The EU policies in favor of the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo) began to develop in 2000, when the European Union established for the first time exceptional unlimited duty-free access to the EU market for nearly all products originating in the Western …

General elections and Muslim upheavals The recent general elections in Turkey, as well as the regional context marked by the 2011 upheavals in several Muslim countries in the Mediterranean basin have brought into the light the evolutions in Turkey, a country seen by most of the analysts as a future …

Recent figures The most recent World Gold Council (WGC) Quarterly Report indicates a gold demand of 1053.9 tonnes for the third quarter of 2011, that is an increase of 6% compared to the same period last year. This equates to US$ 57.7bn, an all-time high in value terms. According to …

The recent call of Vladimir Putin – who practically faces no obstacle in becoming Russia’s future president – for an “Eurasian Union” sparked not only concerns about Russia’s possible attempt to restore Kremlin’s domination over other former Soviet states, in what analysts have called an “authoritarian consolidation”, but also fears …

“Eurabia”: the concept and the phenomenon The recent upheavals in the Arab world, as well as the demographic phenomena in Europe have brought into the lights the idea of “Eurabia”, a concept far more complex than what it was considered several years ago, when it was launched by researcher Bat …

Extremism in modern and post modern times is characteristic for all societies and areas of thinking/belief. There have always been people attracted by the extreme (or, as they put it, the “pure”) expression of a religion/theory. So far, the so-called “fringe” movements of all kind were not considered a considerable …

1. Overview The separatist phenomenon and the corresponding autonomist and secessionist parties and movements in Europe, as in the rest of the continents, is a result of long historic processes and, as such, they are a constant challenge for the nation-state authorities, as well as for the supra-national ones (the …