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The Institute of Enhanced Cooperation in European Union Law: Evolution of Legal Regulation

INTRODUCTION. The article presents the evolution of legal regulation of the institution of enhanced cooperation as a legal form of flexible integration in European Union (EU) law. Flexible integration is a fairly widespread and objectively existing legal phenomenon in the practice of various integration associations. However, it is within the framework of EU law that the concept of enhanced cooperation has received the greatest development and legal regulation. This was largely due to the EU's desire to regularize and subordinate alternative forms of co natural that interstate cooperation within the framework of one or another integration cooperation acquires more and more complex character, and cooperation of the member states of an integration association within the framework of one or another direction of interaction has uneven and heterogeneous character. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The methodological basis of the study was traditional general scientific and special methods of cognition of legal phenomena: comparative legal method; method of scientific analysis; formal legal method; method of synthesis of social and legal phenomena.RESEARCH RESULTS. As a result of the analysis, the main stages of development of prerequisites and reasons for the legal regulation of enhanced cooperation have been identified and the periodization of the development of legal regulation of this institution has been proposed. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Within the framework of the proposals on the periodization of the development of legal regulation of the institution of enhanced cooperation the following stages can be distinguished. The first stage can be labeled as “pre-Amsterdam”. This period is characterized by the formation of conceptual foundations of enhanced cooperation as a legal form of flexible integration. Within the framework of the “pre-Amsterdam” period there is an application of some form of flexible integration (Schengen, euro zone, etc.). The conceptualization of enhanced cooperation as a form of flexible integration was the basis for the normative-legal consolidation of this institution in the founding treaties of the EU. The next stage can be called “Amsterdam-Nicean”. Although the institution of enhanced cooperation received different names in the Amsterdam and Nice versions of the establishing treaties, it seems possible to unite this period into one: despite the normative-legal consolidation of enhanced cooperation as a form of flexible integration, the relevant norms of the establishing treaties have not actually received practical application. Finally, the next stage – the “Lisbon” period is characterized by the active ap[1]plication of the norms of the establishing treaties in the EU practice, including judicial.

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The Procedure for Admitting New Members to the European Union: Legal Aspect

INTRODUCTION. The article is devoted to the process of accession of new states to the European Union (EU). The authors try to demonstrate the evolution of the procedure for admitting new members since the formation of the European Communities and identify the main subjects of this procedure.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The current research is based on various international legal documents, including the founding treaties of the European Union, as well as acts of EU institutions and doctrinal sources.RESEARCH RESULTS. The research represents a retrospective analysis of the formation of the procedure for accession of new members to the European Communities/EU. It was found out that the norms of the founding agreement set only the general legal framework of the procedure, and its specific content differed through out the existence of the European integration project. The actual content of the accession process is determined by the member states, which, through the institutions of the Communities/Union, primarily the Council and the European Council, formulate the criteria and principles of accession. The Commission also plays a significant role in the process. The role of the European Parliament in this procedure is insignificant, although this institution tries to increase its influence throughout the negotiation process. DISCUSSION AND COCLUSION. To sum up, the accession procedure is typologically close to a special legislative procedure. Since its origin the accession of new states to the EU has been transformed from a rule-making procedure enshrined in the founding treaties to a set of various instruments and practices, including non-legal (political) ones.

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The Role of Integration Associations in the Fight against Pandemics on the Example of the European Union and Eurasian Economic Union

INTRODUCTION. The academic value of this article lies in augmenting the scientific understanding of the role of integration unions in healthcare and the methods and means of combating pandemics and epidemics at an integration level. This is achieved by addressing the research objective: to identify the legal and institutional structures and mechanisms existing at the level of integration unions for combating pandemics and their consequences, and to assess their effectiveness. The research objectives are defined as follows: to examine the actions of integration unions in combating the pandemic from legal and material- economic perspectives; to determine the actual role of integration unions in combating pandemics and similar threats to public health for the further improvement of international cooperation and Eurasian integration; to evaluate the compliance of the actions of integration union institutions with their founding documents; and to develop ways to improve integrations in the field of health protection based on the experience gained.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The methodological basis of the research is grounded in the general philosophical method of dialectics. Special and specific scientific methods applied include: the comparative legal method (comparing the legal systems and regulations of different integration unions, and the various measures taken in response to the pandemic), the sociological method (examining the impact of pandemic conditions on society in different integration environments), and the axiological method (studying values as the foundation of integration unions, their reflection, and influence on making internationally significant decisions).RESEARCH RESULTS. In determining the effectiveness of the institutions, structures, and mechanisms of integration unions in ensuring epidemiological wellbeing, a significant role of integrations in counteracting pandemic and epidemiological threats to health has been identified. This is evidenced by the actions and measures taken by the EU and the EAEU during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Aspects of cooperation between member countries (transport communication, coordination of sanitary measures, support of the economy and social sphere, information and experience exchange) and the institutions of these integration unions (European Commission, European Parliament, Eurasian Economic Commission) were dictated by their founding acts (TEU, TFEU, Treaty on the EAEU) and other documents.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. During the crisis, not only challenges requiring solutions in ensuring well-being (balance of freedoms and restrictions, rational allocation of resources, balance of national and integration interests) emerged, but also prospects for the future development of integrations (NextGenerationEU Plan, the emergence of a Global Digital Health Certification Network). Judicial practice was formed (lawsuits by the European Commission, work of the EAEU Court). Conclusions highlight the need to increase the resilience and centralization of EU healthcare systems, prepare the budget for potential future threats, which serves as a useful experience for Eurasian integration, and the importance of deepening integration, reforming existing institutions, and establishing interstate dialogue for the EAEU. The crisis became a catalyst for the development of integrations, the cause of the emergence of new conflicts and contradictions, the solutions of which determined the direction of evolution in the future.

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Topical Issues of International Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Safety

INTRODUCTION. Environmental problems, today, in terms of the degree of harm to the environment and all living things on the Planet, it is not possible to compare with other problems. In January 1997, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, in resolution 15/157, called on States to take decisive measures in matters of carrying out activities in all directions exclusively in accordance with the norms of international law, to implement international legal principles and take measures to join multilateral agreements in order to ensure the development of international law in general and all its branches. Most developed countries have set a course to ensure comprehensive security, the implementation of which is possible only if they take a clear course to ensure the protection of the population through a set of socio-economic, political and environ[1]mental measures. Ensuring environmental safety is an essential part of the problem of the security of the existence of the state as a whole, the resolution of which at the present stage of society's development is becoming as much a priority as ensuring military and economic security. Environmental safety is a set of conditions, processes and phenomena that ensure an ecological balance in the natural environment, the state of protection of all components of the natural environment, a category aimed at maximizing the protection of all natural objects and natural ecosystems from danger (man–made, biological, radiation, chemical, etc.). Environ[1]mental security is opposed to the uncontrolled economic growth that humanity is facing, as well as the complex problem of contradictions between the growing needs of society and the inability of the bio[1]sphere to provide them. In this regard, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, speaking at the Conference on the Problems of the Oceans, rightly stressed the inability of human society to improve what it cannot appreciate. Today, there is no need to prove that environmental problems in terms of the degree of destructive impact and catastrophic consequences for all living things and the planet as a whole cannot be compared with problems of a different nature. The rapid increase in population, the development of new fertile territories, economic growth and, in this regard, the increasingly intensive use of Land spaces and resources have led to serious and sometimes irreversible consequences that negatively affect its condition. Humanity is faced with the difficult problem of contradictions between its growing needs and the inability of the biosphere to provide them.MATERIALS AND METHODS. This study uses the works of both Russian and foreign experts in the field of international environmental and international maritime law. The research used general scientific methods of cognition – analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. Special legal methods were also used in the work – formal legal, technical legal, the method of legal analogy, as well as the comparative legal method.THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY. The analysis of the current practice on environmental safety issues allowed us to draw logical conclusions that, taking into account the need to resolve international and national environmental problems, modern society needs to form a new system of environmental relations, where international relations will be transformed towards giving the highest priority to the problem of environ[1]mental safety, including the primary requirements concerning the rational use of all natural objects: land, waters, forests, etc. in order to ensure the optimal possibility of realizing the ecological function of nature.DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. The preservation of the natural environment is a complex task that requires not only legislative regulation at both the international and domestic levels, but also the formation of a correct public consciousness about its importance for the existence of all life on our Planet, the unity of ecosystems and the value of all components of the natural environment, which, among other things, will allow the world community to unite in ensuring cooperation on global environmental issues, creating a system of universal environmental safety.

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When and Why the Doctrine of a “Rules-Based International Order” Emerged

INTRODUCTION. It is no understatement to say that the “rules-based international order” doctrine, as opposed to the “international order based on law”, has emerged as one of the most debated concepts in global politics during in the late ХХ and early ХХI centuries. This concept presents a framework where general rules of conduct for states, though not norms of jus cogens under general international law, are considered legally binding for all states and other participants in international relations. Consequently, it challenges the traditionally recognized supremacy of international law in governing these relations, seeking to erode established practices of international law-making. This doctrine is actively utilized by leading Western powers to substantiate their political positions and accuse strategic competitors of failing to adhere to these “rules” deemed as legally binding. Understanding the essence and origin of this doctrine is crucial in unraveling its significance. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The set of used methodological approaches encompass a range of general scientific and specialized methods, including historical analysis, formal logic, synthesis, as well as systemic and comparative legal methods.RESEARCH RESULTS. The research indicates that the doctrine of a rules-based international order entered international diplomatic discourse in the early 1990s, arising as a consequence of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a unipolar world.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The author reaches the conclusion that in the context of this emerging unipolarity, the United States deemed it appropriate to unilaterally (or at most in conjunction with its closest allies) dictate universally binding rules of conduct in international relations to the global community. The doctrine of a rules-based internation[1]al order provided the necessary scientific justification to validate such a policy. Initially, this doctrine garnered substantial support in international politics but subsequently faced a decline in its proponents, particularly with the shift towards a polycentric world order. While it continues to exist to some extent, the goals for which it was originally conceived have been largely nullified.

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Legislation of Luxemburg on Natural Resources of Celestial Bodies and International Law

INTRODUCTION. This article examines the space laws adopted by Luxembourg in 2017 and 2020, which allow private persons, subject to the conditions provided by these laws, to explore and use the natural resources of celestial bodies. At the same time, the authors proposed an international legal assessment of these laws.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study of the designated laws of Luxembourg is based on the scientific works of domestic and foreign specialists in international space law, especially in terms of the analysis of previously adopted national legislation on space activities. Both general scientific methods of cognition and methods of legal sciences, including formal-legal and comparative-legal, are used. RESEARCH RESULTS. The analysis of Luxembourg laws in the general context of applicable international law presented in the article shows that these laws have basically adopted the new US legal space policy, initially outlined in the US Commercial Space Launch Competition Act of 2015. At the same time, Luxembourg laws on space activities have proposed a number of legal mechanisms that differ from the US ones, which further exacerbates the interstate competition for a more favorable legal environment for private persons to invest in economic activities in space. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. International legal issues of the use of outer space, including those affecting the status of celestial bodies, have long been resolved at the universal level, primarily on the basis of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. The situation has changed with the involvement of the United States since 2020 of an increasing number of states in a separate treaty-legal regime of space activities created by the Artemis Agreements, concluded by the United States with more than 40 states. These agreements, in turn, adopted the basic provisions of the new US legislation on natural resource activities in space, starting with the aforementioned US Law of 2015. The basic “space” laws of Luxembourg - the Law on the Exploration and Use of Space Resources of 2017 (which established the national legislative basis for the commercial exploration and use of natural resources of celestial bodies) and the Law on Space Activities of 2020 (which clarified this legislative system), while creating a favorable environment for investments by individuals and legal entities of this state in the development of natural resources of celestial bodies, also have negative international legal consequences for the community of states: Luxembourg, with these laws, supported the separate policy of the United States aimed at revising universal international space law, according to which the use of outer space, including celestial bodies, constituting the “patrimony of all mankind”, “is carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries” (Article I of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967).

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