Spain and the European Union

Author(s):  
Arantza Gomez Arana

The development of political and economic relations between Spain and the European Union commenced in 1970 with their first agreement and demonstrated the clear interest on the Spanish side to engage with this new Community. The full membership to the then European Community that took place in 1986, was previously supported by the Spanish political class when the country returned to democracy. In the more than three decades of membership, Spain has become the border of Europe in a key geopolitical part of the continent. It has contributed to the development of several Justice and Home Affairs measures and it has helped to the development of European external relations with other countries. Thirty-four years after joining the Community, history has demonstrated that Europhilia is still more important than any unintended consequences developed with the membership, including the Eurocrisis. Its roots could be found in Spain’s recent political and economic history, where isolationism and impoverishment dominated the country for most of the 20th century and the option of joining the Community was seen as a positive move against their political and economic problems. The membership has provided stability in some Spanish political and economic matters, but has not fully resolved the long-term and structural problems that this Iberian country suffers from. However, throughout this journey, Spain has held to a pro-EU sentiment, even in recent times, while other EU countries suffer from high levels of Euroscepticism. This chapter argues that despite some of the negative consequences of joining the European Union, Spain’s recent history has been too significant to transform its Europhilia into Europhobia.

Author(s):  
T. S. Malakhova

In modern conditions, the external economic relations between countries of the vanguard and periphery are becoming increasingly controversial and ambiguous. Undoubtedly, the problem of inequality between the mentioned groups of countries has been always acute, and many schools of economics have been working on a solution of this question. This problem has escalated after the first wave of the global economic crisis (2008–2009). Despite everything, countries of the vanguard continue to promote principles of the neoliberal model through international organizations and financial institutions, which turned out to be unviable due to numerous reasons. The article deals with economic and trade relations between countries of the vanguard and periphery within the European Union, problems and controversies of their interaction and provides with a prediction of further development of the integration group. It may definitely be said that the liberalization of the external economic relations between partners has led to the increase of inequality among them, deepening of structural problems in countries of the periphery and to the stifling of their social and economic development. On that basis, the reasons of transformation of the European Union in context of the modern global instability have been outlined, as well as two groups of country outsiders in this association. The article shows that countries of the South and Central and Eastern Europe have found themselves in a financial bondage to the core countries and that their further membership in the EU will lead to even more harmful consequences and to a deep transformation of the whole EU.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 1980-1996
Author(s):  
T.S. Malakhova

Subject. Foreign economic and trade ties among countries are getting tighter and less predictable in the early 21st century. This directly stems from a growing disparity of partners, especially if it goes about their future cooperation as part of integration groups or international organizations. Communities of experts suggest using various approaches to locally adjusting integration phases, especially implementing the two-speed integration in the European Union. Objectives. The study is an attempt to examine an improvement of foreign economic cooperation and suggest its implementation steps for the European Union. This all is due to considerable inner controversies and problems within the EU, which grow more serious year by year. Methods. The methodological framework comprises the historical logic, dialectical principles, scientific abstraction method. The process and system approach was especially important for justifying the implementation of the above steps. It was used to examine foreign economic relations of partners in the European Union. Results. The article sets forth the theoretical and methodological framework for the geostrategic economic bloc, including a conceptual structure model. I present steps to implement a foreign economic cooperation of partners in the EU in terms of its form. Conclusions and Relevance. Should the form of the foreign economic relations among the EU countries be implemented, counties at the periphery of the EU will be able to become active parties to the integration group.


Author(s):  
K. Gylka

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 28 European countries. The population is 508 million people, 24 official and working languages and about 150 regional and minority languages. The origins of the European Union come from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), consisting of six states in 1951 - Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. These countries came together to put an end to the wars that devastated the European continent, and they agreed to share control over the natural resources needed for war (coal and steel). The founding members of ECSC have determined that this European project will not only be developed in order to share resources or to prevent various conflicts in the region. Thus, the Rome Treaty of 1957 created the European Economic Community (EEC), which strengthened the political and economic relations between the six founding states. The relevance of the topic stems from their desire of peoples and countries to live better. The purpose of the study is to identify the internal and external development mechanisms of European countries and, on this basis, to formulate a model of economic, legislative and social development for individual countries. The results of the study provide a practical guideline for determining the vector of the direction of efforts of political, economic, legislative, humanitarian, etc.


Author(s):  
Alexandra Vilcu

The external migration of a significant part of Romania's high-skilled population is a social phenomenon which became increasingly frequent starting from the 1990s, right after the fall of the communist regime. The basis for this phenomenon consists of several causes: globalization, the strengthening of international economic relations, and later on, Romania's adhesion to the European Union. Research has shown that of all high-skilled population, the professionals who emigrate more frequently consist of engineers, teachers, medical staff, scientific researchers, economists and architects. Besides, the chosen destinations have been variable throughout time. The first phase in time took place in the 1990s, when a large part of the high-skilled population chose to emigrate for professional purposes in countries such as The United States of America, Canada, Germany or Israel. The second important phase occurred after year 2000, when the focus was placed on EU countries, especially after Romania's integration. Apart from temporary unqualified migration, the number of high-skilled migrants and those who leave the country to continue their studies also soared. The chosen countries generally include Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, France and Austria. Given these differences in the tendencies of high-skilled migration, this paper will offer an insight on how the phenomenon evolved, and the factors that caused these variations in space and time. Most likely, some of the countries that were preferred have been facilitating the integration of high-skilled immigrants in society, as opposed to unqualified ones, through a selective set of laws and social policies which are meant to favour this social category. Therefore, we will discover and analyze various examples and benefits of legislation and social policies which offered social protection to high-skilledimmigrants in various countries. This paper is made and published under the aegis of the Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy, as part of the programme co-funded by the European Union within the Operational Sectorial Programme for Human Resources Development, through the Project for Pluri and Interdisciplinarity in doctoral and post-doctoral programmes. Project code: POSDRU/159/1.5/S/141086


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-91
Author(s):  
L. S. Voronkov

The paper is dedicated to the differences between the classical instruments for regulating interstate political and trade-economic relations from those used in the development of regional integration processes. Traditionally, the Eurasian Economic Union is compared with the European Union, considering the EU as a close example to follow in the development of integration processes. At the same time, there exist the other models of integration. The author proposes to pay attention to the other models of integration and based on the analysis of documents, reveals the experience of Northern Europe, which demonstrates effective cooperation without infringing on the sovereignty of the participants. The author examines the features of the integration experience of the Nordic countries in relation to the possibility of using its elements in the modern integration practice of the Eurasian Economic Union.


Yuridika ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 509
Author(s):  
Amanda Fadhilla Chairunisa ◽  
Imam Haryanto

International economic relations sure is very important for a country and the important thing that follows is the policy that regulates international economic relations it self. In this study, the authors will analyze hows  Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) policy as a derivative of the RED (Renewable Energy Directive) policy by the European Union will affect the Indonesian palm oil trade which this also would show the violations of previous policies that is General Agreement on Tarifs and Trades. Authors also going to show General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as a policy that regulates how international trade relations should be carried out and the violations of this international agreement undoubtedly could affect Economic relations between the two countries, both on a micro scale and macro scale. In conducting the research authors will be using the normative juridical methods which means the legal research will be based off library materials and secondary materials therefore the main result from this study would be a reflection of how RED II can affect trade in indonesian palm oil products and also by effecting this regulation in 2021 the european union will be violating the non-discrimination principle in GATT 1947.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-53
Author(s):  
Barbara Pavlíková

Abstract The contribution deals with the Slovak and the EU legal regulation of tobacco and tobacco products. Its primary purpose is to point out the Slovak and European legal acts which constitute the main regulatory instruments in this field using the method of analysis and synthesis. Rules of production, distribution and conditions of use of tobacco and products thereof are in the Slovak Republic contained mainly in two acts - the Act No 335/2011 Coll. on Tobacco Products and the Act No 377/2004 Coll. on the Protection of Non-smokers, as well as in special Decree No 212/2012 Coll., regulating tobacco products. Regulation of excise duty on tobacco products can be found in the Act with the same name - Act No 106/2004 Coll.. Another objective of the paper is also to draw attention to the amendment of Act on Protection of Non-smokers which entered into force on 1 July 2013. The European Union struggles with the negative consequences of smoking at the supranacional level and its institutions - the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU - are already for several years adopting legal acts to facilitate uniformity and easier interpretation of European law also in the field of legal regulation of tobacco and tobacco products. The predominant part of the existing legislation deals with the approximation of laws in areas that are closely related to the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products, but also to the collection of taxes from these products.


Author(s):  
Stefan Đurić ◽  
Bojana Lalatović

Solidarity as one of the cornerstone values of the European Union has been once again seated on the red chair and intensively discussed within the European Union and broader. After the economic recession and migrant crisis that marked the last two decades, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has once again harshly tested the fundamental objectives and values of the European Union and the responsiveness and effectiveness of its governance system on many fronts. In April, 2020 several EU Member States were among the worst affected countries worldwide and this situation soon became similar in their closest neighbourhood. It put a huge pressure on the EU to act faster, while at the same time placing this sui generis community to the test that led to revealing its strengths and weaknesses. As it happened in the previous crises, the Union launched policies and various programmes that were meant to lessen the burden of the Member States and aspiring countries caused by the crises. The objectives of the mentioned soft law instruments that the EU adopted during the COVID-19 crisis has been not only to show that EU law is equipped to react to health and economic crises rapidly but to deliver its support in terms of solidarity to its Member States and its closest neighbours facing the unprecedented health and economic crisis. This article will explore the value and implication of the solidarity principle in times of Covid-19 in its various manifestations. A special focus will be on the financial and material aspects of the EU instruments created to combat the negative consequences of the pandemic and their further impact on shaping the solidarity principle within the EU system. While examining the character and types of these mechanisms a special focus will be placed on those available to Western Balkan countries, whereas Montenegro as the “fast runner” in the EU integration process will be taken as a case study for the purpose of more detailed analyses. One of the major conclusions of the paper will be that although the speed of the EU reactions due to highly complex structure of decision making was not always satisfying for all the actors concerned, the EU once again has shown that it is reliable and that it treats the Western Balkan countries as privileged partners all for the sake of ending pandemic and launching the socio-economic recovery of the Western Balkans. Analytical and comparative methods will be dominantly relied upon throughout the paper. This will allow the authors to draw the main conclusions of the paper and assess the degree of solidarity as well as the effectiveness of the existing EU instruments that are available to Montenegro and aimed at diminishing negative consequences of the crisis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-329
Author(s):  
Everton Almeida Silva ◽  
Joaquim Carlos Racy

In this paper we intend to analyze the hegemonic position of Germany within the European Union, examining, from a historical perspective, the process of economic integration of the continent, highlighting the haggling process among its Member States and the emergence of power relations among those. Primordially, the economic relations among the States and the circumstances that led European States to pursue the international cooperation, in order to build an international regime, will be analyzed, considering whether such an asymmetrical arrangement. In view of this, the present work has been organized into three sections and a conclusion where we state our opinion on the subject and point out suggestions and referrals on the theme.     Recebido em: agosto/2019. Aprovado em: agosto/2020.


Author(s):  
Elena Boldyreva ◽  

The article analyzes Finland’s strategy towards Africa. The relevance of this topic does not raise doubts in the light of the growing interest not only of Finland, but also of the European Union as a whole in Africa, especially the countries of the Sahel. Finland’s strategy was adopted almost simultaneously with the EU’s strategy and can be considered as an integral part of it. The article analyzes the publicly available documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, which are relevant both to the policy of this northern country in relation to the continent as a whole and to individual African countries. The aim of the strategy is to set realistic but ambitious goals for Finland’s policy towards Africa, based on the common interests of Finland and African countries, to define the main directions of Finland’s policy towards Africa and to define concrete actions to achieve them. In addition, it is necessary to pay special attention to strengthening political and economic relations and expand cooperation in various forms. Thus, the research carried out can be useful for a better understanding of one of the most important directions of Finnish foreign policy today.


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