PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Can we be optimistic about the future of Europe? More than trying to provoke sarcasm and negative emotions, this question is an invitation to reconsider the current concerns and imagine their impact on future developments. The examination of Europe as a whole or the European Union and its relations with both European and non-European neighbors is rarely straightforward. This means that credible conclusions and accompanying decision-making depend on careful examination of both specific phenomena (such as individual crisis and policies) and a larger picture (such as longer trajectories as the result of major geopolitical shifts). Accordingly, while some of the available analyses tend to speculate and suggest what needs to be done in order to overcome problems, some others go as far as to claim that the Brussels administration and the individual European leaderships have failed to consolidate the European integrationist project, seeing its collapse as the most probable outcome. As we have witnessed, every crisis and consequent evaluations have inspired individual member states to point the finger and use the momentum to discredit one another, rightfully or not, thus contributing to the debate about fragmentation of the EU. They have expressed strong feelings and disagreements concerning Brexit, the powerful role of Germany, the alleged lack of responsiveness from the Mediterranean region, the Europeanization fatigue of the Central and Eastern European members, the (im)possible democratization and EU accession of the Western Balkans, and so on. In any case, past events have shaped present political and socioeconomic cooperation (or its deficiencies) and there is no reason to believe that present challenges will not influence future arrangements at supranational or intergovernmental level, and between the EU or its individual members and the states on the outskirts (in the case of enlargement). Whichever the period, the question of belonging and the (un)wanted Other has penetrated discussions; while the very notion of otherness has often been associated with migration and the potential threat stemming from the growing influx of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, the Other has also come from within, in the form of proper states or regions, some of which often referred to as semi-periphery. This volume brings together a diverse group of researchers interested in Europe’s past, present, and future, all trying to shed light on the understanding of Europeanness and the position of those who may, at times or continuously, be viewed as the Other. It starts by reviewing some of the dominant arguments in the field, altogether suggesting that the EU has struggled with the development of a joint position, required in order to speak with a single voice and convey clear messages about crucial matters. Such a deficiency has surely affected its credibility, not only among its own member states, but also in the wider context, beyond the EU’s official borders. Here, by looking at a range of challenges, the focus is on the gap between the EU elites and ordinary people or public intellectuals, as well as between the so-called core and (semi-)periphery, which in return has implied