Ukraine’s Endeavour: Drawing Near(er) to the European Union

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The paper deals with the analysis and forecasting of energy security risk index for eleven European countries (the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, and Ukraine for the period 1992-2016). Nowadays, energy security plays an important role in guaranteeing the national, political and economic security of the country. A literature review of different approaches to defining energy security gave the possibility to consider the regression model of energy security risk index assessment, which takes into account the levels of economic, technical and technological, ecological, social and resource components. This step was proceeded with clusterization of the analysed countries in three groups according to Energy Security Risk Index. Based on this approach resource-mining countries (Denmark, Germany, Norway and the UK) were grouped in Cluster I, while Ukraine occupied the last Cluster III. The next division in five clusters supported the indicated allocation. Finally, we calculated the forecasts of energy security risk index based on data of 1992-2014. It allowed realizing the perspectives of energy market for the nearest future, particularly for Ukraine, which needs development of a new strategy of energy security</abstract>

Trends of International Energy Security Risk Index in European Countries

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> In modern realities the issue of the quality and accessibility of health services, the cost of medicines, examinations and treatment in general is being increasingly frequently discussed. The attention is focused on such a narrow surgical field as transplantation, because in Ukraine thousands of patients are waiting in line for organ transplantation and very few operations are performed. The main, most secure and common type of transplantation is the transplantation of organs and tissues from a deceased person, the dead body. Cadaveric transplantation, which is used in most developed countries, is hardly carried out in Ukraine. This is due to the fact that the current regulatory base of Ukraine in the field of transplantation does not fully meet the needs of modern medicine and has many gaps. The aim of donation is a future transplantation (including and in cases of blood transfusion and reproductive cells use). The parts (tissues, organs, their parts, individual cells) extracted (separated) from the body in the process of donation can be used generally in the treatment process in a processed form (blood plasma) or in the original state (fertilized reproductive cells). The detailed analysis of the provisions of the national legal system makes it possible to conclude that, despite the absence of direct regulation of relations concerning organ donation and transplantation as material relations, the legal regulations provide the fundamental provisions, which determine their material nature, and therefore offer opportunities for agreementbased regulation. In our opinion, one of the essential legal means of ensuring the rights of participants in the relations of donation and transplantation can be their agreement-based regulation. The peculiarities of civil-legal regulation of transplantation in Ukraine and Europe are simultaneously analysed; and the grounds of its legitimacy are defined.</abstract>

The Peculiarities of Civil-Legal Regulation of Transplantation in Ukraine and Europe

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> This article analyses the Association Agreement (AA) between the EU and Ukraine. It argues that this agreement constitutes a new legal framework which has the objective to establish a unique form of political association and economic integration, characterised by three specific features: comprehensiveness, complexity and conditionality, and to promote EU values into the legal systems of Ukraine. The article studies substantive and procedural means of promotion and protection of EU values in the AA. The article scrutinises objectives, institutional framework and mechanisms of enhanced conditionality and legislative approximation in the AA. In addition, the means to protect EU values (the EU’s response to security conflicts in Ukraine) are discussed.</abstract>

EU Common Values in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement: Anchor to Democracy?

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The article focuses on current problems of human rights constitutional provision, protection and implementation in Ukraine in the context of the reforms aimed at Eurointegration. The aim is to brief in the historical aspects of the development of ideas and concepts of human rights in Ukraine, focus on the human rights provision of the active Constitution projected through the ongoing reforms and to expose the correlation between the rights enshrined and their actual implementation. The existing and possible future problems related to the regulation and realization of human rights in Ukraine’s reform process are considered. The article reflects the problem of the value approach to human rights, which is directly related to the low level of legal culture and the insufficient level of development of civil society Ukraine. The work also analyses the amendments that have been made to the Constitution since the independence. While presenting the latest developments and drafts regarding the addressed issues, we try to look deeper into the problem, far beyond the formal and procedural concerns, addressing social and cultural barriers in understanding the importance and necessity of the problems under consideration not only by the leadership of the state but also by ordinary Ukrainians.</abstract>

Reforming Ukraine: Problems of Constitutional Regulation and Implementation of Human Rights

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The object of this research is the activity of 25 leading research universities in the world. One of the most problematic issues is the in-depth analysis of the ranking indicators of world-class research universities in order to identify the priorities for the development of research universities in the European Union. The following scientific methods were used in the research: generalizations, analysis, synthesis, graphical method, and also comparison method. The study is based on data on the global university rankings in QS World University Rankings 2018 and empirical data from publicly available sources provided by the research universities. The article also systematizes the scientific views of the leading scientists of Europe and the world on the course of development of research universities and analyses the experience of implementing joint scientific projects in the EU countries. The importance of international cooperation between research universities in the fields of academic mobility and scientific research is underlined due to the fact that the global challenges and prospects that the research universities in the European Union and the world are facing are transient and create a tough competitive environment. Strengthening their leadership potential and developing entrepreneurial thinking has been revealed as a modern trend in the development of research universities. The article characterizes the 25 best world-class research universities, and the factors which have enabled them to uncover their strengths and systematize the key areas of in-depth specialization. The contrasting differences between the analysed research universities are shown, as there are significant disparities in the total number of students, foreign students and staff of research universities, showing fundamentally different approaches to the organization of educational and research processes, even within a single country. This is due to the fact that the ratio of student per staff representative significantly affects the quality of education. The author proposes the key development priorities for research universities in the European Union, which consist in intensified work on: academic reputation; the number of foreign students; reputation of employers; improvement of the ratio of the number of students to the number of staff; improvement of quality and increase in the number of citations of scientific publications by university researchers; increasing the share of the university’s participation in international educational and scientific networks of other countries and continents.</abstract>

Determining the Priorities of the Development of EU Research Universities Based on the Analysis of Rating Indicators of World-Class Universities

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The authors of the article continue the scientific discourse on the role and significance of bicameralism for building a modern democratic legal state. The main arguments of supporters and opponents of bicameralism have been analysed, given the complicated development of Ukrainian institutional framework and discussions over the European Committee of Regions evolution. The authors of the article attempt to supplement the list of arguments that exist in modern legal literature in favor of Ukraine’s transition to bicameralism. The challenges of European integration for Ukrainian parliament as a unitary actor have been highlighted. The authors substantiate the thesis that the formation of the second (upper) chamber does not threaten the Ukrainian unitarianism, but will contribute to further diversification of state power and at the same time increase the stability of the government in terms of a consensual, pluralistic democracy and semi-presidential government.</abstract>

Bicameralism: European Tendencies and Perspectives for Ukraine

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> This article is an econometric study of patent development, education policy and research and development (R&amp;D) expenditure policy, the aim of which is to investigate the key similarities and differences when it comes to the issue of competitiveness between Estonia and Finland, particularly in the utilisation of foreign patents, as well as ranking them on the international arena. The authors of the article intend to study how it is possible to increase the technological competitiveness of small European Union Member States and the special effect of investments in research and development (R&amp;D) and education on the competitiveness ranking of Estonia and Finland. The authors attempt to explore how Estonia can advance by learning from the model of innovative growth adopted by Finland.</abstract>

Using Patent Development, Education Policy and Research and Development Expenditure Policy to Understand Differences between Countries: The Case of Estonia and Finland

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> In 2007, the EU adopted the most comprehensive chemical regulation in the world. The so-called REACH requires all chemical producers and importers to register and evaluate their chemical products and, when necessary, replace them with safer alternatives. For the administration of REACH, a new European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) was established. Establishment of this specialized body under the close supervision of the European Commission created in many ways an untraditional relationship which differs from the agent-principal model. The main aim of this article is to explore the specific nature of the agent-principal relationship between the ECHA and the European Commission in the areas of delegation, information asymmetry, motivation and control structures and emphasize how specific measures may limit the negative outcomes of the agent-principal dilemma.</abstract>

Agent–Principal Dilemma and the EU Chemical Management

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The article studies the problems of human resources stemming from increased mobility, and the emergence of new aspects of migration processes. A comparative analysis of the connection between academic development in the context of university (and the science system) and the process of labour migration taking place in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia was carried out. The article examines the limits of the model through European territorial migration process and concludes that the huge migration of high-skilled labour (called the “knowledge workers”) has had a very negative impact on the innovative and academic potential of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and a negative impact in Estonia. In the final section, the article examines increase in the requirements for competence in the Baltic Sea macroregion of the European Union and Estonia’s university reform of 2013-2016 as an illustrative experiment to (un)resolved problems. The first results of the reform in higher education indicated that it was ineffective-for students, the good ideas of the reform proved to be a lost experiment and the mobility of knowledge workers, as the future academic resource in homeland, turned from Estonia to larger Europe, especially to Finland and the UK.</abstract>

‘Knowledge Workers’ in the Baltic Sea Region: Comparative Assessment of Innovative Performance of the Countries in the Macro-Region

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> European Union (EU) was founded to strengthen European integration through purely economic cooperation while disregarding human rights. However, throughout its existence the EU has been challenged to take a stand on human rights. In fact, the application and promotion of human rights has increased significantly in recent years, especially during the last 15 years, mainly thanks to the establishment of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2000. Through the selected cases concerning emergency medical services, this paper examines how the arguments of the European Court of Justice have eventually been shifting from purely economic ideology towards more human rights based approach. However, the article essentially argues that the full potential of human rights to support the claims that are inherently economic in their nature has not yet been utilized and therefore the essential aim of the Charter to strengthen human rights protection in the EU remains unachieved.</abstract>

Protecting Economic Interests or the Right to Life? Perception of the European Court of Justice on Emergency Medical Services1

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TalTech Journal of European Studies

 TalTech Journal of European Studies (abbreviation TJES) is a semiannual international peer-reviewed research journal (formerly known as the Baltic Journal of European Studies and Proceedings of the Institue for European Studies) with an international editorial office and extensive international editorial board. The journal is abstracted in SCOPUS, Web of Science (Emerging Sources Citation Index) and other relevant databases. Since 2020, the scope of the journal is related to digitalisation and technology implementation and their impact in the social, legal, political, economic and cultural domains in the European Union and its Member States. We kindly encourage members of the academic community to contribute to our journal. Papers submitted to the forthcoming issues will be reviewed by eminent scholars in the particular field under strict supervision of the international editorial board. Special issues   BJES 2013 Vol. 3 Issue 3 was guest co-edited by Natalia Chaban and Martin Holland (University of Canterbury, New Zealand)  BJES 2014 Vol. 4 Issue 2 was prepared in cooperation with Latvian European Community Studies Association (LECSA)  BJES 2017 Vol. 7 Issue 2 has been supported by the European Commission’s Jean Monnet Module “Digital Single Market as a New Core of European Union Studies”, project reference number 587255-EPP-1-2017-1-EE-EPPJMO-MODULE.   BJES 2018 Vol. 8 Issues 1 and 2 have been supported by the project ‘Digital Single Market as a Key Element in EU-oriented Georgian Higher Education’ (no. 155-2016-A), funded by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the framework of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid. TJES 2023 Vol. 13 Issue 1 was guest edited by Viktorija Skvarciany (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania).      Why submit  TJES is an effective channel of academic dissemination as it is widely read and distributed through Baltic and European research networks and libraries and read by policy makers as well.  Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 