RESEARCH RAPORTS

Authors: Jelica Minic, Dragan Djukanovic, Hana Semanic, Tomas Strazay, Marta Szpala, Michal Vit

Belgrade, May 2015

Area: regional cooperation, european integration

The study deals with the results of the great EU expansion in 2004 and its impact on internal reforms in the Visegrad Group countries (V4), as well as related adjustments within the EU. It aimed to identify practical lessons for Serbia and the Western Balkans (WB) which could make the EU enlargement process towards this region faster and more efficient.

Author: Vladimir Medovic

Belgrade, June 2014

Area: Energy

Announced as one of the most important construction endeavor expected to provide additional volumes of Russian gas to the European Union, the South Stream project threatens to grow into a major international dispute. Six member states of the EU and Serbia, as a member of the Energy Community, entered into a bilateral international agreements with Russia, dropping out of sight that some of the provisions of these agreements are at variance with the rules and regulations of the EU and the Energy Community. This created conditions for the emergence of international legal dispute between the European Union and Russia, which escalated under the circumstances caused by the international crisis in Ukraine. Caught in the dispute between the two global powers, Serbia found itself in a precarious legal situation, pressed by conflicting liabilities under the Treaty of the Energy Community, and obligations under the international agreement with Russia. Based on legal analysis of the problems related to the construction of the South Stream pipeline, the aim of this study is to demonstrate how this came about, what are the possible outcomes and what are the consequences and prospects for the realization of this undoubtedly important project.