Search

Begin New Search Topic European Union Political Geography North Macedonia

1. The Granular Trade and Production Activities (GRANTPA) Database

Author:
Sebastien Bradley, Javier Flórez Mendoza, Mario Larch, and Yoto V. Yotov
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper introduces the Granular Trade and Production Activities (GRANTPA) database, which covers international trade flows for 3,124 products and 247 countries over the period 1995-2019 as well as domestic trade flows and production data for the same number of products and years for a subset of 35 European economies. The original data sources that we employ are Eurostat’s Comext and Prodcom databases. A gravity application delivers a large set of product-level ‘home bias’ estimates, which cannot be obtained without domestic trade flows. The average estimates on the standard gravity variables in our model (e.g., distance) are comparable to those from the related literature. However, our disaggregated estimates are very heterogeneous across products, thus highlighting the importance of our new database.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, European Union, Trade, Production, Gravity Data, Structural Gravity, Home Bias Estimates, and Disaggregated Gravity Estimates
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Norway, Serbia, Iceland, Montenegro, and North Macedonia

2. Undoing a Hybrid Regime: What Lessons Can Be Extracted from the Case of North Macedonia?

Author:
Nazif Mandaci
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
This study primarily aims to draw attention to the role of the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) in North Macedonia’s1 transition from a hybrid regime to a standard democracy from 2015 to the present. The stability of the country has been of paramount importance for the Western interests, thus the EU and US have continuously supported successive governments to uphold the de-facto powersharing system that prevailed since its independence in the early 1990s. By employing Levitsky and Way’s theoretical framework of linkage and leverage, this study aims to elucidate the decisive roles played by the EU and the US in cultivating the conditions necessitated for North Macedonia’s gradual democratic transition after 2015. To do this it addresses political developments in North Macedonia, discusses the problems that aroused during this transition period, which are inherited in a lack of democratic culture and widespread corruption, and finally, suggests that as the Macedonia example demonstrated, EU support and tutelage is critical during such challenging transitions.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Corruption, Democratization, European Union, and Hybrid Regime
Political Geography:
Europe, United States of America, North Macedonia, and Western Balkans

3. CEFTA: Trade and Growth Patterns Fifteen Years since Establishment

Author:
Nina Vujanović
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This research report investigates the trade and growth benefits of the CEFTA agreement for its members. Although the countries have not reached their end goal of membership of the European Union, the report shows that CEFTA has supported their economic growth. However, there is trade heterogeneity in terms of the extent to which individual countries use CEFTA value added in their manufacturing exports. Less-developed economies seem to rely more on regional (CEFTA) supply chains, while manufacturing-based economies are increasingly coming to rely on EU supply chains. The countries have not built a strong export advantage abroad, as very little of their value added is used in EU exports.
Topic:
European Union, Economic Growth, Trade, Supply Chains, and CEFTA
Political Geography:
Moldova, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, Balkans, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia

4. History and identity should not blight the EU’s enlargement policy towards the Western Balkans

Author:
Erwan Fouéré
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
The EU must reject any attempt to introduce notions of history and identity into its enlargement policy. Otherwise it risks trampling on its 70 years of experience in overcoming the legacy of the past and promoting a peace project based on reconciliation and the rule of law. Yet this is precisely what is happening with Bulgaria’s veto against the opening of EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia. In March of last year the European Council gave the green light for the opening of accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia. A date for the first intergovernmental conference to formally launch the negotiations with both countries remains – unfortunately, out of sight.
Topic:
History, European Union, Rule of Law, Regional Integration, Identity, and Regional Politics
Political Geography:
Europe, Bulgaria, Balkans, Albania, and North Macedonia

5. The Green Agenda: Providing Policy Brief breathing space for Western Balkans citizens?

Author:
Paul Hofhuis, Wouter Zweers, Giulia Cretti, and Srdja Popovic
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
Abstract:
This Clingendael series ‘The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans’ provides an inside perspective on the EU climate ambitions for the Western Balkan Six (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) and the challenges ahead. In this third contribution, we analyse the state of affairs with regard to pollution. Across the Western Balkans, air, water and soil pollution levels are incredibly high. Public health is continuously jeopardised by air pollution arising from local heating sources and energy production plants. The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans aims to assist the region in tackling pollution problems and aligning the countries’ environmental quality regulation with the European acquis. This paper analyses the state of affairs with regard to air, water and soil pollution in the WB6 and examines how it affects citizens’ health and socioeconomic prospects. The policy brief argues that countries in the Western Balkans need to address a coal phase-out while simultaneously tackling energy poverty. The EU could more actively support this, not only by providing a platform for dialogue, but through supporting programmes for renewable energy provisions and infrastructure, reskilling of workers and job creation. The Sofia Declaration, that sets out the Green Agenda, needs to be complemented with measures to ensure compliance with environmental regulations, preferably by involving civil society organisations in monitoring implementation and raising public awareness of the socioeconomic costs of pollution.
Topic:
Climate Change, European Union, Pollution, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, Balkans, Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia

6. EU and the Western Balkans: When Enlargement Gets Politicised

Author:
Gentiola Madhi
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI)
Abstract:
On Wednesday the 5th of February the European Commission proposed a revised methodology for the accession process for candidate and potential candidate countries. This methodology will be applied to Albania and North Macedonia, although for Montenegro and Serbia there has also been foreseen an opt-in in case they want to join. The document strives to inject new dynamism into the enlargement process in the Western Balkans, while attempting to introduce more clarity and predictability, stricter monitoring as well as improved incentives for the soon-to-be negotiating countries to deliver on EU reforms. The negotiating chapters have been divided into six clusters, where the fundamentals cluster will be the first to open and the last to be closed.
Topic:
European Union, Democracy, and Regional Integration
Political Geography:
Europe, Balkans, Albania, and North Macedonia

7. Bulgaria sets tough conditions on North Macedonia’s EU accession path

Author:
Yorgos Christidis
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
The hardening of Sofia’s position vis-à-vis North Macedonia and the attempt to condition Skopje’s accession process upon the previous satisfaction of a number of key Bulgarian preconditions undoubtedly constitutes a critical moment in bilateral, Bulgarian-North Macedonian relations. No Bulgarian government in the future may easily ignore or abandon these strict conditions. Sofia has “bound itself” into a tough diplomatic position, reminiscent of Greek policy vis-à-vis North Macedonia, where dominant perceptions of history-identity and a feeling of diplomatic superiority dictated a strict diplomatic position that no Greek government dared to openly question, let alone abandon. Some of the key Bulgarian demands on history, however, touch upon fundamental aspects of the North Macedonian national narrative and nation-building and it will be hard for any government in Skopje to accept. It will certainly take a lot of good will and creative thinking by both sides in order to move forward.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and European Union
Political Geography:
Europe, Greece, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia

8. North Macedonia: What’s Next?

Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
In January 2019, Macedonia’s parliament approved, by a two-thirds majority, a constitutional amendment to change the country’s name to the Republic of North Macedonia. While this represented a major step toward North Macedonia’s ultimate goal of establishing a durable, stable democracy, the name change must still be endorsed by Greece’s parliament before it can go into full effect. But as a new report from the Open Society European Policy Institute shows, a newly-named North Macedonia would still face significant challenges—and opportunities. North Macedonia: What’s Next? examines the 2018 Prespa Agreement between neighboring Greece and North Macedonia, which laid out agreed upon conditions for resolving the longstanding dispute over Macedonia’s name, and what it means for the larger project of integrating the countries in the Western Balkans more fully into the political and economic systems of Europe, the British Isles, and the United States. The report further explores how key players—such as the European Union, NATO, Russia, other Western Balkans states—approach the Prespa Agreement, explains the significance of the name change in larger geopolitical terms, and offers insight into possible scenarios for the final resolution of this fraught and lengthy conflict.
Topic:
NATO, Democratization, Regional Cooperation, European Union, Democracy, Constitution, and Nation-State
Political Geography:
Balkans, Macedonia, and North Macedonia

9. Conflicting objectives of EU conditionality uncovered

Author:
Simonida Kacarska
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:
This policy paper examines the conflicting objectives of EU conditionality in relation to Roma in the aftermath of introducing visa-free travel for the Western Balkans, studying the case of North Macedonia. Since the eastern enlargement, EU conditionality on Roma has gradually advanced in terms of both the acceding countries and EU member states. At the same time, the pressures to curb migration in the EU have inadvertently affected the position of Roma. In acceding countries from the Western Balkans, the tension between these two trends has been clearly illustrated with the EU and national responses to the rise of the number of asylum seekers in the EU from this region. Looking at the case of North Macedonia, the paper shows how national authorities, in response to EU member state requests, have instituted practices at the national level that have led to a violation of the rights of the Roma community, by limiting their freedom to exit the country.
Topic:
Migration, Minorities, European Union, and Roma
Political Geography:
Europe, Balkans, and North Macedonia