Black Sea Synergy of the European Union and the limits of integration

In: Grenzen der Integration: Europas strategische Ansätze für die Nachbarregionen, S. 175-190

Abstract

"This paper examines the limits, but also the opportunities of integration of the European policies and initiatives addressing the Black Sea macro-region. It is argued that the Europeanization process is depended an internal (domestic structures of the Black Sea countries or the Black Sea region as a whole) and external factors (the ability of EU policies to penetrate and be implemented into these countries). Then, the main EU initiatives for the macroregion are presented, along with the regional response of institutions such as the BSEC and ICBSS. Finally, an assessment of the Black Sea Synergy implementation highlights the limits of integration and the setbacks of this initiative that kept it from establishing strong regional cooperation and territorial cohesion for the whole Black Sea region." (author's abstract)