Suchergebnisse

The article looks into the process of "building" the monetary union of the EU member-countries and the creation of the European currency, EURO. Following the lengthy negotiations, the Euro-system era commenced on 1 January 1999, when the Euro was launched, marking the beginning of the third phase of the monetary union. At first, EURO will be virtual money and function as a dual currency, and only in 2002 will it get its physical form for everyday usage. In the first half of that year, local currencies will be replaced by the Euro in eleven EU countries that have satisfied the stringent criteria of "suitability" for joining the monetary union. (SOI : PM: S. 69)

Due to their strategic position, the Baltic peoples throughout their history have always been a kind of a buffer-zone, which has to a large extent affected their development. In the new European environment, the Baltic region is today somewhat marginalized, but because of its proximity to Russia it has an important strategic position. They want to join NATO and the EU because the Baltic states in this see a guarantee of their security and stability. This may alo be an opportunity for solving the very delicate relationship with Russia, still an important actor influencing the Baltic states. (SOI : PM: S. 59)

The author analyzes the process of the NATO expansion in Europe following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. Paradoxically, after the end of the cold war, the security conditions in Europe have not improved. On the contrary, the danger of military conflicts has increased. That is why most former communist countries, including the newly created states which emerged after the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, have been trying to eliminate this danger and strengthen their security by joining NATO. The Russian Federation is the main opponent of the NATO expansion in Eastern Europe, particularly on the states which came into being after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The author describes in detail the geostrategical and geopolitical implications of the admittance of the first group of Eastern-European countries into the NATO (Poland, Czech Republic and Romania), as well as the prospects of the NATO expansion onto the other countries in the region. He sees the American initiative for the cooperation in Southeastern Europe as a complement to the process of the NATO expansion. In the end he criticizes NATO's process of selection of new members, the process which has left Croatia (for the time being) in a sort of a geostrategical void. (SOI : PM: S. 118)

The Serbo-Albanian conflict on Kosovo has had direct repercussions for the Balkan security in the last 150 years. That is why the international community would from time to time pay more attention to this conflict, but never long enough to resolve it for good. Both the Serbian and the Albanian side put in a lot of effort towards the resolution of the conflict and came up with several proposals, ranging from various modes of Kosovo autonomy to the idea of cantonisation and re-federalisation of SR Yugoslavia to the independence of Kosovo or its being turned into a protectorate. All these suggestions had mostly been one-sided, either pro-Serbian or pro-Albanian, none of them conducive to a compromise. All this eventually resulted in a military conflict and the attempt to impose solutions by force. Nevertheless, after the NATO intervention, negotiations will have to be resumed and the familiar proposals for the resolution of the Kosovo question will have to be rehashed, only this time this will require much more good will and willingness to make compromises, both on the Albanian and the Serbian side, as well as a considerable support of international community. (SOI : S. 60)