New Strategic Points in Europe: Developments and Strategies

This study seeks to answer the following question: given the dynamic development of the European Union and widespread changes since the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, which areas in Europe are considered to be the new strategic points and what are the European Union's main tools to control those areas? This paper explores the issue by assuming that new strategic points for European Union are fluid and identified by the type of threats they pose, and that the European Union's neighborhood policy is the main tool to dominate and control these strategic points. The findings of the study show that the humanitarian issues such as the refugee crisis, illegal immigration and human trafficking, as well as European Union's dependence on Russian energy resources, have transformed certain areas on the southern Mediterranean and Black Sea coastlines into new strategic points in Europe. Also, in the future, given the rigidity of EU geostrategy in the south, strategic points will be increasingly within the European Union borders, on the Mediterranean coastlines. Furthermore, we analyze new strategic points within the EU borders by introducing a new geostrategic model of internalization. Regarding the EU instruments of control, the use of the Neighborhood Policy tool in the East and South to manage strategic areas as well as border points is on the Commission's agenda.