In this paper, the authors attempt to prove that the Polish position on developing the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) was skeptical, despite entries in political and strategic documents which emphasized its great significance for Polish security policy. It is evidenced by Poland’s low level of involvement in EU missions and operations and other undertakings in the CSDP area. The central hypothesis adopted at the beginning of the research is that Poland has always treated security and defense within the European Union as a kind of complement to the potential and capabilities developed within the framework of the North Atlantic Alliance, and the Polish involvement in CSDP has never been adequate to the provisions contained in political and strategic documents. Poland’s stance resulted, on the one hand, from the weakness of the CSDP’s political framework, which was shaped by numerous compromises among its member states, and on the other hand, from the political elite’s conviction that only NATO’s, and de facto the United States’, security guarantees are credible. In this paper, the authors analyze Poland’s previous experience resulting from polish participation in the policy in question and the evolution of Poland’s position toward its development in the context of the Republic of Poland’s security interests formulated in political and strategic documents.

As both the European Union and its member states acknowledge that the proliferation of fake news threatens their political stability and – consequently – the general idea of European integration – they have undertaken many steps to confront that problem. Them, the article examines how EU institutions, together with the member states, have tackled the spread of disinformation within the common policy of cybersecurity. The novelty of this study is that it does so concerning the ongoing process of Europeanization of cyberspace, combining the field of information technology with European studies.

Poland’s membership in the European Union as a premise for possible changes to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland

The analysis addresses the problem of the extent to which the consequences of Poland’s membership in the European Union should be reflected in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The Polish Basic Law, in Art. 90, anticipated Poland’s membership in the EU. However, despite the attempts made, it was not possible – apart from the constitutionalization of the European Arrest Warrant – to introduce changes to the constitution resulting from EU membership. There are a number of regulatory gaps that deserve to be filled even if it is not possible to reach an agreement at the level of 2/3 of the support in the Sejm on the issue of a comprehensive „European clause”. The jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal should not replace the constitution-maker. It is necessary for the constitution to fulfill its legal, political and educational function.

The Treaty of Lisbon strengthened the legal position of national parliaments in their activities at the level of the European Union. It means that the two chambers of the Polish Parliament - Sejm and Senate, each in its own scope, participate in consideration of issues concerning the European Union. They must share the right to participate in legislative processes with the executive authorities at the national level and with the institutions of the Union. The new legal regulation provides national parliaments with new competences, which should have a constitutional basis.

Evolution of Health Rights in the European Union in the Prism of Human Rights

As an economic and political union of states, the European Union has historically focused neither on health nor on human rights. Since the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the link between fundamental rights and human health has been noticeable. Respect for human dignity and individual decisions played an important role in the evolution of the understanding of the right to health as a human right in the EU legal system. The aim of the article is to analyze the development of health rights in EU law and answer the question: does recognizing the right to health as a human right result in a specific legal claim? The article uses a purposeful-functional and axiological interpretation, and the historical method.

The European Union towards the arm conflicts and socio-political changes in the MENA region in the 20th and 21st centuries

The countries of the Middle East and North Africa are one of the main areas of interest of the European Union, and the main determinants of mutual relations are primarily the economy and security policy. The aim of the article is to show how the position of the European Union is shaped in relation to the main challenges and threats in this region, to which the Israeli-Arabic conflict, the Palestinian issue and the so-called Arab Spring, as well as the escalation of the conflict in Syria and the problem of international terrorism.

The European Union policies in the area of combating terrorism

The subject of this dissertation is the European Union policies in the area of combating terrorism. The fact that terrorism is regarded as being one of the biggest threats to European Security determined the choice of the subject. The author has tried to explain the terminology applying to terrorism, the history of terrorism, and present methods of fight against it. The objective of the article is the analysis of the European Union main actions taken and decisions made in this respect. One of many determinants that influenced tightening of this policy were the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001. Also, frequent terrorist attacks forced the European Union member states constant cooperation and continued efforts regarding actions to counter terrorism which is both social and political phenomenon.

The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on the integrity of the EU community. The research problem boils down to the following questions: Has this initiative contributed to increasing the influence of the PRC in Europe? How did the EU react to Chinese ideas? What was Italy’s reaction to Chinese proposals and declarations? The article uses the descriptive method and a case study. The first part of the article will focus on the analysis of the intensification of Chinese activity in Europe by demonstrating cases of buy-outs of Old Continet’s key companies by PRC enterprises. The Belt and Road initiative and Chinese projects will be then briefly described. Aiming to demonstrate the impact of the initiative “Belt and Road” on the EU was selected for detailed analysis of Italy due to the geographical location of the country, long-term cooperation within the framework of the European Union and the fact that Italy was the first member of the G7, who “joined” Initiative Belt and Road. In the last part, the author will try to determine whether China has influence on the process of disintegration of the EU.

The article sheds light on the nexus between higher education and foreign policy. International higher education has become an increasingly prominent element of some states’ policies towards other countries as a flank to traditional foreign policy. It has occurred in Central Asia, where the European Union, China and Russia are all supporting teaching, research and capacity-building activities in the tertiary sectors of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Although they employ similar tools and instruments, the assumptions and visions underpinning their respective strategies diverge. Russia’s strategy is shaped by historically informed identity factors and the impulse to entrench predominance in the post-Soviet space, whilst China uses its support for higher education as a soft infrastructure for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Meanwhile, the EU has integrated higher education into its strategy for the region, which aims at drawing Central Asia closer to its orbit through democratisation and the rule of law.

In 2021, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) turned 20 years old. With “Shanghai Spirit” as its guiding principle, the scope of SCO’s activity has significantly expanded, recently adding India and Pakistan to its members. As a result, SCO policy has heavily influenced the Central Asia region. In response, in 2019, the EU launched a new strategy for Central Asia, adopting “connectivity” as its core concept. As a result, both SCO and EU strategies in Central Asia tend to conflict with each other, thus leading to uneven and inconsistent development of the region. Therefore, this paper aims to identify contradictions between SCO’s “Shanghai Spirit” guiding principle and the EU’s concept of “connectivity” by comparing the SCO and EU strategies toward Central Asia. The methodology in the paper involves a qualitative comparative method, including two qualitative case studies, represented by the SCO’s “Shanghai Spirit” and the EU’s concept of “connectivity” in their strategies on Central Asia. The article concludes that contestation between the SCO and the EU policies in Central Asia impedes stable development of the region, and therefore, a compromise between both policies in Central Asia is suggested.

EU – Ukraine: Around Kiev’s European Aspirations. Selected Aspects from a German Perspective

The goals of the article are to discuss Ukraine’s aspirations for rapprochement with the European Union, especially after the „Orange Revolution” in 2004, and in the context of the conflict with Russia over Crimea and eastern Ukraine that began in 2014. In addition, to outline of Germany’s position toward the conflict and Ukraine’s relations with the EU. The author attempts to resolve the problem of Ukraine’s chances of joining the Union in a predictable perspective. First of all, scientific and press publications, as well as European Union documents were used.

Brexit Negotiation Process in David Cameron and Theresa May’s Policy

Great Britain’s decision to leave the European Union (aka Brexit) is one of the most significant events in the history of European integration. It is also the first event in the history of the Community, yet not the only one proposed by the UK government. This article aims at the analysis of political activity of British Prime Ministers: David Cameron and Theresa May related to the United Kingdom’s leaving the European Union structures. British Government’s decision was taken after the referendum, which was held on June 23, 2016, followed by invoking Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. Consequences of Brexit are highly dependent on the results of negotiations, although most definitely they will have political, economic and social implications. The most important conclusions are contained in the summary.

In mid-October 2019, the European Commission presented a report on the implementation of European Agenda on Migration of 2015 and indicated the areas that require further action mainly related to irregular migration, smuggling of migrants and trafficking. The EC emphasized that only by joining forces of all member states the European Union will be able to fight effectively and humanely with these problems. Irregular migration has become one of the EU most important problems since the 1990s, and the growing number of irregular migrants evoked the feeling that a single state is unable to control people arriving on its territory. The Europeans are terrified of the scale of migration. Conflicts and antagonisms between the local population and the rapidly growing number of migrants have begun to increase. The research goal of the article is to analyze the implementation of the 2015 European Agenda on Migration.

The purpose of this paper is to research on the Central and Eastern European countries’ (CEECs) economic development after joining the European Union (EU). Moreover, this study highlights the key policies of economic integration into the EU and integration is a success story for the CEE countries. This paper also describes the key indicators and tools of the development model adopted by the CEE countries as a member of the EU. This study covers the period from 2004 to 2021. The objective of this study is to relate to the EU’s economic and trade policies, and how they brought the development to the region after the successful integration. To what extent, the CEE countries could develop their economic position in comparison to the other EU member countries. The research used empirical and comparative analysis methods to search the economic growth and regional development. Through this method, the research answers the questions and tests the hypothesis. The study concludes that the economic integration of the CEECs into the EU is successful. As a result, the development of this region has been accelerated and the EU’s economic policies have successfully been implemented in many countries. Finally, The EU’s economic policy has changed the dynamics of regions’ development and shaped the stronger trade and common market among the member states. The EU’s integration has impacted the gradual economic growth across the CEE countries.

Liberal or illiberal? Perception of Israeli democracy in the European Union

Liberal democracy perspective dominates the perception of actors and partners in the foreign relations of European Union. This stems from the declared fundamental values of the Union: respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law. This also influences the judgment of Israel, who connected to the EU with cooperation but also criticised for its attitude towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Liberal democracies not only allow their citizens to exercise their right to vote but also guarantee a degree of protection from the state to all political life participants, maintain plurality, respect religious, ethnic and other minorities. Israel presents itself as a liberal democracy, therefore it seems important to verify if this view is shared by the European Union. The Union, member states and politicians in their documents or during the debates judge such aspects of Israeli politics as the occupation of West Bank, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, settlements in the occupied territories, policies towards minorities, non-government organizations, oftentimes taking a critical stance towards Israeli actions. This may indicate that, despite Israel being a close political and economical partner, it still does not comply with the fundamental values and leaves something to be desired.

This paper analyzes coordination mechanism within the framework of Presidency in the European Union and shows the meaning of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) inside this mechanism. New Perspectives in Presidency of the EU studies has been designed as a platform for debate and scholarship on contemporary European integration. It welcome contribution from political science and international relations. This article addresses essential question about theoretical instruments of the Presidency, typology of the Coordinating Instruments Mechanism inside the Presidency (institutional, procedural, programme) and the bridging character of the Coordinating Mechanism inside the Presidency. Thanks to this investigations we receive links between empirical facts and current research agenda in the field of the EU Presidency (ie. ways to reinforce Presidency influence on the European Union and its role for political initiative).

The Presidency of European Union (EU) plays an important role in the functioning of the whole organisation. First of all, it is the propelling force for new decisions and policies in every area. Interior and exterior security of the EU (especially terrorism and its prevention) has become major issues in recent years. Terrorist attacks in London and Madrid not only made us realise that interior security was threatened, but also that this problem is connected to the exterior environment. In eff ect, many documents referring to fi ghting terrorism have come into existence. It have shown a big demand for creating instruments that would deal with security issues. Moreover, many of the Union’s institutions have been granted rights to combat it. That is why it is legitimate to look closer at the output of previous Presidencies in the area of freedom, security, and justice. This paper aims at listing matters connected to the EU’s security through the analysis of priorities and conclusions of the Presidencies in years 2005–2010, and the effects coming from Work Programmes’ guidelines with simultaneous pointing to often different goals set by particular countries.

In the European Union, the United States and other countries of the so-called Western world, the perception of the functionalities of AI, and other instruments of Industrial Revolution 4.0 significantly differs from its perception by the PRC’s authorities, which – for a few years – have been implementing solutions aimed at comprehensive scrutiny and social supervision rather than facilitating life and work. This idea has been reflected in the so-called Social Credit System since at least 2014 and has given rise to plenty of controversies and disputes, unfortunately based on emotions and imprecise interpretation of the characteristics, aims, and implementation of the project rather than knowledge. While the new, digital model of social management in China is extensively discussed in the literature, it is rarely addressed in Polish studies, which results in the scarcity of publications on this subject. This paper attempts to fill this gap by presenting the essence of the system and the progress of its implementation.

The fact that our country belongs to the European Union, an integration organization of such an advanced character and multilevel construction, necessitates deeper insight into the issue of our political system. As Poland is a new member state, it is currently “learning how to participate” in the integration process, which refers both to its authorities and society. However, it is not an easy task because the Union is the most structurally advanced international organisation in the world, with unique construction and methods of operation, which develops the framework for legal mechanisms finding no direct analogy in national systems. One of these mechanisms is the fact that judicature of an international court, i.e. the Court of Justice, is constantly used for executing current internal tasks of the state. It seems justifiable to note that the Court’s judicature is becoming a factor which may and should be taken into consideration in the policy decision-making process in the Republic of Poland. Thus, we should widely inform about the consequences of the fact that the Court of Justice has become an immanent part of the Polish system.

The dutch political system clearly favors representative democracy over direct democracy. Popular vote in 2005 on the ratification of the Constitution for Europe was the first (and the last) a nationwide referendum in the Netherlands. The decision to adopt the Constitutional Treaty by referendum was dictated by various factors, but mainly resulted from the belief that voters agree with the politicians about the need for a Constitution for Europe. Meanwhile the Dutch rejected the treaty in referendum. The purpose of this article is to show the reasons for the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty of the European Union, as well as to make an attempt to answer whether the outcome of the referendum was the result of voters’ attitudes towards Europe, or rather the attitudes towards political parties and government.