<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article is devoted to substantiating the necessity of using existing tools and means of labor law science in certain aspects of labor migration, particularly, concerning the provision of labor freedom for Ukrainian workers - labor emigrants. The integrated approach to the development of methodological foundations for such provision and the development of relevant legal provisions at various stages of realization of a person’s right to labor, as well as in part of ensuring the prohibition of compulsory labor, can qualitatively raise the level of legal regulation of labor migration through the inclusion of labor law science. In support of its argument the article provides a wide range of statistical data on Ukrainian labor emigration. It is determined that the existing problems of Ukrainian labor emigration in the context of ensuring freedom of work can be systematized at the stages of their occurrence in the following way: 1) before the emergence of labor relations with a foreign employer, that is, as long as a Ukrainian citizen is still in Ukraine and acts for the purpose of employment abroad; 2) the emergence of labor relations with a foreign employer, that is, the legal registration of such relationships; 3) the actual beginning of labor relations outside Ukraine, the course of labor relations and the presence of a Ukrainian labor emigrant in them; 4) termination of labor relations of the Ukrainian labor emigrant and return to the territory of Ukraine. The emergence of labor disputes is the optional stage.</abstract>

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

H. S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University

Ensuring Freedom of Labor in Ukraine in the Context of Labor Emigration

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Despite the absence of the long-term tradition of inter-municipal cooperation in Lithuania, the country represents a compelling case of cooperative solutions which are mostly focused on public services delivery design imposed by the central government. The article provides theoretical and empirical insights on the inter-municipal cooperative capacities and their scope in the case of Lithuania, with reference to the size of the municipality. The results reveal that the large size municipalities are more likely to benefit from collaborative arrangements in comparison to small size municipalities which have less institutional ability for collaboration. In this respect, the external influences imposed by the central authorities’ agenda on implementing economy of scale principles and strong municipal service delivery regulations is extremely important for understanding the municipal efforts for collaboration.</abstract>

Uncoupling Inter-Municipal Cooperation Capacity: Lithuanian Municipalities’ Efforts To Sustain Services Provision

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article looks at whether the principle of technology neutrality can be applied to the centralised-decentralised scale in a manner similar to its application to the offline-online scale. The analysis is based on two cases of similar circumstances relating to bitcoin exchanges run by early adopters in Estonia and Sweden. The cases exhibit two different <italic>ex ante</italic> legislative approaches aimed at payments in currencies and the interpretation of the respective legislation by the judiciary in applying these rules to bitcoins and to the activity of exchanging bitcoins. The article examines whether the legal rules applied to the payment infrastructure of currencies were technology neutral and also implemented neutrally or whether, contrary to the principle, there was difference of treatment of decentralised technology outputs – bitcoins – from the centralised technology outputs – legal tender – irrelevant of the functional equivalence of these units of payment.</abstract>

Decentralised Technology and Technology Neutrality in Legal Rules: An Analysis of <italic>De Voogd</italic> and <italic>Hedqvist</italic>

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Europe is divided on how to construct and exploit pipelines importing Russian gas to the EU. The division evinces two opposing models, which I label (1) the Overcapacity and Exemption-Based Model and (2) the Optimal Capacity and Regulatory-Based Model. As those labels suggest, these models are premised on different assumptions as to the number and capacity of such pipelines that the EU requires, and as to how far those pipelines should be subject to EU energy law. The struggle between these models is not merely a legal one. More fundamentally, it is an economic and geopolitical one involving a wide range of stakeholders: public and private. This article evaluates the two models. By describing the legal disputes concerning OPAL and Nord Stream 2 and analysing their wider legal, economic and geopolitical implications, it argues that the second model (Optimal Capacity and Regulatory-Based) is clearly superior in today’s context. It is fully aligned with the objectives and provisions of EU energy law. In particular, it is consistent with that law’s aim of diversifying the external suppliers, sources and routes of gas supplies available to the EU. This article concludes that this latter model must win in the OPAL and Nord Stream 2 disputes, and, moreover, that it must be implemented with respect to all eastern import pipelines and connected pipelines before any further pro-competitive or pro-integrative reforms to the EU’s energy law and policy.</abstract>

Disputes Over the Pipelines Importing Russian Gas to the EU: How to Ensure Consistency in EU Energy Law and Policy?

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Since 2004, when the European neighbourhood policy was established, the European Union has already spent billions of euros to finance the new neighbourhood policies for creating more stable and more cooperative relations with eastern and southern neighbours. However, increased security concerns and challenges, less stable and less prognostic relations seem to have produced the opposite result of what was sought, and so Europe is experiencing a “neighbourhood of crisis”. Did it fail? What strategy has the EU been using within the last 15 years in relations with its neighbouring countries? What specific tools and instruments have been adapted? Did the renewal of European neighbourhood policy introduce any completely new strategic elements? This article examines these questions, focusing on three perspectives suggested by role theory: intentional, interactional and institutional. The study applies qualitative research methodology and claims that the EU has been seeking to transmit not just EU values and standards but also internal institutional practices and modes of EU governance.</abstract>

Fatigue Within the EU’s Eastern Partnership: The EU Role in the “Neighbourhood Of Crisis”

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In the European Union, Copyright law is not uniform. There are a number of EU Directives concerning copyright law, which form an exhaustive list of limitations and exceptions, most of which are optional. The optional nature of limitations and exceptions is a significant obstacle to effective harmonisation in the Member States, which creates legal uncertainty for rightsholders and users. The aim of this article is to examine limitations and exceptions under the current EU copyright law, to analyse what efforts the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament have undertaken in order to reform EU copyright and to present other possible options for reform regarding exceptions and limitations in the EU.</abstract>

Asta.Tubaite-Stalauskiene@curia.europa.eu

EU Copyright Law: Developing Exceptions and Limitations Systematically – An Analysis of Recent Legislative Proposals

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">For the past four years autonomous spaces that vary in nature but are run by virtually the same group of people have been operating in Kaunas, Lithuania. In the Lithuanian context, they are one of the most prominent recent attempts at continuous radical leftist political infrastructure. In the Central and Eastern European context, they are peculiar for not being connected to public housing struggles. This article draws an outline of their modes of operation and paradigmatic shifts by examining their history as well as theoretical and sociological material and using extensive interviews conducted with participants. Awareness of the complicated relation between meaningful separation and broader participation is suggested as a reflexive means of becoming hubs of political involvement.</abstract>

The Politics of Separation and Participation: Autonomous Spaces in Kaunas, Lithuania

AHEAD OF PRINT

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Volume 3 (2010): Issue 2 (December 2010) The Problem of the State of Exception

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Baltic Journal of Law & Politics

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