scholarly journals Kosovo’s European Road and the EU Role in Improving Relations with Serbia

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 252
Author(s):  
Jeta Goxha
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Made In

<p><em>Compared to other Western Balkan countries, the Kosovo case is of particular importance, on the one hand, by the fact that it is the youngest state in the region and, on the other hand, the integration of Western Balkan countries could not be sustained without resolution of Kosovo’s status.</em></p><p><em>This paper aims to analyze the progress made in the relations between the two countries. The normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is an important factor in regional co-operation, as well as an important condition for stabilizing the Balkans.</em></p><p><em>To make possible the realization of this objective Kosovo has undertaken a number of initiatives, which could facilitate the process of European integration. National Strategy for European Integration aims at supporting Kosovo’s aspirations for membership and EU integration, so that by 2020 Kosovo may have “completed its homework” for EU integration.</em></p><em>Following the declaration of independence, Kosovo’s main objective is Euro-Atlantic integration. Mainly, the journey towards the EU has been influenced by a number of factors, such as the overall situation, the political situation in the country, and the close relationship between Kosovo and Serbia. Following the signing on 19 April 2013 of the historic agreement by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci on the Kosovo side and Ivica Dacic on the Serbian side, the situation between the two countries apparently “improved”. But what is different is the fact that this agreement was implemented thanks to the influence of EU representatives after a series of failed attempts.</em>

Historical Writing in the Balkans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulf Brunnbauer
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
The Other ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

This chapter analyzes historiography in several Balkan countries, paying particular attention to the communist era on the one hand, and the post-1989–91 period on the other. When communists took power in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia in 1944–5, the discipline of history in these countries—with the exception of Albania—had already been institutionalized. The communists initially set about radically changing the way history was written in order to construct a more ideologically suitable past. In 1989–91, communist dictatorships came to an end in Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania. Years of war and ethnic cleansing would ensue in the former Yugoslavia. These upheavals impacted on historiography in different ways: on the one hand, the end of communist dictatorship brought freedom of expression; on the other hand, the region faced economic displacement.

The long-journeying poor cousin before the shut EU door: How the Western Balkans are metaphorically conceptualised in the context of the EU integrations

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 578-603
Author(s):  
Milica Vuković-Stamatović
Keyword(s):  
Trojan Horse ◽  
Final Outcome ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Internet News ◽  
The Eu

Summary In this paper we critically analyse how the identity of the Western Balkans (WB) has been metaphorically conceptualised in the latest stages of the EU integration processes in a corpus of internet news articles recently posted in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Hercegovina. Unlike the accession processes of the former membership candidates from Europe, the WB’s integration has proven to be a very long one, hindered by many, perhaps insurmountable obstacles and subject to a great deal of uncertainty regarding its final outcome. Although this process is predominantly conceptualised through the already established metaphors employed to depict such processes of the former member candidates (journey, house, circles/rings, family, etc.), their evaluative content is different, given that the roles and the positions of the EU and the WB are starkly asymmetrical, i. e. that the WB is deeply marginalised. We identified some new metaphors that this specific political situation has engendered, also reflecting the said asymmetry – the WB is perceived as a colony, self-imprisoned state, Trojan horse, victim of blackmail, immature person, experimenting ground and waste-collector for immigrants. These metaphors construct an image of the WB as that of the very inferior Other.

ROMANIA AND THE BALKANS: POLITICAL, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS

2021 ◽  
pp. 233-252
Author(s):  
Tatiana Bitkova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Regional Leadership ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Common

The article analyzes some aspects of Romania’s foreign policy in the Balkan region. It is noted that the same fact that country belongs to the Balkans causes ambiguous interpretations on the part of Romanian politicians and experts, many of whom believe that Romania cannot be attributed to this region either geographically or politically. At the same time, culturally and historically, according to a certain part of historians and sociologists, Romania nevertheless carries the features of the so-called «Balkanism», due to the common Ottoman past with the Balkan Peninsula. These features are also relevant for the current socio-political situation, which is shown in the article with specific examples. In addition, criticism of the very term «Balkanism» from the side of Romanian analysts is presented. The author also examines Romania’s relations with the countries of the Western Balkans, primarily with Serbia. The points of contact of the positions of these countries are noted, which are largely due to the desire of Serbia to resolve the Kosovo problem in its favor, relying on the support of Romania - one of the five EU countries that did not recognize the independence of Kosovo. Romania, using this situation, is trying to strengthen its position, seeking regional leadership. The author comes to the conclusion that, although the Western Balkan countries directly or indirectly aspire to Euro-Atlantic structures, some of them (primarily Serbia) maintain and develop friendly relations with Russia, which complicates their interaction with Romania, orthodoxly adhering to the NATO and European Union policies and having a very difficult relationship with Russia.

8. EU Enlargement and Wider Europe

2018 ◽  
pp. 167-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Sedelmeier ◽  
Graham Avery
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
European Model ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

The EU has expanded many times and many countries still aspire to join. It has extended the prospect of membership to countries in the Balkans and Turkey and has developed a ‘neighbourhood’ policy towards other countries, some of which may want to join in the future. Enlargement illustrates the success of the European model of integration. It has also provided the EU with a powerful tool to influence domestic politics in would-be members. But enlargement also poses fundamental challenges. It has implications both for how the EU works (its structure and institutions) and for what it does (its policies). The chapter first compares ‘widening’ and ‘deepening’ before discussing enlargement as soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at prospective member states: the Balkan countries, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. Finally, it examines the European Neighbourhood Policy.

scholarly journals GSIM Measurement of the Effects of the EU accession of the Balkans and Turkey on Agricultural Trade

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Holzner
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Trade ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Accession Countries ◽  
The One ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Very High ◽  
Minor Extent ◽  
The Eu

GSIM Measurement of the Effects of the EU accession of the Balkans and Turkey on Agricultural Trade In this paper, the global simulation model (GSIM) for the analysis of global, regional, and unilateral trade policy changes by Francois and Hall (2003) was applied to the agricultural trade between the EU, the Balkans and Turkey. This was done in order to measure the effects of an EU accession of the Balkans and Turkey. Most of the changes in welfare after a full liberalisation of agricultural trade between the Balkans and Turkey on the one hand and the EU on the other hand can be expected in the accession countries themselves. It is estimated that incumbent EU members will be affected only to a minor extent. It was also estimated that the exchange rate risk is not very high.

scholarly journals Unia Europejska i jej granice. W poszukiwaniu modelu integracji na europejskich peryferiach

2018 ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Jarosław JAŃCZAK
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

Research into borders and frontiers in the context of European integration has evolved, leading to the question of the shape of the external borders of the EU and their organization in relation to the external surroundings. The approach to how the unification processes of the continent are presented has recently changed, and the Union is being perceived through its peripheries. The one-way model of the flow of ideas from the center to the peripheries has been replaced by a two-way one. This allows us to use the Westfalen, imperial and neo-medieval geopolitical model to analyze the EU and, consequently, the four geo-strategies that are regionally diversified in the northern, eastern and southern peripheries of the Union. Nevertheless, it is the periphery that plays the key role and initiates certain types of relations with neighbors, whereas the center approves of them and modifies them, according to its own requirements.

scholarly journals The transition paradigm versus integration in the context of political transformation of the Balkan countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veton Latifi
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Integration Project

Three decades since the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism, some of the Balkan nations are not following yet the lessons for building sustainable peace and functioning democracies according to their aspirations (at least in a declarative way) for association with the liberal democracies of the European Union (EU). Rather, the Balkans’ history is transforming into a story of importing the habits and principles from the communism period in a paradoxical way of establishing the illiberal democracies followed by controversies and defects in the process of state-building. More than a decade, the Balkans, from one side, is transformed into a zone of periphery with a focus of the European determination for the support of the institutional reform through the process of integration, but in parallel, it is being self-formatted into a zone of self-isolation of the Balkan nations. This article will discuss the transition paradigm of the Balkans through functional analysis of aspects related to the rhetoric of Balkan countries in the discourse of the criteria of the European integration project; the dimension of the Balkan ancient myth with the new additional attribute of self-isolation; the insisting of the Balkan political elites for catapulting to the European project; and as well as the dynamics of the transition, internal and European integration of the Albanians and other nations of the Balkan region in the general

scholarly journals EEC and Yugoslav cooperation in the frames of modern international relations in Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-55
Author(s):  
E. G. Entina
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
South East Europe ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Eu

Traditionally the phenomenon of the European integration towards South East Europe is regarded starting from the XXI century. The explanation for such a periodization are resolution of the open conflicts on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and implementation of the complex EU strategy for the region. Starting point of the majority of researches is the year of 2003 when the EU Agenda for the Western Balkans was started in Thessaloniki. The topic of EEC-Yugoslavia relations, SFRY having been first socialist country to institutionalize its trade and economic relations with Brussels, are unfairly ignored in domestic and foreign scientific literature. It is regarded solely as a chronological period of trade agreements. Nevertheless, this issue is of fundamental importance for understanding the current neighborhood of the European Union. The main thesis the author proves is that in the 1960s and 1980s as it is the case nowadays, the main imperative of Brussels' policy towards the Balkans was to prevent Moscow from increasing its influence. This led to the formation of a very specific format of relations with Belgrade and was one of the reasons why the economic crisis in Yugoslavia became extreme and its economy irreformable. In addition, at a later and structurally much more complicated stage of relations between the countries of the former Yugoslavia and the European Union the specificity and main components of relations of the Cold War period did not fundamentally change. As for the policy of so-called containment of the external actors one could see that besides Moscow, we can speak about similar attitude of the EU towards China. It makes it possible to consider the EU policy towards the countries of the former Yugoslavia in the paradigm of neoclassical realism, rather than in the paradigm of traditional liberal European integration approaches which allows us to unite neorealists elements with the specifics of internal processes, including the modernization of institutes, relations between society and state, types of political leadership.

scholarly journals EU Refugee Crisis: A Stumbling Block to the Process of European Integration?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dionysios Stivas
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

Currently, the European Union (EU) is dealing with an unprecedented refugee crisis which has been blamed for bringing the process of the EU integration to an impasse. By applying theories of European (dis)integration, this paper assesses the extent to which the current refugee crisis constitutes an impediment to the future of the European Union. This paper’s analysis is constructed around two hypotheses: (1) the refugee crisis triggered Brexit and the failure of the EU’s relocation scheme, symptoms of the EU’s disintegration; (2) the refugee crisis has a dual potential: to simultaneously promote the deeper integration and the disintegration of the EU. To test these hypotheses, this paper examines if and how the refugee crisis is related to Brexit and whether the rebellious reaction of certain EU member states to the implementation of the EU relocation scheme is a sign of reversal in the process of EU integration.

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