To coincide with Rīga hosting this year's Three Seas Initiative (3SI) summit and business forum, about which we have already written, the Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA) is publishin.
January 1, 2022, is the celebration of 15 years since Romania realized one of its major policy objectives after the pivotal year 1989, and enough time has passed for a historical evaluation. These have been 15 years of significant and steady progress, that have also shown that the European project is feasible. The European adventure of CEE countries started after the year 2001. In the first wave of integration, in 2004, the union was joined by 10 states: Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenis. In 2007, two more joined, Romania and Bulgaria.
In any analysis of such a recent past, history is marred by perceptions that are not always objective, especially political ones. Which is why a realistic look at the past 15 years since Romania joined the European bloc is mandatory in order to compare past and present situations, but also to envisage alternative situations, such as the scenario in which Romania did not join. Mihai Sebe, wi