Following are links to two analyses I wrote for the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) in March and April which for а reason were not published until today. Though a bit old, I think they offer interesting insights. The first one, "While an EU member, Britain should behave like one," discusses the anti-Bulgarian and -Romanian hysteria in British society vis-a-vis potential immigration waves from these countries once EU labour restrictions for their citizens fall in January 2014, all this amidst the recently rising eurosceptic moods in the UK. It is available here. The second one, "Brussels should step up its involvement in Balkan disputes because it works," looks at the relative successes of EU foreign policy in the Balkans (this was written before the landmark success of the Brussels agreement between Serbia and Kosovo) and urges a more consistent involvement by Brussels. It is available here.
2 comments:
In case you do not wish to redefine the geographic term peninsula... Romania is not in the Balkans.
Even if we consider the Danube Delta as one of the borders, this still only puts roughly 5% of the country in the Balkan Peninsula.
Please check your facts before posting. Romania is very different, especially culturally, from the Balkans especially the Eastern and Western regions. The south obviously has its influences. Learn a bit about its history... it might help to lift some of the confusion.
Sorry for the late reply. First, I am going to dismiss qualifications as 'factually incorrect' and 'confusion' in your post as thoroughly irrelevant and unprofessional. Second, I mention nowhere in those posts that Romania is a Balkan country; I think you need to give them a deeper look. Third, the 'Balkanness' or lack thereof of Romania is a more complicated issue than you might imagine; if you're interested in learning more about the idea of 'the Balkans,' not only vis-a-vis Romania but as a notion, I recommend you read the seminal work "Imagining the Balkans" by Maria Todorova. It is available free in .pdf here: http://hunlit.lett.ubbcluj.ro/data/tszlkompara/Todorova__Imagining_the_Balkans.pdf. And fourth, the leaders of Romania today are not so sceptical about the Balkan notion as historians may be: take a look at the agenda of the upcoming Economist Conferences event in Sofia (17-18 Oct), "The EU-Balkan Summit: Paving the Way to Recovery and Growth," available here: http://cemea.economistconferences.com/event/eu-balkan-summit/agenda-eu-balkan-summit#.UkU8VtKncoN. Seems Deputy PM Dragnea is happy to be assigned the role of a Balkan politician and will take part in the lead session with Bulgarian PM Oresharski.
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