Crisis of Solidarity in the European Union No More Dreams of Europe＇s Competitive Advantage？

The European Union has been experiencing the whole set of serious crises undermining European integration. The most important ones have been： financial and economic crisis, immigration crisis, crisis of nationalistic radicalization, Brexit, crisis of security caused by terrorism, strengthening of the Islamic State （ISIS）, and destabilization of regions around Europe （mainly in the Middle East）. The main thesis of this article is that all of them have weakened not only the EU as a whole but also the Member States. This has caused serious consequences being the main topics of this analysis, namely, （1） the value of solidarity lying upon the European integration concept being challenged by the crises; and （2） undermining by the crises the EU＇s pursuit of achieving the competitive advantage, stated in the strategy Europe 2020. The lack of solidarity is strongly visible in the EU Member States＇ differentiated attitudes towards the crises the EU has been facing. The paper will focus on analysis of solidarity in the light of intergovernmental approach supported by constructivism. The main research questions are： （1） To what extent have the EU crises strengthened the intergovernmental approach in the EU integration？ （2） How has the meaning and scope of the solidarity as the main EU value changed over time in the EU＇s citizens perception due to the EU crises？ （3） To what extent have strong intergovernmental approach and instrumentalization of the solidarity value influenced pursuit for competitive advantage in the EU？ （4） Does solidarity have a potential to contribute to efficient reform of the EU leading to strengthening its striving for competitive advantage in the future？ The main research approach is intergovernmentalism while the dominating methods are a process-tracing supported by a systemic method. The main conclusion of the article is necessity for redefining the rule of solidarity in order to efficiently strive for competitive advantage.

Turkey＇s Relations With the Central Asian Countries and Europen Union

The purpose of this paper, in the light of recent developments, is to analyze whether or not there is an axial drift in Turkey, which is a part of Europe. With the decision of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, after the collapse of the wall, known as the iron curtain, built on August 13, 1961 in Berlin, the Soviet Union disintegrated on the date of December 25, 1991 and a new unipolar restructure came into view. New hopes, uncertainties, and new threats were brought along by the US-led restructuring. The Cold War period ended, a drastic change process with the Eurasian axis in the international relations started to be lived in, and the world order based on the the nuclear balance between the East and the West also died out. Having been located at the intersection point of Europe and Asia and therefore of strategic importance, Central Asia has been bringing together the two continents for centuries. In this geography, Turkey has been the first country to recognize the Republics that have gained their independence for the last 20 years. Starting in 1991, the relations between Turkey and Central Asia countries progressed swiftly. Turkey, on one hand, has been developing the economical and political relations with the aforesaid countries, but on the other hand, it has also been continuing to progress on the course of being granted a full membership to the EU （European Union）. Turkey has been the only Muslim country to head towards the West since Tanzimat （the Reformations in 1839）. Besides, Turkey, by having preserved the cultural values, having adopted the democratic principles, having a common border with the Western world, and being her neighbour, is the only and the most developed country to have chosen the West on the economic, cultural, social, and sporting areas among the 57 Islamic countries existing in the world. Turkey, with different political and economic systems, is ready to contribute towards ensuring peace and economic prosperity in Central Asia and Eurasia. The diplomatic activity demonstrated by Turkey in its region was interpreted by some parties as undergoing a shift in the axis of the country and becoming Islamized. The development preparing the ground for the emergence of the axis debates in Turkey is that the relationship between Turkey and EU has come to a dead end. While about 80% of the public supporting for full membership in the years of 1999-2005, this proportion dropped to 40% in recent years. Without the support of the public opinion, no government in the Republic of Turkey will be enthusiastic about the EU membership, as it is, the relations between Turkey and the Western world will decline and the axis shift in Turkey will perhaps become a fact in this case. For this reason, an initiative, called Positive Agenda, was launched for the purpose of not breaking off the relations and preventing Turkey from setting sail for new shores. This new approach is not targeting to replace but to complete the accession process, and the development of the more constructive and positive relationship between EU and Turkey is targeted as well. The world＇s economic axis will shift from the West to the East in the next 50 years. The harsh criticism of the double standards of the West voiced by Turkey in the non-Western regions, such as the Middle East, the Balkans, and the Caucasus, is causing to be perceived by the Western world as Turkey is not a partner but a competitive power and the close relationship with the groups and the actors against the West in the Middle East is leading to interrogate about what kind of partner it will be in Europe. When NATO （North Atlantic Treaty Organization） was formed 63 years ago, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, that the Central Asia countries would gain their independence, that two-block structure of Europe would disappear, and that the Warsaw Pact would disband, could not be predicted by any one. Axis is shifting from the West to the East. By realizing this fact, Turkey has to determine a new strategy. As a result, in this statement, the position of Turkey, which is a part of Asia and Europe, against the latest development in the region, will be analyzed.

THE EUROPEAN UNION

For the European Union (EU), 1997 will be a critical year, whether for es-tablishing its Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) or for building its political u-nion, or for its eastward enlargement. First, 1997 is a decisive year for countries applying for founding membershipof the EMU scheduled to be launched in 1999. To be sure, to realize EU’s plan forsingle currency is one of the major objectives of its cross-century strategy and

Political Impact of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment （FDI） in the European Union （EU）

This paper explores the political challenges posed by the recent influx of Chinese outward foreign direct investment （OFDI） into the European Union （EU）. Chinese OFDI has increased substantially in recent years. Chinese direct investment is still minute in the EU, but it is growing fast, and the strong upward trajectory is likely to continue in the years to come. This surge represents challenges and opportunities for EU countries. In the current context of economic and debt crisis in Europe, whether China is seen as a saviour or a predator, the question of a Faustian bargain made by European countries by courting and hosting Chinese investment needs to be asked. The benefits of foreign direct investment （FDI） for the host economy are well known, but Chinese OFDI may come with implicit strings attached and could potentially act as a Trojan Horse, affecting European norms and policies. The influx of Chinese OFDI can create an unhealthy transatlantic competition with security ramifications, which should therefore be addressed. It is interesting to find the right balance between ensuring the benefits from Chinese FDI （from job creation to productivity gains） and protecting from its harmful effects.

The Diffusion of Bilateral Tendencies in the Common Trade Policy of the European Union During the Global Financial and Economic Crisis

In this research work, the author focuses on the analysis of the diffusion of bilateral tendencies in the common trade policy of the European Union （EU） during the global financial and economic crisis. Realistic point is important trends in the trade regime during the economic crisis. The decisions taken by the representatives of the governments participating in the World Trade Organisation （WTO） are, to a significant degree, influenced by various lobbies, such as organisations and unions of food producers or other non-governmental organisations, including trade unions, The main objective of the research task is to give a comprehensive analysis of the international trade policy during the world financial and economic crisis 2008-2010. The particular mains concern the political economy models of foreign trade policy, protectionistic pressures in different political system, the level of protectionistic pressures, food producer pressures, international trade liberalization, and environmental protection bilateral tendencies in the common trade policy of the EU and the respond of the EU to the economic crisis, it must be emphasized that on a theoretical level, understanding the choice of trade policies between liberalizm and protectionisme is very important. Despite the undeniable benefits of the multilateral WTO forum for trade liberalisation, the rapid increase of North-South bilateral and multilateral Free Trade Areas （FTAs） begs a systematic explanation for why some forums are prioritized relative to others.

The trend of relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean from the perspective of Bi-regional Summits

Nowadays,multilateral consultative mechanism is gradually becoming a mainstream approach in the contemporary international system.As one of the most important international collective player,the European Union(EU) has been engaging in multilateral cooperation and consultation since its inception.It has also been promoting a plural world through advocacy and action.The EU and the Latin America/Caribbean(LAC) Countries summits are considered a stability mechanism for promoting bi-regional dialogues.Nevertheless,after 10 years of bi-regional strategic partnership construction,the EU and LAC relations are currently experiencing a difficult phase,suggesting it is time to reform.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the advantages as well as the challenges to EU-LAC relations from the perspective of bi-regional summits,and to assess the short-term trend of their relations in the near

Colorectal cancer screening in countries of European Council outside of the EU-28

AIM: To provide an update on colorectal cancer(CRC) screening programmes in non-European Union(EU)-28 Council of Europe member states as of December 2015. METHODS: The mission of the Council of Europe is to protect and promote human rights in its 47 member countries. Its 19 non-EU member states are Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, FYR of Macedonia, Turkey, and Ukraine(EU-19). The main data source were GLOBOCAN, IARC, WHO, EUCAN, NORDCAN, ENCR, volume X of the CI5, the ministerial and Public Health Agency websites of the individual countries, Pub Med, EMBASE, registries of some websites and the www.cochranelibrary.com, Scopus, www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu, Research gate, Google and data extracted from screening programme results. RESULTS: Our results show that epidemiological data quality varies broadly between EU-28 and EU-19 countries. In terms of incidence, only 30% of EU-19 countries rank high in data quality as opposed to 86% of EU-28 states. The same applies to mortality data, since 52% of EU-19 countries as against all EU-28 countries are found in the high ranks. Assessment of the method of collection of incidence data showed that only 32% of EU-19 countries are found in the top three quality classes as against 89% of EU-28 countries. For the mortality data, 63% of EU-19 countries are found in the highest ranks as opposed to all EU-28 member states. Interestingly, comparison of neighbouring countries offering regional screening shows, for instance, that incidence and mortality rates are respectively 38.9 and 13.0 in Norway and 29.2 and10.9 in Sweden, whereas in Finland, where a national organised programme is available, they are respectively 23.5 and 9.3. CONCLUSION: Cancer screening should be viewed as a key health care tool, also because investing in screening protects the weakest in the population, decreases the social burden of cancer, and reduces all types of health care costs, including those for radical surgery, long-term hospitalisation, and chemotherapy.

Sino-European Trade Competition in Latin America and the Caribbean

The article studies trade in goods between China and the Latin American and Caribbean （LAC） countries and between the European Union （EU） and LAC during the years from 2000 to 2013. From the beginning of the 21st century, big changes in LAC＇s trade patterns have been observed. The article contains possible explanation of them. The analysis is based on the ECLAC （Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean） data. Merchandise trade between China and LAC grew significantly over the period from 2000 to 2013. In 2013, the value of merchandise exports from China was higher than from the EU-28 in the case of 12 LAC countries. Chinese imports of goods surpassed the European ones in five countries in the region. In order to increase its exports of manufactured goods and imports of natural resources and agricultural commodities, China combines trade arrangements with foreign aid policy. Besides, a rapid development of bilateral diplomatic ties between China and LAC is observed. The EU-LAC trade relations have worsened during the last decade mainly due to financial crisis and development of the EU-Asia trade relations.

Putin's Strategy of Integrating Russia into Europe and Its Prospect

The establishment and rapid rise of the European Union (EU) have increasingly made Europe an independent force. Objectively, the enlargement of both the EU and NATO has speeded up the process of European integration, and "One important link of Russia’s diplomacy

Europe's "Division" and Its Implications

Just as France and Germany took an increasingly divergent stand with the United States over the Iraq issue, on January 3rd, 2003, eight countries including Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary made a joint statement in the British Times, appealing to Europe to act in concert with U. S. over the issue of using force against Iraq.

Fifty Years of China-Western Europe Relations

Ever since the founding of the PRC in 1949, Sino-Western European relationshave experienced three different phases. The first one ranging from 1950s toearly 1970s is the period in which the two sides were mainly seeking to set up andnormalize their diplomatic ties. The second phase ranging from early 1970s to

Business Groups and the Europe 2020 Strategy： Problem Analysis

The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of interest groups on the Europe 2020 Strategy. One of the basic assumptions of the author is to present its analysis of the public consultation on the Europe 2020 strategy and its impact on the development of the European Union. The European Union needs to stimulate the economic integration of its particular Member States and the assumed postulates will strengthen its global position. The goal is to create a strong economy, based on modem technologies and knowledge, which would be able to compete with the healthiest economies in the world. The main intention of the author of this article is to find answers to the foUowing research questions： Did the interest groups have or do they still have any considerable influence on the strategies implemented in the European Union？ To what extent do they contribute to the process of reforming the Europe 2020 strategy through consultations within the framework of the European Union？ Are their lobbying activities efficient enough to allow for the perception of interest groups as significant players, capable of influencing the course of consultations on the Europe 2020 strategy？ What kind of external factors make it possible for the interest groups to influence the consultations？ To what extent are business groups capable of influencing particular institutions in the course of consultations on the Europe 2020 strategy？ What does their activation in relation to these institutions depend on？

European Economic Integration and The Future of Southeastern European Countries

Over the last few years major changes have happened in the region of South-Eastern Europe. They have been significantly determined by the changes in international political relations, and that mirrors economic and political interests of some countries. With its 27 member countries and the population of almost halfa billion people, the EU is a significant factor on the world scene. The aim of this paper is to point out that the future of Southeast European countries is, undoubtedly, within the flame of European integration. Moreover, it shows that the EU accomplishes a dominant role in the global economic area. That is also indicated by economic relations of the EU with the South-East European countries, with special regard to Serbia, as it is elaborated in this paper. This paper also examined and compared relations in terms of GDP in South-East European countries, as well as the highest import and export by sectors in relation Serbia--the EU. For the purpose of this research, the information from the world economic data base was used as the parameter of the research, and the information from the relevant financial institutions in Serbia. The main findings showed which countries in the South-Eastern Europe have the highest economic potential, which countries had positive GDP growth rate, the fact that Serbia had export growth of goods and services towards the EU and all the difficulties which followed that export. Finally, taking into consideration all the parameters, it can be concluded that the goal and future of South-East European countries is within the EU integration.

European Insurance Markets＇ Size and Trends in Regulatory Environment in the Context of Its Complexity

In today＇s globalized world, regulatory issues are heatedly debated, and experts can be divided into two groups based on their attitudes towards these issues. In the first group, representatives are in favor of stricter regulation, and representatives of the second group are in favor of removing legislative barriers in the markets of financial services. An important objective of the European Commission in recent years is to integrate the individual segments of the financial services into a whole so as to ensure the proper functioning of the whole to satisfy all the member states. The aim of this paper is to show the complexity of the regulatory environment, to point out the large number of institutions that cooperate in the creation of legislative measures, and also to highlight the different approaches to regulation in individual member countries and these issues do not ease the situation.

Diversity, Cohesion and the Development of the European Integration

The European Union （EU） this year has entered into the next phase of its existence, not only in terms of new economic conditions of the unwinding of the financial and economic crisis, but also on the basis of the results of European Parliament elections and the adoption of the EU financial fi＇amework for the period from 2014 to 2020. These indisputable facts does not change our view of the situation in which the EU is, or at major tasks whose managing can be considered as condition of its continued existence as an important part of the global economy. As the fundamental problem of the EU, persisting differences in economic level of the member states is considered. The aim of this paper is not to formulate and even to propose how the EU should look like in the future, but to assess criteria of decision making about concept of its future direction. In this context, the verification of argument will be performed, that only the integration of the countries that have common interests and objectives respectively are able to make the same efforts to meet them, is in certain stages of integration possible and functional. Conversely, a broader territorial structured integration of countries with significantly different economic parameters is feasible and functional only at lower stages of integration. This paper starts from that the process of economic convergence among member states as a condition for integration can be realized at the lower stage of the integration process, in terms of economic and monetary union, then only the expense of reducing the dynamics of economic development of integration group as a whole. Some degree of equilibrium of economic levels represents an important condition for the success of the integration project. To meet this goal, current differences in economic level of individual EU member states （comparative analysis using indicators of growth rate and development of GDP/capita） will be analyzed, including the assessment of the cost of the EU for the implementation of cohesion policy, both in terms of the economic crisis and the phase of requirement to the revival of the European economy. In this context, also the effectiveness of institutional arrangements of decision-making procedures will be assessed.

The EU-Vietnam Relations Through Promoting European Studies in Vietnam

The Vietnam-Europe relations can be traced back to four centuries ago when the first European missionary arrived in the country. However, this relationship has gone a long history with up and down events, partly because of the misunderstanding and lack of information that influenced much on their cooperation. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the development of European Studies in Vietnam from historical perspective using the first hand information collected in Vietnam, and argued that in order to promote the European Union （EU）-Vietnam relations, European studies must be a priority in policy agenda of both sides. The paper concluded that European studies should be seen as an efficient measure to attract more and more students, and through which to promote image and understanding among people, and believed that there will be no doubt about the future of the EU-Vietnam relationship.

CSHRS Delegation's Visit to Europe

Headed by Zhou Jue, President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), the delegation of CSHRS paid a visit tO Germany, Austria, Belgium and EU from December 1 to 17, 2003, at invitations of relevant organizations. This is the first delegation sent by CSHRS to visit the three countries and EU since its founding in 1993. The delegation had extensive exchanges, dialogues and forums with the parliamentarians, government officials, and people from political parties and nongovernment human rights organizations, research institutions and academic groups in Germany, Austria, Belgium and EU during the visit, and met the press respectively in the three countries. While in Ger-

Final Move for an Integrated EU Energy Market： Energy Union

EU is in position of world＇s largest energy importer and plays an active role in energy markets. Therefore, the EU＇s energy policy has not only local but also global effects. Because of the two oil crises in the 1970＇s, energy has taken an important place in the EU＇s agenda and has become one of the EU＇s highest priorities as the part of the EU＇s goal of Single Market. Especially, the 1987 Single European Act followed by the goal of Single Market has come to dominate the idea of the necessity of having a single market for energy. A chapter about energy has been added into the letter of the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon for the first time, thus energy has gained a new dimension and has had a legal basis. However, although there are energy rules defined at European level, there are 28 national regulatory structures in practice. Therefore, an integrated energy market is needed to create more competition, to increase market efficiency through better use of energy generation facilities across the EU, to produce affordable prices for consumers, and to move as whole, not as 28 separate countries. In this regard, the idea of creation of the Energy Union has emerged and the European Commission has published a detailed action plan for the Energy Union on February 25, 2015. In this study, historical process of initiatives for the creation of common energy policy in the EU is analyzed and the future of Energy Union is discussed.