The Global Financial Crisis and the Post-Lisbon Prospects of Enlargement

The aim of this paper is to examine the transformative processes that are defining the region of south-east Europe in the context of global financial crisis and in the post-Lisbon era. It is also intended to illuminate the current challenges of the region’s EU integration process. Judged in terms of overall stability, European integration processes in the western Balkans have almost never been as promising as they are today. Recent events in south-east Europe are profoundly changing the old continent. The establishment of largely peaceful regimes throughout the region, along with the accession to the EU of the rest of the former socialist bloc, offers new possibilities for freedom, respect for human rights and genuine socio-economic improvement. Such developments as Kosovo’s independence and the admission to NATO of Albania and Croatia are of no less significance for a more prosperous and stable landscape