Performance and Distribution

European Papers is conceived of as a cultural project: a tool for reflecting on European integration as a means to create a new political community. European Papers intends thus to be part and parcel of the debate on the process of European legal integration, on its causes and its functioning, on its most remote interconnections with other social events. Its mission is to draw attention to the manifold forms of integrating Europe and to the far-reaching implications of this process. Moreover, such a reflection requires a wider dialogue between the legal experience and other forms of integration, economic, social and cultural. To forge a law journal as an instrument for a cultural mission entails a number of inescapable steps. This conception implies passing over the traditional hurdles of language, nationality and traditions. European Papers could be an ideal opportunity to match this demand, through its multinational governing bodies, whose members share its ideal and cultural philosophy. It further entails the capacity to reconcile antithetical needs. On the one hand, we intend to promote a scholarly debate on the theoretical foundations of the process of European integration in its manifold expressions. On the other hand, the tumultuous development of this process, which takes place on a daily basis, requires an on-going debate on events that incessantly unfold under one’s eyes. To reconcile these apparently antithetical needs, we have thought of European Papers as composed of two parts: a four-monthly e-Journal – i.e. an electronic and open access journal, that emphasises our belief in the open and free character of scientific research – and a “militant” European Forum, designed to be a hotbed of intellectual discussion, a breeding place for ideas, and an indispensable tool for updating and keeping in touch with the latest developments. Finally, the inescapable issue of language. The aspiration of European Papers to be an interlocutor for an open set of recipients entails a multilingual option. Par contre, uniformity reasons, and the need of reaching a wider, potentially universal, readership would plead for a sole common language. The compromising solution, for an uncompromising project, has been the adoption of a dual-track: English, French, Italian and Spanish for the European Forum; English for the four-monthly e-Journal. European Papers is not inspired by preconceived ideas or ideologies. It has been conceived of as an area where every hypothesis about the process of integration in Europe can be freely verified and discussed. It intends to be a living laboratory for the analysis of a social phenomenon whose uniqueness vis-à-vis the contemporary legal and political categories has been widely recognised. Yet, European Papers has the ambition to go beyond this recognition and appreciate, day after day, its technical as well as its conceptual features, in the belief that this is the path through which the scientific knowledge can advance.

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.

The essential objective of this article is to measure and interpret the degree of convergence of social protection benefits in European Union member states as the process of European integration has progressed. In this sense, the article analyses the potential role of per capita income and of the socio‐demographic characteristics of the population as explanatory variables for the levels of social protection provision in European countries. The empirical study focuses on the period from 1985 to 1999, and investigates whether differences in welfare provision levels decreased as European integration progressed, in line with the convergence in economic and socio‐demographic variables between member states.

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 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.

(1985). Security in Europe: Reactivation of the WEU and the process of European integration. The International Spectator: Vol. 20, No. 3-4, pp. 27-33.

The paper is focused on the draft of the process of Europeanization of law. The process of European integration is often understood mainly as an economic process which aims towards the world-wide integration and organization of manufacturing, commercial, banking and financial operations, technologies and information. It is, however, a complex social phenomenon which represents – in addition to economical transformations – a rather complicated cultural, social, political and legal process with an extremely broad impact in all areas of life. Europeanization, the notion increasingly used in connection with the process of European integration, significantly modifies the Czech legal environment, which is regarding to the sphere of enterprise too. Europeanization of law manifests with multi-centrism of sources of law, which brings specific problems both to the bodies which interpret and apply law and also into the legal position of legal entities and their legal awareness.

The relevance of the research topic is explained by the negative impact of integration agreements, in particular the free trade ones, on the list of instruments that the state can use to implement its economic policy in the field of foreign economic activity, in particular - on the list of customs instruments. There is a steady global increase in international trade, coupled with the tendency to gradually reduce trade barriers by most countries. Strengthening integration processes negatively influence the breadth of influence and the list of customs instruments of economic regulation. Given the socio-economic and environmental risks that arise in the absence or lack of state regulation of economic processes, it is important to ensure the effectiveness of those instruments that may still be used under the terms of integration agreements. Additionally, the attention to the customs instruments is increasing in the context of the «economic patriotism» that is becoming popular in USA, Europe and other countries, together with the criticism of the neoliberalism. The coverage of the issue in the works of domestic and foreign scholars is sporadic in nature and is usually tied to the problem of a particular market or industry in a particular agreement. In the last years before the ratification of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, as well as in the first years after, T. Ostashko studied the potential effects of that agreement on the instruments of regulation of certain sectors of the economy of Ukraine. From the point of view of generalization of the practice of state regulation of economy in the European integration processes, it is possible to mention V. Olefir and O. Mitchenok which covers the experience of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Africa, America and the Middle East. The above studies do not consider separate institutes of state regulation of the economy, in particular customs instruments, at a deeper level, focusing on the direct economic processes and the impact of increasing the freedom of trade turnover on national production. The research objective is to analyse the essence and impact of international economic processes on customs instruments for the implementation of the state economic policy in order to develop proposals for the effective use of these instruments. The theoretical and empirical methods of cognition in their dialectical combination are used in this work. In the analysis of existing integration processes, statistical and economic methods, in particular, comparisons, graphic constructions, as well as methods of descriptive and comparative statistics are used. Comparative methods, methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, and also the system method are used to determine the ways of efficient use of customs instruments. system method is used. The dynamics of the development of integration processes and the influence of their various types on the customs instruments both in general and in separate branches are revealed in the framework of this research. The international experience of using customs instruments in these conditions is investigated and the most effective ones are highlighted. The results of this research can be applied in the process of formulating the state economic policies, in particular in the context of international economic activities, food security, protection of the national agri-food market and its elements, support of the national manufacturers. The research has demonstrated that in the framework of the WTO effective applied tariffs may be effectively utilized by approximation to the bound tariffs. Within the framework of bilateral and multilateral agreements, the institute of tariff quote is an effective tool, due to flexibility and potential directions of application, Increasing the country's participation in regional and bilateral trade agreements, albeit with the risk of creating a complicated regulatory «stew» and trade intervention, leaves a sufficient number of customs tools for effective implementation of the state regulation of economy.

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

Polish Best Practices on European Integration Process - Recommendations for Moldova

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Acknowledgements Introduction Spain and the Early Process of European Integration The Spanish Approach to the European Community, 1962 From the Congress of Munich to the Preferential Agreement, 1962-1970 The Crisis of the Franco Regime in European Perspective, 1970-1975 The Transition to Democracy and the European Community, 1975-1977 The Negotiations of Democratic Spain with the European Community, 1977-1985 Epilogue and Conclusion Chronology Bibliography Index

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.

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’.

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?

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.