The full report for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung by Matteo Bonomi, Albana Merja, Theresia Töglhofer, Dušan Reljic can be dowloaded here.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania Mr Ditmir Bushati initiated in the spring of 2020 a policy research project on the changed perspectives of the EU enlargement policy in southeast Europe in pandemic times. The project aims to support the current reframing of the European Union ́s enlargement policy towards the six southeast European non-EU national economies (the SEE6, in the parlance of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund). It offers analysis and policy recommendations to political actors in the EU and SEE6.
There were two principal sources for the findings of this paper: the first was a series of confidential interviews carried out by the research team with almost twenty informed political practitioners and analysts. In addition, the research team reviewed the current topical publications and conducted other desk research. In September 2020, an international expert group discussed the draft report. The final report reflects also their comments and suggestions.
Matteo Bonomi (EU enlargement policy), Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome, Albana Merja, (intra-regional cooperation) independent researcher, Tirana and Theresia Töglhofer (external influences), German Council on Foreign Relations, Berlin, committed to paper the results of their analysis. Dušan Reljić, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Brussels/Berlin, led the production of this study.
