The objective of this article is to analyse the impact of the Spanish democratic transformation on its multilateral relations. It analyses the strategies of Spanish governments in the transformation era and the process of accession to NATO, the Council of Europe and the European Communities. Source analysis and criticism methods (applied mostly to Spanish- -language texts), as well as comparative analysis were employed for the needs of this article.
  Based on her research, the author concludes that changes to Spanish foreign policy were evolutionary in nature. Therefore, it took Spain several years to regain the full confidence of its partners. Before any breakthrough changes could occur in the multilateral dimension, Spain needed to normalise its bilateral relations.
  The democratic elections conducted on the 15th of June 1977 in Spain was the breakthrough without which no accession to any important international organisation could ever happen. As the event clinched the state’s democratisation, it paved the way for Spain to join soon the Council of Europe. The accession process for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was more complex. The Spanish political scene was divided in that matter. Spain’s accession to the European Communities was the longest process. It was subject not only to the state’s democratisation progress but also to economic issues.

Impact of Council of Europe on the shaping and popularizing of the standards of the rule of law

The subject of the article is the issue of the Council of Europe’s impact on shaping and popularizing of the standards of a principle of the rule of law. The rule of law is one of the three basic values on which the Council’s activities is based. The Council’s care of maintaining the rule of law standards by the member states is manifested in two main areas. First of all, the Council undertakes activities aimed at defining and creating a uniform, universal way of understanding the principle of the rule of law by individual states. Secondly, the Council’s legal system states a few specific mechanisms to enforce the implementation by the member states of the principle. However, as practice shows, not all of them are sufficiently effective.

Rozpatrywanie kwestii edukacji międzykulturowej i dialogu międzykulturowego w kontekście prawnym i instytucjonalnym pozwala ustalić, jaka jest oficjalna polityka danego państwa lub organizacji międzynarodowej oraz dominujący dyskurs w odniesieniu do tzw. mniejszości. Autor koncentruje się na działalności Rady Europy, której rola w promowaniu edukacji międzykulturowej i dialogu międzykulturowego jest kluczowa. Rada Europy wypracowała wiele instrumentów (konwencje, rekomendacje, rezolucje, deklaracje, „karty”), które podejmują kwestie różnorodności kulturowej i pluralizmu oraz promują wizję społeczeństw bardziej demokratycznych, w których filozofia praw człowieka umożliwia transcendencję partykularyzmów lokalnych. Szczególną uwagę zwrócono na Białą Księgę w sprawie dialogu międzynarodowego „Żyć wspólnie jako równi w godności”, uznawaną aktualnie za dokument referencyjny w kwestiach demokratycznego zarządzania różnorodnością. Podkreślono znaczenie Europejskiej Konwencji Praw Człowieka i Podstawowych Wolności oraz orzecznictwa Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka w definiowaniu i generowaniu norm determinujących prawne i polityczne wymiary dialogu międzykulturowego.

To control and manage migration flows, the Council of Europe member states concentrate much of their efforts on guarding frontiers. In this context, refusals of entry and expulsions without any individual assessment of protection needs have become a documented phenomenon at European borders, as well as on the territories of member states further inland. As these practices are widespread, and in some countries systematic, those “pushbacks” can be considered as a part of national policies rather than incidental actions. The highest risk attached to pushbacks is the risk of refoulement, meaning that a person is sent back to a place where she might face persecution in the sense of the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. The author analyzes PACE Resolution 2299 (2019) Pushback policies and practice in the Council of Europe member States and recommendation 2161 (2019) on this subject offered by this international organization. The author suggests that even if this document belongs to the so-called “soft law”, it has an important political meaning and PACE’s recommendations may positively affect the CoE’s member states policy toward the pushbacks.

Attempts of the European Union for accession to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms have been made for years, which proves the task is very difficult in the context of the institutional and legal issues. In view of the complexity of the issue and limitations as to the scope of this paper the focus is on selected legal acts sui generis, as passed by the EU institutions and by the Council of Europe. The analysis covered the stance of the Court of Justice of the European Union and it was based on the legal opinions formulated on the basis of the primary law. The question whether the said accession is still possible remains unanswered.

The rule of law is one of the founding values of the EU, as indicated in Art. 2 TEU. This provision recognizes that the rule of law is a core value, inherent to liberal democracy, and one which characterized the Union and its Member States. Taking into account this context, as well as the deficiencies of the EU mechanism to enforce the rule of law within the Member States, European Parliament called on the Commission to establish a new tool to address rule of law backsliding in Member States. In October 2016, Parliament addressed recommendations to the Commission on the establishment of EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental rights (EU pact for DRF) in the form of an international agreement. The new mechanism should integrate and complement the existing mechanism, should be evidence-based, objective, addressing the Member States and EU. The author analyzes this initiative and tries to answer why it was not fully realized. Additionally, he presents a reaction to that initiative of the Council of Europe. There is no doubt, that realization of the EU Pact for DRF would inf luence the Council of Europe and weaken its role as a main European mechanism in the area of protection of democracy, rule of law, and human rights.

Free speech and freedom of the media are essential to the functioning of democratic systems. However, recent decades have brought phenomena that pose a threat to media freedom. The author analyzed threats to media freedom and journalist’s security regarding resolution 2317 (2020) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. All Council of Europe Member States must effectively guarantee the safety of journalists, create an environment conducive to freedom of the media and prevent the misuse of laws or normative provisions that may affect this freedom, without which there is no democracy. The right of journalists to protect their sources must be guaranteed; police violence against journalists must be condemned, and sanctions against any infringement of the freedom of the media must be dissuasive. Although it is only “softlaw”, the PACE resolution may inspire the Member States to take more effective measures in this regard.

The article aims to discuss the European standards concerning the freedom of association of armed forces personnel. Relevant norms in this regard result from human rights treaty law but also from soft-law elaborated within the Council of Europe. The authors juxtapose the existing standards with the scope of the freedom of association provided in Polish Constitution of 1997 and relevant domestic law. They ask whether the armed forces personnel need to form and join trade unions to secure their rights or perhaps the existing forms of exercising the freedom of association are satisfactory? The authors conclude that the current legal solutions in Poland meet the European and constitutional standards, and allow the Polish Armed Forces to observe neutrality regarding political matters. Nevertheless, the prohibition to form and join trade unions in Polish armed forces is of statutory rather than constitutional origin.

The notion of region is particularly vague, as this issue is referred to by studies from various disciplines. It has long been one of the subjects of interest of the Council of Europe which perceives local and regional administration as one of the fundamental ingredients of modern European democracy. The European Charter of Local Self- -Government is the main document that regulates these matters in the Council of Europe law system. It is accompanied by a number of other documents, including The European Charter of Regional Self-Government. The article provides an analysis of these normative deeds within the realm of Union law. When the Single European Act entered into force, regions have become an important part of Union policy. Committee of the Regions set up in 1994, whose operation is related to the principle of subsidiarity and programming of the idea of the Europe of Regions, is the most important body concerned with regional issues.

The Council of Europe plays a special role in promoting democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights. The events of recent years, and especially Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, have significantly changed the conditions for the implementation of the Council of Europe’s mission. The author analyzed, based on the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 2473 (2022) “Strengthening the role of the Council of Europe as a cornestone of the European political architecture”, the activities of the Council of Europe aimed at seeking its role in the emerging new political architecture of Europe. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine may create conditions for a new look at the opportunities offered by the Council of Europe for European development and create a climate for intensifying forms of cooperation between European international organizations in the event of new threats to European development.

Public opinion was outraged by information that Pegasus technology, intended to combat terrorism and organized crime, was also used to combat the opposition, surveil political opponents, and influence the outcome of elections in some member states of the Council of Europe and the European Union. These organizations have undertaken studies of these situations and have formulated a number of recommendations to Member States, including Poland. The author analyzed these documents and suggests that even if they are only the so-called “soft law”, the dispositions contained therein should be consistently implemented in accordance with the values of democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights. Full implementation of these recommendations by Poland is necessary to improve its image among democratic European countries.