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This book explores the many aspects of transition and its role in the change from authoritarian regimes to new democracies, while highlighting all of their difficulties and challenges.
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The current analysis depicts the major trends in and risks to the development of civil society in Bulgaria. Three groups of risks are identified related to the establishment of public-private partnerships, the capture of civil society by politicians at local and national level, and the nature of commercial activities performed by non-profit organizations. The suggested legislative changes and measures target state and municipal structures related to non-profit organizations. In addition, this paper outlines measures aimed at self-regulation and greater transparency in the "third sector".
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This paper critically examines the policy implications of the ongoing Canada-Czech Republic visa dispute for the founding principles of the EU’s immigration and asylum policies, notably those of reciprocity and solidarity. It addresses the main challenges posed by the unilateral reintroduction of visa requirements for nationals of the Czech Republic for the EU’s common visa policy, and for the fundamental rights of European citizens who belong to vulnerable and excluded groups, i.e. Roma, in search of international protection. The new Commission proposal on avisa safe guard clause for suspending visa liberalisation will be also critically examined in this context. The paper argues that the EU-Canada visa controversy reveals several pitfalls for the successful pursuit of EU foreign policy in Justice and Home Affairs, as well as for the legitimacy of Europe’s immigration and asylum policies. It concludes with a set of policy recommendations for improving EU-Canada cooperation in the fields of migration and asylum that aim to facilitate the legitimacy, solidarity and fundamental rights compliance of current and future cooperation frameworks.
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‘Civic integration’ programmes and tests for third-country nationals (TCNs) have increasingly become part of member states’ legislation implementing EC immigration law and the EU Framework on Integration. The civic dimension of integration consists of various programmes and tests requiring TCNs to demonstrate that they know and respect the receiving society’s history, institutions and values. This paper assesses the tensions inherent in the relationship between civic integration programmes and the principles of legal certainty, proportionality and non-discrimination. This paper compares national immigration legislation in four member states – Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands. It studies the personal and material scope of civic integration provisions as well as the political justifications promulgated by their governments for introducing these kinds of policies. This comparison enables us to identify the common deficits of these member states’ policies. We argue that by providing a supranational venue for the transferring and legitimising certain national policies that use civic integration to restrict immigration, the legitimacy and coherency of the EU immigration policy is profoundly affected by the same deficits.
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The Stockholm Programme and the European Commission’s Action Plan implementing it have positioned the freedom, security and justice of ‘European citizens’ at the heart of the EU’s political agenda for the next five years. Yet, who are the ‘citizens’ about whom the Council and the European Commission are so interested? At first sight it would appear as if only those individuals holding the nationality of a member state would fall within this category. This paper challenges this assumption,however, and argues that as a consequence of litigation by individuals before EU courts and of the growing importance given to the act of mobility in citizenship and immigration law, the personal scope of the freedoms accorded to European citizenship already covers certain categories of third country nationals (TCNs). Through an examination of selected landmark rulings of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the paper demonstrates how the requirement of being a national of an EU member state is progressively becoming less important when defining the boundaries of the European citizenry.
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Biometrics are a feature of communication technologies (ICTs). Their disproportionate use andthe lax and arbitrary way in which they are defined and implemented endangers values, norms and practices central to accepted conceptions in the EU27 of transparency, data protection and data privacy. Concern over the indiscriminate and growing use of biometrics for increasingly mundane and imprecise purposes results in a breach of the earlier intention to ensure their proportionate deployment based on the principle of necessity. Deviation from this is now justified by reference to loose arguments about the alleged ‘certainty’ that biometric identifiers bring to cutting risk, and so enhancing ‘security’, however that is defined.
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This working paper analyses the flow of Roma migrants, in particular asylum-seekers, from the Czech Republic and Hungary to Canada in 1996–2010. Although the fate of the Roma is at the centre of events, statistics on asylum applications along with an interpretation of the history of migration issues, from the perspectives of both international relations and EU policy, illustrate the classical debate on state sovereignty versus universal or at least European solidarity. They reflect the debate on the binding human rights of fragile groups versus security preconditions and prejudices. This amalgam of migration, visa and asylum policies has affected the lives of Roma and their efforts to achieve equal treatment, integration and citizenship in their country of residence as well as their homeland.
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Jest to wykład rzetelny, skonstruowany ściśle chronologicznie, bardziej opowiadający niż analizujący. Historia polityczna w ujęciu Autora to historia polityki, która rozgrywa się przede wszystkim na terenie instytucji państwowych i w obrębie klasy politycznej. Głównym podmiotem nie jest więc anonimowe społeczeństwo, obecne w postaci wyników sondaży i głosowań, a niekiedy opisu strajków. Są nim bezpośredni uczestnicy – przede wszystkim liderzy – gry (walki) politycznej, co nadaje płynności wywodom Antoniego Dudka i podnosi temperaturę narracji. Prof. dr hab. Andrzej Paczkowski Antoni Dudek jako jeden z pierwszych profesjonalnych badaczy zajął się początkami, a następnie dziejami Trzeciej Rzeczpospolitej. Swój warsztat historyka i politologa wykorzystuje także w najnowszej, opartej na rozległych badaniach, historii politycznej Polski. To najlepszy dziś przewodnik dla wszystkich próbujących zrozumieć nasze dzieje po upadku rządów komunistycznych. Prof. dr hab. Jerzy Eisler Antoni Dudek – historyk i politolog, profesor nauk humanistycznych. W latach 1989–2014 pracownik Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, obecnie wykładowca na UKSW w Warszawie. W latach 2011–2016 członek i ostatni przewodniczący Rady IPN. Autor i współautor wielu książek o historii najnowszej Polski oraz jej systemie politycznym. Publicysta i komentator polityczny, prowadzi na YouTube autorski kanał „Dudek o Historii”.
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Serbia officially started the negotiation process for its accession to European Union (EU) in January 2014, more than two years. So far, only two negotiation chapters have been opened: 32 (Financial Control), 35 (Other Issues, which in Serbia’s case, refers to Belgrade-Pristina relations), thus she was invited to prepare negotiation positions for two other chapters: 14 (Transport Policy) and 21 (Trans-European Networks). Negotiations on Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security), being of the most relevance for the following report, have yet to be opened, despite the facts that this was announced at the beginning of the negotiation process and that these chapters were the first to be opened during the latest round of EU enlargement. Finally, even though their opening has been scheduled for June 2016, this has also been called into doubt since Croatia, now an EU member state, recently raised reservations over certain issues covered by Chapter 23.
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The book Protection of Human Rights in the Army and the Police combines the papers prepared by the researchers and associates of the Centre for Civil-Military Relations, a Belgrade-seated NGO, within a project on the “Protection of Human Rights in the Army and the Police of the FR of Yugoslavia”. The whole project, including the publishing effort, was implemented with the support of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, London and Freedom House, Budapest. The project, initially conceived as one-year (2000-2001) interdisciplinary research exercise, was essentially aimed at identifying the degree of respect for human rights in the Yugoslav army and the police. The research also extended to the observance of human rights of citizens under the jurisdiction of the army and/or the police. The main task of the researchers was to look into the (im)balance between the regulative – constitutional and legal – protection of human rights in the army and the police of the FRY and their actual discharge. In order to do that relevant empirical data had to be collected.To this end, in early 2001, the Centre for Public Opinion and Political Research of the Institute for Social Sciences of the University of Belgrade carried out a survey on the situation of human rights and freedoms in the Yugoslav army and the police on a representative sample of 1680, as required for project purposes. The survey findings were presented to the public at a press conference on 12 April 2001 in the Belgrade Media Centre. The conclusive analysis of findings was then incorporated into the present Collection of Papers.
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The main goal of this research involves gaining insight into the current situation and the functioning of the social protection system in Serbia, including girls, young people women and women16 from rural areas, the target group that is at the center of the analysis. The specific objectives of the research are to identify and present barriers to access social services for the rural population. Further analysis deals with the needs, satisfaction with the services provided, as well as opportunities for greater participation rural population in the creation of social policy development plans. By research the needs of organizations and institutions that provide social services are also included protection and support, as well as opportunities to develop and improve their business and relations towards and with service users.
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Odlukom Vlade Republike Srbije od 26. marta 2009. godine osnovan je Nacionalni savet za decentralizaciju. Ovom odlukom kao ključni zadatak Nacionalnog saveta navedeno je da treba da učestvuje u pripremanju i izradi Strategije decentralizacije Republike Srbije u skladu sa evropskim standardima i iskustvima razvijenih evropskih zemalja, kao i potrebom da se u Srbiji kroz decentralizaciju nastavi proces njene demokratizacije U sastavu Nacionalnog saveta nalazio se jedan broj ministara, zatim ključni pokrajinski funkcioneri, kao i predsednici jednog broja većih opština u Srbiji. Navedenom odlukom Vlade Republike Srbije fomirana je i Radna grupa Nacionalnog saveta čiji je zadatak bio da sačini radni tekst nacionalne strategije decentralizacije Srbije, kao i sva druga neophodna prateća dokumenta. Za članove Radne grupe izabrani su :prof. dr Marijana Pajvančić , prof. dr Snežana Đorđević, prof. dr Stevan Šogorov, dr Miroslav Prokopijević, prof. dr Jovan Komšić, Aleksandar Popov, Centar za regionalizam Novi Sad, Mladen Jovanović, Protekta Niš. Na prvom sastanku Radne grupe za njenog koordinatora je izabran Aleksandar Popov. Nakon nekoliko sastanaka Radna grupa je u januaru 2010. godine sačinila nacrt Nacionalne strategije decentralizacije i uputila ga Nacionalnom Savetu na usvajanje. Sednica Nacionalnog saveta na kojem je započeta rasprava o nacrtu strukture Nacionalne strategije za decentralizaciju je održana 17. marta 2010. godine, ali nije do kraja završena, tako da na toj sednici nije doneta nikakva odluka o ovom dokumentu. Naredna sednica Nacionalnog saveta za decentralizaciju koja je bila zakazana za 27. april 2010. godine nije održana zbog bojkota svih ministara i jednog broja predsednika opština iz stranaka vladajuće koalicije. Pošto se zbog ovog bojkota rad Nacionalnog saveta za decentralizaciju, a samim tim i Radne grupe, nalazi u blokadi već skoro dve godine, veći deo eksperata i njen koordinator su napustili Radnu grupu. Pošto je reč o stručnjacima koji su dugogodišnji saradnici Centra za regionalizam zajednički je dogovoreno da se u okviru Centra započne rad na izradi priloga za buduću Nacionalnu strategiju za decentralizaciju, odnosno alternativne Nacionalne strategije. Rad na ovim prilozima ima višestruki smisao. Kao prvo kroz njihovu izradu i javnu promociju tema decentralizacije Srbije će se držati otvorenom u javnosti. S druge strane, ovi radovi će poslužiti za finalizaciju zvanične Nacionalne strategije decentralizacije, kada se jednog dana steknu uslovi za to, odnosno kada se pokaže politička volja da se ovaj dokument sačini i stvarno započne proces decentralizacije Srbije. Priloge u ovoj knjizi su dali: prof. dr Marijana Pajvančić, prof. dr Snežana Đorđević, prof. dr Stevan Šogorov, prof.dr Irena Pejić, dr Miroslav Prokopijević, prof. dr Jovan Komšić I Aleksandar Popov. Rad na ovoj studiji o decentralizaciji, odnosno zbirki priloga za Nacionalnu strategiju decentralizacije podržan je od strane Ambasade Kraljevine Norveške u Beogradu.
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At the beginning of 2014, Igman Initiative, a network of CSOs from the countries signatories to the Dayton Agreement, had set off the project of civic monitoring of implementation of Regional Housing Programme (in further text RHP), with special focus on providing housing care for Roma, as one of the most vulnerable groups within the refugee population, and integrating their interest in that process. A special vulnerability of Roma population derives from the fact that Roma are often unemployed and live off social assistance in hard housing conditions, often in illegal and segregated settlements without proper infrastructure, in flats which they illegally inhibited or in housing units without construction permit and proof of ownership. Consequently, they face difficulties in exercising their status rights and accessing health services, education, employment, social protection and housing care, usually due to the absence of personal documents, poverty, and traditional way of living or limited access to institutions. In relation to other refugees and DPs a majority Roma is in the category of legally invisible persons (absence of personal documents). As a result, and because of prejudice, they encounter numerous difficulties in obtaining documents and realizing refugee status or acquiring citizenship, which is conditioned by the acquisition of citizenship in domicile country or the status of foreigner with permanent residence, all which is a prerequisite for the exercise of other rights, including the right to housing. For example, although the Government of Montenegro is putting enormous effort into solving the status of DPs and IDPs the major risk lies in the fact that a majority of Roma still hasn’t regulated its status in Montenegro. The rights to housing under the RHP will only have those DPs and IDPs who have regulated their status. This project was initiated for the reason that the Igman Initiative has warned before that there is bias and unequal treatment in the region, including discrimination of Roma with regards to their access to housing care, as well as numerous issues with regard to proving the status of refugees, or the ownership of property or its devastation. The main objective of the project is to improve the status of Roma refugees, DPs and IDPs in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, by providing assistance in accessing housing care and providing support to competent authorities in their efforts to permanently resolve Roma issues in the area of housing. During the realization of this project it has been determined that competent institutions in the countries of the Dayton Quadrangle responsible for the implementation of the RHP do not have precise data on Roma refugees and DPs, their number, current territorial density and their housing needs. General statistical data regarding Roma population, i.e. Roma refugees and DPs, does not match the state of affairs in this area. Due to the lack of data on Roma refugees, DPs, IDPs and their housing needs, in relation to anticipated models of the RHP implementation in participating countries, there is a risk that a significant number of the most vulnerable Roma refugee and displaced families will be neglected during the implementation of the RHP. For example, in Croatia the RHP deals primarily with persons who are still placed in refugee camps or collective centers or with former holders of tenancy rights, among whom there are no Roma refugees, DPs or IDPs. For this reason, competent institutions in the RHP implementing countries should determine the exact number of Roma refugees, DPs and IDPs, their territorial density as well as their accurate housing needs, so as to adjust the anticipated models of the RHP implementation in a way that will include most vulnerable Roma refugee and displaced families in the programs of housing care. The RHP does not recognize Roma refugees, DPs and IDPs as a special vulnerable group, but determines the final beneficiaries according to unprecedented criteria of vulnerability regardless of nationality, other affiliations, or other individual circumstance. Therefore it is difficult to monitor the implementation of the RHP in relation to this or any other ethnic group. With regard to terms of conditions and criteria for the selection of final beneficiaries, the RHP guarantees equal status to all refugees and displaced persons, so that no group within the refugee and DP population receives a special treatment. Consistent with that approach the most vulnerable refugees and DPs, among whom a significant part is Roma, will receive assistance, under the requisite that they submit their applications with all requested documentation. Nevertheless, although the status of Roma refugees and DPs is formally equal to the status of other categories of socially vulnerable refugees and DPs in respect of access to the RHP, their housing and the overall socio-economic status is, by rule, more vulnerable, due to which their access to the RHP is undermined in relation to other categories of socially vulnerable refugees and DPs.
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The current state of the society we belong to can be understood as a state of new beginning, as a new chance offered to all of us and to each individual in particular. How our society will develop and in what direction it will move depends on all of us. The realization of civilizational achievements and modern standards requires the comprehensive inclusion of citizens in social processes.
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