scholarly journals North Macedonia: Politics versus Policy of EU Integration

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-574
Author(s):  
Silvana Mojsovska

Abstract The accession of North Macedonia to the European Union (EU) has been at an impasse for 27 years due to the political dispute with Greece. In 2018, its resolution fuelled hopes that North Macedonia would finally start negotiations with the EU. Unfortunately, there was a new obstacle, as Bulgaria vetoed the talks in December 2020. Implicit to the latest political backlog, the efforts for further EU integration should be focused on the available policy instruments. The Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) is a legally binding document which has already enabled trade liberalisation between the parties, stipulates the national treatment of business entities on the basis of reciprocity, aims for full liberalisation of capital and financial flows, and also provides other opportunities for integration. Placing the SAA in the spotlight of the mutual relations between the parties, based on proactivity from North Macedonia, could provide the impetus for more substantial EU integration of the country, despite the political stagnation of the process.

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.


2003 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panos Koutrakos

Whilst the political aspects of Cyprus's membership to the European Union have become the main focus of academic analysis over the years, its trade relations with the Member States have raised issues just as interesting from a legal point of view. This has been illustrated quite recently by the Anastasiou II judgment delivered by the European Court of Justice in 2000. The article aims at highlighting some of these issues. It is structured in three parts: the first part outlines the provisions of the EC–Cyprus Association Agreement governing trade between the parties; the second part analyses the Court's first ruling on imports of certain produce from the northern part of Cyprus;1 the third part examines the recent judgment of the Court on imports of produce which, whilst originating in the northern part of Cyprus, are being accompanied by phytosanitary certificates issued by the Turkish authorities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1045-1057
Author(s):  
Teresa Violante

AbstractIn this paper, I argue that the conflict between the German Federal Constitutional Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union is the story of a clash foretold, if one takes seriously constitutional courts as institutions designed to be “dogs that bite.” The German Court consistently developed a doctrinal tool to guide its role as guardian of the national constitutional order and the democratic principle, and enforced it when the constitutional control of monetary policy measures so required. I analyze the PSPP ruling, focusing on where the Court concluded that the lack of a satisfactory statement of reasons by the European Central Bank prevented it from reviewing the proportionality of the program. I argue that the Court, after conducting a substantive assessment, applied a weak remedy, thereby deferring the last word on the constitutionality of the PSPP to the political branches. In doing so, the Court opens space for the political assessment of a controversial monetary policy, enhancing the politicization of the Economic and Monetary Union, and provides a doctrinal toolbox for national constitutional courts that face competence creep of EU law in their jurisdictions. I conclude that, ultimately, the main merit of constitutional courts’ interventions in the EU integration is that they are in a privileged position to allow for the politicization of technocratic processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-592
Author(s):  
Olivera Komar ◽  
Meta Novak

AbstractThis paper creates a framework for the comparison of two similar and yet different democratisation cases – Slovenia and Montenegro. The two countries have obvious similarities: their geography and small population, as well as their common socialist Yugoslav heritage and common aspirations to join international organisations, most importantly the European Union. However, while Slovenia went through the democratisation process rather smoothly, Montenegro took the longer road, struggling for more than a decade to regain its independence and complete its transition. We take into account different internal and external factors in these two cases such as the year of independence and of joining NATO, the political and electoral system, ethnic homogeneity, the viability of civil society, EU integration status, economic development and the presence of war in each territory in order to identify and describe those factors that contributed to the success of democratisation in different areas: the party system, the interest groups system, the defence system, Europeanisation and social policy. We find that the democratisation process in these countries produced different results in terms of quality. Various objective measures of the quality of democracy score Slovenia higher compared to Montenegro, while public opinion data shows, in general, greater satisfaction with the political system and greater trust in political institutions in Montenegro than in Slovenia.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
LL.M. Rinor Hoxha

The next enlargement of the European Union is predicted to be in the Balkans. Kosovo, a small country of the Balkan Peninsula, which has been declared as an independent state in 2008, aims the membership in EU. Kosovo is currently at the stage of negotiating the Stabilization and Association Agreement with EU. For the membership in EU, candidate countries are required to achieve certain criteria: political, legislative, economic and administrative. The first three are known as the Copenhagen Criteria, whereas the last one as the Madrid Criteria. This paper looks to briefly asses the difficulties of Kosovo in meeting the two Copenhagen Criteria: the political and the legislative one. Although, Kosovo has achieved certain progress related to this matter, this paper presents only the dimensions where Kosovo is lacking in achieving the aforementioned requirements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-103
Author(s):  
Olena Podolianchuk

Globalization processes around the world affect the activities of economic entities, which in turn leads to changes in their accounting and taxation systems. The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the application of the simplified system of accounting and taxation of agrarian businesses of small businesses in order to identify problematic aspects and areas of state support for their functioning in the context of European integration. A study of the main aspects of the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, on the other hand, in terms of accounting and taxation. It is determined that the implementation of domestic legislation to the regulations of the European Union (directives) is tangible for both businesses and individuals. Analytical data on the activities of small busi-nesses in Ukraine, including agricultural enterprises, are presented. The results of the analysis show a decrease in the number of small enterprises for the period 2015-2019. At the same time, the volumes of produced and sold products of small businesses and micro-enterprises are growing, which testifies to the importance of the activities of these businesses. It is determined that the conditions of production and economic activity of business entities are accompanied by constant changes in current legislation, which causes uncertainty in their position in the competitive environment, leads to the risk of transactions and increased tax burden, and as a result – business closure or withdrawal in the shadows. "The current systems of taxation of small businesses are studied and their advantages and disadvantages are identified. The main criteria for assigning business entities to the group of small businesses in the agricultural sector, taking into account the Tax and Commercial Codes of Ukraine, as well as the provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On Accounting and Financial Reporting in Ukraine". The system of taxation and accounting of small agricultural enterprises is studied. It was found that the current situation in agriculture indicates the shortcomings and lack of efficiency of the tax system, which requires scientific and methodological support for a consistent and stable tax policy for this category of taxpayers, the use of tax incentives for small businesses, improving the simplified taxation of small businesses . Examining the organization of accounting for small businesses in the context of European integration, the framework of the feasibility of changes in the accounting system. It is noted that a certain problem is the inconsistency of financial and tax accounting for the formation of a harmonized information product for different groups of users. The opinion is expressed that the fiscal orientation of accounting should be reoriented to the needs of the management system and high-quality information support of stakeholders, including foreign investors. It is noted that the legislation on ac-counting and taxation systems, opening and registration of small and micro enterprises needs to be changed. In order to properly support the development of small business, it is proposed to create favorable conditions for taxation and a clear accounting system: providing information and financial support for the process of business organization and the transition to international accounting standards; organization of the system of training of entrepreneurs and retraining of accountants; streamlining mechanisms to protect the rights of small businesses.


Author(s):  
N.O. Petrova

The article considers various functions, systems of functions of both administrative law and individual elements of management in various fields. The characteristic functions of monitoring state aid to economic entities as a unique, special element of management have been studied. The relevance of the research is due to the need to approximate domestic legislation in the field of monitoring and control of state aid to the acquis of the European Union (hereinafter - the EU), taking into account the reform processes in administrative law, European integration of Ukraine and obligations under the Association Agreement with Ukraine (hereinafter - Agreement). Given the small number of modern legal theoretical developments in this area, the task of the article is to specify and formu-late the essence of the functions of monitoring state aid to economic entities. An analysis of different approaches to determining the nature of monitoring functions in different areas. Peculiarities of monitoring functions in state aid to business entities in Ukraine have been identified. The importance of determining the functions of monitoring carried out by the subject of public administration - the authorized body in the field of state aid - the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. It is established that the monitoring of state aid to economic entities is closely related to control and is its form, and is an informative foundation, which is formed through a system of continuous mon-itoring, information collection, accumulation, analysis and monitoring of any process, phenomenon, the state of state aid to economic entities to identify differences between planned and actual, finding deviations from the tasks, analysis of the causes of such deviations. The following functions of monitoring state aid to business entities are identified: regulatory, control, preventive, informational, analytical, corrective, law enforcement, educational, the characteristic is given and their essence is revealed. 


Author(s):  
Mirvan Xhemaili

The dissolution of the former Yugoslavia was associated by destructive interethnic conflicts, by local and regional wars. Macedonia is also closely related to Europe politically and economically. The paper analyzes the role of political leadership on the road to EU integration. The research is one of many efforts that have been undertaken lately on the European Union development, its enlargement policy and the integration of Macedonia in EU. Specifically, this type of research is very important for the Macedonia, having in mind that the country has experienced the worst and the longest transition after the Cold War. The aim of the paper is to identify the main difficulties and challenges that make this process less successful. Macedonia started this journey in 2001 by signing the PSA/MSA. Right after its independence the country has faced many internal and external challenges. The country id undergoing a 25 years’ transition period of democratization and consolidation. The road to EU Integration has made the country undergo many reforms in many fields. The country views the process of integration as a strategic objective. The EU union has shown its interest to include the aspiring countries from the Western Balkans in its family. There is a high percentage of citizens for this process. The political leadership has not been responsible for the reforms in the country that have been addressed by EU. The political leadership uses the EU membership as a rhetoric in political campaign rather than doing more for the process, the paper analyzes the rhetoric and the reality by different methodologies. Political leaders should do more for the EU Integration and consider themselves as the only responsible party.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 75-98
Author(s):  
Özer Binici

This article examines the political practices of the European Union (EU) in the Western Balkans and, in particular, the EU-Kosovo relations by adopting the revisited neo-functionalism approach to the study of EU enlargement. This research draws on the descriptive and explanatory assumptions of the approach; it not only explains the development of the EU enlargement perspective towards the region but also explores the main dynamics behind the EU’s strategy towards the region, beginning from the outbreak of the Yugoslavia War and the reflections associated with the development of the EU foreign policy realm. More specifically, the research focuses on the dynamics underlying the process of the development of Stabilization and Association Agreement with Kosovo. In the conclusion, future research directions and limitations of the revisited neo-functionalism are discussed.


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