European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration

The article examines the processes of European integration during the «Cold War» period and analyzes the position of the USSR regarding European integration processes in Western Europe. It is noted that the political leadership of the USSR interpreted the process of European integration as part of the political and economic struggle of «world and European imperialism» with socialist countries. It is emphasized that at the initial stage of European integration, many of its supporters were against the participation of the USSR in European economic integration, not to mention political integration, which was impossible in principle. Insignificant economic relations between the European Communities with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries took place during the period of «detente». They were determined not only by political considerations, but also by economic factors. It is noted that the attitude of the European Community to the Council of Economic Mutual Assistance (CEC) was also negative. The community did not see the latter as a necessary trading partner. The Soviet Union, in its turn, directed its main efforts to the development of trade and economic cooperation with the socialist countries that were part of the REV. At the same time, the USSR did not pay attention to the economic successes of the EU, calling them temporary. It was concluded that the USSR negatively evaluated the European integration processes, especially during the first twenty years. But the successes of Western European integration, the creation of integration organizations in many regions of the world, which took an example from the European Union, forced the Soviet leadership to change its position and also urgently engage in its own integration projects, such as the establishment of the Council for Economic Mutual Assistance (CMEA). Despite all the efforts of the Soviet leadership, CMEA could not become the core of integration in its true sense, because at the very beginning of the association’s existence, such key principles of integration processes as voluntariness and equality were grossly violated.

European integration is becoming more and more a process influencing not only politics and economics, but also the European citizenry. In the wake of this development, the scientific interest in European integration has also changed decisively: In addition to the analysis of the political and economic integration processes, the investigation of the societal causes and consequences of European integration is increasingly moving into the scientific spotlight (Diez Medrano 2003; Gerhards 2007; Recchi and Favell 2009; Favell and Guiraudon 2011). If the analysis not only concentrates on changing political or economic patterns but also on societal developments, then one major problem becomes crucial: the very limited time horizon on which a scientific investigation on the societal dimension of the integration process can be based. Twenty years (since the Maastricht Treaty and the invention of European Union Citizenship) or 30 years (since the Single European Act and the founding of a common market in 1986) do not appear to be an appreciable time period for tracing the societal consequences of institutional changes in the course of European integration. So it is not only the often cited (and even more often criticised) methodological nationalism of the scientific community (Chernilo 2006; Beck and Grande 2007) that makes it extremely difficult to conduct sociological research on European integration processes: the very short life span of the subject under investigation, its present-mindedness,1 also constitutes a methodological problem for the research on European integration.

The Process of European Monetary Integration: A Comparison of the Belgian and Italian Approaches

The study of European integration tends to focus on formal aspects of the integration process: formal decision-making procedures, the role and functioning of institutions, the provisions contained in the treaties, the operation of regulatory regimes in the various policy areas. This is hardly surprising: what is distinctive about the integration process in Europe – what distinguishes integration in Europe from international co-operation in other parts of the world – is the creation and growth of a unique institutional and legal framework structuring the relations between the participating states. An early and still important contribution to the understanding of the integration process has been the 'integration through law' school which regarded the development of a supranational legal order as the key factor in the explanation of the integration process (Cappoletti et al 1986).If the formalisation of inter-state relations is regarded as the essence of the integration process, it is hardly surprising that scholars should concentrate on the formal procedures and the institutionalised arenas for decision-making. However, as has become increasingly evident in the course of recent developments in the European Union, there is an important undercurrent to the formal integration process. This concerns the operation of informal networks which link policy-makers to client groups as well as actors across EU, national and sub-national institutions, and influence (or at least seek to influence) decision-making in the EU. This practice of informal governance is, of course, not a recent phenomenon, but a long-standing dimension of EU politics. This is a recognition that has been reflected by some approaches to European integration: in particular the literature on policy networks and the new institutionalism writing of the 1990s have picked up on the less formal aspects of the EU policy process. Nevertheless, informal governance has never been systematically studied and assessed: this is the void that this volume seeks to fill.

Governance Territoriale Comunitaria e Sistemi di Pianificazione. Riflessioni sull'Allargamento ad Est dell'Unione Europea

This study asks how and to what extent political parties in six West European countries - Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK - have addressed the process of European integration in national election campaigns since the 1970s. Based on a content analysis of newspaper data, the results show that Eurosceptic mobilization in national election campaigns has become most pronounced in countries where the public have always been rather apprehensive about European integration. In line with the ‘new cleavage’ hypothesis, in Switzerland and the UK mobilization around European integration is primarily driven by conservatives and/or the new populist right. In countries where the process of European integration is politically less salient, conservatives and/or the new populist right have been less Eurosceptic and their mobilization efforts have been more limited. While providing mixed support for the ‘new cleavage’ hypothesis, the study provides scant support for the received wisdom that Euroscepticism among political parties is essentially dictated by ‘opposition politics’.

This article examines the development of trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and EU countries in light of the deepening of Ukraine’s European integration processes, as well as identifying the main trading partner countries of Ukraine that are members of the EU. Special attention is paid to analyzing the geographical structure of Ukraine’s foreign trade with the EU in 2014 and 2024 to understand the dynamics and changes in the structure of partner countries and the impact of geopolitical circumstances on economic interaction. It is shown that the share of EU countries in Ukraine’s total trade turnover was 35.14% in 2014 and increased to 53.82% in 2024, indicating a deepening interaction between the countries and a strategic reorientation of the Ukrainian economy towards the European market. The impact of key economic agreements between Ukraine and EU countries that had a direct influence on the development and orientation of the Ukrainian economy has been analyzed. These include: the Association Agreement with Ukraine, the ACAAA agreement, the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement, and customs initiatives on the part of the EU. It has been shown that the process of European integration influences the growth of trade turnover in the Ukrainian economy and also has a direct impact on the development of the reform activities of the Ukrainian government in the areas of digitalization, transparency, compliance with standards, and anti-corruption efforts. New challenges have been outlined that Ukraine will face in the process of European integration, namely: the need for harmonization of legislation, combating the shadow economy, modernization and development of infrastructure, and the adaptation of Ukrainian businesses to operate under the conditions of the single European market. The article concludes that further deepening of economic integration with EU countries is not only an instrument for the development of the domestic economy but also a guarantee of economic resilience to future challenges. The process of Ukraine’s European integration significantly impacts the development of society, business, and the State, and will inevitably conclude with Ukraine acquiring the status of a full-fledged participant in the European space. The findings of this study may be used in the future for analyzing and developing strategies for deepening Ukraine’s European integration processes and its development vectors.

The research is aimed at identifying the prospects related to select areas of integration of Ukraine with the countries of the European Union, in the context of their choice of civilisational identity in the 21st century. The identity is understood as a civilisational category, hence it equally refers to spiritual culture (history and related fields) and material culture (first of all: technology and economy). The proper understanding of a dilemma faced by Eastern Europeans requires references to the sources of cultural legacy which shape social emotions significant for that region, in order to outline the prospects for the ongoing processes, with the use of the adequate political analysis. Considering relations between academic activities and practice, the research is of applied character, and its aim is to increase scientific knowledge of European legacy of Ukraine with regard to the processes of European integration. The systemisation of the current knowledge of the process of integration taking place in Eastern Europe is to provide a diagnosis oriented towards identification of a place and an attitude towards the contemporary European integration processes represented by Ukraine. The subject of the research is the process of social and political European integration and the place of Eastern Europe in a system perceived as such. The authors present their attempts at providing an answer to the following question: Do – and to what extent - Ukraine tend to follow the pro-Western orientation in the selected areas of their operations and do this country develop their institutional cooperation with the European Union?

The process of European integration on which we are embarked has raised many hopes and fears. Crudely put, the major hope is that the process will result in economic and social benefits on such a scale that, even if there are some imperfections in the distribution of the benefits, all parties will gain and the need to redistribute will be within the ability of the European Community using the institutions and mechanisms that it currently has or is currently intending to introduce. Whether the gains will be sufficient is something we will only know after the event but the decisions over how to proceed and what precautions to take have to be made as the integration proceeds. Failure to act early enough will run the danger that the process of integration will itself be halted and such benefits as are potentially available will not be realised and hence not redistributed.KeywordsMember StateForeign Direct InvestmentInternal MarketPublic InterestMonetary UnionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Problem setting. Since gaining independence, Ukraine has been steadily moving towards integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures. However, the process of acquiring membership of our state in the European Union is quite long and involves a number of criteria, in particular, in addition to the general ones specified in Art. 49 of the Treaty on European Union of 1993, and additional Copenhagen criteria to be met by the applicant state. European integration processes have a positive impact on the development of Ukraine as a democratic, social, legal state, strengthen its position in the international arena, contribute to economic reforms. Which, in turn, should be demonstrated in practice by bringing Ukraine closer to the requirements set by the EU for states that have expressed a desire to join the union. Recent research on the topic. Various aspects of the issue of European integration were developed primarily by European lawyers and political scientists, among whom the works of K. Baimi, A. Bogdandi, J. Buchanan, M. Burgess, W. Della Sala, A. Dashwood, G. De Burke are of special interest. J. Zimmerman, L. Cartou, N. Catalano, P. King, P. Craig, D. Lassok, S. Leikoff, W. Ostrom, D. Sidzhansky, R. Watts and many other authors. The list of scientific researches is not limited to the works of Western authors, as the integration process is quite dynamic, and therefore scientists are no less interested in the scientific developments of their colleagues from countries seeking to gain EU membership, including Ukrainian lawyers, including I. Bratsuk, O. Golovko-Gavrisheva, V. Kopiyka, T. Komarova, K. Smirnova, L. Luts, M. Mikievich, Z. Makarukha, V. Muravyov, V. Poselsky, R. Petrov, O. Tragnyuk, I. Yakovyuk and others. The purpose of this research is to analyze the current state of the legislative, legal and economic base of Ukraine for compliance with the Copenhagen criteria for accession to the European Union. Article’s main body. The article is devoted to the issue of Ukraine's compliance with each of the Copenhagen criteria. First of all, the authors note that the main purpose of the Copenhagen criteria is to select the most "worthy" applicants for membership in the Union. And compliance with these criteria must indicate the ability of the state to perform the duties of a member state of the Union. In addition, specific examples are given of the requirements that Ukraine has met as of 2021 and that it must meet in the near future. It indicates in which direction Ukraine should move in order to acquire the full status of a member state of the European Union. In conclusion, the opinions of scientists on the prospects of Ukraine's further accession to the European Union are presented. Conclusions and prospects for development. The research shows that Ukraine does not yet fully meet the Copenhagen criteria for accession to the EU, as for a number of objective and subjective reasons there is a lack of stable economic development and a well-established understanding of the direction of the political movement. Despite significant advances, national legislation also needs to be improved. After the entry into force of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the development of integration processes has significantly intensified. The implementation of the planned reforms is undoubtedly able to bring our country's accession to the EU closer, which should add optimism and encourage daily work in this direction.

Researchers have posed questions concerning the dynamics and crisis of European integration since its beginnings. They have proposed and continue to propose new research fields and questions on the theoretical and empirical approaches to the issue of irregularities in the Euro- pean Union, in particular the most recent ones. The author of this paper joins this trend, and takes a standpoint with respect to the (dependent and independent) variables that define the distorted dynamics of EU integration which have been analytically determined. The author intends to expose the distorted dynamics of the EU system and European integration, as well as the crises that accompany them, fuelling numerous academic, political and media debates and polemics. The research agenda of both an epistemological and empirical nature concerns the academic search for an anti-crisis finalite politique. The paper confirms the pluralistic nature of integration ideology, where no single theory or theoretical concept suffices to explain the increasingly complex, multi-directional crisis-related phenomena and interactions following from European integration. Therefore “the Union as described and academically analysed” is not always equivalent to “the Union in action.” That is why we are dealing with the growing detachment of theoretical concepts from the practical activities within the process of European integration. This paper demonstrates that the theoretical attempts at presenting European integration and its crises result in a certain permeation of paradigms between different concepts and in spontaneous promulgation and ‘merging’ of selected elements of theoretical outlooks that were assigned to quite different, or even contradictory theories and concepts.

Contents: Introduction, Woosik Moon and Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan. Peace and Security - The Political Dimension of Integration: The experience of European integration in an historical perspective, Frank Delmartino Asian regionalism: a post-crisis perspective, Hyun-Seok Yu. Economic and Trade Integration: History and process of European economic integration, Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan Economic integration in East Asia: a Japanese view point, Motoshige Itoh. Monetary Cooperation: European Monetary Union and its implication for Asia, Robert Boyer Monetary cooperation in East Asia, Woosik Moon, Yeongseop Rhee and Deokryong Yoon. Culture and Values: Culture, values and European integration, Ludger KA hnhardt Culture, values and regional integration in Asia: critical reflections on the politics of regional identity, Stephanie Lawson. Conclusions: Can Asia emulate Europe?, Philomena Murray Index.

This chapter analyzes the process of European monetary integration, focusing on the decades that led up to the creation of the common currency. This is because this period is one in which, as in the gold standard era, national governments had to decide on their currency policy, and, again as in the gold standard period, there were major domestic political conflicts over this choice. The battles over exchange rate policy in Europe since the early 1970s were at the center of the broader process of European integration. The eventual adoption of the euro was perhaps the crowning achievement of prointegration forces, and both the process and result reflect the central realities of contemporary Europe's political economy.

This is the first book to look at the process of European integration by drawing on both established and new trends in postmodern thinking and analysis. The book asks how we can study the process of European integration in the current climate, and maps out the central elements of the academic debate dealing with the future of integration, and 'Europe' in general. The author stimulates fresh readings of the European issue, encouraging the development of new analytical horizons. This is a significant cutting-edge contribution to debates in politics, comparative politics and European studies.

Presentation of different party / program standpoints by political parties in the political scene during the mankind history has influenced the fact that the political parties have played an irreplaceable role in the establishment of democracy. In this article we will discuss the empirical validity of the views of Kosovar political parties in relation to the process of European integration, because party attitudes can often be transformed into state attitudes. In order to give an answer to this complex phenomenon, qualitative methods such as content and document analysis and interviews will be used in order to gather and analyze the data found. The findings of this article are very significant because, based on the analysis of party documents and the responses received from the interviews, we can conclude that the views of Kosovar political parties have not only prioritized European integration but also linked them with the idea of functioning of a modern state. In this regard, the importance of this research is related to the facts and a realistic situation to understand the complexity and the importance of the integration and transformation processes. In this context, the views of Kosovar political parties go beyond the themes of European integrations, they actually link this concept to a much wider dimension of social transformation, because it includes fundamental democratic values. In this form, by such standpoints, political parties transmit to Kosovo society an interethnic and religious awareness and tolerance.