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Earlier this week, the world witnessed two deals sealed by international powers: on Greece’s future in the European Union and on Iran’s future in the world. Both deals will have their political and social costs and profits, winners and losers.

Hungarian government started building a fence on the border with Serbia to ward the immigrants off. The construction, stretching over 170 kilometers, is not in any way a solution to the problem of immigration. All that the fence will do is manifest Hungary’s separation from Europe.

Energy industry is par excellence a major industry. Few businesses have larger money flows than energy. Thus, it is not unnatural that it draws attention of powerful people, public and politics. In 2000s Europe experienced major policy craze with renewable energy that is still riding the waves of popularity, albeit with first subtle hints of realism.

After a recent TV address of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, it became known that the state\'s efforts in 2014 and the coming years will be focused on the implementation of an import replacement policy. According to the prime minister: \"it is a shame when imports account for 80% of the net export structure.\"

The Lithuanian Parliament and the Ministry of Agriculture are destroying competition in the dairy sector through the egregious regulation of raw milk purchases. Much noise has been made over this new law, which places onerous restrictions on the dairy market of dubious constitutionality.

Intra-budgetary redistribution of the Personal Income Tax in Lithuania is aimed at providing financial support for economically weaker municipalities. The present analysis is aimed at measuring level differences of intra-budgetary redistribution of the Personal Income Tax across municipalities as well as identifying the major problems created by this process.

Under the European Charter of Local Self-Government, the internal administrative structure and the resources of the governments should correspond to the needs of the local population as well as ensure effective governance. However, statistical data shows the growth of municipal bureaucracy despite demographic decline.

Following 2014 reforms, municipalities allocate social allowances by performing municipal, rather than the state function. This reform was aimed at achieving more transparent and targeted social benefit allocation process by decreasing the volume of improper or inappropriate payments.

Ageing of the Polish society means that every year more and more people will reach the retirement age. At the same time, the number of people of working age will be decreasing. In this context, it appears that the pension system reform implemented in 1999 introduced a not very fortunate principle to the Polish pension system.

We are witnessing the EU’s declining normative influence in three levels: inner circle of membership, middle circle of prospective members and outer circle of neighbourhood, and is expressed in the primacy of hard core economics, the weaker promotion of democracy, the inefficient political conditionality and the gradual realisation that illiberalism is becoming a threatening part of several national competitive politics.