Just another Crisis? South-East Europe and the European Union in a Changing World

The world is facing fundamental changes in the international system. The rise of China, India and other emerging economies are changing the world’s power balance, while Western states, in particular European Union members and the Unites States, are facing great economic and political trials linked to high sovereign debt, rising inequalities, and job-less growth. Intra-state and transnational conflicts, often waged by non-state actors, including terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda, pose difficult new challenges to the preservation of peace and security. In this global context, the EU is facing its greatest challenges since its inception. While dealing with the economic crisis, it must keep up with the need to complete its enlargement in South-East Europe. The EU must furthermore address the challenges of being perceived – not entirely wrongly – as too aloof, technocratic, undemocratic, and overly-meddlesome. These challenges also offer new opportunities, but failing to grasp them and implement needed reforms may yet bring the great European experiment to an end. This must not and need not be the case, and possible strategies for a renewed Europe are outlined.

CIFE: Information about L'Europe en Formation. Journal of Studies on European Integration and Federalism http://www.cife.eu/en/5/europe-en-formation_99-1

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