Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

and monitor the results. The original plan of the BSEC, which is referred also in the
Economic Agenda, the creation of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), appeared to have
a short-life, as it received no political support. Nevertheless, he Black Sea region is
setting course towards democracy and development and to what extent this choice
will be successful and secure depends on the strategies individual countries ultimately
choose to follow.
- In political terms, the success of institutional liberalism and the transition towards
democracy of riparian countries may create a sound basis for predictable security
partnerships and extension of stability and peace from the Balkans to Eastern
Europe, and from South Caucasus further to the Middle East and Afghanistan.
- In military terms, the region could be seen as a platform for power projection and
peace support in the neighbouring areas, as well as buffer zone against asymmetric
risks to European security. In this context, there is a need for an extensive evaluation
of opportunities for infrastructure development, force deployment and sustainability,
early warning and prevention mechanisms in the Wider Black Sea.
- Finally, in economic terms, the Black Sea could become a significant source of
prosperity and market development for both Europe and its riparian countries, by
the developing and securing of the energetic routes, communication and financial
flows between the Caspian and Central Asian regions, South-East and Western
Europe.
Despite its meaningful core, the BSEC has been used mostly as a foreign policy
instrument than as a tool of economic cooperation or as an integrated approach to the
transition process of the member states: economic growth, social prosperity and
stability. The Black Sea could become a strategic platform for the spread of democracy
and stability, an emergent centre for sustainable development and a networking piece
in an extended security approach from the Mediterranean to Levant, Middle East and
Central Asia. With the changing landscape of the region, new forms of threats rose in
the area, such as terrorist activities, separatism, transborder organised crime, corruption,
etc. A diversity of international arrangements and the subsequent integration of two of
the BSEC’s coastal members to the EU acquis communitaire, made the original FTA
idea largely irrelevant, and the whole task of setting a unified customs union proved
impossible.
Another original plan was to create a cooperation framework based on true business
needs and demand, which was equally difficult to achieve because the private sector
lies largely outside of the Organisation. As was the case with the Stability Pact of the
Western Balkans, political commitments were not enough without the necessary resources.
Concrete proposals on cross-country cooperative projects are not met in due time, or
at all, therefore, circumspect attitudes towards the effective commitment of the managing
bodies are still widespread. A serious impetus to the BSEC progress resulted from the
92 UNFOLDING THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION VIEWS FROM THE REGION