momentum of changes wrought by the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam in the realm of justice. The European Union is installing new infrastructure upon which to build a "genuine European area of justice." This "European judicial area" constitutes a key component of the "area of freedom, security and justice" ("AFSJ"). The Amsterdam Treaty added the AFSJ as a dimension of the Union, in order to promote the free movement of persons. "EUstitia" is a neologism that aims to capture both pragmatic and aspirational aspects of this new European governance project. The term is used here to refer solely to the civil law component of the AFSJ. This article both examines EUstitia's key features, and explores the implications of institutionalizing civil justice in the European Union. In particular, it contextualizes and examines measures that have been taken, proposed, or planned to establish the "genuine European area of justice" since the Amsterdam Treaty entered into effect in May 1999. EUstitia comprises the "communitarization" of private international law, together with other measures related to "judicial cooperation in civil matters." The European Union's efforts to create a "genuine area of justice . . . based on the principles of transparency and democratic control" have been rapid and dramatic. Yet, however remarkable the initial burst of activity, the European Union has just crossed the threshold of this burgeoning field of law- and policy-making. The developments surveyed in this article are the leading edge of a wave that will alter the European legal landscape in the years ahead.

To foster international cooperation for taking evidence abroad in the new European Space of justice, the Regulation 1206/2001 has open two different ways. But is it not clear enough which is the treatment given to discovery, because it is not a method for obtaining evidence overseas, rather, a procedure put in place to search for the relevant material evidence which will allow the parties to access any information deemed necessary in proving the facts in a case (see above). It should be mentioned Tedesco Case, which never reached the ECJ as the proceedings which gave rise to the prejudicial question had ended (AUTO 27th September 2007). Nevertheless, the Advocate General made a statement in her conclusions: the refusal (by the authority of a member State) of the taking of evidence requested by the European authority was not thought to be justified.

EU social policies should be complemented by contributing to a harmonious development of society, by reducing structural and regional imbalances, developing a balance between the a localized community and the national society, and improving the living standards of citizens and families of member states (Garrido 2002). Such important social policy principles as freedom and justice are addressed and represented in family laws in the EU regulations introduced during the period of 2000–2016. In this article, we studied the EU's legal solutions in reference to national (Spain) laws on these matters: children and parental responsibility (adoption, child abduction, family benefits) and couples (matrimonial, regimes, prenuptial agreements, provisional measures). This legislation is necessary in the face of the proliferation of families whose members have different nationalities, and even in the mobilization of residences. Cooperation has intensified between national judicial authorities to ensure that legal decisions taken in one EU country are recognized and implemented in any other. This is highly important in civil cases, such as divorce, child custody, maintenance claims, or even bankruptcy and unpaid bills, when the individuals involved live in different countries. The development of family laws is one of the most important factors of family welfare in European countries.

The recently announced Energy Union by the European Commission is the most recent step in a series of developments aiming at integrating the European Union's (EU) gas markets in order to increase social welfare and security of gas supply. Based on simulations with a spatial partial equilibrium model, we analyze the changes in consumption, prices, and social welfare up to 2022 induced by the infrastructure expansions planned for this period, for the current market, as well as for three hypothetical scenarios: a halt of Russian gas deliveries to the EU during the winter period (RU-); a simultaneous doubling of available LNG (LNG+); and for Brexit, in which the United Kingdom market is isolated from the EU. In the case of the current market, the new infrastructure leads to a slight decrease of wholesale prices. Moreover, the potential of suppliers to exert market power decreases significantly, particularly in the Baltic states and Finland which are the most exposed countries today, and consumer surplus increases by 17.4% in the EU. In the RU- scenario, consumer surplus decreases across Europe, with the largest losses occurring in the Baltic states, as well as in Finland, Poland and Romania. In the LNG+ scenario, the gains in consumer surplus are primarily found in Western Europe. However, the planned infrastructure expansions distribute the gains and losses in consumer surplus more evenly over all EU member states, with the exception of Romania. In the Brexit scenario, consumer surplus decreases by up to 5.1% in the United Kingdom, 19.2% in Ireland, and 3.6% in the other EU countries. Our results allow us to distinguish three categories of projects: (i) Change in gas availability, leading to a general increase or decrease of social welfare all over the EU. The only project increasing social welfare in all scenarios in most countries is the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP); (ii) existing gas sources made available to additional countries. This leads to an increase of social welfare in the newly connected countries, while social welfare drops slightly everywhere else; (iii) projects with a marginal effect on the market. Most notably, the recently announced Turkish Stream falls into this category. Our results indicate that if all proposed infrastructure projects are realized, the EU's single market will become a reality in 2019 when Finland is interconnected to the EU markets. However, we also find that social welfare can only be increased significantly for the EU as a whole if new gas sources become accessible. At the same time, efficiency gains, albeit decreasing social welfare, help to improve the situation of consumers and decrease the dependency of the EU as a whole on external suppliers.

The Eurozone turmoil might have calmed, but the EU is still trying to free itself from a crisis that has had a dramatic impact on citizens' economic and social well-being and raised serious questions about the union's future. David Phinnemore reports.