This report tracks the major geo-economic and geo-strategic ruptures between the EU and Russia on the future patterns of gas supplies and shipping routes to the EU and the Western Balkans. It identifies the objectives and interests of the actors involved in this struggle Russia, the EU, various...

Russia and four other CIS countries - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - are important energy producers and possess substantial reserves, particularly as far as natural gas is concerned. Russia alone accommodates about one quarter of the global gas reserves and has established...

The Russian economy boomed in the period of rising energy prices. That period coincided roughly with the era of Vladimir Putin's presidency (2000-2008). The speed of Russia's catching-up was then even faster than that of the new EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe. Surging energy...

The periodically returning debates and the disappointing bargaining on the financial perspectives for 2007-2013 have led to the proposal of a comprehensive review of the EU budget in 2008/2009. This provides an opportunity for initiating fundamental reforms of the revenue side of the EU budget....

Russia is shown to have every reason to seek special consideration of, as well as express its concerns over, the impact of the European Union's (EU) eastern enlargement. The latter relate, in particular, to the current and expected negative repercussions of the changes in the political and...

This paper investigates the process of trade integration between the enlarged European Union and the Newly Independent States (NIS), focusing on the new EU member states (NMS) and selected NIS (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Kazakhstan). The paper analyses the evolution of the regional...

The paper explains a curious redirection of economic policies that uses the policy framework of Kalecki and Keynes only to undermine it. It does not negate their theory of demand management, but reformulates it to serve the powerful interests of finance in the era of financial globalisation. As...

Summary The Ukraine conflict is having serious consequences not only for Russia and Ukraine, but it also potentially threatens to damage the still frail economic recovery in Europe. In Ukraine, which is the main victim of the conflict, the economy may decline by up to 8% this year. In Russia,...

This paper assesses the possible political and economic risks of Macedonia failing to be invited to join NATO in the near future due to a Greek embargo. Three possible outcomes of the current negotiations are discussed and some narrowing down of differences is noted. It may, however, not be...

Timeliness has gained growing importance in international trade. This paper provides empirical evidence on the significant cost of time in trade by exploiting the quasi-experimental nature of the European Union (EU) enlargement in 2004. It applies a difference-in-difference-in-differences...