Relevant habitats neglected by the Directive 92/43 EEC: the contribution of Vegetation Science for their reappraisal in Sicily

Field investigation carried out by the Sicilian botanists in the last 20 years enabled them to identify eight habitat types of high biogeographic and conservation interest, neglected by the Directive 92/43, which deserve ad hoc conservation measures. For each of these habitats, a syntaxonomic interpretation of the corresponding plant communities, their main ecological, physiognomic and syndynamic traits and a list of diagnostic species are provided. Their classification into the macrotypes listed in the Annex I of the Directive 92/43 and the respective correspondence in EUNIS habitat classification are proposed. The habitats here described integrate those already proposed by the Italian Botanical Society, with the hope of an adequate recognition at national at supranational level.

Conceptual foundations of the international cooperation effectiveness in the context of the geoeconomic space digital transformations

Introduction. The work is devoted to the formation of new conceptual criteria for the effectiveness of international cooperation in the context of the geo-economic space digital transformations. The introduction spells out the general content of the modern geo-economic space and stipulates the need for a conceptually new approach to determining the effectiveness of interaction in this space. Theoretical analysis reveals the methodology for studying synergetic efficiency, substantiates the parameters of synergistic efficiency. Empirical analysis. The real events of the modern geo-economic space, which set the vector of synergetic efficiency of international interaction, are analyzed. Results. The content of a new geo-economic space in the context of digital transformations is disclosed. The features of international cooperation are revealed, which, due to the blurring of national borders, goes into the supranational level of interaction. The irrelevance of classical and traditional approaches to substantiating the effectiveness of cooperation in new conditions is shown, which necessitates the development of conceptually new criteria.

Eurasian Economic Union: in the European Union's footsteps or on new paths?

The European and Eurasian integration forms are genuinely unique, with legislative, executive, and judicial powers at the supranational level. The comparative analysis used in this article was aimed at evaluating the Eurasian Economic Union’s (EAEU) integration in comparison with the European Union’s (EU). The article presents some common characteristics of the European and Eurasian integration processes besides noting several differences that may arise from the reasons for integration. The authors analysed, structured, and evaluated the features of the EU and EAEU by applying the interdisciplinary and comparative approach of the PESTEL factors analysis. The conclusion is that even though the EAEU has copied some EU operational mechanisms, the integration’s differences might always be tangible. The authors found particularly interesting how the historical roots of EU integration and the political reasons for enhancing the EAEU exist with similar institutional solutions. The integration’s aim in defining themselves as global actors in the globalised environment is very intriguing. It can be concluded that the EU might serve as an example worth following to the EAEU in many senses

World Finance: A Textbook Presentation and Overview

Financial globalisation is a general trend of contemporary world economic development that multinational corporations largely drive. Many of them come from English-speaking countries. Many of them are of the U.S. origin, which is why globalisation is often misunderstood and misinterpreted as Americanisation. English is the leading language of globalisation. Even European leaders of supranational level have to speak, communicate and pass E.U. legislation in English. That is why teaching and studying world finance in English is given a high priority in many countries. Russia is no exception to the rule and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation (the University of Finance). This book attempts to outlay the theoretical and practical foundation for the world finance. It contains basic world finance terminology. The textbook can be recommended for teaching world finance and related subjects.

The EU’s Discourse on Sovereignty: Content and Consequences

Emmanuel Macron‟s 2017 speeches gave start to the discourse on the European Union‟s (EU‟s) sovereignty. This discourse has been advanced by the national and supranational elite of the EU as well as by its expert community. The article identifies key characteristics of this discourse and its potential consequences for the EU and its relations with Russia. The four ways (attributes) in which sovereignty has been used as identified by Stephen Krasner are used as the theoretical basis of the analysis. With the help of discourse analysis, the author identifies three dimensions in the EU‟s discourse on sovereignty: these are Westphalian, interdependence and domestic sovereignties. The first and the second manifest themselves in the economic field (in particular, in the regulation of the digital sphere), the third one is linked to the discussion on cooperation in the field of security and defence. The discussion on strengthening of the supranational level in the field of security and defence substitutes the absence of the discussion on citizens as holders of domestic sovereignty; it limits the potential of the EU‟s sovereignty. De facto, the discourse on the EU‟s sovereignty is a response to global processes, where the EU finds challenges and threats for itself. References to values and to the EU as its agent form an important component of the discourse on the EU‟s sovereignty. Externally the EU as a result demonstrates both its wish for more independence from external players and its determination to maintain its participation in the globalization processes. The rhetoric of sovereignty also conceptually means the EU‟s refusal of ambitions to be a normative power. Sovereignty has also been an integral part of EU-Russian discussions. Yet the EU‟s discourse on sovereignty does not create any prospects for improving this relationship.

Venice Commission: the role in the process of international and national law interpretation

The article aims to study the Venice Commission's role as one of the leading international law interpreters. This role has gradually strengthened in the process of scientifically substantiated promotion of legal norms and standards concerning democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Using system-structural, formal-legal, comparative-legal, empirical, and anthropological methods, one has drawn essential conclusions regarding implementing the Venice Commission's interpretive activities. As a result, it has been proved that the nature of the Venice Commission's interpretive activity demonstrates the existence and growing contradiction between the prevailing interpretive practice at the supranational level and the provisions of the classical theory of law interpretation. Ukraine's ongoing dialogue with the Venice Commission is vital to develop and improve legislation, especially laws, implementing new constitutional provisions on justice, the drafts of which have already been designed or are being developed, as well as indubitable compliance with these laws. Venice Commission's general documents should be for the Ukrainian legislator the source to base the preparation of relevant legislation.

Trusted data spaces as a viable and sustainable solution for networks of population-based patient registries (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Population-based patient registries are entities that collect summary patient data from a well-defined population. Their main function is the monitoring and surveillance of a particular disease within their population catchment area, but they are also an important data source used in epidemiology. Comparing indicators across national boundaries brings considerable extra benefit to registries’ data, especially in regions where supranational initiatives are or could be coordinated to leverage good practices; this is particularly important for the European Union. Stricter data-protection laws however can unintentionally hamper the efforts of data harmonization to ensure the removal of statistical bias in the individual data sets, thereby compromising the integrated value of registries’ data. A new paradigm is required to ensure registries can operate in an environment that is not unnecessarily restrictive and allow accurate comparison of data for better ascertaining measures and practices most conducive to the public health of societies. OBJECTIVE To propose a solution towards a viable and sustainable model for the integration of registry data at supranational level. METHODS The pan-European organisational model of cancer registries, owing to its long and successful establishment, was taken as a good starting point from which to propose a sustainable, generic model for patient registries. Drawbacks to the model, particularly with respect to scalability and resourcing, were addressed in an adapted model. RESULTS An inter-registry organisational model based along the lines of the European Network of Cancer Registries was adapted to tackle the governance and resourcing aspects essential for a generic patient-registry model. The adapted model is a proposal for how patient registries can inter operate to ensure harmonisation and quality of data for accurate comparison at supranational level. CONCLUSIONS In view of the challenges relating to accurate and unbiased inter-comparison of population-based registry data across national boundaries for disease-surveillance purposes, a sustainable, generic patient-registry model is proposed. Integrating registry data is important for understanding progression and trends of the most prevalent diseases as well as for ascertaining effective control measures. The model promises a valuable data resource for epidemiological research, whilst providing a closely regulated environment for the processing of pseudonomised patient summary data on a broader scale than has hitherto been possible.

The concept of an “employee” in EU labor law

The article examines the problems arising from the lack of a unified conceptual apparatus at the supranational level of the EU on the example of the absence of properly fixed signs of the status of an employee, as well as signs that allow qualifying an employment relationship. The article describes the changed practice of the Court of Justice of the EU on the issue of the extension of guarantees and rights of an employee to various persons. The problems of multilevel regulation of labor relations are fully considered, taking into account a different approach to qualify labor relations in different member states and in the EU itself. English version of the article is available at URL: https://panor.ru/articles/the-concept-of-employee-in-eu-labor-law/74819.html

“I call it a system.” Unauthorized Migrants’ Understandings of the Long Reach of Dutch Internal Migration Controls

We draw on the concept of deportability to show how unauthorized migrants who (used to) live in the Netherlands perceive and experience Dutch internal-control mechanisms. We first conclude that these migrants’ deportability has serious legal, social, and existential effects on them, which they feel long after their return or deportation to their home country. Second, we state that unauthorized migrants evaluate the Dutch internal-control mechanisms as “one system” in which they distinguish three important, interlinked layers, consisting of (1) divergent actors, (2) laws and policies inside and outside the migration control domains located within (3) different geographies. This implies that individual nation-states, through their internal control mechanisms, also contribute to the externalization of migration control at a supranational level. We conclude that the state’s internal migration controls bring about immobility not only in the countries of settlement but also in the transit and home countries.

Habermas, democracy and the public sphere: Theory and practice

A fil rouge goes through Habermas’s decade long research. It is the idea that Reason and rationality permeate human societies and may lead human action towards emancipation, if aptly elaborated through the filter of theoretical reflection. Theory must pick up on this rational core and turn the intrinsic rational potential inherent to modern societies into a self-consciously pursued ‘project of enlightenment’. This introduction to the special issue ‘Habermas, Democracy, and the Public Sphere: Theory and Practice’ shows how Habermas’s work in different scientific domains contributes to the construction of the ‘project of modernity’ from the many angles that such a complex project requires. The public sphere is, in Habermas’s theory, the societal domain in which communicative interactions have a chance to make Reason come to bear on human societies and lead them on the path to social and political emancipation. The contributions to this special issue focus therefore on the public sphere and illustrate the evolution of the concept in Habermas’s work and its relation to democracy at national and supranational level.