Suchergebnisse

Today, Europe is living a new decisive time as it has been in its past after World War II, in search of unity in diversity in the name of a peace project to safeguard future. If, on the one hand, Europe expresses aspirations for profound changes in its external environment, in the domestic context, it ends up colliding with aspects linked to sovereignty and human rights; on the other hand, in European foreign policy, the model reveals the search to legitimize its action. Precisely, the objective and the motivation of this study seek, through the qualitative methodology in Political Science, to analyse and understand the current context of the European Union in the international system. In fact, it is identified that this new hierarchy of powers, in the reaffirmation of the Westphalian system, where economic power comes, is bound to consolidate the democratic development between the old and new times of international relations in the destiny of Europe. From the results obtained during the analysis, in order to face again the unpredictability of the world scenario, it is a reality that Europe must promote the re-encounter of an alternative role, in other words, to assume its initial project of European edification in the name of equality of circumstances and rights of its affirmation in the global arena.

Mass migration, as it appears in the 21st century, is one of the greatest challenges of our globalized world. The unanswered questions of European Union (EU) immigration policy that emerged over the past few decades have become more pressing than ever. One of these urgent questions is: how can we provide for a developing European economy in an era of demographic decline in a way that it is based on the opportunities opened up by legally regulated forms of migration. A second question is: how can the EU ensure the safety of the newly arriving people in need and, at the same time, keep away illegal migrants and eliminate criminal activities related to migration. The European Union is destined to spread the principles of peace and unconditional respect for human rights not only within its own borders, but also on a global scale, when engaging in international affairs. In addition to observing human rights, however, the EU must also take into account all security considerations that are pertinent in guaranteeing the free movement of its citizens within the Member States.

The aim of this study is to give a detailed overview about the immigration into the European Union between 2015 and 2019. The paper also outlines some of the risks of immigration and the recent developments of the Schengen Information System and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). The first part of the paper describes the immigration that the European Union has dealt with between 2015 and 2019, underlining the refugee flow in 2015-2016. This part includes statistics on the number of asylum applications and illegal border-crossings. The data is provided by the European Commission (Eurostat) and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. The second part of the paper gives an overview of the European Agenda on Migration, examines the four pillars to manage migration better, including reducing the incentives for irregular migration, border management, common asylum policy and a new policy on legal migration. The third part describes the developments of the Schengen Information System and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency such as new technologies and strengthening border management, expansion of databases, joint operation outside the European Union and return operations. These developments will be essential for a better immigration management and they will make the defense of the European Union more effective, transparent and coordinated in the future.

It is common today, even in the European media, to treat the current crisis of the European Union almost exclusively as an economic crisis. The present article pretends to show that such a focus is not only wrong but is indeed dangerous for the future development of the European Union as a whole. The article will argue that the present economic crisis simply aggravated – and a lot – a crisis of legitimacy through which the European Union has been passing for some time. Showing that the anti-European tendencies which are spreading throughout the countries of the continent threaten the very future of the European project, the article will make suggestion on reforms for the future development of the EU, alerting to the necessity to finally elaborate once again a coherent argument for the continuation of the European integration process which puts the European population at the heart of the political process instead of just austerity.

The aim of this article is to discuss the main benefits of and problems with the creation of the EU single market and to indicate the main activities to eliminate the still existing barriers. The EU single market is the greatest success of European integration. It enables afree movement of people, goods, services and capital; for consumers, this means agreater choice in goods and services as well as lower prices. The EU single market also poses an opportunity for employees and businesses as administrative burdens involved in trans-border activity are decreased. However, in reality, there are a number of barriers hindering the smooth functioning of the single market. For the futurę of the EU single market, it is key to remove these barriers; therefore, it is with this purpose above all that the EU initiatives and activities for the market growth are undertaken. In addition, there are appearing new challenges connected with globalization, technological progress, the growing importance of services, the increase in unemployment in certain countries, and climate and the environment protection.