Abstract: Modern digital media have enabled the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to talk to foreign parliaments while his country is at war. Zelensky’s virtual communications are not aimed at enhancing Ukraine’s international image, as in traditional forms of public diplomacy; rather, they seek to obtain military assistance and reach a mutually beneficial outcome for his country. These, however, are activities of media diplomacy, a concept that scholars have abandoned over the last two decades in favour of public diplomacy. Through a critical review, this study examines the division between these concepts and other related concepts and analyses the role of the media in international communications, including those in times of war. The widespread use of technology and social media, as well as the specific diplomatic communications that have allowed Zelensky to talk to the world, have led to the conclusion that the current concepts of media diplomacy, public diplomacy, and digital diplomacy are not appropriate in the current circumstances. Therefore, a new concept is proposed: digital media diplomacy.

• Keywords: Media diplomacy, Public diplomacy, Digital diplomacy, Mediatization, Zelensky, Ukraine.
• DOI: 10.24193/OJMNE.2022.39.01

Abstract:The European Union (EU) has been perceived as a normative power (by itself and some others) in the international system. Through this concept, the EU’s policies and actions can be aligned with its identity, which is grounded in democratic values. Yet there is often a gap between those values and their practical implementation. The EU’s 2021 Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific offers an opportunity to test how well it is positioned to advance democratic norms in the world’s most economically dynamic and increasingly geo-politically contested region. This article argues that, while the Strategy reflects the EU’s foundational democratic values, it lacks clarity regarding the primacy of those values. As currently framed, the Strategy leaves the EU facing key unresolved democratic dilemmas in its Indo-Pacific engagement. The article concludes that the efficacy of the Strategy as a vehicle for bolstering democracy in the region will hinge on how it is operationalised, which will require confronting these dilemmas and making hard choices, especially between interests and values. Such choices are exemplary of a more general conundrum for the EU as an international organisation with 27 members whose interests often constrain the pursuit of its role as a self-consciously normative actor in international affairs.

• Keywords:European Union, Indo-Pacific region, Democratic values, European Union Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific
• DOI:  10.24193/OJMNE.2022.39.02

Abstract: This paper examines how European citizens perceive the topic of climate change. It is based on qualitative research that involved gathering information from five (5) European countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Slovakia) about their citizens’ perception of science communication. The data were collected via public consultations using qualitative methods. The research aimed to provide qualitative knowledge gained through consultations with citizens on how they acquire science-related knowledge and how this knowledge influences their beliefs, opinions, and perceptions. This paper presents the findings of public consultations concerning science communication on climate change, in addition to presenting citizens’ perception of scientific institutions and scientists working in the field of climate change. It also provides recommendations for improving science communication in terms of education systems and communication strategies. The analyzed data allowed us to look at several levels of science communication. The findings show citizens’ various perspectives on communication preferences when it comes to climate change and present several science communication dimensions that could boost the effectiveness of science communication on the topic of climate change.

• Keywords:Climate change, Science communication, Public consultation, Science institutions, Communication dimensions.
• DOI: 10.24193/OJMNE.2022.39.03

Abstract:  The aim of the article is to show the process of reconstructing institutional, and grass-roots, cross-border relations in the Pieniny area of the borderland between Poland and Slovakia after 1989. By virtue of a decision issued in 1920 by the Council of Ambassadors, an international border between Poland and Czechoslovakia was established. For over a hundred years the permeability of the border was regulated by political decisions and diplomatic relations between both countries. The border marked by the Dunajec River divided the community of Pieniny highlanders, creating a barrier which, in some periods, was completely impassable. The article is based on field research conducted in two villages called Sromowce Niżne and Červený Kláštor. The research was supplemented with a review of legacy data as well as one of institutional sources which documented the process of establishing formal cooperation between Poland and Slovakia at a local level (as part of Euroregion as well as The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation TATR ). An analysis of the empirical material proved that the key moment that initiated the restoration of cross-border relations in the researched area of the Pieniny borderland after 1989 was the signing of the Declaration of the Territorial Self-Governments of the Republic of Poland and the Slovak Republic regarding the creation of the “Tatry” Region on 31 October 1993, and finally the signing of an Agreement between Polish and Slovak self-governments on establishing a cross-border association for the “Tatry” Euroregion at a Founding Congress in Nowy Targ on 26 August 1994. The culminating point of the Polish-Slovak rapprochement at the local level was the opening of a footbridge on the Dunajec River (12 August 2006), connecting the villages of Sromowce Niżne and Červený Kláštor, which enabled the reunification of both communities and the reconstruction of mature, neighbourly cross-border relations somewhat in isolation from the issue of the location of the actual border. One hundred years of Polish-Slovak cross-border relations can be pithily summed up in the following words: “a little bit of smuggling, a lot of poverty, but little politics”.

• Keywords: Polish-Slovak border, Political relations, Cross-border community, Local identity.
• DOI: 10.24193/OJMNE.2022.39.04

Abstract: Achieving an optimal work–life balance has been a policy objective of the European Union for many years. Despite progress in this reconciliation, inequalities in the labour market and in gender equality still persist. It should be emphasized that we are not just talking about inequalities in the private sector, the issue of reconciling family and working life is also relevant in local government conditions, and it also affects private and public sector employees who are responsible for families.  In the context of European social and legal culture, the legislature, by means of family policy, not excluding legislative measures taken by labour legislation, creates the conditions for workers – women and men caring for children and other dependants – to ensure that they are not subject to economic and social instability. In this study, we analyse the minimum standards of Directive 2019/1158 on work–life balance for parents and carers, focusing on the institutes of maternity, paternity and parental leave. Comparatively, we examine the extent to which the Slovak Republic has adopted legislative measures of family policy with the legislation of Italy.

• Keywords:  Labour law, Public administration, Work balance.
• DOI: 10.24193/OJMNE.2022.39.05

Abstract:

The outcome of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia determines in many ways peace and stability in the Balkans and the process of integration of the western Balkans in the EU. The dialogue and the solution of the dispute between these countries becomes especially important under the situation of the potential aggression of Russia against Ukraine. It is very clear that Kosovo has shown its orientations towards deep integration in EU and NATO whereas the attitudes of Serbia remain to be clarified. Talks or dialogues between parties in this dispute have started many years ago and the outcomes were far from expectations. The dialogue process was ambiguous in many aspects. Especially in the aspect of parties and the facilitation or mediation of the entire process. Thus, the article gives a description of the long lasting dialogue underlaying the most important acts and the shortcomings of the dialogue along with the expected results.

• Keywords: Facilitation, dialogue, NATO, EU, Kosovo, Serbia Kosovo, Serbia.
• DOI:  10.24193/OJMNE.2022.39.06

Abstract: The goal of the article is to analyse key strategic projects to strengthen the European Union’s capabilities and role in global affairs. The EU has lost the dynamics of its impact on world affairs due to the configuration of crises that have affected it at both an internal and external level. The sequence of events has undoubtedly weakened the EU’s perception as a creator of the international order, which has been a priority since its inception in the 1960s. The power and attractiveness projected by the European Union in a variety of ways have been weakened both as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and more recent dramatic events causing threats to security and peace in Europe, the best example of which is the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, but also due to undermining its internal cohesion. At the same time, the question arises whether there is a chance to regain a good image for the EU by undertaking necessary reforms and revitalising the European project? The other research questions one then needs to answer are: What challenges will the European Union have to respond to in the nearest future? Are there any real premises for waking the European Union from its marasmus and strengthening its position in Europe? How could the European Union and its members overcome these difficulties? In order to find the answer to these questions, the analysis will cover at least three strategic projects that, in the author’s opinion, may reverse the wave of estrangement from the European Union: firstly, actions that are to lead to becoming an organised strategic entity as well as the creation of integrated capabilities in the field of foreign and security policy and military crisis management, secondly, a new approach to neighborhood policy and future EU enlargement, and finally, undermining anti-European narrative in EU and third countries.

• Keywords: The European Union, Revitalisation of the EU, Strategic projects, Management of global affairs, Military capabilities, Soft power, COVID-19, War in Ukraine.
• DOI: 10.24193/OJMNE.2022.39.07