THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE WIDER BLACK SEA REGION: INTERESTS, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The enlargements of NATO and EU, the involvement of the North Atlantic Alliance in Afghanistan, the increasing dependence of EU energy security on Russia and the focus on Caspian Sea as a potential alternative, have moved the center of gravity of European security towards South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia - three very sensitive areas in terms of soft and hard security. The paper discusses on the collective and individual security of EU members, which depends on a vast array of new threats and sources of instability that rise from inside and around the Wider Black Sea Area.