The main thesis of the author starts with the fact that the Sustainable Development Strategy of the European Union is one of the major long-term reducing instrument of energy dependency of the European Union. This paper gives an overview of the total energy consumption and production in the EU and its energy dependence on imports, mainly oil and gas. In order to meet the needs of sustainable development, the EU aims to cut consumption of crude oil, natural gas and solid fuels, and also to encourage the production and consumption of renewable energy, which would reduce the import of fossil fuels and contribute to energy efficiency. Despite numerous measures in order to achieve sustainable development, crude oil and natural gas remain the most important fuels in the EU, while its total energy dependency has increased over the past ten years. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. OI179029: Srbija u savremenim međunarodnim odnosima: Strateški pravci razvoja i učvršćivanja položaja Srbije u međunarodnim integrativnim procesima - spoljnopolitički, međunarodni, ekonomski, pravni i bezbednosni aspekti

The paper analyses the idea of ?Mini-Schengen? as a new opportunity for resolving disputes between the countries of the Western Balkans and as economic and political integration. The main advantages of membership in ?Mini-Schengen? are the removal of customs and all other barriers in intraregional trade, which would enable domestic companies to place their products throughout the region with the lowest possible logistic costs while maximizing protection for their products and market access opportunities. Doubts about what exactly ?Mini-Schengen? should assume and which countries of the Western Balkans would be members of this union are still numerous. In this paper, the author provided answers to some main issues about this possible integration. The paper analyses the macroeconomic situation in Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia, anticipating which countries would achieve the greatest benefit for their economy in the case of the establishment of ?Mini-Schengen?. Political consequences of the ?Mini-Schengen? are also analysed to provide an answer to which countries would achieve the greatest political benefit from this association, and which would suffer certain political damage. The author concludes that the main conception of ?Mini-Schengen? is to create a single labour market, which would maintain a low minimum wage in Serbia and ensure stability in the influx of labour in order to keep the existing foreign investors and attract new ones.

The author deals with energy market in Europe by presenting the gross consumption of energy as well as production of energy within the European Union. The need of EU for natural gas and crude oil is one of the main factors why Russia is still the key player in Europe's energy market. European Union is trying to leave Russia behind by importing crude oil and natural gas from countries like Norway, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Iraq, but Europe is still highly dependent of Russian energy. Considering these facts, Serbia recognizes that its economic and political interest is to become a strategic partner with European Union as transit country for Russia's natural gas and crude oil.

For many years now Serbia is persistent in its attempt to become a full member of the World Trade Organization. Countries that are not yet members represent a tiny minority of the total world trade, and Serbia is one of them. Membership in the WTO is de facto requirement for accession to the European Union. This paper explains how far Serbia traveled in her way to this international organization, whose agreements are governing the global rules of trade between nations. Special attention was paid to the question why it is important that Serbia joins this organization, and what can be concluded from the accession experiences of countries in the region. The authors of this study will try to explain the importance of the WTO accession, and the manner in which membership in this organization will affect Serbia?s existing foreign trade relations. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. OI179029: Srbija u savremenim medjunarodnim odnosima: Strateski pravci razvoja i ucvrscivanja polozaja Srbije u medjunarodnim integrativnim procesima - spoljnopoliticki, medjunarodni, ekonomski, pravni i bezbednosni aspekti]

This paper analyses the "Open Balkan" initiative, using some of the theoretical assumptions of economic and, consequently, political populism in order to show that the economic benefits of this initiative do not differ too much from the existing economic benefits of the CEFTA ( 2006) agreement, of which all three countries (signatories of the "Open Balkan" initiative) are members. However, unlike the economic ones, the political benefits of this initiative can be seen much more clearly. Specifically, the "Open Balkan" initiative can be seen as a mechanism for "bridging" the waiting period for these countries to join the EU, overcoming some of the obstacles of the existing bilateral trade agreements that the countries from this region have with the EU. We will show, using quantitative content analysis, that the "Open Balkan" initiative is a political populist concept directed outward, i.e., toward EU leaders, and not an initiative that can bring something completely new and different compared to all previous bilateral and multilateral initiatives of this type.