Stage Of European Integration Research Articles

Philosophical and Social Foundations of European Political Identity in Crisis Against the Background of the New Stage of European Integration


 
 
 The article is dedicated to the problems of European political identity and European identity as a whole conception and as a foundation for European integration. Before 24 February 2022, European political identity had been in crisis. The contradictions between the EU member states seemed to be hardly resolvable. The Russian aggression against Ukraine gave a strong impetus to the formation of European identity. However, it is still a negative incentive for unity and solidarity rather than cohesion around positive values, as well as from the outset the European integration was caused by devastating World War II as a negative experience, which should never be repeated. The text makes use of methods peculiar to the philosophical sciences, i.e. critical textual analysis, historical-analytical and comparative methods.
 
 

Аналіз забруднення сільськогосподарських територій України та можливість застосування міжнародних інноваційних підходів у вирішенні проблеми

The article analyzes the main indicators that characterize the degree of environmental pollution, the level of expenses for the elimination of the consequences of pollution and the level of application of innovations for the purpose of ecological production: Global index of food security, Global index of waste, Volume of costs for waste management by type of disposal, depending on the level of the country's income, the main indicators that determine the resource intensity of waste, the Global Innovation Index. Innovative approaches and policies of EU countries in the fight against waste and greening of production have been studied. The directions of the development of environmental policy of Ukraine at the stage of European integration are characterized.

Study of export and import turnover of the regional development of the national economy by the method of clustering objects in the context of European integration processes

The European course of development of the national economy, which was taken back in 2014, is undergoing certain stages of transformation. At the first stages of European integration, a number of transformational transitions took place from partnership from the "Eastern" direction to a clear vector towards EU countries and global partnership. The Ukrainian production system was morally and technologically outdated a long time ago. New external factors, such as Covid-19, introduced their transformational changes in management and the transition to "digitalization" of both production and information and management flows. The study of the potential of export-oriented regions of Ukraine will allow to determine priorities in the introduction and implementation of European standards and requirements, such as for production, compliance with European requirements for product quality, environmental requirements, and other aspects, the standards of which are prescribed in the road map of Ukraine's accession to the EU, and, accordingly, European integration processes for all enterprises and companies of the national economy. The external aggression of the Russian Federation in 2022 only accelerated the processes of European integration transformations for the sectors of the national economy, the products of which are primarily exported to EU countries and the world. Such goods include products of the agro-industrial sector, mineral products, wood and wood products. And if agro and food products make up 53% of the total export in Ukraine in 2022, the share of metallurgy is only 4.3%. In our article, we investigated which sectors of the economy are a priority for the support of state and European institutions and financial foundations, for further dynamic development and investment and economic support. Also, in our article, we conducted research and modeling of the regions of Ukraine, which are the largest clusters in terms of export and import turnover. Such research using modern scientific methods of cluster analysis will allow to unite the regions of Ukraine in one cluster according to the level of export and import turnover. This will allow identifying the potentials in the regions of the lower clusters and increase their potential opportunities in the future to develop those sectors of the national economy that will be able to ensure the growth of export-oriented products. The development of the metallurgical sector of the national economy and military-oriented production will allow not only to increase the defense capability of our country, but also to increase the share of export-oriented products, and accordingly to significantly improve the production potential of the national economy. The use of modern Python-type software in our article allows you to visualize all the performed stages of modeling using cluster analysis.

Financial and Economic Security in the Field of Financial Markets at the Stage of European Integration

Purpose: the aim of this article is to study the features of the financial and economic security of the integrated financial market of the EU   Theoretical Framework: the concept of financial security was considered as a complex multi-tiered system. The theories of healthy competitive investment environment, and theory of capital markets functioning were employed in the study.   Design/Methodology/Approach: the instrumental and methodological apparatus of the work is based on the use of general methods of scientific knowledge: comparison, abstraction, analysis and synthesis. Dialectical metod was used, as well as formal-logical, problem-theoretical, systemic-structural, and the method of comparative legal analysis.   Findings: the EU has achieved noticeable success in providing economic security of financial markets over the past decades. The EU experience in this area can be considered the most complete. The uniqueness of this experience is also proven by the fact that it is based on national achievements and the centuries-old financial culture of the EU member states, among which several states are rightfully recognized as global financial players and have the status of international financial centers.   Research, Practical and Social Implications: For global expert and regulators community, turning to the EU experience is not only valuable, but also relevant, under the necessity to consider the best world practices when creating a common financial market.   Originality/Value: the EU experience in the field of financial and economic security of financial markets is systematized not at the level of individual EU members, but at the level of EU as a community in whole.

EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AS A CHALLENGE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ECONOMIC STATE SOVEREIGNTY

One of the most significant modern examples of political and economic integration for Ukraine is the EU, given the plan for European integration. In gaining membership in this integration entity, states face the issue of delegating their powers to the Union. The issue of modification of state sovereignty in the context of the EU’s relations with member states and candidate countries for EU membership is acute, which raises concerns about the forced restrictions on their state economic sovereignty. The methodological basis of the study are such general-science and special methods as historical-legal, dialectical, comparative-legal, and others. The historical-legal method was used to study the genesis of the content of the legal categories of ‘economic sovereignty’, ‘sovereign debt’, and the stages of European integration. The usage of the dialectical method provided a comprehensive study of the process of forming EU economic policy, as well as defining the ratio between the categories of ‘economic sovereignty restriction’ and ‘restriction of sovereign economic rights of the state’. By using the comparative-legal method, the paper reveals the specifics of the approaches of individual states to the legal regulation of relations to ensure economic sovereignty and economic security of the state. The study, based on the experience of the new EU member states, has shown that European integration as a whole contributes to changing the volume of sovereign powers of states during the implementation of economic state sovereignty. However, the authors conclude that such a process is twofold: on the one hand, factors that objectively reduce the economic sovereignty of countries through the delegation of their sovereign rights are increasing, and, on the other, most states voluntarily and consciously accept such restrictions to obtain economic, political, and social benefits.

The Idea of Discursive Constituent Power

The question addressed by this article is whether a form of constituent power exists at the EU level. It is argued that European integration has not suppressed the idea of people as constituent power. Instead, the idea of ‘people’ has been constructed through the discourses of security and rights. Ever since the early stages of European integration, the security and rights discourses have consisted in the articulation of a meta-constitutional rationale, which is here called the ‘security of the European project’, i.e. a form of political morality that is pursued by the EU as a polity over time and aims at its own survival. Security and rights discourses have contributed to constructing two ideas of ‘people-as-constituent-power’. The first idea is that of ‘mobile people’, i.e. people exercising EU free movement rights. The second idea is that of ‘peoples’ in the plural, conceived as States and citizens at the same time. Nevertheless, these discourses are characterised by a certain degree of ambiguity and have been unrolling as if the development of the EU polity was a mere technical, neutral matter. This state of affairs cannot continue: the European project has always been a political project, and, as integration reaches its more advanced stages, the time has come to disclose its political nature and address conflict openly.

The ‘16+1’ Framework and China-EU Cooperation in the Western Balkans: A Region Building Perspective

This paper adopts a region-building perspective to shed light on the nature of the 16+1 framework and elucidates what it means for EU-China cooperation in the Western Balkans. By comparing the 16+1 framework with the European approach to region-building in the Western Balkans, the paper argues that the Chinese and European approaches towards the Western Balkans are largely complementary rather than competitive as China’s engagement works to facilitate the EU’s agenda in the region. The ‘outside-in’ perspective brought about by China via the 16+1 framework could contribute to region- building in the Western Balkans and the EU and China could jointly move forward the next stage of European integration.

유럽통합의 단계성과 좌우 변화에 관한 연구

2019년 유럽의회 선거는 전통적 좌우정당의 약세가 국내뿐만 아니라 유럽 수준에서도 확연하게 드러났다는 점에서 또 다른 의미를 갖는다. 1979년 직선제를 도입한 이후 처음으로 좌우 정당 그룹이 과반에 실패하였고 대신 친유럽과 반유럽 성향의 새로운 좌우 정당 그룹 간 대결구도가 강화된 것이다. 이러한 변화는 유럽의 통합과 연동되는 모습을 보이는데, 즉 유럽이 경제적 통합에서 정치적 통합으로 나아갈수록 회원국내 정책 결정에 미치는 영향이 커지면서 좌우 균열의 성격 변화로까지 이어지고 있는 것이다. 본 논문은 유럽의 통합과 국내 정치적 균열구조의 연동성을 살펴보는 데 있다. 이를 위해 유럽통합의 단계성을 살펴보고, 그것이 국내수준에서 균열구조와 어떻게 연동되는지, 그리고 오늘날 난민문제로 어려움을 겪고 있는 유럽의 현재 위치에 대해서도 점검한다. 이를 통해 향후 유럽의 통합을 전망하는 데에 하나의 관점을 제시하길 기대한다.

Features of functioning of the marketing system of rural territories of the border region at the present stage of European integration of Ukraine

The article investigates the development of marketing of rural areas of the border region in which the main socio-economic and integration processes affecting the functioning of the rural economy are taking place. Priority attention is paid to actualization of marketing issues in the activities of local self-government bodies of rural communities of Ukraine in the context of the new challenges of European integration. The main components of the marketing system of the rural areas of the frontier region are outlined, which should be focused in the process of adaptation of the institutional environment of Ukraine to the institutional standards of the EU: social and economic potential of the rural territory, contractors (subjects of economic activity), markets (agrarian, financial, labor resources, etc.), intermediaries (public authorities and local self-government, educational institutions and scientific institutions, public organizations, etc.), competitors (rural areas of other regions gions, including neighboring border regions of the EU member states) and contact points (potential investors, media, political parties and movements, etc.). The specifics of the formation and development of the marketing system of the rural territories of the border region are investigated. In particular, based on the application of the cluster analysis method, four main types of rural areas in the Lviv Oblast (clusters) were identified, for each of them there is an own model of optimal development of the marketing system: a cluster of high investment attractiveness; satellite-transit cluster; agrarian cluster; conditional peripheral cluster. It was revealed that the main problems that restrict the development of marketing of rural areas in each of the four types of clusters mentioned above, as in the Lviv region, as well as in other border regions of the EU with the regions of Ukraine, are: low level of financial capacity of local self-government bodies of rural communities, The number is due to the small number of their population, small-scale agricultural production, which is carried out mainly in private peasant farms, as well as the presence of a number of socio-psychological problems caused by poverty of the rural population, its social apathy and pessimism. The key barriers to be addressed include: under-financing of the rural marketing sector as a whole and the lack of attention given to its development by the heads of local government bodies of rural communities; low quality of human and social capital of the village, generated by the outflow of skilled personnel in the city and abroad; the lack of modern marketing, transport and logistics and engineering infrastructure, which complicates the formation of a positive image of rural areas and the attraction of foreign capital and investment resources in their development; demotivation of business entities for the introduction of innovations and establishing mutually beneficial cooperation with territorial communities, which makes it impossible to effectively implement public-private partnership projects at the local level.

A tale of two crises? A regional-level investigation of the joint effect of economic performance and migration on the voting for European disintegration

Hard-line Euroscepticism appears to be, nowadays, a persistent phenomenon of the later stages of European integration. However, it is unclear to what extent the joint effects of economic insecurities and growing numbers of immigrants play a role in determining the people’s choice to actually support hard-line Eurosceptic parties with their vote. Building upon the existing body of literature on the economic determinants of voting for anti-European parties, this study brings the analysis further by breaking down the electoral performance of strictly Eurosceptic parties for different types of elections at the regional level, accounting for within-country variations otherwise lost in national-level analysis. We build a dataset including the regionally distributed results of all electoral episodes (regional, national, European) between 2007 and 2016 in Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Italy for a total of 522 elections. Methodologically, the paper adopts panel-level econometrics.

A Step Closer to a Transnational Party System? Competition and Coherence in the 2009 and 2014 European Parliament

AbstractAt this stage of European integration and given the high degree of Europe's politicization and salience caused by the recent global financial crisis, representative democracy in the EU can only function if parties mobilize beyond borders. We examine whether European Party Groups (EPG) in the European Parliament (EP) offer distinct policy alternatives and how coherent these are. We use party position data collected by two Voting Advice Applications designed for the 2009 and 2014 EP elections, respectively (EUProfiler and Euandi). We find evidence of competition between EPGs groups on both left right issues and European integration; on the latter issue, there is greater differentiation within the anti‐EU camp. Coherence within EPG exists, though it varies across issues, EPGs and between election years examined: it is greater on European integration than on left–right issues and it is particularly high for right wing eurosceptics though for most parties it deteriorates between 2009 and 2014.

CONCEPT OF COMPETENCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS

This paper explores the problem of harmonization of educational thesaurus which requires urgent attention in the process of creating European Higher Education Area and developing of common educational standards. All policy documents, the reports of the European Council and guidliances contain key educational terms that require proper understanding and interpretation in both the member states and in countries that are at the stage of European integration. The paper also reviews the issue of the coordination of international educational thesaurus with the national one, what raises the question if it is possible to unify educational terminology in Europe and beyond? Besides, the authors make an overview of the genesis of the competence movement in the EU, the USA, Australia and Ukraine to evaluate this question. It has become evident that there is still considerable misunderstanding of the integrated approach to concepts of competence and competency. These definitions are found to be too broad, abstract and general and not unified for higher education both on international and national levels.

FREE ECONOMIC ZONES AND DEVELOPMENT OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN THE EUROINTEGRATION PROCESS

Free zones are the way for increasing the production, export and employment. In some, globally significant economies, free zones are the factor of growth and technological progress. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the field of free zones has appropriate legislation, but the economic results are still minor. In EU, free zones are important for economic development, especially in certain regions. The issue of free zones is being handled within the communitarian legislation, through customs' and other regulations. The regulations of the protection of competition are especially important because the privileges in zones are contrary to the rule of protection of competition in the common market. From Ruding's report and Primarolo group to the present, the Union is making efforts to harmonize these opposites. The EU has affirmed the development model of free zones opening. Bosnia and Herzegovina is at the stage of European integration, at which, in the mid-2015 Bosnia and Herzegovina came into the full implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). It's appliaction will also change the circumstances in the opening of free zones and inflows of Foreign direct investment (FDI). It is realistic to expect that the EU will show low level of interest for investing into free zones in Bosnia and Herzegvina, while the interest of non-european countries, especially Asian countries, will be increased. Free zones in Bosnia and Herzegovina could become the bridge for better transfer of goods and technologies into the European Union.

LABOUR PROTECTION AND INDUSTRIAL SAFETY IN UKRAINE: PROBLEMS OF TRANSITION PERIOD AND PERSPECTIVE WAYS OF DEVELOPMENT

Based on comparative analysis of the industrial accident causes in Ukraine and EU countries this article establishes that the main accident reasons are organizational ones (50 to 70% of the total number of cases), however such indicators as the registered in Ukraine fatal cases frequency coefficient (per 1 thousand of employees) and the fatal accidents-total accidents number ratio are greater than the similar indicators in Europe by about 2- and 100-fold, respectively. It is noted that the issues of improving the work safety in Ukraine towards the association with the European Union should be considered in the context of two main planes, which are associated with changes in the legislative and educational systems. Within this article, the authors analyse the main inter-sectoral and sectoral regulatory legal acts on labour protection, in particular in the field of providing for fire, explosion and electrical safety, and relevant documents relating to the creation and maintenance of a comfortable environment at work. Based on the conducted analysis, the problems of adapting the national legislation in the field of labour protection and industrial safety to the legal framework of EU, the problems concerning the unsystematic character and selective approach to the implementation of appropriate changes, and potential hazards that can occur at all stages of the life cycle of technical systems in the event of their introduction are determined. The main differences in the systematic approach to the professional training of students in higher educational institutions (HEI) of Ukraine and EU countries (Poland, for example) in the field of labour protection and industrial safety are singled out. It is noted that in the Republic of Poland numbering the population correlative with Ukraine the quantity of special educational institutions preparing specialists in the field of labour protection in relation to the total number of higher educational establishment is 1.9 fold greater than the corresponding figure in Ukraine, and the number of subjects with regard to the issues of the labour protection and industrial safety, which are taught to students in fulfilling the work programmes at nonspecialised Polish higher educational establishments is greater than that in Ukrainian several fold. The statistical data regarding the dynamics of the accident number increase in Ukraine and their causes within a period of  “Зернові продукти і комбікорми”, 201643 http://www.grain-mixedfodders.com Зернові продукти і комбікорми Vol.64, I.4/ 2016 2015 and 2016 are presented and analysed in the context of recent negative changes including the reduction of class hours for students learning the disciplines of "Sectoral Labour Protection", "Basics of Labour Protection", "Foundations of Life Activity Safety" and "Civil protection", merging such subjects, and cancellation of the graduation project relevant sections in most HEI of Ukraine On the grounds of the research, priority directions for developing the labour protection and industrial safety in Ukraine on the stage of European integration are proposed.Based on comparative analysis of the industrial accident causes in Ukraine and EU countries this article establishes that the main accident reasons are organizational ones (50 to 70% of the total number of cases), however such indicators as the registered in Ukraine fatal cases frequency coefficient (per 1 thousand of employees) and the fatal accidents-total accidents number ratio are greater than the similar indicators in Europe by about 2- and 100-fold, respectively. It is noted that the issues of improving the work safety in Ukraine towards the association with the European Union should be considered in the context of two main planes, which are associated with changes in the legislative and educational systems. Within this article, the authors analyse the main inter-sectoral and sectoral regulatory legal acts on labour protection, in particular in the field of providing for fire, explosion and electrical safety, and relevant documents relating to the creation and maintenance of a comfortable environment at work. Based on the conducted analysis, the problems of adapting the national legislation in the field of labour protection and industrial safety to the legal framework of EU, the problems concerning the unsystematic character and selective approach to the implementation of appropriate changes, and potential hazards that can occur at all stages of the life cycle of technical systems in the event of their introduction are determined. The main differences in the systematic approach to the professional training of students in higher educational institutions (HEI) of Ukraine and EU countries (Poland, for example) in the field of labour protection and industrial safety are singled out. It is noted that in the Republic of Poland numbering the population correlative with Ukraine the quantity of special educational institutions preparing specialists in the field of labour protection in relation to the total number of higher educational establishment is 1.9 fold greater than the corresponding figure in Ukraine, and the number of subjects with regard to the issues of the labour protection and industrial safety, which are taught to students in fulfilling the work programmes at nonspecialised Polish higher educational establishments is greater than that in Ukrainian several fold. The statistical data regarding the dynamics of the accident number increase in Ukraine and their causes within a period of 2015 and 2016 are presented and analysed in the context of recent negative changes including the reduction of class hours for students learning the disciplines of "Sectoral Labour Protection", "Basics of Labour Protection", "Foundations of Life Activity Safety" and "Civil protection", merging such subjects, and cancellation of the graduation project relevant sections in most HEI of Ukraine On the grounds of the research, priority directions for developing the labour protection and industrial safety in Ukraine on the stage of European integration are proposed.

РОЛЬ МАРКЕТИНГУ В РОЗВИТКУ СІЛЬСЬКИХ ТЕРИТОРІЙ ПРИКОРДОННОГО РЕГІОНУ: ЄВРОІНТЕГРАЦІЙНИЙ КОНТЕКСТ

Окреслено пріоритетні напрями розвитку сільських територій у руслі політки європейської інтеграції України. Доведено необхідність впровадження сучасних управлінських технологій у практику діяльності органів місцевого самоврядування сільських територіальних громад України. Першочерговий акцент зроблено на сільських територіях прикордонних регіонів України, які найбільш відчутно стикаються із сучасними викликами європейської інтеграції нашої держави. Відзначено необхідність забезпечувати першочерговий розвиток маркетингу сільських територій у прикордонних регіонах України в таких ключових напрямах: інституційно–економічному, інформаційно–управлінському, соціально–культуральному. На цій основі здійснено систематизації основних завдань розвитку маркетингу сільських територій прикордонних регіонів України у кожній із трьох окреслених площин, відповідно до основних викликів сучасного етапу європейської інтеграції України. Розроблено пропозиції для органів державної влади та місцевого самоврядування України, в яких першочергове значення відведене начально–освітній та інформаційно–консалтинговій компонентам з метою підвищення якості управлінської підготовки працівників органів місцевого самоврядування сільських територіальних громад у прикордонних регіонах України. Показано, що більшості європейських урядів довелося відмовитися від надміру витратної системи прямої бюджетної підтримки сільсько­господарських товаровиробників. Замість цього було впроваджено механізм фінансових субсидій, спрямований, насамперед, на стимулювання інновацій в аграрному секторі економіки, а також на ведення екологічно безпечного сільського господарства. Крім того, суттєво зросла частка витрат на розвиток інфраструктури сільських територій та фінансування програм соціально–культурного розвитку села. Аналізуючи особливості функціонування інституційно–правового механізму реалізації спільної аграрної політики ЄС, відзначено, що в ЄС дедалі частіше організаційною платформою для здійснення заходів з розвитку сільськогосподарського виробництва стають не стільки фермерські господарства чи агрокорпорації, скільки сільські території та сільські громади загалом. Перспективою подальших наукових досліджень у руслі окресленої проблематики є виявлення резервів нарощування людського потенціалу сільських територій в умовах поглиблення європейської інтеграції України
  

ІНФРАСТРУКТУРНЕ ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ КОНВЕРГЕНЦІЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ СІЛЬСЬКИХ ТЕРИТОРІЙ В УКРАЇНСЬКО–ПОЛЬСЬКОМУ ТРАНСКОРДОННОМУ РЕГІОНІ

Розглядаються основні проблеми економічного розвитку прикордонних сільських територій України в умовах активізації транскордонного співробітництва з Польщею. Доводиться, що конвергенція економіки сільських територій в українсько–польському транскордонному регіоні виступає важливим чинником поглиблення інтеграції між обома державами та індикатором успішності євроінтеграційного поступу України. Вона забезпечує інтенсифікацію руху товарів і фінансових ресурсів між сусідніми прикордонними територіями обох держав. Крім того, завдяки конвергенції відбувається зближення стандартів ведення аграрного бізнесу, що створює сприятливі передумови для реалізації спільних транскордонних інвестиційних проектів у межах сільських територій українсько–польського прикордоння.
 Особливу увагу акцентовано на необхідності удосконалення інфраструктурного забезпечення сільських територій в українсько–польському транскордонному регіоні. Обґрунтовано, що модернізація інфраструктури чинить суттєвий позитивний вплив на ефективність використання потенціалу сільських територій України в умовах транскордонного співробітництва із Польщею. Акцентовано увагу на актуальності інноваційного розвитку прикордонної, транспортно–логістичної, інформаційної та маркетингової інфраструктури, передусім з огляду на економічні виклики, породжені сучасним етапом європейської інтеграції. Доведено, що особливо важливого значення з погляду поширення конвергенції в українсько–польському транскордонному регіоні сьогодні набуває розвиток інституційної інфраструктури, яка забезпечує укорінення нових форм економічної інтеграції між суб’єктами аграрного ринку.
 Запропоновано заходи, орієнтовані на першочерговий розвиток інфраструктури сільських територій в українсько–польському транскордонному регіоні. Зокрема, з метою стимулювання конвергентних процесів між прикордонними сільськими територіями України та Польщі пропонується здійснити низку заходів, пов’язаних з модернізацією транспортних комунікацій, включаючи розбудову транспортно–логістичних центрів, покращити рівень інформаційного забезпечення сільських територій у прикордонних регіонах України, передусім на основі покращення доступу до Інтернету та мобільного зв’язку, а також стимулювати процеси сільськогосподарської кооперації та налагодження сучасних форм транскордонних економічних взаємодій між господарюючими суб’єктами аграрної економіки, локалізованими по різні боки кордону.

A Comparative Perspective on Institutional Quality in Countries at Different Stages of European Integration

AbstractThe paper investigates changes in institutional quality in countries at different stages of European integration over the seven‐year period from 2004‐11. It analyses two countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) region, two from the Western Balkans and two EU Member States from South East Europe. The analysis reveals differences between the country groups in the extent of institutional convergence, in perceptions of corruption and in the pace of democratic consolidation. Analysis of changes in a newly constructed index of institutional quality in the public sector reveals a further falling behind the EU in some key dimensions. We conclude that the EU did not play an important role as a ‘transformative power’ in the two ENP countries over the period up to 2012, and that the process of institutional reform was incomplete due to an absence of a clear European perspective.

ТРАНСКОРДОННІ АСПЕКТИ СОЦІАЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ КОНВЕРГЕНЦІЇ РЕГІОНІВ: ЄВРОІНТЕГРАЦІЙНИЙ КОНТЕКСТ

The current stage of European integration of Ukraine is determined by the intensification of partnership relations with the EU in the all planes of socio-economic interaction. In particular, it concerns development of cross-border cooperation and capacity of cross-border markets potential. Because of that the problems of cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and EU today becomes more urgent. One of the key criteria of successful cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and the EU is the alignment of proportions of economic development on different sides of the border. In this sense, an important indicator of the quality of transboundary cooperation is cross-border convergence of regions. It reflects the socio-economic effect from implementation of transboundary projects and plays an important role in the context of leveling the existing threats and challenges of cross-border economic, social and information security. Alignment the quality of life and standards of economic development on different sides of the border eliminates a number of risks associated with the spread of destructive forms of cross-border cooperation, such as smuggling at cross-border markets, illegal labor migration, corruption at the border crossing etc. The priority instrument of transboundary convergence spreading is the institutionalization of cross-border space. First of all it concerns the formation of the legal support, oriented to the deployment of convergent processes. In addition, institutionalization concern such key elements of transboundary cooperation as the functioning of cross-border institutions, the eradication of transboundary institutional dysfunction, and a decrease the level of transaction costs of participants of cross-border markets. Important way to stimulation of cross-border convergence is the formation of joint cross-border brands for each of cross-border regions between Ukraine and the EU. On this basis, should be developed appropriate strategies for development of cross-border markets. Such strategies should ensure the maximum use of socio-economic potential of corresponding cross-border regions, and also should form grounds for the spread of convergent processes within them.

European Economic and Monetary Union: History, Trends, and Prospects

This paper analyses in depth the law of European Economic and Monetary Union, as well as its history, trends and prospects. It is divided into seven sections. Section 1 is the introduction; it deals with the history of monetary union in Europe and outlines some basic concepts. Section 2 considers the conditions for the adoption of the euro. Section 3 deals with economic union/economic policy coordination. Section 4 examines the European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank. Section 5 deals with the law of the euro. Section 6 deals with the external relations of the euro. Section 7 presents some concluding observations and recommendations, as well as a brief update of recent developments.1 In this way an author has described the signing of the Maastricht Treaty of 7 February 1992, in particular due to the objective assigned to the then3 Community of building an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The same author envisages EMU as the third major phase in the construction of the Community, after the signing of the Rome Treaty itself and the Single European Act on the completion of the single market.4 EMU is not indeed a policy like the others that are provided in the EC Treaty. It is another stage of European integration.5 As coined by the ‘Delors Report’ to which reference will be made later on, EMU ‘would represent the final result of the process of progressive economic integration’.6 According to the same report, EMU ‘would imply complete freedom of movement for persons, goods, services and capitals, as well as irrevocably fixed exchange rates between national currencies and, finally, a single currency. This, in turn, would imply a common monetary policy and require a high degree of compatibility of economic policies and consistency in a number of other policy areas, particularly in the fiscal field.’7 These two sentences encapsulate the concept of EMU for its founders. Article 119 of Title VIII on Economic and Monetary Policy of the TFEU (slightly revised in comparison with Article 4 of the EC Treaty in the Nice version) includes these different elements and, in addition, the reference to free competition, but without expressly alluding to EMU. In the concept of EMU as used in the Treaties, monetary union is clearly the central and most innovative element.

European experience for East Asian integration: ideas, national interests, and the international circumstance

This paper traces the possibility of East Asian integration through comparison with the early stage of European integration on three different levels: ideas, national interests, and international circumstance. Judging from the European experience, ideas always come first, then national interest contests, and eventually the international circumstance conditions the context. I compare the multilateral approach in Europe with the imperial hegemony competition in East Asia, Adenauer’s regionalization policy in Europe with the Yoshida line of Westernization detouring from Asia, and the US and Russia’s different roles in the two regions as external forces constraining the international order. My conclusion for the future of East Asia is located somewhere between views of procedural divergence and fundamental skepticism. I worry about integration for the sake of integration in which regional integration is presupposed as inherently good. Such discourse will easily be deteriorated and such a blind community simply collapses when circumstances change. For these reasons, there needs to be an adequate discussion regarding for what, by whom, and through which method integration is achieved.