Despite heightened interest in the area however, the region’s real priorities and needs are still being largely ignored. In part this can be attributed to the failure of the regional actors to produce an agreed vision for the future. The emergence of the Black Sea as a region-between-regions and the conflicting agendas of powerful local and external players distort the necessary regional focus and blur outcomes. Thus, a reassessment of the region, with all of its problems and priorities, is urgently needed. This will provide all actors involved with a better understanding of what can be done, as well as allowing them to develop innovative approaches to problems, thus enhancing the region’s security, stability and welfare. The emergence of a peaceful and cooperative Black Sea region would be of benefit to all.
With this in mind and with its overarching approach, the Commission has sought to promote an inclusive strategy taking into account the needs, priorities and interests of all stakeholders in four essential areas; peace and security, economic development and welfare, democratic institutions and good governance and, finally, regional cooperation. The Commission has come to an understanding that the region’s future lies in further democratisation and economic integration with the wider world.
The rationale behind the preparation of this report has been the increased geopolitical volatility of the region which, in certain places, can ignite at any given moment into open warfare. The area’s unresolved conflicts retard economic development and have the potential to flare up into wider conflagrations. They impact regional stability and security and, unless tackled, threaten far greater international ramifications. But it is the Commission’s conviction that it is realistic to envisage a cohesive, developed, integrated and stable region. To do so:
- The regional actors must renounce the use of force in their political relations and respect each other’s territorial integrity, the inviolability of their borders, international treaties and the rule of law in their dealings.
- Interested outsiders must support efforts to secure good governance, the creation of interdependencies and the regionalisation of the Black Sea’s politics and economy.
- The international community must encourage cooperative efforts and confidence-building measures as well as actions in favour of the peaceful resolution of disputes.
Black Sea politics work best if the approach is regional. The states in question should be encouraged to seek regional solutions for regional problems. The stakeholders must face up to the need to tackle tasks together and allow for non-state actors such as the business sector, NGOs and civil society to play a real role in shaping solutions. Thus the Commission recommends:
2020 Vision – A Black Sea Dimension - the report of the European Commission is creating a new overarching concept and policy, a Black Sea Dimension, by the actors and countries in the region, focusing on the year 2020.
