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Engl. Zsfassung u.d.T.: Lithuania during the reform diet: up until the 3 May 1791 Constitution

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.

Straipsnio tikslas - irodyti, kad demokratijai kaip politinei santvarkai nereikia religijos, kaip ja papildancio veiksnio. Irodymas grindziamas lyginamaja Alexis'o de Tocqueville'io ir Johno Rawlso paziuru analize. Tocqueville'io nuomone, demokratijai reikia religijos, kaip ja papildan-ciu morales normu saltinio. Rawlsas demokratija suvokia kaip savaran-kiska politinio gyvenimo forma, nepriklausancia nuo religiniu isitikinimu. Tocqueville'io ir Rawlso paziuru lyginamoji analize leidzia paaiskinti itampa tarp demokratijos ir religijos. Net ir siekdamas kuo didesnio nesaliskumo, demokratinis rezimas yra saliskas tam tikroms filosofinems prielaidoms, ku-riu negali pripazinti tikintieji The aim of the study was an analysis of two the conceptions of relationships between democracy and religion. One of these conceptions was created by Alexis de Tocqueville. He thought that democracy needs religion as an element that enriches it and helps in removing some negative tendencies inherent in this form of government. He understood that democracy was coalesced with the philosophies that were alien to religion, however, he demanded an alliance of democracy and religion. The other object of philosophical analysis is John Rawls. The theories of this author show an important change in the relationship of religion and democracy, which stems from the fact that he equates religion with philosophy. The Political Liberalism of Rawls helps us understand why democracy as a form of government has no need of religion. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of this article is to explore the bargaining process of the EU Financial Perspective 2007-2013 & to provide the conceptual explanation of the particular result of this bargaining. Although quite a number of drafts have been discussed among member states, three of them characterize the most important turns of the bargaining: Commission's Proposal, the Luxemburg's Compromise & the Decision of the European Council. Andrew Moravcsik's Liberal Intergovernmental Approach has been applied as the methodological tool for the analysis of the EU Financial Perspective 2007-2013. Moravcsik assumes that European bargaining is a two level game. A two level game is a metaphoric concept describing how the interaction between the domestic pressure groups & decision makers formulates national preferences & how political leaders on the European level represent those national preferences. On both levels pragmatic economic interests are the driving factors of different actors. It should be emphasized that states are the main players in EU arena, whereas supranational institutions play a supporting part. Five different groups or informal coalitions could be found in the recent bargaining for the Financial Perspective. The key interest of rich member states (UK, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, & France) was to decrease EU spending -- to cut the contributions to the EU budget. Phasing out states (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece) as former major beneficiaries of EU structural policy strived to diminish financial losses in the new Financial Perspective. Poorer Central European countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic & Hungary) fought for the structural funds. Finally, the UK was alone against the rest of member states which called for the radical review of the British rebate. The comparative statistical & qualitative analysis of those proposals revealed two important trends in the bargaining. First, the EU spending was cut in every turn. Second, the funds for the rich member states were redistributed at the expense of the poorer member states. Certainly, such redistribution did not change the fact that the older member states remained the net contributors & the poor Central European countries gained more benefits compared to the previous Financial Perspective 2000-2006. Besides these two main tendencies the phasing out states succeed to increase the funds for their undeveloped regions & the final Decision of the European Council offered for the UK the most favorable mechanism counting the British rebate. The article reveals the weaknesses of the popular geopolitical interpretations which were proposed in order to explain the strong clashes between member states. The geopolitical & ideological discourse was aimed at neutralizing the domestic pressure. The economic logic to pay less & get more was the dominant thinking in the bargaining for the European financial pie. The asymmetrical interdependence which was the main source of bargaining power during the previous intergovernmental negotiations on Common Market is obsolete in explaining the modalities of redistributional policies. The effect of relative power was limited to the bargaining strategy, however it did not make a remarkable impact to the final agreement. On the contrary, the typical net recipient is a small & poor member state. The author has to come to the conclusion that the poor Central European countries states were forced to support the cuts of the budget & suffered a relative defeat in the bargaining, since they were the main beneficiaries of the common EU budget. It means that the poor Central European countries were the most interested to reach an agreement as soon as possible in order to avoid the risk of facing the EU financial turbulences. For this reason their bargaining power was very weak. Adapted from the source document.

Siame straipsnyje siekiama aprasyti ir paaiskinti esminius agenturu vadovu politizacijos, agenturu skaiciaus ir ju valdymo pokycius, taip pat nustatyti, koks buvo ES poveikis tiems dalykams. Straipsnis pagristas teoriniu europeizacijos ir viesosios politikos poziuriu sinteze, taip pat turimos informacijos ir statistiniu duomenu analize. Nors ES reiksmingai prisidejo prie nauju agenturu isteigimo, jos poveikis siu agenturu islikimui issipletus ES buvo kur kas mazesnis. ES dare itaka agenturu vadovu politizacijos mazejimui per specifinius acquis reikalavimus, o ne politines narystes ES salygas. Tyrimo rezultatai rodo diferencijuota ES poveiki: europeizuotu agenturu valdymas po truputi darosi profesionalesnis, palyginti su neeuropeizuotomis agenturomis The paper compares the actual patterns of agencification and depoliticisation in Lithuania and explains the extent to which the EU contributed to these changes. Based on the transformational approach and theories of public policy process, our framework for analysis links external factors (including the EU's influence), internal factors and our dependent variables (changes in public administration and the impact of the EU). Our research employs (descriptive and inferential) statistical analysis of data on the organisational changes of Lithuanian agencies and political participation of their managers. Furthermore, it follows a longitudinal approach to observe 'net changes' by mapping agencification and politicisation throughout the period 1990-2012. The paper found that the EU made a significant contribution to the establishment of new agencies driven by the exigencies of EU accession, but its impact on the survival of Europeanised agencies was much smaller after enlargement. Overall, the results of our research confirm the stronger and more enduring impact of specific acquis rules in the EU policy domains compared to the much weaker influence of the EU's political conditionality. Furthermore, it points to the importance of interactions between domestic actors that realise particular beliefs and pursue certain strategies to understanding institutional and policy changes at domestic level. Adapted from the source document.

Straipsnyje nagrinejamas politiniu partiju ideologijos veiksnio poveikis lankstisaugos strategijos igyvendinimui Lietuvos darbo rinkoje pirmaisiais seseriais salies narystes ES metais (2004-2010 m.). Pirmiausia, remiantis aprasomaja statistika ir antriniu saltiniu informacija, kiekybiskai ivertinama, kiek si europine iniciatyva buvo igyvendinta Lietuvos uzimtumo politikoje, t. y. koks buvo Europos Sajungos poveikio mastas Lietuvos uzimtumo politikai lankstisaugos pastangu ir proceso pakopose. Tuomet aptariamos salygos ir veiksniai, galeje nulemti pokyciu masta ir pati pobudi. Paskui, atsizvelgiant i tai, jog uzimtumo politikos koordinavimas ES yra grindziamas neprivalomojo pobudzio sprendimais, ir remiantis prielaida, kad tokiu atveju valdanciosios politines partijos tampa pagrindinemis veikejomis, galinciomis imtis tam tikru iniciatyvu ir priimti atitinkamus sprendimus, bus nagrinejamas ju ideologijos poveikis vadovaujantis lankstisauga priimamu sprendimu pobudziui. Tam atliekama kokybine ir kiekybine analizuojamu laikotarpiu Seime pateiktu iniciatyvu uzimtumo srityje (ir susijusiu su lankstisaugos aspektais) analize The object of this article is the implementation of the Flexicurity Strategy in the Lithuanian Labour market. The aim of this paper is to analyse the EU impact on Lithuania's national employment policy in the area of flexicurity and the role of political parties' ideology in this process. To achieve the goal, the concept of flexicurity and its evaluation model were introduced. Then, the Europeanization theoretical approach and the main factors influencing the EU impact on national policies were overviewed. Finally, a piece of the input-process-output model was used to quantify the implementation of Flexicurity Strategy in the Lithuanian labour market. Also, an analysis of legislative initiatives in the Parliament was conducted. It helped to evaluate whether the ideology of the ruling parties influenced the content of law initiatives (in the flexicurity area). Adapted from the source document.