Around the bloc: Russian Pilot: Turkish Jets Fired Without Warning
Russia slaps restrictions on agricultural imports in first concrete action against Ankara.
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Russia slaps restrictions on agricultural imports in first concrete action against Ankara.
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Until recently, anyone over 18 could buy deactivated guns in Slovakia, no license required.
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After legalizing blocking of internet, telephones during ‘counterterrorism’ operations, Dushanbe targets SIM cards.
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The American vice-president carries a message to Kyiv that Washington wants to see more progress in fighting corruption.
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The CSCE Final Act, signed in Helsinki in 1975, opened a new chapter in the search for the optimal security system in the Euro-Atlantic area, stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok. It established a cooperative security system introducing a supra-bloc negotiation mechanism of political and economic cooperation, as well cooperation in such humanitarian fields as culture, education, exchange of information and interpersonal contacts. After the Cold War, CSCE organs were created and equipped with new competences in the field of preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution, but the evolution of the international order in Europe meant that, contrary to the original intention of the CSCE (renamed at the beginning of 1995 as the OSCE), it has not become the central institution of European security. As a result of the Eastern enlargement of NATO and the European Union, the principle of equal security for all participating states was abandoned. The OSCE remained a secondary institution specialising in what is called the soft aspects of security. The Ukrainian crisis, which broke out in the autumn of 2013, accompanied by other challenges and threats to security originating in other regions showed the need to revitalise the OSCE and create a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community.
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After knocking down communism in 1989, Poland and other countries of Eastern Europe were burdened with a task of settling accounts with their totalitarian past both in institutional dimension – through legal compensation for the victims of crimes and persecutions, trying their perpetrators and developing institutional standards preventing functionaries of the former communist secret services and their co-workers from having an impact on public life (lustration) and also enabling the victims to have an insight into the documents collected in the past on them. Since, in the centre of the lustration debate an issue of exploring, developing and settling accounts with one of fundamental pillars of the totalitarian system i.e. former security forces was placed, one of the elements of settling accounts with the communist past was the creation of institutions responsible for taking over the archives of the communist special forces and revealing the network of agents of thepolitical secret service, as well, as conducting research and educational activities in that area. The text analyses the conditions in which that process occurred in Poland and her bordering countries: Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia.The concluding paragraphs of the article contain the assessment that the process of creating the institutions responsible for taking over the materials of the state security organs, their development and making them available was a part of a political ritual of transformation from totalitarianism to democracy. That transformation was experienced by all post-communist countries of Central Europe which chose a democratic variant of social development. The institutions established in order to accomplish that goal have similar competences apart from investigative functions possessed only by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance. Lesser successes were achieved as far as the attempts to legal persecution of the perpetrators of communist crimes were concerned and it relates to the entire geographical area. The state of law proved to be an inefficient tool in bringing the guilty ones to justice within the course of passing years. Settling accounts with communism was never done in Russia. One may think that Russian leaders came to the conclusion that society is not ready yet for such a move since it would entail huge social and political costs and that its full realisation would be possible only after the natural generation exchange has been accomplished. The author puts forward a thesis that a future researcher of the historyof the post-communist era in Europe will be able to clearly distinguish the borderlines of the countries which have settled their accounts with a totalitarian past and of those where this has not been done with all the system, social and moral consequences of that fact.
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The present article is aimed at accounting for the social, economic, and cultural ways in which the Russian-speaking Lipovan inhabitants of Jurilovca village define and assume their belongingness to the biotope of Danube Delta in the North of Tulcea County, Romania. Two theoretical notions are followed in this regard, in terms of regional complex (according to Romanian geographer Simion Mehedinţi), and cultural area (as authored by the American anthropologist Clark Wissler). A series of social, economic,and cultural characteristics of Lipovan villagers outline the importance of fishing for the local livelihood as well as worldview, i.e. ethnicity, kinship, ethno-history, technical vocabulary, seasonal work, barter exchange, folk cookery, and the socialism vs. post-socialism perception. Beyond their traditional and contemporary ethnography, the crucial issue for the native villagers in Jurilovca is that of the very continuity of“their lake’s [unwritten] law” (as a vernacular representation) in contrast to the politics of renting out the local fishing areas. Therefore, the perspectives of the Russian-Lipovan “regional complex” of fishing within the “cultural area” from the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve appear to depend on the degree to which local aspects of customary law might be reconciled with the official legislation with respect to traditional ownership, genealogical inheritance, and the right of preemption.
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Kurdish genocide in Iraqi Kurdistan marked a turning point in Iraqi-Kurdish conflict which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. Iraqi nationalist party, Al-Baas, which took over power in 1963 introduced a policy of repressions against Kurds and was successively displacing them from their indigenous areas to the territory inhabited by Arab population who was loyal to the government. Iraqi government was destroying and confiscating the property of the Kurdish minority on a massive and organized scale. It banned Kurds from staying in designated prohibited zones, and carried out massive scale ethnic cleansing. The number of Kurds who fell victim to the regime of Saddam Hussein is estimated at 182 thousand. Chemical attack in the town of Halabja killed over 5 thousand people and those who survived still feel the impact of this deadly attack. It was exactly Halabja chemical attack that led to the internalization of the Kurdish problem and finally to the emergence of an independent Kurdish autonomy protected by international forces under the auspices of the United Nations. Following the collapse of Iraqi regime in 2003, nearly all authors of the chemical attack and other crimes against Kurds were brought to court and sentenced.
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This article is devoted to problematic aspects of the interaction and activity coordination of territorial customs bodies of the State Fiscal Service (SFS) of Ukraine, with local state administrations and local self-government bodies.The article provides the author's definition of «interaction», which is «a pre-determined and agreed procedure of departmental, interdepartmental and supra-departmental relationships between the subjects of public law, which is carried out in certain areas of their activities and within their competence as regards the implementation of the tasks assigned to them in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine». In addition, the author draws legal parallels between the concepts of «interaction», «assistance» and «coordination» in the field of state customs affairs. In this connection it is proved that the interaction in the sphere of state customs business is the principle of Ukrainian SFS customs houses activities and their means of contact with other state bodies and those of local self-government for the purpose of the Ukrainian SFS customs interaction with other state authorities and local self-governments in the sphere of state customs business and the implementation of certain concerted actions aimed at a particular result. At the same time, coordination as measures of administrative-legal nature determining the ways to regulating the resolution of the issue of interoperability between the public law bodies in the field of state customs affairs is the function of the Ukrainian SFS customs, other state bodies and those of local self-government, which aims at creation of such a model of relations between the actors, which enables implementing the agreed objectives with the least expenditure of time and money.Based on the analysis of the current legislation of Ukraine on state customs affairs, the author discloses the main aspects of the Ukrainian SFS territorial customs bodies’ activities promotion, and coordination and interaction of the Ukrainian SFS territorial customs bodies with local state administrations and local self-government authorities.It is also established herein that the interaction acts as an integrating factor, through which abilities of the Ukrainian SFS territorial customs bodies, other bodies of state power and those of local self-government are conditionally joined in some coherent system based on a common objective, and therefore it is necessary to clearly define the concept of «interaction» in the sphere of state customs affairs securing it in the provisions of the Customs Code of Ukraine and clearly outlining the forms of such cooperation.The author focuses on the fact that despite the importance of interaction between the Ukrainian SFS customs houses and local state administrations and local self-government bodies in the sphere of state customs business, which activates the solution of a whole range of issues, namely arranging for the frontier, interregional and international cooperation, ensuring the rule of law and public order, fighting against corruption and organized crime, etc., an adequate legal regulating mechanism for such interaction has not yet been established. Besides, the issue of forms of the Ukrainian SFS customs interaction as the territorial bodies of SFS of Ukraine with other executive power bodies and the ones of local self-government is addressed.Based on the results of the study the author notes that the interaction of the Ukrainian SFS customs offices and local state administrations with local self-government bodies is an inherent quality, link and component of the Ukrainian SFS Customs offices functioning organization, which aims to improve the state customs service implementation standards by the Ukrainian SFS customs houses and to ensure the said implementation efficiency. However, in the course of interaction of the Ukrainian SFS customs with local state administrations and local self-government bodies each of the mentioned organizations specializes in solving their specific tasks in accordance with their subject expertise, and forms a clear organizational system. The complementarity of such kind helps to improve the state customs affairs conductance quality and is realized through the coordination of performance of the Ukrainian SFS customs offices, local state administrations and local self-government bodies as the interaction subjects through normative, informational and analytical provision for the interaction and concretization of the activities of each subject within the planned activities.
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The aim of the article is to overview notification, i.e. a procedure provided in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU that requires the EU member states to inform the European Commission about certain measures. The author introduces the legal basis and discusses procedure applied in four types of notification: notifying state aid, notifying adoption of harmonisation measures, notifying technical regulations and notifying draft legislative provision in the field of competence of the European Central Bank.
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This paper presents the development of archival legislation in the Republic Slovenia, a work especially looks at developments concerning the proposal to amend supplement archival law, relating to the question of the reorganization of state archive service and the question of access to archives. Proposed amendments presented in its original form is not submitted within the decision-making in Parliament, because it was necessary, to previously resolve the legal provisions relating to the question of access archives and protect sensitive archive material. Adoption of the proposed law in Parliament, led to a legislative referendum, which was held in 2011.
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Ten ex-cons are among the candidates running in the 2 October local elections.
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Voters approve constitutional changes that rights groups warn would mainly consolidate the Aliyev family’s rule.
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In principle, in the European Union, the legislative function is exercised equally by the European Parliament and the Council. These two institutions adopt legislative acts through two procedures: the ordinary legislative procedure and the special legislative procedure. Besides these two main proceedings, in the goal of making procedural rigidity more flexible by implementing several steps, the Lisbon Treaty introduces a number of institutional clauses (passerelle clauses brake clause, and accelerator clauses). These clauses propose different institutional mechanisms, but pursue a common objective, namely, facilitating European integration in “sensitive” areas. Based on these aspects, this article discusses features of the adoption procedure for European legislative acts in terms of the Lisbon Treaty.
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Without having a universally accepted definition, the concept of citizenship has acquired through time a multitude of definitions putting, in general, the question of belonging to a particular community, which requires with priority political rights but also obligations, the citizen being the one that has rights and duties in a democratic society. The notion of European citizenship is based on rights and corresponding obligations, implying the fact that the citizens of the European Union benefit, in this quality, of the same rights that are traditionally awarded to own citizens in the internal legal order. By applying the “unity in diversity” principle which the united Europe is built upon, the European citizenship represents equality before the adopted laws and the problems and dissatisfactions of citizens can be the same regardless of nationality or ethnicity and common solutions need to be built for these. By the inclusion of rights, obligations, as well as by participating in the political life, the European citizenship hasthe purpose of consolidating the image and identity of the European Union and the more profound involvement of the citizen in the European integration process.
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Although Republic of Moldova has a roman-Germanic legal system judicial precedent is included among the sources of law, even if the doctrine still disputes this aspect. There are actually domains where judicial precedent’s use as a source of law is doubtless, while there are others where the opposite happens.
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Situated at the “edge of the society”, Roma citizens did not represent in the collective conscience the example of a disliked society, unorganized due to poverty and humiliation, but a society with a high degree of internal organization, autonomous. Though the majority looks at their way of life as not being compatible with a “normal” life and all the less modern, it is specific for many Roma communities. It is rather considered a way of surviving than a way of life itself, where modern society is tolerated or ignored to a certain extent.
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This material presents in its first part historical aspects regarding the evolution of the attributions of the National Agency for Employment which has transformed from an institution that paid the monetary rights of the unemployed into a provider of services for people who are looking for a job, services that include: professional counseling, professional training classes, services of labor mediation, services of consultancy for initiating a business and others. The second part of this material is dedicated to the presentation of the organisation and functioning method, attributions and object of activity that this agency has.
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The above article is an attempt of the sedevacantism problem elaboration, this is the period when the whole Church or the single diocese is left without the Pope or the Bishop. Sedevacantists claim that the Pope and the subordinate clergymen were not elected legally and validly since the death of Pope Pius XII, that is why the activity of present church structures and their dioceses do not have a legally binding power. The hole elaboration comprises of five points that include: sedevacantism description, its existence in the world and Poland, presentation of the chosen sedevacantism mediums (mainly the internet ones) and subject concerning the views on the society functioning of this trend followers. The author of this short article deliberately resigned from the theological presentation and evaluation of possible advantages and disadvantages of sedevacantism, focusing only on opinions promoted by other columnists.
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