Eastern Journal of European Studies

Authors: İbrahim Murat BİCİL, Kumru TURKOZ 

Energy efficiency is one of the most effective methods of fighting climate change, achieving supply security and succeeding in resource effectiveness. For this reason, European Union (EU) countries follow mutual energy policies related to energy efficiency, with directives of the European Commission. This study used the Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Index to determine the extent to which 28 EU countries used energy efficiently in the output (GDP) production process in the period of 2005-2017. The results of the analysis indicated that the energy efficiency of EU-28 countries increased by an average of 1.1% for the period under review, and that the increases in efficiency varied between countries. Also, energy efficiency decreased only in Poland throughout the studied period. Although the Union has a common energy policy, it is thought that there are two main reasons for the energy efficiency differences in the member countries of the Union. The first of these is the energy structures of the countries, while the second is the energy policies of the countries that are shaped by their own internal dynamics.

Keywords: energy, energy efficiency, EU energy policy, data envelopment analysis, Malmquist index,

Pages: 5-20 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0201

Authors: Vladimir ĐORĐEVIĆ, Richard Q. TURCSANYI, Vladimir VUČKOVIĆ 

Abstract: The prospect of accession of the Western Balkans into the EU has been declining, with Brussels unwilling to accept new members, and the Western Balkan region becoming indifferent towards adopting EU-imposed norms. Although this process has been extensively studied, the academic literature has largely omitted the roles of external actors. This article fills the gap by focusing on China and its role vis-a-vis the ongoing Europeanisation of Serbia and Montenegro, both of which host significant Chinese investments and are regional frontrunners in the EU enlargement process. We begin by addressing theoretical aspects of Europeanisation and then apply this framework to our case studies. Our position is that the two states' turn to the policy of alternatives is the result of failing Europeanisation, allowing them to deepen their engagement with China - an action that has become synonymous with the policy of alternatives to EU enlargement.

Keywords: China, Western Balkans, Europeanisation, Serbia, Montenegro,

Pages: 21-45 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0202

Author: Lukas NOVOTNY

Abstract: The so-called dual food quality played a very important role in the Visegrad Group countries, including in the local European Parliament election campaigns. Therefore, it is also addressed in this study, which focuses primarily on the legal and political science aspects thereof. The main research questions that I try to answer are whether it is legal under European law to market a product with the same or similar packaging with different ingredients and what role dual food quality played in the campaigns of political parties in the Visegrad Group countries during the European Parliament elections. In the introduction, I define the concept of food quality as well as the so-called dual food quality, which both European and Member States' legislation (including the Visegrad Group countries) are only getting acquainted with. In the main chapters, I deal with the development of legislation on dual quality at the EU level, listing concrete steps taken by the EU within the common market and analysing the campaigns of Czech political parties in the European Parliament election as a case study. In addition, the programmes of parties standing for election and their other public presentations in the campaign are analysed.   

Keywords: food and drink quality, European Parliament election, Campaigns, Visegrad, European Union, Czech Republic,   

Pages: 46-65 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0203

Authors: Ines M. RIBEIRO, Stylianos KOSTAS 

Abstract: Over the last decade, the role of the European Union (EU) High Representative (HR/VP) became increasingly salient. However, a systematic understanding of how this figure's leadership shaped the character of EU diplomacy and actorness in peacekeeping is lacking. To address this issue, we analyse Catherine Ashton's leadership (as the first HR/VP post Lisbon Treaty) in the 2013 Kosovo-Serbia agreement, a high point of her tenure. We argue that Ashton's success is largely due to her hybrid leadership, alternating between transactional and transformational and capitalising on the EU's presence and opportunities as an international actor. We propose the concept of hybrid leadership as an analytical tool and illustrate its relevance in an empirical case study. Our examination of Ashton's hybrid leadership contributes to shedding light on the potential role of the future HR/VPs and on how these can reinforce EU leadership, diplomacy, and actorness, contributing to reinforcing the corresponding academic debates.

Keywords: European Union, High Representative, Leadership, Actorness, Kosovo, Serbia, Western Balkans,

Pages: 66-85 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0204

Authors: Serhii SEHEDA, Vasyl SHEVCHUK, Oleksii POKOTYLO  

Abstract: The article studies the stages of creating the national army in Ukraine before the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and during the first years of existence of the independent state of Ukraine. The civil society in Ukraine raised the issue of the formation of the national army driven by the sovereignty aspirations and the demands to do military service exclusively on the Ukrainian territory without involving in the Soviet Union conflicts. The military-political circumstances and their influence on the creation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been analysed. Certain similarities between the ways of creation of armed forces in the Baltic States and Ukraine, in particular the role of socio-political movements in this process have been studied. The authors have compared the main principles of the formation of armed forces in Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania and disclosed the relation between the principles of their foundation and further territorial integrity.    

Keywords: Armed Forces of Ukraine, anti-army social movements, Officers' Union of Ukraine, Popular Front of Estonia, legislative acts,

Pages: 86-104 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0205

Authors: Aleksey ANISIMOV, Anatoliy RYZHENKOV

Abstract: The article deals with the generally accepted category of digitalization with respect to the goals and objectives of legal protection of the environment. In terms of the Russian legislation and the scientific doctrine, it is proved that public authorities pay the main attention to economic and technological aspects of digitalization, which does not meet the basic environmental needs of the modern state and society. The authors propose a classification of the main digitalization areas of environmental protection, including the industry, agriculture, transport, waste management, organization of environmental monitoring, etc. They note that, despite all its obvious advantages, digitalization also poses a particular threat to the environment, which requires a range of preventive measures. Since national legal systems pay now insufficient attention to the regulation of the use of digital technologies in the area of environmental protection, the authors propose a range of measures to develop the national environmental legislation.

Keywords: digitalization, climate, ecology, transport, power industry,

Pages: 105-122 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0206

Authors: Veysel KARAGOL, Burhan DOĞAN

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between the business and financial cycles in Turkey. While gross domestic product represented business cycles, nine different indices including real effective exchange rate in addition to credit and stock markets indicators were calculated for financial cycles. Initially, Bry-Boschan quarterly algorithm was used for defining cycle characteristics such as turning points, duration, amplitude, slope and cumulative loss. Subsequently, the series detrended through Hodrick-Prescott filter were subjected to Hacker and Hatemi-J (2006) symmetric and Hatemi-J (2012) asymmetric causality tests. In addition to the fact that the number of financial cycles is higher than the number of business cycles, financial cycles follow a more sloped and rapid cycle than business cycles. Findings also point out that there is significant synchronization between the two cycles especially during contraction phases. Furthermore, there is the presence of a symmetric and asymmetric causality relationship running from financial cycles to business cycles in Turkey. These evidences outline that policy makers should take into account the role played by financial cycles on the output. 

Keywords: business cycle, financial cycle, Bry-Boschan quarterly algorithm, symmetric causality, asymmetric causality,

Pages: 123-150 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0207

Authors: Mihaela TOFAN 

Abstract: The paper aims at presenting the influence of the fiscal harmonization on the international law, showing the current changes in the methods of fiscal cooperation among states, with direct influence on location of activity and indirect influence on investment and saving conduct. The international taxation globally has reached a point where unilateral regulation is not efficient anymore and the need for cooperation is present, in regional partnerships and in cooperation mechanisms, likewise. Tax law is one of the most representative division of the national law, considering the autonomous ability of the governments and of the national legislative actors to adopt the legal framework for fiscal liability. The paper addresses the challenges in tax regulation, in the context of the consequential influence of the international law developments on the domestic fiscal rules, including direct taxation for cross-border income and taxation of dividens, both from regulatory and jurisprudential perspective. The regulation formal strains and the influence of the jurisprudential approach on tax planning are analysed, pointing out the need for integrated regulatory framework.   

Keywords: tax, sovereignty, international law, tax case-law developments,

Pages: 151-168 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0208

Authors: Bashkim RRAHMANI

Abstract: Constitutional Court decisions are crucial for a sustainable and democratic state institution functions as well as a country's political stability. This article seeks to provide insights into the Constitutional Courts process, the role it plays in providing political stability under normal circumstances, when it is overburdened by a large case load and how that often does not provide satisfactory results for a variety of Kosovo stakeholders. The article also seeks to describe, discuss and analyse the development of Kosovo's judicial review process, important court composition issues and the legal basis for its activities and procedures, and to discuss the obstacles and political influences in several court decisions which caused ambiguity, political tensions and increased distrust in Kosovo's political systems and institutions including the constitutional court.  

Keywords: constitution, court, decisions, political tensions, constitutional court decisions,

Pages: 169-189 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0209

Authors: Dora DONCHEVA, Dimitrina STOYANCHEVA

Abstract: The current paper aims to analyse and estimate the Bulgarian hotel industry's efficiency, focusing on both cost and profit efficiency. We attempt to examine whether service quality, as well as tourism specialization, affect hotel industry efficiency. By using the Battese and Coelli (1995) model this study applies a Stochastic frontier analysis with 309 Bulgarian hotels analysed for the period of 10 years (2008-2017). The methodology allows to be estimated the efficiency level and influencing factors, as well as decompose the error into both, random and inefficiency error. The results show that the cost efficiency decreases when the hotel category increases and significantly fluctuates over time in a decreasing tendency. On the other hand, quality service and tourism specialization cannot unambitiously explain the profit inefficiency of Bulgarian hotels. Thus, the hotel management needs to apply strategies related to differentiating hotel products and/or better pricing, rather than tourism development of the destination.      

Keywords: service quality, tourism specialization, translog function, stochastic frontier analysis, tourism industry,

Pages: 190-212 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0210

Authors: Oana-Ramona SOCOLIUC (GURIȚĂ), Andreea-Oana IACOBUȚĂ-MIHĂIȚĂ, Elena CIORTESCU

Abstract: Following the path prescribed by Acemoglu and Robinson, development disparities can be better interpreted in the light of the effectiveness of political and economic institutions which rule society. From this perspective, the post-communist economies provide enough evidence when addressing the transition strategies followed in order to shape the market economy. Our paper analyses the impact of private property reform on the economic outcomes of Romania and the Czech Republic, as exponents of the two transition strategies. We employ a Vector Error Correction Model, followed by a Variance decomposition and a Granger Causality to emphasize the contribution of dissimilar property reforms to the economic dynamics. The results highlight that clear property rights in the Czech Republic have created the auspicious circumstances for enhancing growth and prosperity while, for Romania, it became an obstacle against economic growth.  

Keywords: inclusive political institutions, inclusive economic institutions, private property, transition, development,

Pages: 213-243 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0211

Author: Vilma LINKEVIČIŪTĖ

Abstract: The research into Joe Biden's conflict communication discourse with Vladimir Putin is relevant for international geopolitics because it may be identified as a geopolitical conflict. The results of conflict resolution will have a crucial impact, not only on the main parties to the conflict, but also on the security of the EU. Thus, the object of this article is Biden's conflict communication discourse aimed at Putin (2021). The aim of the research is to identify and analyse how conflict communication is manifested in the discourse of two political leaders. Conflict communication enables Biden to attribute positive nominations to himself, as a politician, to the USA and the allies. Putin and his supporters are granted negative nominations and are accused of detrimental actions. The role and functions of contrastive nominations in Biden's conflict communication discourse are aimed to form the intended positive image of Biden and the negative image of Putin.

Keywords: political discourse, conflict communication, semantic fields, nominations,

Pages: 244-262 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0212

Author: Bogdan ȘTEFANACHI

Abstract: After the end of the Cold War, reframing the anatomy of conflict (from inter to intra state) and safeguarding the human in the equation of security has been defined the concept of human security as a way to surpass the classical state-centric approaches. In terms of responsibility to protect, human security could be a new way of understanding sovereignty, not excluding the state but linking the concepts that traditionally divide the international community and sovereign state; the new notion of sovereignty becomes a mechanism of mitigating/eliminating the arbitrary power of the state (reflecting the state control and the freedom from any interference) by the accountability of its actions (reflecting a better way to balance order and justice).     

Keywords: state (security), globalization, human security, responsibility (to protect), sovereignty,

Pages: 263-279 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0213

Author: Evita BADINA

Abstract: In Latvia, the Soviet regime played a crucial role in the transformation of people's values. Latvians had to be moulded into "New Soviet People" - educated, hardworking, collectivistic, patriotic, loyal to the Communist Party and superior to any other human in the world. A "New Soviet Person" had to be ready to oppose all the threats of capitalism and eventually conquer the world. The research aim is to examine the ways Soviet officials tended to employ literature from ideologically opposite countries to implant 'appropriate' socialist values into society. On the example of British and American fiction presented in the public space of Latvia in the 1940s, the process of constructing a "Soviet identity" is considered. Soviet Latvia periodicals of the 1940s were used as a main data-collecting instrument revealing policies and practices of society moral education carried out by the regime ideologists.      

Keywords: Latvia, Soviet ideology, 'new Soviet person', Anglophone literature, the press,

Pages: 280-297 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0214

Authors: Inese TRUSINA, Elita JERMOLAJEVA

Abstract: The paper focuses on key questions relating to the concepts of development, sustainability and sustainable development, and also presents the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the associated discussions regarding its complementarities and benefits. It took more than 40 years for the SD concept to take shape and turn into a global agenda. On the other hand, there is still no formalized description of a sustainable or monitoring system, of the requirements necessary for the development criteria and measures. The aim of this article is to contribute by providing concise data about its SD concept evolution, principles and their implications for the global, national and individual actions aimed to achieve SD. From the angle of a future view on sustainability, the paper reinterprets the information field, significance of the ecological economics concept (monographic method) and further elaborates on the spatial-temporal energy flows (power) approach for monitoring the socio-economic system development.      

Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sustainability, ecological economics, regional economic, flows of energy,

Pages: 298-322 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0215

Authors: Khrystyna PRYTULA, Florentina CHIRODEA, Anna MAKSYMENKO

Abstract: Trade liberalisation and intensification of European integration processes are important factors that influence economic development of Ukrainian border regions. This paper presents a methodological approach to assessing the competitive advantages of border regions under integration prospects into global value chains. The proposed approach takes into account the framework of world indices of competitiveness and investment attractiveness, peculiarities of border regions, modern trends in world economic processes. The integral index of competitiveness of these regions has been calculated. It is substantiated that the border regions' economy is in the process of transformation and its development is increasingly determined by innovations and efficiency. Integration of their economy into value chains by processing toll raw materials and its subsequent export determines its place in global production networks with the lowest share of value added. Consequently, low wages and border location today still remain the determining factors in shaping of border regions' competitive advantages.

Keywords: competitive advantages, regional development, European integration processes, border regions, Ukraine,

Pages: 323-346 | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0216

Author: Lino BIANCO 

Pages: 347-350  | Full text (PDF)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-0217