New Balkan migration route and its impact on transit countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Magdalena Rekść
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Migration Route ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Migration Crisis

In 2015, global public opinion was shaken by the migration crisis, as wave after wave of refugees from the Middle East, primarily from Syria, tried to get from Turkey and Greece to Western Europe via the so-called ‘Balkan Route’. In time, the situation only seemed to be resolved. In the Balkan countries, there still are, according to estimates, tens of thousands of migrants who failed to get farther west, and more are constantly arriving. Meanwhile, since 2018, one can speak of a new, though a much smaller wave of immigrants who are trying to get from Greece to Croatia (and thus to the European Union), increasingly often bypassing Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina along the way. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the phenomenon of the so-called ‘New Balkan Route’ and the problems it creates for the Balkans.

scholarly journals Modernization mixed with nationalism

Balcanica ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 443-451
Author(s):  
Konstantin Nikiforov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Entire Region ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Balkan States

This essay reflects on a particular manner in which modernisation have taken place in the Balkans in modern history, from the 1878 Berlin Congress onwards. The Balkan countries faced twofold difficulties in their development: they had to overcome their backwardness stemming from the centuries of the Ottoman yoke and catch up with modern Western Europe, and resolve their numerous mutual territorial and political disputes. The latter task was especially difficult due to the constant interference in Balkan affairs on the part of Great Powers. This interference further aggravated nationalistic tensions between the Balkan states. The peculiar mixture of modernisation efforts and nationalism remains to this day when the entire region strives to join the European Union.

scholarly journals COPENHAGEN CRITERIA AND WESTERN BALKAN CANDIDATE COUNTRIESFOR MEMBERSHIP IN EUROPEAN UNION: CASE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

2018 ◽  
pp. 278-312
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
High Tech ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
New Eu Members ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) has shown considerable interest in receiving the Western Balkan countries into the EU, as did the mentioned countries show considerable interest to join the EU. Although this is a historically very turbulent region, the EU has clearly, unambiguously and unanimously expressed the political attitude towards the Western Balkans: "The Future of the Balkans is in the European Union". In addition to goodwill, the EU is also ready to assist in this process but also each country must do its part of the job in the accession process. The very process of EU accession means defining and meeting necessary criteria for potential new EU members, as well as the process of accession negotiations for the full membership of the new member states. The main objective of this article is to indicate which expansion criteria or Copenhagen criteria will be the most critical to achieve for Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), as one of the Western Balkan countries, in the process of access into the EU. In the process of meeting Copenhagen criteria, unlike other Western Balkan countries, B&H shows the least success. In our research, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a problem primarily by satisfying political Copenhagen criteria and then meeting economic and legal criteria. The lack of meeting Political Copenhagen criteria is found primarily in the absence of political consensus in B&H, which stems from the special features of the Government in Bosnia and Herzegovina (two entities and Bosnia's three main ethnic populations). With the lack of political unity in B&H, it is not possible to establish stable institutions that ensure democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and the right to protect minorities (Sejdić and Finci case, corruption, non-transparent elections, nondependent media and labour unions) Fulfilling the Copenhagen Economic Criteria - a functioning market economy is also dependent on political influence (which is also fractured). The economy of B&H is structurally unregulated and is based on the processing of basic raw materials without the high-tech industry in order to deal with the competition of the European Single Market. During the research, the used scientific methods (analysis and syntheses, descriptions and classifications, historical and comparative, induction and deduction, and quantitative analysis) showed that it would be most difficult to achieve the political and economic Copenhagen criteria for the above reasons.

scholarly journals Unia Europejska wobec Bałkanów Zachodnich w kontekście kryzysu migracyjnego w latach 2015‑2019

Politeja ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3(66)) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Wawrzyniec Banach
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The Eu

European Union towards Western Balkans in the Context of Migration Crisis 2015‑2019 The aim of the article is to analyse the actions taken by the European Union towards the Western Balkans in the context of the migration crisis. The study assumes that the migration crisis was an important factor accelerating the accession process of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union. In order to fulfil the research goal, an analysis of sources (European Union documents) was conducted. The paper uses elements of the theory of the regional security complex as a theoretical framework. Firstly, the activities of the European Union before the migration crisis are discussed. Next, the paper focuses on presenting the course of the crisis on the Western Balkan route. The further part of the study discusses the actions taken by the EU towards the countries of the Western Balkans in response to the migration crisis.

Bat Ye’or and Eurabia

2019 ◽  
pp. 170-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sindre Bangstad
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The Us ◽  
Muslim Majority

This chapter discusses the life and work of Bat Ye’or (Gisèle Littman), who is widely seen as the doyenne of “Eurabia”-literature. This comes in different varieties and formulations, but in Bat Ye’or’s rendering refers to an ongoing secretive conspiracy which involves both the European Union and Muslim-majority countries in North Africa and the Middle East, aimed at establishing Muslim control over a future Europe or “Eurabia.” Though Bat Ye’or did not coin the term “Eurabia,” she can be credited with having popularized the concept through quasi-academic titles such as Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis and Europe, Globalization and the Coming Universal Caliphate. Through its dissemination on various “counter-jihadist” websites and in the work of the Norwegian counter-jihadist blogger Fjordman, her work inspired the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. She also has long-standing relations with Serbian ultranationalists, the Israeli Far Right, and various radical Right activists in Western Europe and the US.

scholarly journals CONSEQUENCES OF THE MIGRANT CRISIS

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1427-1435
Author(s):  
Hatidza Berisha ◽  
Milenko Dzeletovic ◽  
Vladimir Tomasevic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Migration Crisis

In daily communication are often used terms, such as migration, immigrants, refugees, emigrants, asylum seekers and similar, which in principle denote persons living outside the country of origin and their properties. However, there is often a lack of understanding in the perception and distinction between these terms, which in academic practice necessarily requires the determination of the scope and content of those terms. Therefore, we should try to point out the content and scope of concepts that define the status of migrants in the modern world.The paper deals with the basic concepts of migration, as well as the main features of the current migration crisis, with the focus on the consequences of the migrant crisis in the Republic of Serbia and the evinced security implications are described.The aim of the paper is to point out the most important consequences of the migrant crisis in the Republic of Serbia and to assess the possible future implications of the migrant crisis, which is primarily conditioned by the the degree and dynamics of solving problems in the Middle East, political and other decisions and measures of the European Union and neighboring countries.

THE PROBLEM OF THE EU INTEGRATION OF THE BALKAN COUNTRIES AND THE EU ENLARGEMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE VALUE MODEL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

2021 ◽  
pp. 176-193
Author(s):  
Svetlana Knyazeva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Eu

The article examines a wide range of the problems associated with the boundless enlargement of the European Union which makes it possible to place the Balkans in the context of general European development. To become a member of the EU is the important goal of the post-socialist countries of the Balkans/South-Eastern Europe. Bulgaria, Romania, and the post-Yugoslavian states of Slovenia and Croatia became full members of the EU. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania are still at different stages of integration into the European community. This accession is the logical completion of the processes of social, political, economic and legal transformation of the Balkan countries, in which they themselves and the European Union as a whole and its individual member states are interested for reasons of geopolitics and geoeconomics. However, the accession to Europe (or the return to Europe) of the Balkan states with their authoritarian and socialist past includes not only the reform of the economic, political and legal systems, but also a change in value orientations. While in the states of the so-called «founding fathers» of the EU a Western European corporate civic identity is being formed, in the countries of the former Eastern Europe and the Balkan region, ethnic identity remains remains largely in the mainstream of public consciousness. The author examines axiological, ideological and psychological aspects of the accession of post-socialist countries to the EU, and also analyzes specific foreign policy problems associated with this process and the role of regional international organizations in the «europeanization» of the Balkans and in the settlement of ethnic and interstate conflicts in the region that still remain acute. Negative tendencies, first of all - the strengthening of populist sentiments and the coming to power of politicians reflecting these sentiments, pose challenges and threats not only to the European Union, but also to Russia.

The Balkan Migration Route

2022 ◽  
pp. 111-134
Author(s):  
Anatoliy Khudoliy
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Migration Route ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
European Union Enlargement ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
Migration Flows ◽  
The Eu

The purpose of the chapter is to assess and link the issues of migration flows with the accession process of the Balkan countries and the European Union enlargement policy. The chapter argues that despite the recent changes in the EU commission's policy towards the candidate countries there is more to be done to foster the process and encourage domestic reforms in the countries. The chapter examines the process of migration along the Balkan migration route from 2001 till 2021 and its influence on the European Union policy and the policy of Balkan countries. The author links the issue of migration flows with the accession process of the Balkan countries, traces the connection between the issue of migration flows with the European Union enlargement, and analyzes the legal steps taken by the EU and the countries of the region in order to control the process of migration.

Budapest and Brussels’ migration policy (2014–2019)

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-57
Author(s):  
Bela Y. Zhelitski ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The Eu

Following a brief description of the unprecedented waves of migration flowing into Europe from the Middle East and Africa, the author analyses the migration policy of the European Union and Hungary's attitude towards this policy between 2014 and 2019. The study centers on the positions, views, and specific actions of the leadership of the European Commission and the political class of Hungary, as well as the relations between them. The main approaches of the parties towards solving the problems of the migration crisis and the differences between them on key issues of migration policy, which at times turned into confrontations between Budapest and Brussels, are shown. Particular attention is given to the circumstances that led to the EU migration crisis.

scholarly journals The Eu Enlargement. How to be Like the Irish and not the Greek?

ECONOMICS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Tahir Mahmutefendic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Developmental Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Rich Club ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Apart from the former EFTA members (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and a few former republics of the Soviet Union (Bjelorussia, Moldova and Ukraina) the countries of the Western Balkans are the only European states outside of the European Union. They are very keen to join the Union. The Balkans have always been the poorest part of Europe. The appeal of the wealthy European Union is apparent. Access to the largest market in the world, investment, modern technologies and generous regional funds give a hope that by joining the EU the Western Balkans countries will join the rich club. At the moment performance of the Western Balkan countries does not guarantee that they will become rich by joining the European Union. Their current production and trade structure makes it likely that the Western Balkan countries will be locked in inter-industry trade in which they will export products of low and medium technological and developmental level and import products of high technological and developmental level. This might lead to divergence rather than convergence between them and the European Union. In other to overcome this problem the Western Balkan countries need to conduct radical reforms in the public sector, fiscal policy, industrial trade and investment policy. They also need to tackle corruption, simplify administrative procedure, strenghten property rights and the lawful state. All this with the aim to change economic structure and shift from achievements of the second and third to fourth technological revolution. Only if these reforms are successfuly implemented the Western Balkan countries can hope to avoid the Greek scenario and possibly experience the Irish scenario.

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