Publications

Rethinking neighborhood: Another approach to refugees and migrants from southeastern Europe. During the first semester of 2015, the Federal Ministry of Migration and Refugees in Germany received more than double the number of people seeking asylum than in 2014, almost 200 000. The numbers are growing rapidly. The Federal Government is estimating the arrival of 1 million people.

This new youth study examines the civic and political perceptions as well as the individual experiences of young people in Serbia today. It explores attitudes, beliefs and expectations of a younger generation which mainly grew up in a transition country fifteen years after the democratic change. The study was commissioned by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation Belgrade Office as a concluding contribution to a series of FES youth studies in South-East European States such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia.

Resurgent ideological and/or religious affiliations have brought about new dividing lines in BBS societies, thus making international reconciliation efforts even more difficult to develop the necessary momentum. Some divergences result from the genuine quest of large groups of

people to adapt their postcommunist societies to democratic values and integrate them with prosperous parts of Europe. This often involves intense political clashes, if not open hostilities, with those who have interests in preserving oligarchic methods of governance or are determined

to defend more ancient social values.

In 2014, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung invited twenty experts from twelve European countries to jointly develop scenarios for the future relations of the European Union, the Russian Federation and their Common Neighborhood. The Scenario Group came up with four equally plausible scenarios how relations between the "EU and the East might develop between now and 2030.

The countries of South East Europe SEE are involved in a process of political and economic transition. They share a communist legacy and face a long and troublesome route to Western-style democracy. Many of them have faced violent conflicts and subsequent challenges involving state and nation building. In some countries, authoritarian parties have prevented regime change and impeded democratization.

Youth are the future, is a common saying across many countries, and there is an expectation that young people will be the agents of positive change in society. This expectation is amplified in new democracies. Countries that face democratization challenges often turn to youth in a promise that the future will be better. What, however, are the perceptions and extent of support by youth in SEE

nations for democratization and the EU integration processes?

Slovenia and Croatia are EU members. The rest of the states of the former Yugoslavia as well as Albania are on their way. As the Croatian example shows, this way is long and taxing. After bad experiences with earlier accessions, the accession processes are now designed to be more demanding. Enlargement policies always followed the security conjunctures in southeastern Europe. With gradual peace building and normalization in the region after the turn of the millennium, the western Balkans lost their spot at the EU priority list.

In 2003, at the summit in Thessaloniki, the European Union (EU) promised membership to all the countries of the Western Balkans. More than a decade later, the common objective of European integration is impeded by political and economic developments in many of the designated member states. In the absence of functioning economic strategies, unemployment is high, large parts of the population live in or are threatened by poverty and public budgets are in a precarious state. Political institutions often do not work democratically, but serve to secure the power of political elites. Accession instruments and policies employed by the EU often do not show the desired results. While the successful European integration of the Western Balkan…