Poland and Germany in the European Union


Book Description

This book explores the political and social dynamics of the bilateral relations between Germany and Poland at the national and subnational levels, taking into account the supranational dynamics, across such different policy areas as trade, foreign and security policy, energy, fiscal issues, health and social policy, migration and local governance. By studying the impact of the three explanatory categories – the historical legacy, interdependence and asymmetry – on the bilateral relationship, the book explores the patterns of cooperation and identifies the driving forces and hindering factors of the bilateral relationship. Covering the Polish–German relationship since 2004, it demonstrates, in a systematic way, that it does not qualify as embedded bilateralism. The relationship remains historically burdened and asymmetric, and thus it is not resilient to crises. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European and EU Politics, German politics, East/Central European Politics, borderlands studies, and more broadly, for international relations, history and sociology.




Europe's Growth Champion


Book Description

What makes countries rich? What makes countries poor? Europe's Growth Champion: Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland seeks to answer these questions, and many more, through a study of one of the biggest, and least heard about, economic success stories. Over the last twenty-five years Poland has transitioned from a perennially backward, poor, and peripheral country to unexpectedly join the ranks of the world's high income countries. Europe's Growth Champion is about the lessons learned from Poland's remarkable experience, the conditions that keep countries poor, and the challenges that countries need to face in order to grow. It defines a new growth model that Poland and its Eastern European peers need to adopt to grow and catch up with their Western counterparts. Poland's economic rise emphasizes the importance of the fundamental sources of growth- institutions, culture, ideas, and leaders- in economic development. It demonstrates that a shift from an extractive society, where the few rule for the benefit of the few, to an inclusive society, where many rule for the benefit of many, can be the key to economic success. *IEurope's Growth Champion asserts that a newly emerged inclusive society will support further convergence of Poland and the rest of Central and Eastern Europe with the West, and help to sustain the region's Golden Age. It also acknowledges the future challenges that Poland faces, and that moving to the core of the European economy will require further reforms and changes in Poland's developmental character.




Privatization in Eastern Europe


Book Description

In Eastern Europe privatization is now a mass phenomenon. The authors propose a model of it by means of an illustration from the example of Poland, which envisages the free provision of shares in formerly public undertakings to employees and consumers, and the provision of corporate finance from foreign intermediaries. One danger that emerges is that of bureaucratization. On the broader canvas, mass privatization implies the reform of the whole system, the creation of a suitable economic infrastructure for a market economy and the institutions of corporate governance. The authors point out the need for a delicate balance between evolution - which may be too slow - and design - which brings the risk of more government involvement than it is able to manage. A chapter originating as a European Bank working paper explores the banking implications of setting up a totally new financial sector with interlocking classes of assets. The economic effects merge into politics as the role of the state is investigated. Teachers and graduate students of public/private sector economies, East European affairs; advisers to bankers or commercial companies with Eastern European interests.




Poland's role in the development of an 'Eastern Dimension' of the European Union


Book Description

Master's Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - Region: Eastern Europe, grade: 1,5 , European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), language: English, abstract: Im Zuge des Beitrittsprozesses zur EU entwickelte Polen sein Konzept der ‚Eastern Dimension’. Der ehemalige polnische Außenminister Bronisław Geremek erklärte bei der Eröffnung der Beitrittsverhandlungen im Jahre 1998 zum ersten Mal den Wunsch einer gemeinsamen europäischen Ostpolitik. Bisher wurde dieser Vorschlag Polens nicht (bzw. nur in Bruchstücken) umgesetzt, alle polnischen Regierungen bis heute benennen die Implementierung einer ‚Eastern Dimension’ als Ziel der eigenen Außenpolitik. Auch die EU erkannte die Notwendigkeit, eine gemeinsame Politik für die neuen Nachbarn zu entwickeln. Der Rat der Europäischen Union beratschlagte im April 2002 zum ersten Mal über ‚Wider Europe’ und die Beziehungen der erweiterten EU zu den östlichen Nachbarn. In den folgenden Ratssitzungen wurde das Thema vertieft, allerdings wurde spätestens beim Europäischen Rat in Kopenhagen im Dezember 2002 klar, dass eine gemeinsame Europäische Nachbarschaftspolitk (ENP) für alle Nachbarländer der EU entwickelt werden sollte, die neue Politik sollte neben den osteuropäischen Staaten also auch die Länder des Mittelmeerraumes und zusätzlich die Kaukasus-Staaten umfassen. In meiner Master-Arbeit mit dem Titel „Poland’s role in the development of an ‚Eastern Dimension’ of the European Union“ bin ich der Frage nachgegangen, wieso der polnische Vorschlag nicht umgesetzt wurde. Welche Interessensunterschiede oder Umstände führten dazu, dass keine neue Regionalpolitik für die östlichen Anrainerstaaten definiert wurde? Durch einen Vergleich der zentralen Dokumente der ‚Eastern Dimension’ und der ENP konnte ich die wesentlichen Unterschiede dieser beiden Politiken analysieren. Wichtig war natürlich auch der derzeitige Stand der Beziehungen zwischen der EU und den östlichen Nachbarn. Die Teilnahme der Ukraine und Belarus in der ENP ist vorgesehen, bisher ist allerdings erst die Ukraine in die Gemeinschaftspolitik integriert. Die Teilnahme von Belarus in der ENP kann erst erfolgen, wenn demokratische Reformen durchgeführt werden. Die bilateralen Beziehungen zwischen Russland und der EU stellen sich als schwierig dar, Russland lehnt es ab im Rahmen der ENP mit der EU zu kooperieren.




Poland Within the European Union


Book Description

Provides a detailed empirical case study of the impact of the EU on Poland and Poland's impact on the EU in the first three years of membership from 2004-2007.




The Mediterranean Dimension of the European Union's Internal Security


Book Description

EU internal security concerns such as migration, police and judicial cooperation are today part of EU foreign policy. This book shows how those concerns dominate the EU agenda towards Mediterranean countries. Adopting a rational-choice institutionalist approach, it explores EU policy and the strategic choices made after the 2011 Arab revolts.




Rethinking 'democratic Backsliding' in Central and Eastern Europe


Book Description

This book seeks to inject fresh thinking into the debate on democratic deterioration in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), viewing 'democratic backsliding' through the prism of a range of cases beyond Hungary and Poland, to redress the imbalance in current scholarship. Over the past decade a consensus has emerged that democracy in CEE is sharply deteriorating, perhaps even 'backsliding' into new forms of authoritarianism. Debate has, however, so far focused disproportionately on the two most dramatic and surprising cases: Hungary and Poland. This book reflects on the 'backsliding' debate through the experience of CEE countries such as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Estonia; as well as neighbouring post-communist regions such as the Western Balkans and former Soviet Union (cases such as Moldova and Ukraine), whose patterns of failing or partial democratisation may be newly instructive for analysing the development of CEE. Contributors present less frequently considered perspectives on 'democratic backsliding' in the CEE region, such as the role of oligarchisation and wealth concentration; the potential of ethnographical approaches to democracy evaluation; the trade-offs between democratic quality and democratic stability; and the long-term interplay between social movements, state-building, and democratisation. This book was originally published as a special issue of East European Politics. equently considered perspectives on 'democratic backsliding' in the CEE region, such as the role of oligarchisation and wealth concentration; the potential of ethnographical approaches to democracy evaluation; the trade-offs between democratic quality and democratic stability; and the long-term interplay between social movements, state-building, and democratisation. This book was originally published as a special issue of East European Politics.




Assuring the Quality of Health Care in the European Union


Book Description

People have always travelled within Europe for work and leisure, although never before with the current intensity. Now, however, they are travelling for many other reasons, including the quest for key services such as health care. Whatever the reason for travelling, one question they ask is "If I fall ill, will the health care I receive be of a high standard?" This book examines, for the first time, the systems that have been put in place in all of the European Union's 27 Member States. The picture it paints is mixed. Some have well developed systems, setting standards based on the best available evidence, monitoring the care provided, and taking action where it falls short. Others need to overcome significant obstacles.




From Eastern Partnership to the Association


Book Description

This unique book, representing the main output of the Jean Monnet Multilateral Research Project granted by the European Commission, is dedicated to the legal and political dimension of the European Union policy towards its Eastern neighbours, namely Ukraine, Belarus, Moldavia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. The Eastern Partnership clearly occupies a privileged position in the EU’s external relations and constitutes an important “Eastern axis” of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The book examines relevant material from a broad perspective, and attention is paid to the in-depth analysis of Eastern Partnership Agreements and the new Association agreements, examining their place in the External Relations Law of the EU and the legal mechanisms of their operation. In this respect, comparisons with the previous Association agreements with the states of the Central Europe are also made here. A great part of the book is also dedicated to an analysis of the issues of human rights, the rule of law, and legal approximation as a key element of the acceptation of duties of the association countries. Recent political unrest in Ukraine in connection with the delay of the signature of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement has also shown that this contract instrument is considered to be a key indicator in geopolitical terms, as a concrete expression and powerful symbol of the future orientation of this Partnership state and its willingness to share common European values. This volume’s analysis of this document enables a better understanding of the reasons for, and the core of, this development. The diversity of contributors to this book allows a multi-perspectival analysis, incorporating views from old and new EU Member States, as well as Partnership states, and reflects the recent experiences of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Estonia with regards to the implementation of the Association Agreements. The volume is also opened by the preface of the Commissioner for the Enlargement, Eastern Partnership and the Association, Stefan Füle, and reflects his experience in these matters.




Sustainable Development in the European Union


Book Description

"This Eurostat publication, entitled "Sustainable development in the European Union - A statistical glance from the viewpoint of the UN Sustainable Development Goals", provides an overview of the current situation of the EU and its Member States on sustainable development in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This publication follows a strictly descriptive approach, presenting a purely statistical picture based on facts and figures. It provides rather a snapshot of the starting position of the EU and its Member States and is not intended as a regular SDG monitoring exercise at EU level. The analysis in this publication is based on a limited number of indicators, which are relevant to the EU perspective and capture the broader objective and ambition of each SDG. Each goal is analysed through two to four indicators. In total, 51 indicators are presented in the report, mainly obtained from the European Statistical System and disseminated by Eurostat. The analysis of Member States' performance and international comparisons focus on the most recent year for each indicator. EU-28 trends over time are also presented, covering the period from 2000 or 2002 up to the most recent year for which data are available (2014 or 2015)."--Back cover.