PROSPECTS FOR THE COMMERCIAL OPERATION OF NORD STREAM 2

In early September 2021, the construction of the Northern stream – 2 рroject (NS-2) was completed. Its operator, Nord Stream 2 AG, has submitted documents for certification of the gas pipeline. The Federal Network Agency of Germany (BNetzA) is responsible for this process, which refused to grant the SP-2 operator an independent status. In November 2021, the German regulator agreed with him on the need to create a subsidiary in the Federal Republic of Germany. It must meet the requirements of German legislation and the Third Energy Package of the European Union. Contrary to the optimistic forecasts of experts and the expectations of Gazprom, the start of commercial operation of the project was postponed to 2022. BNetzA’s decision coincided with the adoption of the next US sanctions against the SP-2 participants and the creation of a new government coalition in Germany. Opponents of the project from the Union 90 / Greens party entered the new cabinet of ministers. The SP-2 is not mentioned in the coalition agreement that defines the future relations of Germany with the Russian Federation. The author, based on the analysis of original sources, examines the reasons for the delay in project certification; its role and place in the strategy of the new German cabinet of ministers; assesses the prospects for the start of commercial operation of the NS-2 in the context of continued opposition from Poland and Ukraine, as well as American sanctions mechanisms and confrontation in this matter from the US Congress and the President.

Human dignity as a fundamental basis and a practical tool of “right to hope” in criminal law

The scientific article focuses on the analysis of a sentence of life imprisonment without a realistic prospect of release in Ukraine as a violation of the “right to hope” in the context of the human dignity category. The study provides an overview of approaches to the definition of human dignity in national legal doctrine and practice, a historical and legal analysis of the origins of legal regulation of the idea of ​​respect for human dignity in international legal acts, and analyses the constitutional stages of the evolution of this concept as a matter of international law. The author has reviewed the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on this issue and studied the reasons of the Court on setting standards for acceptable treatment of a person through the lenses of human dignity and the inadmissibility of inhuman and degrading offences. Taking into account these standards, a critical assessment has been carried out, in particular, of the judicial practice of the Federal Republic of Germany on the application to a prisoner of such a type of punishment as preventive detention with indefinite duration. Emphasis has been given to the national judicial practice in cases of possible releasing life-sentenced prisoners in the conclusions of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court and the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on this issue. Based on the results of the study, a set of measures, including amending the legislation to bring it in line with the requirements of European human rights standards to protect human dignity and ensure the “right to hope” has been offered.

German Experience of Terminating Criminal Prosecution with the Imposition of Duties and Regulations on the Accused in the Context of the Russian Draft Law on Criminal Offence

The second attempt of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to introduce the concept of a criminal offence into Russian criminal and criminal procedure legislation widens the non-rehabilitating grounds for the termination of a criminal case or prosecution with the imposition of other criminal law measures: it is suggested that, in addition to a court fine, community work and partially paid work should also be introduced. This leads to certain problems, including problems with the presumption of innocence and the observance of the principle of justice. The authors turn to the German experience for a better understanding of the situation. Germany faced similar problems much earlier, when § 153а was introduced in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Federal Republic of Germany (CPC of the FRG); it provided for an opportunity to terminate criminal prosecution for criminal offences on the grounds of expediency with the imposition of duties and regulations on the accused, which are akin to criminal law measures under draft law № 1112019-7. Taking into consideration the theoretical approaches developed in Germany, the practice of the Constitutional Court of the FRG and the Supreme Court of the FRG, the authors examine the goals of introducing § 153а in the CPC of the FRG, the practice of its implementation, as well as the problem of terminating criminal prosecution on the grounds of expediency with the imposition of duties and regulations on the accused connected with the observance of the Constitution of the FRG, the presumption of innocence, the principles of justice, certainty, equality before law; they analyze the controversial legal nature of duties and regulations under § 153а in the CPC of the FRG. According to German criminal procedure law, the termination of criminal prosecution on the grounds of expediency with the imposition of duties and regulations on the accused is a right, and not a duty of the corresponding officers and agencies as it is, in fact, an alternative to criminal prosecution which makes it possible to terminate it at a certain stage when there are all the necessary legal grounds for criminal prosecution.

Medicalization and Securitization of the Administrative-Public Sphere in the Conditions of the Pandemic in Russia and Germany

Against the background of the widespread introduction of a wide range of social and medical measures to protect the health of citizens in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19, attention is drawn to the growing socio-political trend of medicalization of the entire administrative and public sphere. It is reflected in the increasingly clear "securitization" of many parts of public power, which is reflected in the ongoing redistribution and transformation of police powers. A number of world governments are taking actions to combat the pandemic, from imposing responsibility for poor compliance with the introduced antiepidemiological restrictions to developing a vaccine and conducting mass vaccinations, as a result of which lawmaking is actively pursued. In the extraordinary conditions in Russia, as in other countries of the world, the most effective measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection and overcome its consequences were in demand - measures of administrative coercion. The state actively uses the entire arsenal of legal means, including measures of administrative prevention, administrative procedural support and administrative punishment. In the article, the authors analyzed the administrative and legal norms of the Russian Federation and the Federal Republic of Germany, aimed at preventing the import and spread of a new corona virus infection (COVID-19). The trends in the expansion of the scale of administrative and police control, the influence of the state on changing the standards of behavior of citizens and the lifestyle of the population, and the movement of significant segments of crime into cyberspace are illustrated. Comprehension of the latest domestic and foreign experience, forms and methods of police-legal influence in order to reflect the danger, confirms the high relevance and important theoretical significance of the study. The authors conclude that at present both for Russia and for Germany the issues of redistribution and transformation of police powers in the administrative-public sphere of any state, reflecting the processes of medicalization and securitization of various links and sectors of public power in response to existential threats, are relevant and promising. directions of scientific research.

RETURN OF THE CULTURAL OBJECTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW, EUROPEAN UNION LAW, AND LITHUANIAN LAW

The article examines the legal problems associated with the return of cultural objects in International, European Union, and Lithuanian Laws, as well as the extraterritorial application of mandatory norms. Particular importance is given to the influence of the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and the Directive 2014/60/EC on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State. Attention is paid to the correlation of civil law doctrines with the protection of the owner’s rights and the bona fide purchaser of a cultural object on the one hand, and International and European Laws about the return to the owner and compensation to the owner of a cultural object on the other hand, because Lithuanian legislation and case law do not apply the vindication doctrine to protect owner’s rights of cultural objects and thus differs from the traditional approach to solving the problems of returning cultural objects within the civil law framework. The article deals with the related problems of recognition of the owner’s rights and changes in the evidence presumptions. The issue of restoring the owner’s rights to illegally confiscated cultural objects during the existence of the USSR was decided in the practice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. Courts of general jurisdiction considered claims for the return of cultural objects belonging to foreign entities - the Federal Republic of Germany and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Particular importance was the question of the application of International and European Laws in judicial practice. According to the results of the study of the practice of the Republic of Lithuania, it is proposed to regard the return of cultural objects as an independent way of protecting the owner’s rights, which makes secondary the bona fide purchaser doctrine in relation of a cultural object.

Transformation of German criminal legislation on responsibility for sexual crimes

The article examines the causes, process and results of the recent serious reform of the criminal legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany on responsibility for crimes against sexual self-determination (the thirteenth section of the German Criminal Code). The focus is on the Forty-ninth Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code in connection with the implementation of the Pan-European Provisions of January 21, 2015 (BGBl. 2015 I S. 10) and the Fiftieth Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code in connection with the strengthening of the Protection of human rights to Sexual self-determination of November 4, 2016 (BGBl. 2016 I S. 2460). Other acts (for example, the Sixtieth Law, which entailed the reformulation of certain provisions of the thirteenth section) are not considered, since they do not affect the specifics of criminal liability. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time in Russian scientific periodicals, the main parameters and consequences of the recent reform of criminal legislation on responsibility for sexual crimes in Germany have been outlined. Not only the decision-making process is demonstrated, but also their main causes are characterised. It is established that the main result of the reform was the transformation of the norms of the law, which now provide for liability within one paragraph (article) for violent acts of a sexual nature and for sexual harassment, which should be considered as sexual acts without the use of violence, any threats and without using the helpless state of the victim, committed contrary to the recognisable or unrecognisable will of the latter.

Die programmatische Evolution der FDP in der Ost- und Deutschlandpolitik in den Jahren 1974-1982 im Lichte der neuen Quellen vom Archiv des Deutschen Liberalismus

The Program Evolution of the FDP in Ostpolitik and Deutschlandpolitik in 1974-1982 in the Light of the New Resources from the Archive of German Liberalism The main objective of the article is to analyse the program activities of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in the Eastern policy (Ostpolitik) and German policy (Deutschlandpolitik) of the Federal Republic of Germany in the years 1974-1982. It needs to be emphasised that the author has used new archive resources from the archive of German Liberalism in Gummersbach in this work. This enabled him to present a new assessment of the influence of the FDP on the Eastern policy of the Federal Republic of Germany during the period presented.

Im geschützten Raum

This article explores the musical events organized by the Goethe Institute during the Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990). An examination of the cultural and political discussions around these musical programmes demonstrates that the function of music as a tool for promoting democracy was understood in the context of the cultural activities of the Federal Republic of Germany in Chile. I explore the ways in which projects from the fields of jazz and contemporary music were understood as vehicles of democratic ideals, the consequences of the resulting musical transfers for the local musical life, as well as the shaping of a particular image of West Germany in Chile. (Vorlage)

Doświadczenie migracji jako element tożsamości miasta

The Experience of Migration as an Element of City’s Identity: The Example of Berlin The modern Federal Republic of Germany is a migrant country. It has been de facto from the beginning of its existence, but as a political declaration this statement was adopted only at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, when it began to formulate a long-term migration policy – at the central, federal and local level. The case of Berlin is interesting for several reasons – the city as a separate federal state is a compact research object (it has a small space, but a separate administrative structure and a clear identity resulting, inter alia, from past experiences). In addition, a significant percentage of foreigners, migrants and their descendants live in the city today, which forces the authorities of the Bundesland to define their own immigration and integration policy. The phenomenon of migration is also an inherent part of the city’s history, it was an impulse for its development and building its present position. The subject of the article is the influence of the experience of migration on the contemporary identity of the city and the policy of the Bundesland’s authorities.