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The aim of the article is to describe the genesis, role, significance, conditions and effects of economic cooperation of the Visegrad
Group countries in the European Union, with particular emphasis
on their development after 2015. It presents the distinguishing features and specificity of the Group's cooperation before accession to
NATO and the EU in the context of the situation of Central Europe
and other European post-communist countries, as well as the most
important aspects of the political and economic potential of the V4
countries against the background of the EU and selected member
states. Various aspects of their economic cooperation in the region
are discussed, as well as the structural limitations of the role of the
Visegrad Group countries in the EU and related controversy. The
fi nal part contains conclusions relating to the Group's activities
with regard to the main axes of political and economic divisions in
the EU, with particular emphasis placed on economic dimensions.

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.

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.

When analyzing the importance of Maghreb in Spain's foreign policy, attention should be paid to its geostrategic location, between Europe and Africa. This gives priority to southern Mediterranean countries. The historical experiences and socio-cultural pluralism (the clash of Christian and Muslim civilizations) are also important. The mutual economic relations deserve attention. Spain's relations with the Maghreb are often seen only through the prism of relations with Morocco. They can be described as so-called relación obcesiva. For decades, bilateral relations focused primarily on issues such as immigration, Spanish possessions in North Africa, and the issue of Western Sahara. The main goal for Spain was to stabilize not only Morocco but all of the Maghreb. The strategic importance of the region was due to its geographical proximity, economic and trade potential as well as cultural influences.

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 creation of the Three Seas Initiative (TSI), the political and economic format for 12 EU countries, is accompanied by a growing interest on the part of world powers and non-EU countries in the region. The aim of the research is to analyse the involvement of three Eastern European countries, namely Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova in projects developed under TSI. The research used a neorealistic approach. These countries belong to the post-Soviet area and, apart from Belarus, show a willingness to cooperate with Western institutions, which arouses a strong reaction from the Russian Federation. The research will result in determining their participation in projects implemented by TSI, including energy, transport, and digital infrastructure. These countries are on the way to working more closely with the Initiative, possibly under the new TSI plus format. The United States supports the expansion of the Three Seas Initiative.

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.

This paper's objective is to study the impact of the war in Ukraine on the Eastern policy of the European Union. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to highlight this policy's position in the overall international activity of the EU, as well as its characteristic features, main goals, instruments, and two components: the strategic partnership with Russia and the Eastern Partnership (EaP). The substantive part of the paper contains an analysis which, taking into account the implications of the war in Ukraine, is intended to justify three research hypotheses. They concern: the complete failure of the strategic partnership with Russia, then the serious crisis of the EaP and, finally, the possibility of achieving success in the Eastern policy in the form of Ukraine's accession to the EU. As indicated in the conclusion, this would provide the European Union with a permanently strong position in Eastern Europe.

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.

European Union and Indian Union signed the cooperation agreement in 1994 and a strategic partnership 10 years later. Europe was feeling safe and secure, which was well-described in 2003 in the European Security Strategy, so the approach to the relations with India stressed their economic aspects. In 2007, both sides have started negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement. They still have not concluded but in the meantime the world has changed dramatically. In the current international "disorder" both India and Europe are looking for new partners and vectors of influence, defending multilateralism and democratic values. The paper analyses 5 factors which severely influence these relations. They can bring both sides closer and make the strategic partnership stronger: Rise of China as a global power; Increase of American-Chinese competition and rivalry; Russia's coming back to the international game of power; Rise of India as a regional power and global player, the world largest democracy and a counterbalance to China; Brexit and internal dynamics in the EU. The text is based, among others, on research and discussions taken under umbrella of the India-EU Think Tank Twinning Initiative - the project implemented by 10 best European and Indian think tanks.

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.

The aim of the article is to present the proposal by France as the initiator of the development of the strategic autonomy of the European Union and the politics of France before and after Russian aggression in Ukraine. The idea of the European Union's involvement in the defence sphere has been with us for years; however, the concept of strategic autonomy is differently understood in the Member States of the European Union. For this reason, the following research questions were formulated: How is the strategic autonomy of the European Union understood in the politics of France? What is the position of France in reference to developing a "Europe of defence" for the European Union's security and defence policy? How does Russia's aggression in Ukraine affect the development of the European Union's strategic autonomy in France's policy? How does Russia's aggression in Ukraine affect France's position on the spread of the EU's strategic autonomy? It would seem that the outbreak of the war in Ukraine constitutes an existential test for strategic autonomy.

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.

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.

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.