The authors of this report argue that further integration with the European Union is the key to the democratisation and the development of the Western Balkans.
In recent years it has been announced a number of times that the EU enlargement process in the Western Balkans would be halted.
The UK and Turkey can be called “lords of the ring” – they are important stakeholders in the external world simultaneously located on the institutional and geographical outskirts of Europe.
The world may not have become flat, just as the distance has not died, but globalization and interdependence are facts of life that hardly anyone can deny.
Beyond the exceptional circumstances of the crisis, Europe cannot continue to be run from a single power centre.
Twenty years after the Treaty of Maastricht created the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Europeans face the risk of being marginalised on the international scene.
Europe’s electorates continue on different trajectories. Further economic slowdown expected in the first half of this year, will exacerbate the tensions and intensify the blame-game.
There is nothing extraordinary about countries in the middle income category. When they stagnate, it is for normal economic reasons, rather that because of the mythical importance of their level of development.
A new transatlantic momentum has been set in motion by the economic crisis. Both the US and the EU need every impulse for growth they can find.
The eurocrisis has created a sense of dislocation between the EU and its citizens. The immediate concern is stability, but in the long-run Europe needs a new settlement between the citizens, nation-states and EU institutions.
