The Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East are nowadays increasingly in the focus of both the European and international interest. Recent developments in the energy field due to the discovery of significant hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean increase the importance of this sub-region towards power balance in the Middle East. Against this background the book seeks to analyze under which conditions energy reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean could boost cooperation and peace or, on the contrary, further complicate existing conflicts. A special analytical interest regards the significance of these developments to European energy security and subsequently how this affects the relationship of the countries of this region to European Union.
Against the background of the EU’s multifaceted crisis, i.e. financial and refugee crises, the growing security threat, Brexit, the deterioration of state of law in some member states, the growing gap between citizens and political elites, the political radicalization of an increasing number of citizens, etc. this book purports to reassess the social, legal, economic and moral dimensions of solidarity in the EU. The discussion on the challenges solidarity as the leading principle of EU integration currently faces focuses on fundamental questions vis-à-vis EU integration such as: are the EU’s integration and crisis management capacities already exhausted, has European integration reached its limits or will the EU be finally in the position to fully put into practice and further enhance solidarity, and hence, integration?
This volume provides insight into the situation regarding freedom of expression and the media across Europe today. Renowned European scholars and practitioners in the field analyze specific problems and threats that the media, in general, and journalists, in particular, face in Europe, as well as in selected countries (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, Malta, and Austria). In addition, the book provides an overview of how technology-driven changes affect the ways news is being made, found, delivered, and funded, and examines the implications for media pluralism. It also takes a ground-breaking look at the growing role of the media in managing security crises. The book as a whole is inspired by the fundamental view still vital to democracies that the role of the press is “to serve the governed, not the governors.”
Pursuant to Art. 267 (1) of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement of 2014, Ukraine adopted the Law on State Aid to Undertakings which fully entered into force in August 2017. As a result, within a transition period over the next years, nearly all kinds of direct or indirect support by public authorities to the private sector will be controlled by an EU-inspired State Aid System. Ukraine’s Economy consists of thousands of state-owned, controlled or subsidised enterprises, stipulating that EU State Aid rules will trigger a significant change in Ukraine’s industrial base. While scholars estimate an overall positive effect leading to enhanced competition and sound public finances, concerns rise in terms of the correct and timely implementation, adequate enforcement of the recovery of unlawful State Aids and the influence of reform opponents in Ukraine’s political-administrative system. Having thoroughly examined the transposition of the State Aid provisions in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, we find a comprehensive level of correspondence with the relevant EU law, while holding that the jurisdiction of the EU Court of Justice on the interpretation of the agreement will allow for an unprecedented intense legal harmonization in Ukraine within the ambits of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Applying modern administrative theories to the actor’s constellation in Ukraine’s State Aid reform system, we identify reform opponents and bottlenecks while suggesting adequate managerial strategies for Ukraine’s competition regulator. Provided that the reform is correctly and timely carried-out and the benefits of fair competition policy are understood by policy-makers, authorities but also private undertakings, we conclude that the ongoing State Aid reform will boost Ukraine’s economic growth, consolidate public spending and contribute to transparency and the fight against corruption.
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