scholarly journals The European Union’s Activity in Regard to the Conflict in Ukraine Before the 2014 Presidential Election

Author(s):  
Michał Rulski

Ukraine is the largest country that is included in European Neighborhood Policy. That is why the European Union should spotlight relations with this eastern partner, especially by foreign policy instruments like association agreement. The focus here is on the EU’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis in period from Maidan revolution at the end of 2013, which was occasioned by the rejection of the association agreement with the EU by President Viktor Yanukovych, and to the presidential election in 2014. The main issue is to evaluate the EU’s scope to stabilize the political environment in the nearby neighborhood and eliminate threats, which are the results of war between Ukraine and Russia.

Oikos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Olga María Cerqueira Torres

RESUMENEn el presente artículo el análisis se ha centrado en determinar cuáles de las funciones del interregionalismo, sistematizadas en los trabajos de Jürgen Rüland, han sido desarrolladas en la relación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones, ya que ello ha permitido evidenciar si el estado del proceso de integración de la CAN ha condicionado la racionalidad política del comportamiento de la Unión Europea hacia la región andina (civil power o soft imperialism); esto posibilitará establecer la viabilidad de la firma del Acuerdo de Asociación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones.Palabras clave: Unión Europea, Comunidad Andina, interregionalismo, funciones, acuerdo de asociación. Interregionalism functions in the EU-ANDEAN community relationsABSTRACTIn the present article analysis has focused on which functions of interregionalism, systematized by Jürgen Rüland, have been developed in the European Union-Andean Community birregional relation, that allowed demonstrate if the state of the integration process in the Andean Community has conditioned the political rationality of the European Union towards the Andean region (civil power or soft imperialism); with all these elements will be possible to establish the viability of the Association Agreement signature between the European Union and the Andean Community.Keywords: European Union, Andean Community, interregionalism, functions, association agreement.


2021 ◽  
pp. 165-183
Author(s):  
Viktoria Ivcenko

Against the background of strong and long-standing energy interdependence between the European Union and Russia, the two partners agreed in 2000 to launch the Energy Dialogue, which was intended to intensify their cooperation and to eliminate related problems. The political and economic dimensions of the EU–Russia Energy Dialogue are presented and studied in this article. The aim is to analyse the scale of their impact on the basis of some important projects within this dialogue, taking into account the overall context. The results of conducted analysis demonstrate that while this comprehensive instrument for jointly creating the future of the two co-dependent partners should bring apparent improvements, its functionality is hindered by various economic and political factors. The latter, in particular, have had a significant impact, putting the Energy Dialogue on hold, not lastly with the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis and growing bilateral and multilateral political tensions. Today, 20 years after the commissioning of this seemingly so fruitful platform of the Energy Dialogue, we are looking at a very disappointing intermediate assessment. Various problems of the Energy Dialogue hinder not only cooperation development based on trust, legal norms and understanding, but also existing and partly active projects, such as the Roadmap EU–Russia Energy Cooperation until 2050 and Nord Stream 2, which are being pushed into the uncertain future. However, in view of existing and possible further projects in the energy sector, it is necessary to create the functional dialogue format.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 438-447
Author(s):  
Anatoly V. Tsvyk ◽  
Konstantin P. Kurylev

This article examines the notion of a Greater Europe in Russian foreign policy from the 1990s to the present. The idea developed as the Russian government sought to establish its national and civilizational identy in the wake of the USSRs dissolution. At the turn of the 21st century, Moscow embraced the idea of a rapprochement with the rest of Europe. Pursuing the notion of Greater Europe, to create a single continental economic, political and cultural space, became a major diplomatic objective as it developed a strategic partnership with the European Union. However, in more recent years its outlook on the world has changed. Furthermore, after relations with Brussels deteriorated in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis and the latters imposition of sanctions has also affected Russian foreign policy. This article considers the emergence and evolution of the idea of a Greater Europe, and examines possible ways to realize this ambition. It argues that a EAEU-EU combination could become a basis for implementing this concept. However, any potential rapprochement can only be possible when the political barriers the EU established in its relations with Russia and the EAEU are removed.


Author(s):  
Tracey Raney

This paper is about the ways that citizens perceive their place in the political world around them, through their political identities. Using a combination of comparative and quantitative methodologies, the study traces the pattern of citizens’ political identifications in the European Union and Canada between 1981 and 2003 and explains the mechanisms that shape these political identifications. The results of the paper show that in the EU and Canada identity formation is a process that involves the participation of both individuals and political institutions yet between the two, individuals play a greater role in identity construction than do political institutions. The paper argues that the main agents of political identification in the EU and Canada are citizens themselves: individuals choose their own political identifications, rather than acquiring identities that are pre-determined by historical or cultural precedence. The paper makes the case that this phenomenon is characteristic of a rise of ‘civic’ identities in the EU and Canada. In the European Union, this overarching ‘civic’ identity is in its infancy compared to Canada, yet, both reveal a new form of political identification when compared to the historical and enduring forms of cultural identities firmly entrenched in Europe. The rise of civic identities in both the EU and Canada is attributed to the active role that citizens play in their own identity constructions as they base their identifications on rational assessments of how well political institutions function, and whether their memberships in the community will benefit them, rather than on emotional factors rooted in religion or race. In the absence of strongly held emotional identifications, in the EU and Canada political institutions play a passive role in identity construction by making the community appear more entitative to its citizens. These findings offer new theoretical scope to the concept of civic communities and the political identities that underpin them. The most important finding presented in the paper is that although civic communities and identities are manufactured by institutions and political elites (politicians and bureaucrats), they require thinking citizens, not feeling ones, to be sustained.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v2i4.179


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
Oleh Predmestnikov ◽  
Vitaliy Gumenyuk

The policy of Ukraine for the establishment and development of relations with the European Union began in 1993, was carried out all the years of Ukraine’s existence, and received intensive deepening with the beginning of the formation of an international treaty – the Association Agreement, which includes a list of legal, social, economic, and technical regulations, and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), in 2014 and its final signing in 2017. Political and economic objectives of the Agreement are of fundamental importance to the future of both Ukraine and the whole European region. The political goal is to implement European standards on the territory of Ukraine. This implies the introduction of fundamental European values, namely democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights and the standards of the European security system. The Agreement does not foresee membership in the European Union, however, does not exclude such an opportunity in the future. The economic goal is to help to modernize the Ukrainian economy by expanding trade volumes with the EU and other countries, as well as reforming economic regulation mechanisms in line with the best European practices. Subject to the improvement of the business climate, Ukraine will become attractive for foreign and domestic investment for further production for export to the EU and other markets of the world. Harmonization of standards and European regulations has become a much more important process than the fulfilment of strictly technical requirements and underlies the introduction of effective governance without corruption. In the process of harmonization of interaction, an adaptive institutional mechanism was formed (the highest level – annual Summits; the key coordinator is the Association Council, consisting of members of the Council of the European Union and members of the European Commission, and members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine; the level of operational coordination – the Association Parliamentary Committee, which includes members of the European Parliament, representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and the Civil Society Platform; in order to coordinate processes on the territory of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government has introduced a few supervisory committees and commissions). The harmonization of the economic aspect of the mechanism has been determined in solving issues of openness of markets for duty-free import from Ukraine in April 2014, obtaining a visa-free regime with the EU, abolishing export-import tariffs, implementing European technical standards for food safety, phytosanitary norms, competition policy, service provision, and public procurement policy. The issues of further deepening of relations include a review of the terms for the introduction of regulations and legislative provisions before their actual implementation, stabilization of financial and economic processes in the country, and further development of democratic values and social institutions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-133
Author(s):  
Mariia Sirotkina ◽  
Olena Lomakina ◽  
Olena Shkarnega

The Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine is a new format of relations aimed at creating a deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) between Ukraine and the EU with the gradual integration of Ukraine into the internal market of the European Union. Focusing on the experience of rule-making of the EU member states, it is necessary to define and implement the legal rules and principles of the national judiciary, taking into account the rules and principles of European law (Chornomaz, 2016). In accordance with the strategy of European integration of our country, the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation is to approximate it with the modern European legal system, which will ensure the development of the political, entrepreneurial, social, cultural activity of Ukrainian citizens, economic development of the state within the EU to facilitate the increase of standards of living of the population. The implementation of the provisions of European legislation provided by the economic part of the Association Agreement (AA) is extremely important in the context of reforms, as the provisions can and should serve as a basis for a new model of socio-economic development of Ukraine. The deepening of the processes of humanization and democratization of Ukrainian society, the gradual introduction of principles and rules of European law into the national judiciary through reforms in the field of justice, inter alia, have led to qualitative updating of criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine, in particular: use of differentiated approach to legal conflicts between persons who have committed criminal offences, which do not pose a great public danger, and victims; simplification and reduction of the procedure of criminal proceedings; ensuring procedural savings; reduction of the caseload; allowing the parties of the conflict to resolve issues of exemption from criminal liability in case of reconciliation between the offender and the victim independently, the appointment of the negotiated punishment and release from serving with probation, etc. Given the specifics of the approach to improving relations with neighbouring countries on a differentiated basis, the EU seeks to identify and base on existing positive sources of sustainability, as well as to monitor and respond to weaknesses with the appropriate set of methods and resources at its disposal. The purpose of the article is to study a theoretical and practical definition of challenges of adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to the legislation of the European Union, institutional and organizational mechanisms of DCFTA implementation in the field of justice and certain norms of the current criminal procedure legislation. Ukraine is undergoing the second phase of radical reform of government structures; it has been continuing for 15 years but, unlike other countries, it is much more difficult for Ukraine to get rid of the burden of past problems. Judicial reform is also underway and domestic legislation is being significantly changed, including the transformation of the judicial proceedings. The topical issue of the development of judicial reforms is an imperfection, and sometimes a contradiction of regulations, which negatively affects the process of realization of rights and responsibilities of all subjects of public relations, slows down the development of Ukraine as a state governed by the rule of law. However, the introduction of institutions of concluding agreements, simplified proceedings, probation, and later mediation, into the criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine indicates the readiness of our state to change the concept of criminal procedure in accordance with the European standards, which will improve the situation of all parties to criminal proceedings. However, they need further completion and improvement. We are convinced that the introduction of such institutions will contribute to the legal development of society to achieve the European standards of restorative justice, which will encourage the further introduction of the latter in the legislation of Ukraine, resolving criminal conflicts by reaching a compromise between parties in cases specified by law. One of the ways to solve this problem in Ukraine is to regulate the process of adoption of regulations by the subjects of rule-making and taking into account the provision that legality as an objective property of law, in general, is the necessary condition and the main principle of the rule-making process.


Author(s):  
Halyna Melnychuk

This article presents important steps and achievements accomplished by the Republic of Moldova towards integration, by analysing its collaboration with the European Union.  The development of relations with the EU is the priority goal that Moldova strives for, which means not only economic, but also political and cultural integration.  The first steps of the Republic of Moldova towards the EU were encouraging.  After years of isolation, this process was difficult and required a lot of efforts.  This is due to many reasons, the most important of which are Russia's political and economic pressure, theunresolved issue in Transnistria, the ideological and geopolitical schisms of the population, some of which see their future with Russia, and the other part with Europe.  Despite the existing problems, cooperation with the EU has yielded tangible results: the EU-Moldova Association Agreement has been signed, the visa regime has been abolished and financial support for the socioeconomic and public sectors is provided.  Moldova, for its part, is making great efforts to form a single political, economic and cultural educational space with the EU, which supports its efforts in the process of European integration.  Its speed and success largely depend on the country itself, its economic and political development.  A strong statepolicymaking aimed at strengthening reforms and stimulating the transition to a market economy in accordance with the international principles is inherent in the future development of Moldova. Keywords: Republic of Moldova, European Union,European Integration, foreign policy, Transniestrian conflict


Author(s):  
Petr YAKOVLEV

The decision on Britain’s secession from the European Union, taken by the British Parliament and agreed by London and Brussels, divided the Union history into “before” and “after”. Not only will the remaining member states have to “digest” the political, commercial, economic and mental consequences of parting with one of the largest partners. They will also have to create a substantially new algorithm for the functioning of United Europe. On this path, the EU is confronted with many geopolitical and geo-economic challenges, which should be answered by the new leaders of the European Commission, European Council, and European Parliament.


2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1349-1370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Manow ◽  
Holger Döring

Voters who participate in elections to the European Parliament (EP) apparently use these elections to punish their domestic governing parties. Many students of the EU therefore claim that the party—political composition of the Parliament should systematically differ from that of the EU Council. This study shows that opposed majorities between council and parliament may have other than simply electoral causes. The logic of domestic government formation works against the representation of more extreme and EU-skeptic parties in the Council, whereas voters in EP elections vote more often for these parties. The different locations of Council and Parliament are therefore caused by two effects: a mechanical effect—relevant for the composition of the Council—when national votes are translated into office and an electoral effect in European elections. The article discusses the implications of this finding for our understanding of the political system of the EU and of its democratic legitimacy.


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