Ensuring internal security is one of the core objectives of European integration in the context of the establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice of the European Union (E.U.). The aim of the internal security policy of the E.U. is to support Member States with regard to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security. In the last 20 years in the area of internal security of the E.U. many important initiatives, political agendas and legal instruments at the E.U. level have arisen. This article aims to show the development of the internal security policy of the E.U., its most important guidelines and the challenges in the coming years.
The European Union currently operates three types of competence: exclusive, shared and supporting (complementary and harmonization). For each country, it is very important autonomous power of taxation and the ensuing independence in shaping tax policy. Countries acceding to the European Union, however, have to reckon with the fact that 80 Artur Kuś Studia z Polityki Publicznej since joining will not have a kind of monopoly on the creation of a fully independent and autonomous tax regulations. EU tax law is primarily the proper functioning of the EU internal market. The aim of the tax legislation is mainly provide income for the state. Thus, the main feature of the national tax law is fiscal function and the EU's - the proper functioning of the internal market. EU tax law in the broad sense (sensu largo) is the collection of EU law (primary and secondary) concerning and affecting the tax law of the Member States. EU tax law in the strict sense (sensu stricto) is a set of rules while EU law relating to and used directly in the tax law of the Member States of the EU. In the simplest terms it can be assumed that these are the rules relating to the taxation mainly indirect taxes.
The purpose of the paper is to study the actions undertaken by the European institutions, aiming at a larger openness of resources, such as cultural works, scientific publications and educational materials, as well as to examine the motivations and results thereof. The European Union, being the area of production of a significant number of works belonging to each of the aforementioned categories, views these resources as strategic to its development. Thus it has taken diverse measures in order to maintain an appropriate balance between the public (social) interests, understood as open access to the resources, and the private interests, prioritising the protection of the owner's rights. The paper demonstrates that these actions are not uniform due to a diverse character and standing of these resources in the economy. The first instruments regarding scientific and educational resources had been implemented ten years before the implementation of legislative measures concerning the cultural products. Hence the public interests, meaning users' access, were treated as more important than the private proprietary rights.
The aim of this publication is to outline changes that have been observed in Poland and to present the place of the Polish industry, including production, services and international trade, since the accession to the European Union. Rating highly the role of industry and proper conducting of a pro-growth policy in Poland and the European Union, one part of the study concerns the analysis of basic indicators of the Polish industry structure and the final part the realization of the Europe 2020 strategy. The analytical description in the publication was enriched with a wide set of tables, as well as a crosssectional collection of information on industry in Poland and on the European Union member states in rank order. The high dynamics observed in Poland resulted, among others, from an over double growth in the production of electrical equipment, computers, electronic and optical products as well as of metal products. The Strategy Europe 2020 is a socio-economic development programme for Poland and the EU growth. The goal of the Europe 2020 strategy is to create the economy - based on knowledge, low-emission policies promoting environmentally friendly technologies, making an efficient use of resources, and also aiming at social cohesion.
A deposit guarantee scheme is a crucial element of the financial safety network, which is currently undergoing a major reform in the European Union due to the process of the creation of the banking union. Therefore, it is important to present a variety of the possible target models, their adequacy in relation to the objectives set in the reform as well as to analyse the conditions which contributed to the choice of the one that is being implemented. What also needs to be addressed is the issue of the proposed model along with its potential to eliminate systemic dysfunctions, involving those addressed by the EU legislator as well as the moral hazard inherently present in the mere concept of a deposit guarantee scheme.
Public deliberation mechanisms play an important role in the process of the EU public policy making because they are to compensate the shortage of representative democracy. One of them is social consultation carried out mainly by the European Commission. The paper consists of the analysis of open public consultation role in designing and implementing the EU sector policies. Their growing importance and frequency of use with regard to the economic policy and its kinds is clearly visible. The aims of such consultations are various. They are primarily used as an instrument of legitimacy of decisions taken by the Commission as well as an important source of information about the stakeholders' opinions and stance. The case of social consultations concerning the transatlantic agreement TTIP is analysed here in detail due to the significance of social mass protests which used to occur and owing to the imp
The author describes and summarises the main theories relating to the specificity of the European Union structure as an internally complex organism which is being characterised by scientists as an international organisation as well as a confederation and a federation. Many researchers compare the process of the European Union formation to the nation-state formation, others compare the E.U. to the United States of America and many more indicate that the E.U. structure with its specific multi-level governance looks like a neo-medieval empire. What we can see in this empire is a network of overlapping systems of powers and areas of loyalty. The author points out that structurally the E.U. can be visualised as a model of multilevel governance and as such can be defined as a sui generis political system. So it is not analogous to the nation state but rather to a system of governance without a formal governing body. This notion is the result of a growing level of interdependence one can see in the international arena. In the second part of article, the author addresses the sovereignty issues which relate to the E.U. member states as well as the E.U. as a separate body. He reviews the theories which variously explain the process of European integration and its influence on internal policies within member states.
The mission of the European Community and later the European Union was to take all actions that reduce disparities in economic development among Member States and their regions. These objectives were achieved through creating a customs union, a single European market and economic and monetary union, and the introduction and implementation of trade, agricultural, cohesion, competition policies. The problem of obtaining financial resources that would allow the EU to fulfill the tasks assigned to it by treaties and other legal acts is inseparable from the functioning of the European Union. The EU needs to raise new own resources. In recent years there have been proposals for the introduction of new own resources in the form of a uniform VAT which would apply equally to all Member States and in the form of a tax on financial transactions. The principal disadvantage of the new methodology for calculating own resource based on VAT on supplies of goods and services, acquisitions and imports subject to the standard rate of VAT in each Member State is its complexity. Despite the efforts made, the abovementioned taxes still will not be typical own resource that directly supplies the budget of the European Union. They will still be transferred through state agencies or economic entities for tax on financial transactions and they will continue to be dependent on the systems and tax rates of each Member State.
This paper argues that various EU policy initiatives towards the Western Balkans in the period of 1990-1999 did not in fact encourage the Western Balkans to move on and secure quicker integration into the European Union. They also failed to support reforms in the political, economic and social spheres. In addition, EU initiatives were too ineffective in terms of development of regional cooperation among countries of the region. Thus, new models were -- and still are -- needed if the EU remains committed to further enlargement in the Western Balkans. The author proposes development of a euro-region in the Western Balkans. In this way, countries of the Western Balkans would be encouraged to collaborate in applying for EU funding, which would support other forms of cooperation. However, since the funds are now restricted, it is more likely that even this approach would have only limited success. Adapted from the source document.
This paper argues that various EU policy initiatives towards the Western Balkans in the period of 1990-1999 did not in fact encourage the Western Balkans to move on and secure quicker integration into the European Union. They also failed to support reforms in the political, economic and social spheres. In addition, EU initiatives were too ineffective in terms of development of regional cooperation among countries of the region. Thus, new models were -- and still are -- needed if the EU remains committed to further enlargement in the Western Balkans. The author proposes development of a euro-region in the Western Balkans. In this way, countries of the Western Balkans would be encouraged to collaborate in applying for EU funding, which would support other forms of cooperation. However, since the funds are now restricted, it is more likely that even this approach would have only limited success. Adapted from the source document.
In this text, consequences of the Croatian referendum for the EU held on January 22, 2012 are analyzed from various standpoints and from the angle of the controversy which it caused in the public, but also in the expert and scientific discourse in Croatia. The author first discusses the holding of the referendum in the context of its date-setting, which brought about a dispute between the government and the opposition and a part of the Eurosceptic public. Second, controversy arose regarding participation in the referendum, which is approached here in the context of irregularity accusations. Third, there is the issue of the referendum's legality and legitimacy, and the author draws a comparison with referenda held in other accession countries -- not only in the fifth round of enlargement with post-communist and Mediterranean countries, but also in other countries where the referendum did not have a positive outcome. Relying on the available facts and variable analysis related to the referendum, the author then asserts that the Croatian referendum for the EU was undoubtedly successful, that its results, both with regard to the participation and the outcome, were even better than in many post-communist countries of the fifth enlargement. Finally, the reasons for the tardiness of Croatia's EU accession in contrast to the other Middle-European and Eastern-European countries and Slovenia are analyzed. It is viewed as a consequence of wrong political estimations and decisions. The author also focuses on the informational and educational deficit regarding the EU in Croatia, and finds that the Croatian citizens are poorly informed on the EU because of specific decisions of the government. Still, the result of the referendum met with positive reactions of EU political bodies and the member states, which opens up the process of ratification in other EU countries that should lead to full membership of Croatia in the EU on July 1, 2013. Adapted from the source document.
