Europe needs to ‘do more’ in the Western Balkans but what does that mean for security?

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Series Details 07.06.17
Publication Date 07/06/2017
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The European Leadership Network (ELN) works to advance the idea of a cooperative and cohesive Europe and to develop collaborative European capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence and security policy challenges of our time.

It does this through its active network of former and emerging European political, military, and diplomatic leaders, through its high-quality research, publications and events, and through its institutional partnerships across Europe, North America, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.

The ELN conceives of Europe in its widest sense, to include not only the EU but Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the rest of our diverse continent. It is unique in its high-level political reach and in its ability to effectively network the political, diplomatic and security elites of all countries across this region and parts of Central Asia.

It focuses on arms control and political/military issues, including both conventional and nuclear disarmament challenges inside Europe, and has a particular interest in policy challenges arising in both the eastern and southern peripheries of the continent.

The ELN also works to advance economic, political, energy, people to people and sub-regional cooperation within Greater Europe and to build cooperative European solutions to today’s global challenges, be they related to Russia-West relations, nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, or the challenge and opportunity of the rising powers.

It is a non-partisan, non-profit organisation based in London and registered in the United Kingdom.In June 2017, Montenegro joined NATO as its newest member – the fourth Alliance member from the Western Balkans. Despite these NATO memberships, the region was increasingly unstable. This would demand a great deal more political attention than it currently received.

Political upheaval, Russian competition for influence, the stagnating EU accession process and continued unresolved tensions in some Western Balkan countries should be raising concerns over the future of the region. How should the risks of escalation be addressed and what should the international community do to support the region?

ELN Research Fellow Julia Himmrich points to the need for a more comprehensive regional security structure supported by the EU and NATO, particularly with reference to hybrid threats.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/europe-needs-to-do-more-in-the-western-balkans-but-what-does-that-mean-for-security_4822.html
Related Links
ESO: Background information: Russia ups its game in the Balkans, but the West should avoid responding in kind (EuroppBlog, 15.05.17) http://www.europeansources.info/record/russia-ups-its-game-in-the-balkans-but-the-west-should-avoid-responding-in-kind/
ESO: Background information: West is best: How ‘stabilitocracy’ undermines democracy building in the Balkans (EuroppBlog, May 2017) http://www.europeansources.info/record/west-is-best-how-stabilitocracy-undermines-democracy-building-in-the-balkans/
ESO: Background information: Western Balkans: Parliamentary oversight of the security sector (EPRS: Briefing, May 2017) http://www.europeansources.info/record/western-balkans-parliamentary-oversight-of-the-security-sector/
ESO: Background information: The Western Balkans and the EU [What Think Tanks are thinking], March 2017 http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-western-balkans-and-the-eu-what-think-tanks-are-thinking/
Spiegel Online International, 27.06.17: Europe's Backyard. Tensions Rising in Balkans as Hopes for EU Future Fade http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/tensions-in-the-balkans-rising-as-promise-of-eu-future-fades-a-1154499.html

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