Suchergebnisse

Adapted from the source document.

The EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) established by 1957 Rome Treaty was reformed constantly, but never radically. Although every attempt to reform the CAP was followed by rhetoric of necessity to introduce radical changes, the reform results always were of incremental character. Even EU enlargement has not resulted in the radical CAP reform, while negotiations on EU financial perspective for 2007-2013 have not moved the financing allocated to direct payments & market support measures. Just after reaching agreement on EU financial perspective for 2007-2013, discussions on the new period of 2014-2020 have already started in 2007. The goal of this article is, taking into account the CAP efficiency problems & likely attitudes of Member States & European Commission in respect of this policy future, to identify the most likely CAP development scenario & evaluate how well it matches the interests of Lithuania. Adapted from the source document.

In this article I analyzed one of the goals of the 2004-2006 EU Cohesion policy reform -- to adjust the Cohesion policy to the new reality: increased development disparities inside the Union after Enlargement. I argue that despite big changes caused by Enlargement the Commission with its reform proposal of 2004 in principle did not try to reform anything, while decision on Cohesion policy reform taken by the European Council in the end of 2005, which finalized two years of Member States discussions, just slightly improved the situation. Cohesion policy reform of 2004-2006 actually did not reform this policy, because increased development disparities in the EU were overshadowed by indirect factor of Enlargement -- its costs to the EU-15. Adapted from the source document.

The major question for this article is to what extent the implementation of the Lisbon strategy contributed to public policy change in Lithuania. The analysis is based on an overall discussion of experience in preparation & implementation of the National Program for Implementation of the Lisbon Strategy 2005-2010. Also, two case studies are conducted in the fields of active labor market policy & R&D policy. The overall conclusion is that Lisbon strategy is still to a large extent a missed opportunity. The article argues that perhaps the most important among the lost opportunities is the fact that the National Lisbon program has not became a catalyst for policy reform. Furthermore, the national Lisbon program has not yet found a well-defined place among other major national strategies in Lithuania. Finally, the program has only partially contributed to the improvement of strategic planning framework in Lithuania & to a better co-ordination of horizontal policies. Adapted from the source document.

Common energy policy of the European Union is one of the most intensively developing EU integration field. For Lithuania EU energy policy is the key instrument while increasing its energy security. Consequently Lithuania interest is to adapt EU energy policy according its priorities. The aims of this article are the evaluation of the benefit of the EU energy policy for Lithuania, review the main elements of this policy at the same time assessing Lithuania's influence towards EU energy policy. Concluding statement of the article -- the priorities of the EU and Lithuania energy policy are converging. This fact can be qualified as the success of Lithuanian European policy indicating that Lithuania managed to transform its national energy policy interests towards priorities of the EU energy policy. Adapted from the source document.

This paper suggests that "scenario building" offers methodology for understanding the forces which are crucial for ESDP development. Author analyzes such driving forces of ESDP as EU integration tendencies, threats & demands on crises management operations, defense potency & NATO transformation success, as well as the US attitude towards ESDP. After the driving forces are examined, four scenarios are constructed: creation of European security & defense union, integration of ESDP into the broader system of euroatlantic cooperation, ESDP as a project of "core" states, & ESDP as capabilities & operations of "coalition of willing." All this is done in order to find a scenario, which is most suitable for the small states of the EU. Almost all of them are participating in the activities of ESDP, however, their interests & arguments are different. At last three groups of small EU states may be recognized regarding the European security & role in international sphere. Their preferences mostly depend on the leaders in each scenario: pro-European eurocontinentalists support France & Germany & euroatlantists support those scenarios, where UK is leading. Traditionally "neutral" countries seek the realization of scenarios, which would enhance their structural power inside the EU. So, none of the approached scenarios is supported by the majority of the small EU states. For Lithuania most appropriate, of course, is the one, which withholds the US in Europe. No doubt, this is scenario of integration of ESDP into the broader system of euroatlantic cooperation. Adapted from the source document.

This article is devoted to the models of integration without membership as a method to solve the EU "enlargement versus deepening" dilemma. Stagnation of EU enlargement implicates that policy alternatives to enlargement & various models of integration without membership become essential. Authors dealing with issues of external europeanization often conclude that models of integration without membership rely heavily on methods similar to enlargement methods. It is recognized, however, that alternatives to enlargement lack an essential mechanism, an incentive that would induce reform & approximation to European standards, ie., these models do not provide a membership opportunity. Thus principle of conditionality that lies at the heart of such models fails without proper incentives to reform. Therefore a vicious circle emerges: with no membership opportunity there is no reform incentive & lack of reform hinders the possibility to transpose cooperation with EU to a qualitatively upper political, economic & institutional level. That raises a question if the enlargement "toolkit" (conditionality principle first of all) may fruitfully function in models of integration without membership. Adapted from the source document.

The hypothesis raised in the article is that the strategy of Lithuania in the EU budget review in 2008-2009 & negotiations on the forthcoming financial framework should be based on the support to policies & programs with high European-wide benefits rather than the aim to maximize financial support & the country's net balance. The following analysis consists of two major stages. First, normative EU budget objectives & instruments are specified on the basis of the Treaties (assuming that the Treaty of Lisbon would be successfully ratified), EU citizens' opinions, fiscal federalism principles & evaluations of EU budget policies. Second, the impact of such budget on Lithuania & specific Lithuanian interests in the context of such a reform are estimated. Adapted from the source document.

The EU energy policy has always been governed by a sort of go-it-alone principles. There has been a lack of common approach to energy problems and no real determination to create a common energy market. As a result, the 2006 and 2009 gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine left certain Central and South European countries without gas and showed how vulnerable the EU is when it does not have real instruments to react unanimously. In that context the effects of Lisbon Treaty in energy security sector are very important to assess by looking what contribution the Treaty makes in that field. Moreover, it could be argued that The Lisbon Treaty established the main priorities of the European energy policy and has envisaged the possibility for the EU to play a more active role in that sector. Adapted from the source document.