Weakening Cohesion as a Security Challenge for the European Union : The CEEs in Focus

One of the fundamental goals of European integration is to provide opportunities to less-developed Member States for both convergence and the strengthening of the economic and social cohesion. Prior to the 2008 global financial crisis, the convergence process across the EU had spectacular results. The aftermath of the crisis, however, threatens the prospects of convergence in the EU. In other words, the EU’s cohesion policy, which could mitigate the crisis’ impact, has not received a prominent status in the forthcoming programming period and in the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework (MFF). As a result, in the medium term, economic and social cohesion in the EU’s periphery is threatened, thus generating a number of security challenges for the Southern as well as for the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) members of the EU