The subject of the analysis is the structure, decision-making process and actors of the intergovernmental conference as an instrument for the revision of the European Union’s political system. The author divides intergovernmental conferences into constitutional conferences and conferences ad hoc. The analysis leads the author to two main conclusions. Firstly, an intergovernmental conference is a diplomatic conference where representatives of the governments of the European Union member states negotiate to prepare a founding or revision treaty of the EU. However, an intergovernmental conference differs from a classical international conference within the meaning of the Convention on the Law of Treaties of 23 May 1969. Secondly, the greatest influence on the course and outcome of an intergovernmental conference is exerted by the governments of the Member States and the intergovernmental institutions of the EU, while the role of the supranational institutions of the EU is limited.

The European Union and its Member States have managed the refugee and humanitarian crisis triggered by Russian aggression against Ukraine much more effectively than the refugee and migration crisis of 2015–2016. Instead of scrambling to find new institutional arrangements, the European Union has relied on existing but undervalued or dormant legal and institutional instruments, such as the Temporary Protection Mechanism, the Integrated Crisis Response Mechanism at political level and the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. As in the 2015–2016 crisis, UNHCR made an important contribution to monitoring the refugee and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and providing assistance to refugees.

DISPUTE BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND THE GOVERNMENTS OF MEMBER STATES OVER THE MODEL FOR THE SYSTEM REFORM OF THE ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION IN THE YEARS 2010-2023 The primary research objective of the article is to analyze the System Reform of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) from 2010 to 2023 from the perspective of the dispute between the European Commission and the governments of Member States over the model of this reform. The author formulated two research hypotheses. The first one is based on the assumption that the implementation of the reform faced numerous difficulties and barriers resulting from the negative attitudes of the governments of some Eurozone member states towards the implementation of selected projects of the European Commission, but also from the accumulation of several international crises that the European Union was facing at the time. These were the migration crisis in 2015-2016 and then from 2022, the pandemic crisis in 2020-2021 and the geopolitical crisis caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine from 2022. The second hypothesis is that the main axis of disagreement between the Commission and the governments of Member States was the limits of financial solidarity and the target System Model of the EMU. Following this, the author formulated four research questions: (1) On which issues did the positions of the European Commission and the Eurozone Summit converge and on which issues did they diverge, and why? (2) To what extent did disagreements between Member State governments over the limits of financial solidarity and the target integration model of the EMU determine the direction of System Reform? (3) How important were the aforementioned international crises for the fate of the reform? (4) What were the main achievements and failures of the EMU System Reform?

The primary objective of the article is to present the prospects for reform of the European Union’s immigration, external border control and asylum policies, after previous attempts at such reform between 2015 and 2020 failed. The first part of the article provides a politico-legal analysis of the so-called New Pact on Migration and Asylum announced by the European Commission on 23 September 2020, while the second part presents the balance of legislative work on the pact so far in the period 2020–2023. The analysis is essentially limited to the legal situation as of 20 June 2023. The author formulates two research hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that the European Commission’s so-called New Pact on Migration and Asylum is, in essence, not a new legislative package at all, as the vast majority of the legislative proposals it contains are drafts from 2016 and 2018. The second hypothesis is based on the assumption that the refugee and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine in the years 2022–2023 had essentially no influence on the legislative process of the so-called New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The author then asks three research questions. First, which provisions of the pact on migration and asylum introduced new elements into the reform process of the EU’s immigration, external border control and asylum policies? Second, why did the refugee and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine in 2022–2023 not have a major impact on the legislative process on the pact? Third, what has been the track record of the 2020–2023 reform so far?

The primary objective of the article is to present the prospects for reform of the European Union's immigration, external border control and asylum policies, after previous attempts at such reform between 2015 and 2020 failed. The first part of the article provides a politico-legal analysis of the so-called New Pact on Migration and Asylum announced by the European Commission on 23 September 2020, while the second part presents the balance of legislative work on the pact so far in the period 2020-2023. The analysis is essentially limited to the legal situation as of 20 June 2023. The author formulates two research hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that the European Commission's so-called New Pact on Migration and Asylum is, in essence, not a new legislative package at all, as the vast majority of the legislative proposals it contains are drafts from 2016 and 2018. The second hypothesis is based on the assumption that the refugee and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine in the years 2022-2023 had essentially no influence on the legislative process of the so-called New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The author then asks three research questions. First, which provisions of the pact on migration and asylum introduced new elements into the reform process of the EU's immigration, external border control and asylum policies? Second, why did the refugee and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine in 2022-2023 not have a major impact on the legislative process on the pact? Third, what has been the track record of the 2020-2023 reform so far?

THE FAILURE OF THE REFORM OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S IMMIGRATION POLICY, EXTERNAL BORDER CONTROL, AND ASYLUM POLICY BETWEEN 2015 AND 2020: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS The primary research objective of the article is to evaluate the reform of the immigration, external border control and asylum policy of the European Union between 2015 and 2020. The author formulates two research hypotheses. The first is based on the assumption that the legislative packages presented by the European Commission in 2015-2016 and then in 2018 have almost completely failed. The second hypothesis is that the idea of establishing a permanent resettlement mechanism as a means to overcome the migration crisis in the Union in 2015-2016 and address the future migration challenges of the EU has generally failed. Instead, the EU’s temporary resettlement mechanisms in place between 2015 and 2017 and the 1:1 resettlement mechanism between the EU and Turkey introduced in 2016 have worked well. The author then formulates two research questions: firstly, why have the legislative acts of the European Commission largely failed?; and secondly, why has the temporary relocation of asylum seekers in the EU generally been successful?

PROSPECTS FOR REFORM OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S COMMON SECURITY AND DEFENCE POLICY TO 2025: EU STRATEGIC AUTONOMY? The research objective of the paper is to highlight the prospects for the implementation of the main directions of the reform of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) of the European Union until 2025. The caesuras of the work are marked by two events: the adoption of the Global Strategy for the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union by the European Council on 28 June 2016 and the decision of the European Council of 24 March 2022 on the adoption of the Strategic Compass for Security and Defense. First of all, the research hypothesis should be established that the full implementation of CSDP reform, which was initiated with the adoption of the Global Strategy for the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, and the resulting projects can significantly strengthen the position of the EU in the international arena. This will lead to the establishment of the European Security and Defense Union and the EU Rapid Reaction Force (5,000 troops) by the end of 2025. However, since many of the planned reform elements have not yet been completed or initiated, much will depend on the political will of individual member state governments, the level of spending on reform implementation by member states and the EU, and the progress of other reforms already underway (including addressing the economic and social consequences of the pandemic crisis and implementing eurozone systemic reform). The following research questions should then be asked: (1) How has the implementation process of the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy gone so far? (2) How has the implementation of new projects (including the European Defense Fund, PESCO, and the Strategic Compass) affected EU-NATO relations? (3) How do selected EU member states assess these projects? (4) To what extent can the project to establish a European Security Council with the participation of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Poland compete with and usefully complement the EU Strategic Compass project? The first part of the analysis presents the implementation process of the Global Strategy for the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union until 2022. The second part analyzes the goals, priorities, and assumptions of the Strategic Compass, the implementation of which is intended to lead the EU to strategic autonomy by 2030.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE FDP ON THE EAST TREATY POLICY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE YEARS 1969-1974 IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW SOURCES FROM THE ARCHIVE OF GERMAN LIBERALISM The main objective of the article is to analyze the course and consequences of the diplomatic negotiations for the signing and ratification of the Eastern Treaties between the Federal Government and the governments of the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia in the years 1969-1974. What is of great importance here is using new archive resources from the archive of German Liberalism in Gummersbach in this work. This enabled the author to present a new assessment of the influence of the FDP on the Eastern policy of the Federal Republic of Germany during the period presented. The author comes to the following conclusions: (1) The FDP played a fundamental role in the negotiations and ratification of the Eastern Treaties with the USSR (1970), Poland (1970) and Czechoslovakia (1973); (2) These treaties contained a clause not to use force in mutual relations; (3) The treaty with Poland also contained a border clause and in that sense it is to be regarded as a border treaty (Article I Paragraph 1 of the treaty of December 7, 1970). In this treaty, the Federal Republic of Germany recognized Poland’s western state border on the Oder-Neisse, as defined in the Potsdam Agreement; (4) The federal government has recognized this border in its own name (suo nomine) and not in name of a reunified Germany. The Warsaw Treaty therefore did not rule out the reunification of Germany in the indefinite future. At the same time, the Federal Government undertook not to assert any territorial claims against Poland in the event of reunification; (5) The western allies – which is very often overlooked in the specialist literature – had already forced the federal government in the secret memorandum of Acheson-Adenauer dated November 21, 1951 to agree to their definition of the reunification of Germany as an amalgamation of the Federal Republic, the GDR and both parts of Berlin accept. In return, the Federal Republic received a. o. the contractual obligation of the Western powers that the Federal Government would participate in a peace settlement in the future (Article VII Paragraph 1, 3 of the Germany Treaty of Mai 26, 1952).

The Program Evolution and the Strategy of the FDP in Ostpolitik in 1969- 1974 in the Light of New Resources of the Archive of German Liberalism The main objective of the article is to analyze the program activities and the strategy of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in the Eastern policy (Ostpolitik) of the Federal Republic of Germany in the years 1969-1974. The author has used in this work new resources from the archive of German Liberalism in Gummersbach, which is of great importance. This enabled him to present a new assessment of the influence of the FDP on the Eastern policy of the Federal Republic of Germany during the period presented.

The Debt Crisis in the Eurozone in Years 2010‑ 2018. Genesis, Dynamics and Tools to Overcome the Crisis The global financial crisis significantly contributed to the outbreak of the Eurozone debt crisis in 2010 and exposed the institutional weaknesses of the entire zone that had existed since its inception. In 2010‑2018, the European Union focused essentially on four basic forms of crisis management in the Eurozone: financial support for indebted economies, aid programs for crisis‑stricken countries, measures by the European Central Bank to overcome the crisis and system reform of the Eurozone and the Economic and Monetary Union. The research objective of the article is to analyze the dynamics of the debt crisis in the Eurozone. The author would like to answer the following research questions: How much have the aid programs of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund contributed to overcoming the debt crisis? Has this crisis really been overcome? How deep were the structural reforms of the indebted economies? The author also defines the research hypothesis that the debt crisis in the Eurozone has not been finally overcome, since in many countries government debt is still on a high level.

The Evolution of the Concept of Hans-Dietrich Genscher in the German Détente Policy in the Years 1974-1989. Genesis – Instruments – Impact The main aim of this article is to present the genesis, instruments and real influence of the concept of the “realistic” détente policy of the German Minister of Foreign Affairs Hans-Dietrich Genscher on the foreign policy of the German federal government in the years 1974-1989. The author formulates a thesis that Genscher’s concept had very significant influence on the program activities of the FDP as well as on the practical foreign policy of the SPD/FDP governments (1974-1982) and CDU/CSU/FDP governments (1982-1989), whereby the year 1985 was an important turning point in this evolution.

Celem badawczym pracy jest rekonstrukcja wpływu Niemiec na reformę ustrojową Unii Europejskiej dokonaną w traktacie lizbońskim z 13 grudnia 2007 r. Autor formułuje hipotezę badawczą, że traktat lizboński znacząco wzmocnił pozycję Niemiec w Unii. Ograniczenie prawa weta państw członkowskich oraz radykalne wzmocnienie metody wspólnotowej w Unii dokonane w tym traktacie zamiast jeszcze bardziej związać Niemcy z UE, stworzyły potencjalne przesłanki nawet do ich dominacji w Unii.

„W pracy uwagę zwraca przede wszystkim aktualność poruszanej tematyki związanej z istotnymi aspektami funkcjonowania Parlamentu Europejskiego VIII kadencji. Jedynie dla przykładu wymienić można wpływ Parlamentu Europejskiego na ustrój Unii Europejskiej, reprezentację interesów narodowych w Parlamencie czy też jego rolę w kreowaniu aksjologii Unii Europejskiej. Nie mniejsze znaczenie przypisać wypadnie wpływowi Parlamentu Europejskiego VIII kadencji na kształtowanie wybranych polityk sektorowych Unii Europejskiej, a także badaniom efektywności PE w ujęciu ilościowym i jakościowym. Kompleksowość recenzowanej publikacji staje się jej wyróżnikiem na polskim rynku wydawniczym, a przez to zasługuje na uwagę. (…) Recenzowaną pracę wyróżnia także podejście interdyscyplinarne, co pozwala spojrzeć na przedmiot badania z różnych perspektyw naukowych. Znajdujemy tutaj bowiem wysokiej jakości teksty natury m.in. politologicznej, prawnej czy socjologicznej”. Z recenzji dr. hab. Marka Świstaka

The Reform of the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union in 2016‑2017The subject of the article is the reform of the Common Security and Defence Policy in 2016‑2017 following the adoption of the new EU External Security Strategy by the European Council in June 2016. The first part of the article analyzes the European Union’s Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy. However, the second part of the article reconstructs the process of implementing the global strategy and describes the successes and failures of the reform.

Germany and the Migration Crisis in the European Union in the Years 2011-2016 The aim of this research paper is to evaluate the position of Germany, including the federal government and the parliamentary opposition, as regards the migration crisis in the European Union in the years 2011‑2016. The first part of the article presents the course of the migration crisis in the presented time period. The second part discusses the evolution of the position of the governing coalition and the parliamentary opposition in Germany towards the first phase of the crisis in the years 2011‑2014. The third part has been dedicated to analysing the position of the federal government and the parliamentary opposition towards the second phase of the crisis in the years 2015‑2016. The fourth part presents the influence of the German government on the reform of the immigration and asylum policies, as well as the dynamics of the migration crisis in the European Union in the years 2015‑2016. The author formulates a research hypothesis that the federal government did not control the migration crisis in the European Union but rather acted impulsively, thereby contributing to its deepening.

Debate on the new strategy of external security at the forum of European Union institutions and bodies in 2012-2015 The subject of the article is the debate on the new external security strategy, which has been ongoing in the European Union since 2012. It presents the position of the European Council and the Council for Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, the European Parliament as well as the Interparliamentary Conference for a Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Policy. In so far as these first two institutions play a decisive role in shaping a common security and defence policy, the influence of the next two is still limited, in spite of the fact that it has increased since the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty of 13 December 2007. In turn, the Interparliamentary Conference, whose members include representatives of the European Parliament and national parliaments, functions only as an advisory body in this area.