The Seventh Year As European Union Member States: Economics, Politics, Law
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Latvian Academy of Sciences Mykolas Romeris University Riga Stradiņš University College of Law THE SEVENTH YEAR AS EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES: ECONOMICS, POLITICS, LAW Proceedings of the International Conference 6–7 May 2011 Riga, 2011 The Seventh Year as European Union Member States: Economics, Politics, Law Proceedings of the International Conference, 6–7 May 2011 Riga, 2011, 376 pp. Organisational and Programme Committee of the Conference: Prof. Tālavs Jundzis (Latvia), chairman Prof. Viktoras Justickis (Lithuania) Prof. Ando Leps (Estonia) Walter Kegö (Sweden) Scientific Reviewers: Prof. Tālavs Jundzis Prof. Viktoras Justickis Ph.D. Eduards Bruno Deksnis Prof. Ando Leps Institutions represented at the Conference: Advocate Diana Gumbreviciutė Law Firm (Lithuania) College of Law (Latvia) Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften Institute for Security & Development Policy (Sweden) Latvian Academy of Sciences Latvian Business College Latvian Privatisation Agency Military Academy of Lithuania Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania) Northern College of Lithuania Riga Stradiņš University (Latvia) School of Business Administration Turība (Latvia) Tallinn University (Estonia) University of Latvia University of Warsaw, Poland English language editor: Antra Legzdiņa Computer layout by Margarita Stoka © Authors of the articles, Baltic Centre for Strategic Studies, Latvian Academy of Sciences, 2011 ISBN 978-9934-8114-3-2 All rights reserved 2 Contents Foreword by Tālavs Jundzis . 5 Chapter 1 . EUROPEAN UNION AFTER LISBON TREAty Eduards Bruno Deksnis (Latvia) The European Union Post the Lisbon Treaty Reforms . 9 Renata Mieńkowska-Norkienė (Poland, Lithuania) EU Policy Coordination Efficiency in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — Comparative Perspective . 22 Tālavs Jundzis (Latvia) The Influence of Global Risks on the European Union . 32 Kristīne Beķere (Latvia) Latvia and the European Union: A Historical Retrospective . 45 Chapter 2 . SURMOUNTING THE ECONOMIC CRISIS Nikolajus Markevičius, Viktoras Justickis (Lithuania) The Use of Economic Theory for Shaping the National Policy of a Low Competitive Economy in the Economic Space Dominated by Strong Economies . 55 Nikolajus Markevičius, Viktoras Justickis (Lithuania) Economic Integration of the Baltic and the Circumjacent States . 68 Nikolaus Markiewitz (Germany), Nikolajus Markevičius, Viktoras Justickis (Lithuania) Structural Problems of the Lithuanian Economy in the International Division of Labour . 80 Gediminas Davulis, Linas Sadzius (Lithuania) Problems of Adoption of the Euro in the Baltic Countries . 92 Chapter 3 . BUSINEss AND LABOUR MARKET Tomas Talutis (Lithuania) Regulation of Insurance Market in Lithuania: Efforts Towards the Open Market . 05 Iveta Puķīte (Latvia) The Potential of Apartment House Management . .114 Valdis Janovs, Ieva Zemīte (Latvia) The Benchmarking Process — Improving Quality Performance Industry . 27 Adolfas Kaziliūnas (Lithuania) The Implementation of Quality Management Systems According ISO 9000 Standards . 37 Svajonė Mikėnė (Lithuania) The Recent Trends of Labour Flexibility in the Baltic States . 149 3 Dalius Vaičiulis (Lithuania) Peculiarities of Resolution of Individual Labour Disputes in Lithuania . 65 Eglė Šimkevičienė (Lithuania) Security of Liabilities Execution by Offering the Property as a Pledge . .76 Chapter 4 . STATE ADMINIstRATION AND SOCIEty Eduardas-Enrikas Jančauskas, Stasys Puškorius (Lithuania) Improvement of the Civil Service Management . 191 Lina Novikovienė (Lithuania) Consumer Rights Protection in Lithuania: Changes by Lithuanian Membership in the EU . 206 Daina Vasiļevska (Latvia) Features of Investment in Human Capital in Latvia . 26 Kanopiene Vida, Mikulioniene Sarmite (Lithuania) Demograhic Ageing of Baltic States: the Challenges for Policy Responses . 23 Līga Āboliņa (Latvia) Demographic Changes in the Baltic States from the View of Family Policy . 250 Nikolajs Ozoliņš (Latvia) Legal Aspects and Problems of Concluding Public-Private Partnership Contracts . 259 Inga Kudinavičiūtė-Michailovienė (Lithuania) Unmarried Cohabitation: Theoretical and Practical Aspects . 27 Vidmantas Egidijus Kurapka, Eglė Bilevičiūtė, Snieguolė Matulienė (Lithuania) Forensic Science in Lithuania: Nowadays and Reforms . 282 Chapter 5 . JUstICE AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS Ando Leps (Estonia) Crisis of Criminology (A Scholarly Look at the Possibility of the Scholarly Study of Crime) . 297 Andrejs Vilks (Latvia) Latvia’s Seven Years in the European Union — Criminological View . .30 Walter Kegö (Sweden) Countering Transnational Organized Crime . 32 Inga Liepa-Meiere (Latvia) The Challenges of Anti-corruption Policy of Latvia after Joining EU . 333 Egidija Stauskienė, Laura Gumuliauskienė (Lithuania) Enforcement of Court Judgments in Family Matters Involving Cross Border Element — Lithuanian Approach . 343 Andrejus Novikovas (Lithuania) Analysis of Serious Traffic Accidents in Baltic States . 355 Julija Šlekonytė (Lithuania) Hate Speech in Lithuania Criminal Law . 366 4 FOREWORD The first seven years as Member States of the European Union have presented the Baltic States with opportunities better to develop their economies; member- ship has assisted them in responding to, and mitigating the impact of the present global financial and economic crisis. During this time, the Baltic States have been able to strengthen their security, to put their administrative structures and legal system into better order much more successfully than were they not to have been supported by the European Union. Presently, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, together with the other EU Member States, are striving to restore their economic growth and are developing a set of measures so as to be better prepared for future analogous crises and to overcome these without incurring the present severe consequences. It is self-evident that the European Union itself needs to change, to be able to take more effective decisions and to ensure their effective implementation. The Lisbon Treaty has been a step in the right direction, but it has not addressed all of urgent issues still outstanding. Member States must, sooner or later, decide to invest more authority in Union Institutions. Society needs to be better engaged at all levels of governance; presently, this engagement is insufficient and democratic processes need to be strengthened. This is the fifth conference jointly organised by the Latvian Academy of Sciences, the Mykolos Romeris University, the Riga Stradiņš University, and the College of Law, dedicated to problems faced by new EU Member States. Specialists and scholars from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Sweden have been conference participants. The previous conferences took place in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009. All conference materials have been published. This present volume comprises articles submitted by the participants at the conference that took place on 6–7 May 2011. I wish, in the name of the organising committee, to thank all conference participants. I hope that readers shall also value this publication. It is planned that the next, and final conference in this series, shall take place in 2014, on the occasion of 10 years of Baltic State membership of the European Union. I believe that any future conference series ought to address a narrower range of topical issues. Prof. Tālavs Jundzis Chair of the Organising Committee 5 6 Chapter 1 EUROPEAN UNION AFTER LISBON TREAty 7 8 THE EUROPEAN UNION POst THE LISBON TREAty REFORms Eduards Bruno Deksnis College of Law, Latvia Abstract The article examines the function of the European Union after entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty with respect to increased citizen understanding and dealing with the economic downturn as well as external visibility in respect to security and trade issues. Keywords: Lisbon Treaty, Euroscepticism, economic downturn, Treaty on European Union, Treaty on Functioning of the European Union, European External Action Service, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, simplified treaty revision procedure, European Parliament elections. Introduction The European Union (EU) was formally established by the entry into force on 1 November 1993 of the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty, TEU). The TEU was both a reform treaty, in that it modified the Treaties establishing the then three European Communities, and an innova- tive treaty in that two new policy domains, subject to intergovernmental cooperation, were substantively delineated, as was the role of established European Institutions in implementation of these decisions. The TEU was further innovative in the fact that it was the first treaty concluded during the European integration process that contained a so-called rendez-vous The EU was graphically illustrated by a Grecian-like temple comprising three pillars, only one of which, the European Communities, encompassed the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Economic Community, and the European Atomic Energy Com- munity. 9 clause, notably, explicit treaty provision for the need, in the case of the TEU concluded in 1992, by 1996 further to revise the legal basis of the European Union2. As seen in Table 1 below, the first Treaty to revise the legal basis of the European Union entered into force on 1 May 1999, the second revision Treaty, on 1 February 2003, and the most recent revision, the Lisbon Treaty, on 1 December 2009. Of these the Lisbon Treaty alone contained no rendez-vous clause. This fact notwithstanding a relatively minor revision to the legal basis for the existence