European Union Institutions Research Articles

Is China's rising presence in Hungary since 2012 impacting on Hungary's relations with the EU?

Hungary has been an active participant in China’s 16+1 initiative which is a cooperation scheme launched by Beijing in 2012 to facilitate comprehensive cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries. The relationships between China and Hungary have improved greatly since then and China’s political and economic presence in the country is increasingly visible. Apart from the Budapest-Belgrade railway, the recent high-profile Chinese investment in Hungary includes a vaccine plant and Fudan University branch campus in Budapest. Since their bilateral relations have deepened, will China’s political and economic presence in Hungary impact Hungary’s relations with the European Union (EU) and the EU’s unified stance towards China? This article evaluates the impact of the 16+1 initiative on Sino-Hungarian political and economic relations and the impact of their engagement on Hungary’s relations with EU institutions and initiatives.

The European Dimension of the 'talks process' in Northern Ireland.

Analysis of efforts to develop peace in Northern Ireland often attributes the foundation of the peace process to the dialogue between the then Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, and the Social Democratic and Labour Party's (SDLP) former leader, John Hume, in the late 1980s. However, it has been recognized that attempts to forge peace have a longer timeline, involving the interplay of several national and international historical contexts in which the European Community (EC) / European Union (EU) dimension and the role of the EU institutions in restoring peace and reconciliation has been generally neglected. The objective of this article is therefore to examine the European dimension of the Northern Ireland talks process, addressing the whole range of relationships affecting the political stalemate in the years preceding the signing of Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (GFA). Drawing on never-before-seen United Kingdom (UK) government and EC/EU archival documents and semi-structured élite interviews, this article highlights how the original dialogue on power-sharing and devolution in Northern Ireland included a much stronger EU dimension that it is publicly acknowledged. This article constitutes an emblematic case-study on the 'Europeanisation' of British politics in Northern Ireland, with findings uncovering a new and subtle dimension of the EC/EU role in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Imagining Europe

AbstractWhat can the cultural study of law tell us about the European Union (EU)? How can we study the European political imagination? This paper demonstrates that the European political imagination is both composite and multifaceted. It is structured not merely by EU law but also by the constitutional orders of the EU Member States. A cultural analysis of European law must therefore include the constitutional worldviews of the Member States. In the political imagination of most of the Member States, “Europe” plays an important symbolic role. Yet since the Member States are shaped by different ‘varieties of constitutionalism’, the meaning ascribed to “Europe” is not uniform. The study of the constitutional worldviews of the Member States, however, should not come at the expense of studying the European political imagination sustained by EU institutions. This political imagination is currently undergoing a transformation. EU authority is increasingly legitimized by appealing to the “the people of Europe” and there are calls for “European sovereignty.” This emerging European political imagination transcends the dominant view of the literature where Europe is understood as a space of “post-sovereignty.”

EU Cohesion Policy and Inter‐regional Risk‐sharing: First Evidence and Lessons Learned

AbstractWe provide the first evidence of the role played by the Cohesion Policy in terms of insurance against income shocks affecting the European Union (EU) regions. By following state‐of‐the‐art modelling, we measured income risk‐sharing amongst 270 NUTS‐2 regions over two concluded programming periods (2000–2006 and 2007–2013), distinguishing across several sub‐groups of regions characterized by different macroeconomic conditions, integration of markets and regional levels of economic disadvantage. We found that, by and large, the income risk‐sharing role of the EU Funds inflow is non‐negligible and it becomes particularly relevant in the second programming period. Further, the Cohesion Policy exerted a significant and positive role in income stabilization after the Global Financial Crisis and the Sovereign Debt Crisis and during the negative phases of the business cycle, particularly for those regions lagging or belonging to less stable countries from the macroeconomic point of view (Less Developed regions and Mediterranean EU). This novel evidence of the short‐run stabilizing effect of the Cohesion Policy aims to contribute to the debate on the role of EU institutions in improving the capacity of regions to tackle economic shocks, which is particularly relevant at the launch of the Next Generation EU.

A comparison between the european child guarantee in Poland and in Spain

Under the European Child Guarantee, European Union institutions have recommended thatMember States dedicate some national and union funds, from 2022 to 2030, to support minorsin need in order to prevent and combat their social exclusion. The first step for MemberStates is to present their respective action plans. The European Commission has not publisheda comprehensive comparative assessment of such action plans, hence the interest in doingso, both between Member States and in relation to the goals set by the EU. Spain and Poland,two countries currently with governments of a very different political tendency, are among theeighteen Member States that have done so. The Polish plan places families at its core, whilethe Spanish plan is slightly longer, but contains significant deficiencies as discussed below.

Resisting Europeanisation: Poland’s education policy and its impact on the European Education Area

Since the 2004 accession to the European Union (EU), Poland, like many other post-communist countries, have gone through a significant process of convergence to the EU institutions, laws and processes. In this process, the European values, policies and institutions have become an important reference point for the legitimacy of major national system reforms. In education, there have been a significant number of reforms aligned with ‘European standards’ as integration with the EU was seen as a priority for Poland’s national interest. This paper is interested in the changing policy discourses that have been defining and legitimising Poland’s education policy objectives, with a particular attention given to the idea of ‘quality education’ and the role of education. In this way, it is also interested in the processes of Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation – turning away from ‘EU-isation’ of policies. The emerging picture from the analysis illustrates the tensions between the neoliberal and populist policy discourses pursued by a variety of Polish governments, including significant policy shifts under the government of the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) (Law and Justice) coalition.

The conflict in Ukraine – a turning point for security and defence of the EU?

On 24 February 2022, war returned to the European continent. However, the Russian aggression did has not only affected Ukraine and its people, its negative consequences are being felt by the whole world, including the European Union, its Memeber States and their citizens. Under the influence of the ongoing conflict, the continental security environment and the security situation in the immediate vicinity of the borders of the European Union continue to deteriorate and interstate tensions between states are further deteriorating. At the same time, there is a threat to European values, democracy, freedom, security and prosperity. The aim of the authors' article is to point out the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the current Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union (EU).The article uses the scientific method of critical analysis of the CFSP of the EU and its basic strategic documents in the context of its application in the member countries. The results of the analyses are synthesized in the form of recommendations, mainly concering the timely response of the EU institution to the needs presented by individual member countries in the area of security and defence; investments spent on defence; compatibility of military means and systems; greater cohesion in the field of research and development of the EU member countries.In the conclusion, the author presents the opinion that the shock of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has certainly brought several significant changes, but only a broader transformation of the EU's foreign and security policy can support truly positive developments in this area. Therefore, the question remains unanswered whether the conflict in Ukraine will prove to be a turning point or whether it will remain only an impetus for the accelerating programmes and the developing new formats and initiatives without creating any breakthrough plan for deeper European security and defence integration.

General principles of public administration of climate relations in the European Union

The article is devoted to the study of theoretical problems, the study of the role of the institution of the European Union, which carries out public administration in the field of environmental protection and climate change prevention.
 In the article, the author focuses on the fact that since the middle of the last century in Europe, there has been a significant deterioration of the environment, and the rise in temperature indicates significant problems associated with climate change.
 It is noted that public administration in the field of environmental protection and climate change prevention in the European Union by institutions implementing state policy in the specified field. The author investigated the formation of a system of bodies (institutions) of general and special competence in the field of environmental protection and climate change prevention in the EU.
 The author focuses on the fact that the formation of legal regulation of environmental and climate relations, as well as public administration in the specified area, was significantly influenced by the holding of the UN Stockholm Conference on environmental problems.
 The article examines the role of the European Union institution in the field of environmental protection and climate change prevention. It was concluded that the EU institutions are the main regulators of integration processes that ensure the consistency of the EU policy, especially in the field of environmental protection and climate change prevention.
 The article analyzes the system of bodies of special competence of the European Union and their influence on the implementation of EU policy in the field of environmental protection and climate change prevention. Also, in the article, the author emphasizes the areas of activity of non-governmental international organizations that contribute to the improvement of environmental protection and prevention of climate change.
 The author researched the experience of organizing public administration in the field of environmental protection and climate change prevention in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Italy and concluded on the expediency of borrowing the experience of the EU states in Ukraine.

Executive power in European Union politics

AbstractIn the multilevel system of the European Union (EU), national governments have been empowered at the expense of parliaments. We study the executive power shift in EU politics in the formation of national preferences. This article shows that governments are more likely to integrate parliaments and external actors, such as other governments and EU institutions, when they advocate extreme bargaining positions in EU negotiations. We theoretically develop this argument and provide an empirical study of Eurozone politics, covering the preference formation of 27 EU member states. The analysis shows that the executives are overall the dominating power: most of the time, governments form national preferences on their own. When governments integrate additional actors, they mostly rely on external actors and do so to avoid blame and to shift responsibility. These findings question whether the integration of national parliaments in EU politics indeed addresses democratic accountability concerns.

More Flexible, Less Productive? The Impact of Employment Protection Legislation Reforms in Italy

ABSTRACT Through a meta-analysis of all publicly available research over a span of 25 years, the article assesses the productivity impact of the employment protection legislation reforms that have been introduced in Italy since 1997. European Union institutions and domestic reformers advocated the reforms in order to increase the competitiveness and productivity of the Italian economy. Yet, by incentivising temporary employment, the reforms have favoured competitive strategies that have reduced the productivity of the country’s firms.

Az Európai Ügyészség együttműködési keretrendszere a megerősített együttműködéstől távol maradó tagállamokkal és harmadik országokkal

June 1, 2022, is one of the most important milestones in the development of European criminal law. On this day, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators and their accomplices of crimes against the financial interests of the Union, started its operation. Although the EPPO is the first European Union institution with independent investigative and prosecutorial powers, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Hungary have not yet joined the founding Regulation adopted within the framework of enhanced cooperation. Due to the nature of some transnational crimes affecting the economic interests of the European Union – the value of which, according to some estimates, reaches EUR 50 billion per year – there arises a need for the political engagement of member states and third countries that have not yet joined the Regulation. In this paper, I will attempt to explore the mechanism that the EPPO can use should these countries get involved.

Golden visas and golden passports policy crisis in the European Union

In recent years, residence by investment schemes (RBI), so-called “golden visas”, and citizenship by investment schemes (CBI), so-called “golden passports”, have been established in several countries around the world. They are legal mechanisms of states that allow third-country nationals to obtain a residence permit or citizenship in a host country on the basis of a significant financial investment in his/her territory under less stringent conditions than under the standard procedures. Although this topic has received global attention, we analyse, in this article, the present issue in the European Union (EU) regional context. From the beginning, these schemes have been a point of contention between the EU institutions and the Member States that operate them. Such practices are generally perceived as opening up a privileged path for the richest third-country nationals to the EU territory and EU freedoms with an impact on all EU Member States. Due to the problems related to these schemes, combating RBI and CBI has become an EU agenda. Ever since the establishment of golden visas and golden passports policies in some EU Member States, they have been subject to external influence, not only by pressure from the EU but also by other circumstances (home affairs and public opinion in Member States, Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) with a direct impact on their functioning and their very existence. This article primarily identifies these circumstances and analyses their implications for RBI and CBI schemes in the EU. At the end of the article, we conclude that in the regional context of the EU, the policies of golden visas and golden passports are in crisis and their existence in their current form is under threat.

ПРАВОВЫЕ ОСНОВЫ РЕФОРМЫ МЕСТНОГО САМОУПРАВЛЕНИЯ В АРМЕНИИ

The article analyses the legal methods used by the Republic of Armenia to develop local representative bodies. The author believes that Armenia’s experience is of particular interest primarily because, immediately after independence in 1991, the republic, unlike many other post-Soviet states, chose the Western vector of development, including at the legislative level. Accordingly, all subsequent reforms were carried out with assistance, including financial one, and under the strict and continuous supervision of numerous international institutions. The paper chronologically describes the evolution and development of local government, starting with the widespread, sometimes excessively hasty, dismantling of the old Soviet state and administrative framework. It outlines the difficulties of introducing new forms of government and administration at all levels. The article considers in detail the successful and unsuccessful attempts at reform in that direction, and analyses the reasons for the failures. The forms of Armenia’s interaction with the European Union and international institutions are studied, and the interim results of such cooperation are presented. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the most acute issues typical of local administrations in almost all post-Soviet states, among which the author prioritises conflicts between different levels of government and administration, provoked mainly by a struggle over the scope of power and financial resources.

Legal Status of European Union Bodies and Institutions in the Field of Cybersecurity

The relevance of the reasearch topic stems from the fact that different state bodies are involved in addressing cybersecurity services. While each of the state bodies has their own goals and objectives, the successful resolution of the issues entirely depends on their effective cooperation. The existing resources and expertise available in the EU member states and corresponding EU institutions, bodies and agencies provide a solid basis for a collective response to cybersecurity threats. As a result, the EU has established a system of cyber security risk management bodies. The purpose of this article is to investigate the activities of key EU cyber security authorities. To achieve this goal and analyse the activities of the main EU bodies in the field of cybersecurity , the author has used several methods, such as the systematic approach, the formal-legal method, the comparative-legal method and the historical method. The author has come to the conclusion that cooperation and information exchange are essential elements in addressing cyber security issues. At the same time, to achieve coherence among cyber security bodies, the EU is taking measures to strengthen their joint work. In addition, it has been concluded that the EU, as a regional integration organization where member states act on the basis of mutual trust, is a reliable platform for addressing cyber security issues.

Fight against doping, good governance, and education

This paper researches the roles and responsibilities of National Olympic Committees (NOC), especially the Czech Olympic Committee (Czech NOC), in anti-doping education. Good governance is an increasingly important condition of the self-regulatory autonomy of anti-doping organizations (ADO) in the European Union (EU). Moreover, the principles of good governance identified by both, the EU bodies and institutions, and the IOC, cover education. In this context, the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) outlines the educational roles and responsibilities of NOCs. Nevertheless, concrete form and implementation of such roles and responsibilities remain vague and unclear, which may jeopardize NOC’s good governance, integrity, and management in the fight against doping. Therefore, the research objective of this paper is to clarify and establish concrete roles, responsibilities, and strengths of NOCs, particularly the Czech NOC, in anti-doping education. This paper initially reviews the social science research and the existing knowledge on the concrete roles and responsibilities of NOCs. Consequently, it presents the conducted empirical research, employing three main data collection techniques: surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Finally, this paper formulates recommendations and an action plan on how the Czech NOC, and similarly all NOCs, should use their strengths to exercise their roles and responsibilities in anti-doping education effectively and sustainably. It simultaneously suggests how the Czech NOC and other NOCs should plan, implement, and evaluate their education programs to prevent doping in sports and strengthen their good governance in and beyond the EU.

FOOD CONTAMINATION – CHARACTERISTICS AND LEGAL REGULATIONS. PART I – PLANT TOXINS

Food health safety is a set of conditions that must be met and actions that must be taken at all stages of production of or trade in food in order to ensure human health and life.. Food safety is guaranteed by appropriately shaped food law, and the food safety policy pursued by the European Union institutions covers all stages of the food chain, from production to consumption, and guarantees the clarity of infor mation on the origin and composition of food and its labelling. However, not all hazards can be completely eliminated from food, which is why their residues are strictly regulated by law. The key solution in this area was Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1881/2006 of 19 December 2006 setting the maximum levels of certain contaminants in foodstuffs. This legal act, which had been supplemented and amended many times, was replaced by Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 of 25 April 2023 on the maximum levels of certain contaminants in food and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1881/2006. The aim of the work was to characterize plant toxins as contaminants in food, the highest permissible levels of which were introduced by amendments to Regulation EC 1881/2006 and included in the current EU Regulation 915/2023. Results and conclusions: Numerous amendments to Regulation 1881/2006, and consequently Regula tion 2023/915, introduced the highest permissible levels for the following plant toxins: erucic acid, tropane and pyrrolizidine alkaloids and opium alkaloids, hydrogen cyanide and cyanogenic glycosides, and delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol equivalents. Due to the potential threat of these substances, their highest residues in individual foodstuffs must be regulated and monitored as part of official food control activities, while when obtaining raw materials that may contain this type of substances, it is necessary to follow appropri ate recommendations and good practices.

Improving policing in a multicultural society in the Republic of Latvia: theoretical legal aspects

On analysing the Latvian regulatory framework governing the work of the state police in a multicultural society and the practice of its application, the author proposes a number of improvements, mostly concerning the internal regulatory framework of the state police. With respect to the practice of applying the legal framework, the author proposes to follow the recommendations of the European Union institutions and the best practices of the Member States in this area, with emphasis on the Recommendations on Policing in Multi-Ethnic Societies developed by the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In the author’s opinion, this article will become a useful source of information for both state police officers and other law enforcement officers performing their duties in a multicultural society and will facilitate their interaction with representatives of national minorities and other social groups.

Procedural legitimation of private parties before the Court of Justice of the EU in the light of Carvalho case

The paper discusses the position of private individuals as applicants before the Court of Justice of the EU, particularly in the context of cases related to regulating the consequences of climate change and environmental protection. Individuals wishing to challenge measures of European Union institutions related to climate change face, for now, an insurmountable obstacle in proving the existence of an individual concern as a condition for filing an action. After analyzing the positive legal regulation of procedural legitimacy for private individuals and briefly considering cases before the Court of Justice of the EU related to the regulation of the consequences of climate change, the paper outlines how the Court interprets the existence of an individual concern as a condition for filing an action.

Where would we be without CESAA

Most Australians have limited knowledge or appreciation of the European Union (EU), its structure and processes. The relationships between the 27 Member States and the EU institutions mean little, let alone the complex arrangements and checks and balances in place, on the one hand to promote European integration, and on the other, to protect and promote the rights and interests of the nations which form the membership of the EU.

EU Institutions: Revisiting Gender Balance and Women’s Empowerment

Equality Gender balance between men and women is one of the most current controversial issues in recent years that provokes a number of debates, questioning whether it really exists or is instead a myth. This article examines how the issue is regulated by European Union (EU) law and to what extent the legal framework is implemented into the current composition and work of European institutions. The trend of women’s empowerment is examined on the example of some of the EU institutions, mainly the European Commission and the European Parliament. The authors point out that, at the moment, three of the institutions included in the single institutional framework of the EU are headed by women—Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola, and Christine Lagarde—and the European Ombudsman is a woman. This represents an undisputed achievement in the field of gender balance at a higher political level within the EU as well as the appointment of the first-ever commissioner for equality. The newest secondary legislation framework is observed: Directive 2019/1158/EU on work–life balance and the latest development with regard to the female representation on corporate boards (Women on Boards Directive). The article also concludes that while some of the institutions have managed to make steps towards a real gender balance during recent years, not all of the Member States have experienced such progress, and this is evident in the organization and work of the Council of the EU. Although the introduction of quotas for women on company boards has been assessed ambiguously, it represents a necessary action ‘to break the glass ceiling’ and would give a new impetus to women’s empowerment within the EU.