Conference Program

As the only European Union institution with a unique responsibility „to provide the Union with the necessary impetus for its development and … define the general political directions and priorities thereof”, the European Council proved to be a significant political actor and agenda-setter in the institutional system of the European Union. It is the president of the European Council whose political leadership has a direct leverage on shaping EU agenda on a wide range of policies. At the same time the research on EU political leadership has been a „niche area” in the field of political leadership (Dinan, 2017). Therefore this contribution aims at exploring the leadership performance of two European Council’s presidents, Donald Tusk and Charles Michel, on the intergovernmental compromise on enlargement policy agenda-setting. Given research focus appears to be of particular significance since one can easily notice not only common vision but also the different interests of member states that directly impact the outcome of planned reform and pose a question on sustainability of achieved „commonality of purpose” (Mauer et al., 2023) among EU institutions and member states.

Drawing on analysis of political discourses of two European Council presidents and substance of European Council conclusions on enlargement this proposal makes an attempt to answer a question whether the European Council as an intergovernmental institutional actor might become a transformative agenda-setter in reforming EU foreign policy as a whole.

In an era marked by major international crises, migration has once again become a crucial topic on the agenda of European member states, representing an intersection between national interests and the common obligations of states. Romania's position on the borderline between democratic currents and Russian totalitarian influences, coupled with the contemporary reality created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, makes Romania's case a compelling study of the impact of Europeanisation on migration policy. The landscape created by the huge flows of migrants in the last 10 years, but especially those caused by the war in Ukraine, has increased the pressure for Europeanisation of Romania's national migration policy. In search of a deeper understanding of the process of Europeanisation and its role in the evolution of national policies, this article explores three questions that provide essential answers for understanding this dynamic: What exactly is the concept of Europeanisation? What is the difference between Europeanisation and European Integration? Why does the process of Europeanisation differ between Member States? Thus, this paper aims to provide the evolutionary path of the concept of Europenisation through a comprehensive presentation of the literature on Europenisation in order to observe the implications that this phenomenon may have on Romania's migration policy.

The proposed paper explores the evolving role of the European Union as a sui generis actor on the global stage, with a specific focus on the air transport sector. Over the past thirty years, the EU has undergone a transformative journey, overcoming initial challenges in exercising authority over aviation policy toward Third Countries. Although the process itself is far from complete, it is worth considering the gradual political progression that led to this shift and its implications, particularly on traditional intergovernmental forums within the international aviation regime. Key points of investigation include the EU's interactions with the European Civil Aviation Conference regionally and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) at a global level. By scrutinising these developments, our research not only sheds light on the EU's dynamic engagement with global aviation bodies, but also adds valuable insights to theoretical discussions on the evolution of the contemporary international order and the accompanying institutional reconfigurations.

Development assistance has been present in the policy of today's European Union since the association with the European Community overseas countries and territories . Over the years, the geographical directions, goals and instruments of development assistance have been changed. The aim of the paper is to analyse the essential features defining the essence of the EU's development policy. They are considered on three levels: organizational, conceptual and motivational. The first of them refers to the internal organization of the EU's development policy, the second to the design of its goals, and the third to the motives for conducting it. The basic research question is whether, in the changing international order, the European Union's development assistance is a sufficient instrument to influence the countries of the Global South?