Suchergebnisse

EU membership has been a compelling goal for the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia), related to the bloc's stability, economic prosperity and higher standard of living. Each of these countries pursues its own process of EU accession while being also a part of the regional initiatives under the auspices of the EU. This paper provides an overview of the EU accession process of the Western Balkan countries, focusing on their individual achievements and challenges, as well as common features and problems. Also, the content andprospects of regional integration of the Western Balkans through the Regional Economic Area (REA) programme, along with the role of the EU in supporting the regional perspective are discussed. The parallel Western Balkans engagement in both processes supports arguments for the prioritisation of the individual countries' accession to the EU over Western Balkans regional integration, distinguishing also the challenges of both processes. The methodology for the elaboration of this paper includes methods of analysis and synthesis, based on extensive desk research of available materials.

The development of the information society has initiated the need for creating new instruments with the help of which the authorities can reach out to citizens. Therefore, cyberspace has recently become a place of activity of a number of entities including state and international organizations (together with the European Union). The result of this phenomenon is the creation of the so-called digital diplomacy as new quality in the so-called diplomacy of the EU. The EU diplomacy currently uses a number of e-tools, among others, Facebook, MySpace, Daily Motion, YouTube, etc. These tools are a very good method to improve and warm up the image of the Union in the international arena. This kind of diplomacy was only formed at the beginning of the twenty-first century and has a great prospect of development, thus, it is worth considering in which direction its evolution should follow. Digital diplomacy is a de facto response to the problem of the EU communication with the outside world and the growing number of Internet users.

Nowadays, energy security is a growing concern in state foreignpolicy. Interdependency in the energy field is a very important dimensionof contemporary relations between states and transnational corporations.Energy security is becoming a key issue for the European Union (EU). TheUnion is one of the world's fastest-growing energy markets and the biggestimporter of energy resources. For the foreseeable future, Europe's energydependence will probably increase. Facing a shortage of energy, Europe isdependent on imports and the EU member states need to diversify their energysupplies. The Caspian region contains some of the largest undevelopedoil and gas reserves in the world. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, thenewly independent Caspian states became open to foreign investment. Thegrowing energy needs have given the EU a strong interest in developing tieswith energy-producing states in the Caspian region to build the necessarypipeline infrastructure. In this analysis, the pipeline infrastructure that exists orwill be built in the near future will be presented. The analysis will concentrateon routes transporting gas from the Caspian region and the most importantproblems and solutions in designing the midstream energy system in the region.The key aim of the article is to analyse the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC)infrastructure project, which will inevitably contribute to the EU's energy securityinterest.

Some phenomena associated with ageing populations are transition of economies to focus more on the production and distribution of goods and services for older adults as well as for younger age groups as part of their preparation for old age. The paper presents the main features of the concept of "silver economy" in the context of active ageing policies. The study presents a typology of the silver economy models in the European Union at national and regional levels based on the use of the Active Ageing Index in comparison to the typology of differences and cultures of capitalism as well as the typology of welfare states. The summary contains conclusions for practical interventions and proposals for further research.

In 2015, global public opinion was shaken by the migration crisis, as wave after wave of refugees from the Middle East, primarily from Syria, tried to get from Turkey and Greece to Western Europe via the so-called 'Balkan Route'. In time, the situation only seemed to be resolved. In the Balkan countries, there still are, according to estimates, tens of thousands of migrants who failed to get farther west, and more are constantly arriving. Meanwhile, since 2018, one can speak of a new, though a much smaller wave of immigrants who are trying to get from Greece to Croatia (and thus to the European Union), increasingly often bypassing Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina along the way. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the phenomenon of the so-called 'New Balkan Route' and the problems it creates for the Balkans.

On January 19, 2012, the European Commission (Commission) decided to launch a visa liberalisation dialogue with Kosovo, and on June 14, 2012, it handed over to Kosovo's government a 'Roadmap Towards a Visa-free Regime'. This document included 95 requirements that Kosovo had to fulfil. By 2016, the Commission had adopted four reports on progress made by Kosovo in the visa dialogue. In a report issued on May 4, 2016, the EC proposed to the Council of the EU (Council) and the European Parliament (EP) to lift visa requirements on the citizens of Kosovo. The Commission stressed that by the day of the adoption of the proposal by the EP and the Council, Kosovo must have ratified the border/boundary agreement with Montenegro and strengthened its track record in the fight against organised crime and corruption. On July 18, 2018, the Commission confirmed in a report on the progress made by Kosovo in the visa dialogue, that the country had fulfilled the last two requirements included in the roadmap. The aim of this article is to analyse the visa-liberalisation dialogue between the European Union (EU) and Kosovo and whether liberalisation through a visa-free regime with Kosovo had an influence on reducing organised crime and corruption in Kosovo. The article is based on an analysis of primary and secondary sources, as well as statistical data.

The European Union does not have an autonomous and self-standing public policy concerning the protection of landscape. Instead, it adopts fragmentary and incidental measures meant to protect landscape. These measures are adopted within the frameworks of other EU policies, most importantly the EU environmental policy as well as other policies which are integrated with it (such as agricultural policy or policy concerned with special planning). In all these realms, the EU shares its powers with its member states. In some important areas, such as e.g. the property regime, the member states retained their exclusive competences. This particular distribution of powers makes the implementation of the extra-EU international law instruments rather difficult and not sufficiently effective to produce a worthwhile impact. These obligations have a limited influence because most of them are obligations of "a diligent pursue" rather than "firm result". As such, they are unlikely to give rise to direct application of respective conventional provisions. Notwithstanding, their importance is much more pronounced in the area of legal reasoning, where even the EU or domestic measures have to be interpreted in the light of the EU and/or its member states' obligations arising from international conventions on landscape protection.

The paper deals with the European cooperation in outer space, which in the course of half a century has led to the creation of the European space policy, another European public policy. At the beginning of the paper, the definition framework for public policy was outlined and the European space policy was briefly presented. The analysis begins with an indication of the reasons for establishing cooperation for space, then it covers the history of European space efforts as well as the attempts to institutionalize that cooperation. In the further part of the paper, the process of working out the European space policy and the most recently announced European space programme are analysed. Finally, the conclusions resulting from the analysis give the answer to the questions raised in the paper about the ability to effectively design and execute the space policy, the results of implementation of particular space policy programmes, allocation of resources for the benefit of society, the position of the EU in international relations.

The subject of the article is the assessment of the impact of international
corporations' activities on the development of Polish commodity
exports against the background of Central European countries in 2004–2018. The detailed analysis covers changes in the value, dynamics, product and geographical structure of exports, the importance of foreign subsidiaries of international corporations in creating export potential and the share of foreign value added in gross exports. The conducted analysis showed a high degree of dependence of Polish exports, as well as those of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia on the operations of foreign subsidiaries of international corporations. Their share in
the total exports exceeded 50% during the analyzed period, and 85% in the exports of cars and trucks, pharmaceuticals, tobacco products, computers, electronic and optical devices. An important factor in the development of exports is the phenomenon of international fragmentation of production processes. It causes an increase in
trade turnover in subassemblies and intermediate goods. We can estimate the scale of production fragmentation by measuring the share of foreign value added in gross exports. The highest share of foreign value added occurred in the exports of Hungary and Slovakia and exceeded 40%. In Poland, foreign value added accounted for around 27% of gross exports. In all analyzed countries, foreign value added came mainly from the European Union countries, especially from Germany. In recent years, the share of intermediate goods imported from China has also been growing.

Podstawowym celem artykułu jest przybliżenie dwóch wzajemnie powiązanych koncepcji istotnych z perspektywy zarządzania publicznego w ramach polityki wobec starzenia się społeczeństwa na poziomie lokalnym. Pierwsza koncepcja to "inteligentne miasta", która dotyczy wykorzystania nowych technologii informacyjno-komunikacyjnych do poprawy zarządzania miastami oraz dostarczania obywatelom innowacyjnych usług publicznych. Druga koncepcja to "miasta przyjazne starzeniu się", która obejmuje optymalizację wszystkich funkcji miejskich do potrzeb wszystkich grup wiekowych oraz wykorzystanie szerokiego zaangażowania interesariuszy na rzecz poprawy jakości życia w okresie starości. Drugim celem jest wskazanie prób praktycznego wdrażania tych koncepcji w krajach Grupy Wyszehradzkiej, które w odróżnieniu od omawianych zazwyczaj w literaturze przykładów z Europy Zachodniej charakteryzują się nie tylko szybkim starzeniem się populacji, ale też niedostatkami infrastruktury. W podsumowaniu przybliżono wnioski z przeprowadzonej analizy oraz potencjalne dalsze kierunki badań.