Annex
The "Balkans" Region as a "working
unit" for the purposes of the management of UK Foreign Policy
The Balkans Region is easier to recognise than to
define in terms of the countries comprising it. However, given
the intense problems that continue to follow, for the time being
at least, from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and the knock-on
effect of these on neighbours and others, and given also the problems
arising from the dissolution of the former Soviet Union there
is a strong case for having a "greater Balkans" as a
working unit for the purpose of the management of UK foreign policy.
The possible enlargement to the East of the
EU, and what has happened and what may happen in terms of the
enlargement of NATO pose further difficult definitional problems.
The fact that Greece is in both NATO and the EU while Turkey is
in NATO but not in the EU is another problem again.
To define the Balkans for the present purpose—of
"containing" and resolving regional problems—requires
a broader rather than a narrower frame. It would therefore appear
necessary to accept a degree of overlap, including some countries
in the Balkans for this purpose, while also including them in
other groupings for other purposes.
On the basis we come to a "Balkans"
of:
Yugoslavia (as reduced) Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro,
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovenia.
(Sub-divisions), Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic
of) Albania, Moldava, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece (most areas/aspects),
Turkey (some areas/aspects), Italy, Austria, Hungary (as involved
neighbours with direct interests).
The historic relationship of Russia with the
Balkans must also be recognised and accepted. There is further
the issue of the place of the Ukraine as a major Black Sea state,
given the relationship between the Balkans and the Black Sea.
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