IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hel/greese/10.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Quo Vadis Southeast Europe? EU Accession, Regional Cooperation and the need for a Balkan Development Strategy

Author

Listed:
  • Vassilis Monastiriotis

Abstract

In some sense there is a very simple answer to the title question: Southeast Europe is heading towards the EU, though a period of weak regional cooperation, asymmetric relations with the EU and a slow and discontinuous accession process. The speed and discontinuity of this process, together with the changing character and purpose of the process of regional cooperation, raise two crucial questions for the region. First, is there a need for regional cooperation and integration in SEE? Second, what type of cooperation is needed? The paper seeks to address these questions by discussing the challenges and opportunities resulting from recent developments in the region (‘EU distancing’, ‘regional ownership’, etc) and their implications for the perspective that the region can follow. In doing so, it attempts an analysis of the goals of regionalism in Southeast Europe and offers some policy proposals for its future.

Suggested Citation

  • Vassilis Monastiriotis, 2008. "Quo Vadis Southeast Europe? EU Accession, Regional Cooperation and the need for a Balkan Development Strategy," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 10, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:hel:greese:10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/research/hellenicObservatory/pdf/GreeSE/GreeSE10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bennett, Colin J., 1991. "What Is Policy Convergence and What Causes It?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 215-233, April.
    2. Richard Baldwin & Rikard Forslid & Philippe Martin & Gianmarco Ottaviano & Frederic Robert-Nicoud, 2005. "Economic Geography and Public Policy," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 7524.
    3. Schimmelfennig, Frank, . "Europeanization beyond Europe," Living Reviews in European Governance (LREG), Institute for European integration research (EIF).
    4. Dean DeRosa & David Kernohan, 2007. "Blind faith in the Balkans: trade policy options for South-East Europe," International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1), pages 53-87.
    5. Yener Kandogan, 2005. "Trade Creation and Diversion Effects of Europe???s Regional Liberalization Agreements," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp746, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    6. Anthony J. Venables, 2003. "Winners and losers from regional integration agreements," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(490), pages 747-761, October.
    7. Ms. Elina Ribakova & Mr. Balázs Horváth & Mr. Dimitri G Demekas & Mr. Yi Wu, 2005. "Foreign Direct Investment in Southeastern Europe: How (and How Much) Can Policies Help?," IMF Working Papers 2005/110, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Bjelic, Predrag, 2005. "Trade policy of the European Union as a factor of regional trade in Southeast Europe," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 23374, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Eising, Rainer, 2002. "Policy Learning in Embedded Negotiations: Explaining EU Electricity Liberalization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 85-120, January.
    10. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 1995. "Double-edged incentives: Institutions and policy coordination," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 38, pages 1973-2030, Elsevier.
    11. Tanja A. Boerzel & Madeleine O. Hosli, 2002. "Comparative Federalism meets the European Union," The Constitutionalism Web-Papers p0007, University of Hamburg, Faculty for Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science.
    12. Vasily Astrov, 2001. "Structure of Trade in Manufactured Products Between Southeast European Countries and the European Union," wiiw Balkan Observatory Working Papers 14, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    13. Vladimir Gligorov & Mary Kaldor & Loukas Tsoukalis, 1999. "Balkan Reconstruction and European Integration," wiiw Balkan Observatory Working Papers 1, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    14. Stefan Collignon, 2003. "Is Europe going far enough? Reflections on the Stability and Growth Pact, the Lisbon strategy and the EUÕs economic governance," European Political Economy Review, European Political Economy Infrastructure Consortium, vol. 1(Autumn), pages 222-247.
    15. George Petrakos & Stoyan Totev, 2000. "Economic structure and change in the Balkan region: implications for integration, transition and economic cooperation," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 95-113, March.
    16. Edward Christie, 2001. "Potential Trade in Southeast Europe: A Gravity Model Approach," wiiw Balkan Observatory Working Papers 11, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    17. Milica Uvalic, 2006. "Trade in Southeast Europe : recent trends and some policy implications," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 3(2), pages 171-195, December.
    18. Huber, Peter, 2006. "Regional labor market developments in transition," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3896, The World Bank.
    19. Vitalija Gaucaite-Wittich, 2005. "Some Aspects of Recent Trade Developments in South-East Europe," ECE Discussion Papers Series 2005_6, UNECE.
    20. Pravin Krishna, 2003. "Are Regional Trading Partners "Natural"?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(1), pages 202-231, February.
    21. Franchino, Fabio, 2004. "Delegating Powers in the European Community," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 269-293, April.
    22. Vassilis Monastiriotis & George Petrakos, 2009. "Local Sustainable Development and Spatial Cohesion in the Post-transition Balkans: in search of a developmental model," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 29, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    23. Vedran Sosic, 2004. "Regulation and Flexibility of the Croatian Labour Market," wiiw Balkan Observatory Working Papers 48, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    24. Milica Uvalic, 2001. "Regional Cooperation in Southeastern Europe," One Europe or Several? Working Papers 17, One-Europe Programme.
    25. George Petrakos, 2002. "The Balkans in the New European Economic Space: Problems of Adjustment and Policies of Development," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 6-30, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Theodore Pelagidis, 2010. "The Greek Paradox of Falling Competitiveness and Weak Institutions in a High GDP Growth Rate Context (1995-2008)," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 38, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    2. Eugenia Markova, 2010. "Effects of Migration on Sending Countries: lessons from Bulgaria," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 35, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    3. Pagoulatos, George & Zahariadis, Nikolaos, 2011. "Politics, labor, regulation, and performance: lessons from the privatization of OTE," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 33827, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Christos Lyrintzis, 2011. "Greek Politics in the Era of Economic Crisis: Reassessing Causes and Effects," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 45, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    5. Nicholas Apergis, 2011. "Characteristics of inflation in Greece: Mean Spillover Effects among CPI Components," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 43, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    6. Vassilis Monastiriotis & Jacob A. Jordaan, 2011. "Regional Distribution and Spatial Impact of FDI in Greece: evidence from firm-level data," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 44, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    7. Jelena Vapa-Tankosic & Miroslav Stojsavljevic, 2012. "New Perspectives for Economic Growth: Agribusiness as Serbia's Way Out of Crisis," Book Chapters, in: Paulino Teixeira & António Portugal Duarte & Srdjan Redzepagic & Dejan Eric (ed.), European Integration Process in Western Balkan Countries, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 37, pages 726-740, Institute of Economic Sciences.
    8. George Kazamias, 2010. "From Pragmatism to Idealism to Failure: Britain in the Cyprus crisis of 1974," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 42, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    9. Karagiannis, Stelios & Panagopoulos, Yannis & Vlamis, Prodromos, 2010. "Symmetric or asymmetric interest rate adjustments? Evidence from Greece, Bulgaria and Slovenia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 29168, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Dimas, Christos, 2010. "Privatization in the name of ‘Europe’: analyzing the telecoms privatization in Greece from a ‘discursive institutionalist’ perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 31089, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. George Pagoulatos & Nikolaos Zahariadis, 2011. "Politics, Labor, Regulation, and Performance: lessons from the privatization of OTE," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 46, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    12. Voskeritsian, Horen & Kornelakis, Andreas, 2011. "Institutional change in Greek industrial relations in an era of fiscal crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 41758, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Lyrintzis, Christos, 2011. "Greek politics in the era of economic crisis: reassessing causes and effects," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 33826, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Vassilis Monastiriotis & George Petrakos, 2009. "Local Sustainable Development and Spatial Cohesion in the Post-transition Balkans: in search of a developmental model," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 29, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    15. Eftychia Tsanana & Constantinos Katrakilidis, 2014. "Do Balkan economies catch up with EU? New evidence from panel unit root analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 641-662, November.
    16. Christos Dimas, 2010. "Privatization in the Name of ‘Europe’: analyzing the telecoms privatization in Greece from a ‘discursive institutionalist’ perspective," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 41, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    17. Paulino Teixeira & António Portugal Duarte & Srdjan Redzepagic & Dejan Eric (ed.), 2012. "European Integration Process in Western Balkan Countries," Books, Institute of Economic Sciences, edition 1, volume 1, number euinpro.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jean-Philippe Bonardi & Santiago Urbiztondo & Bertrand V. Quelin, 2009. "The political economy of international regulatory convergence in public utilities," International Journal of Management and Network Economics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(2), pages 232-256.
    2. Fugazza, Marco & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric, 2006. "Can South-South trade Liberalisation Stimulate North-South Trade ?," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 21, pages 234-253.
    3. Ndoc Faslia & Fran Brahimi, 2012. "Effects of the free trade agreements on the development of the agriculture sector in the Balkan region," Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research, Pro Global Science Association, vol. 4(2), pages 108-113, Decembre.
    4. Vedran Sosic & Boris Vujcic, 2005. "Trade integration and Croatian accession to the European Union," Chapters in books, in: Katarina Ott (ed.), Croatian Accession to the European Union: Facing the Challenges of Negotiations, volume 3, chapter 3, pages 61-84, Institute of Public Finance.
    5. International Monetary Fund, 2005. "Serbia and Montenegro: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix," IMF Staff Country Reports 2005/232, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Sklias, Pantelis & Tsampra, Maria, 2012. "Towards an analytical framework of regional integration in Western Balkans," MPRA Paper 36504, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Mikhail Vladimirovich Tomilov, 2019. "Configuration of Free Trade Zones in the Asian-Pacific Region: Comparison of Integration Potentials," Spatial Economics=Prostranstvennaya Ekonomika, Economic Research Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Khabarovsk, Russia), issue 1, pages 84-106.
    8. D’Artis Kancs, 2007. "Trade Growth in a Heterogeneous Firm Model: Evidence from South Eastern Europe," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 1139-1169, July.
    9. Pablo Sanguinetti & Iulia Traistaru & Christian Volpe Martincus, 2004. "Economic Integration and Location of Manufacturing Activities: Evidence from Mercosur," ERSA conference papers ersa04p609, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Volpe Martincus, Christian & Siedschlag, Iulia, 2010. "The Impact of South-South Preferential Trade Agreements on Industrial Development: An Empirical Test," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 25, pages 69-104.
    11. Antoni Estevadeordal & Christian Volpe Martincus, 2006. "Specialization and Diverging Manufacturing Structures: The Aftermath of Trade Policy Reforms in Developing Countries," Development Working Papers 220, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    12. Edward Christie, 2004. "Trade Flows in Southeast Europe," wiiw Balkan Observatory Working Papers 59, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    13. Petrakos, George & Economou, Dimitri, 2002. "The spatial aspects of development in south-eastern Europe," ERSA conference papers ersa02p139, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Anna Iara & Iulia Traistaru, 2004. "Integration, Regional Specialization and Growth Differentials in EU Acceding Countries: Evidence from Hungary," ERSA conference papers ersa04p298, European Regional Science Association.
    15. Kancs, d'Artis, 2007. "Trade Growth in a Heterogeneous Firm Model: Evidence from South Easten Europe," Working Papers of Institute for Economic Forecasting 071201, Institute for Economic Forecasting.
    16. Christian Volpe Martincus & Antoni Estevadeordal, 2009. "Trade policy and specialization in developing countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(2), pages 251-275, July.
    17. Torben Heinze, 2011. "Mechanism-Based Thinking on Policy Diffusion. A Review of Current Approaches in Political Science," KFG Working Papers p0034, Free University Berlin.
    18. Vassilis Monastiriotis & Achilleas Tsamis, 2007. "Greece’s new Balkan Economic Relations: policy shifts but no structural change," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 01, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    19. Viola Tanto, 2016. "The International Company and Tax Avoidance," European Journal of Economics and Business Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 2, ejes_v2_i.
    20. Volpe Martincus, Christian & Siedschlag, Iulia, 2010. "The Impact of South-South Preferential Trade Agreements on Industrial Development: An Empirical Test," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 25, pages 69-104.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Southeast Europe; regionalism; developmental model; regional ownership; EU distancing.;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hel:greese:10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Vassilis Monastiriotis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.