o:29987 Regional Economic Integration in Southeast Europe To Many Initiatives to Little Effects en Abstract In this paper, the authors analyze the patterns of regional economic integration in Southeastern Europe and their effects. The aim of this work is to point out the importance of economic cooperation between the countries of the region, in order to accelerate economic development and achieve better results with the advantages of joint projects and access to third markets, as well as to accelerate European Union accession process. During the past years, many regional initiatives have been created in Southeastern Europe, and they continue to appear. Initiatives for regional economic integration have mostly come about through the efforts of states to increase the degree of cooperation and avoid the slow process of international trade liberalization. However, their synergies remain weak, vulnerable to political fluctuations and occasional conflicts. The structures are underdeveloped while bringing very limited change in regional cooperation and benefit to citizens of all countries. Here we can include CEFTA 2006, the Regional Economic Area, the Common Regional Market, and the Open Balkans. Most of the countries of the region do not have a functional market economy, which directly affects the implementation of actions related to the smooth flow of goods, services, capital and highly qualified labor force. The main prerequisite for progress in regional cooperation is solving numerous bilateral issues and improving international relations, but also improving the capacity for implementing cooperation. Apart from these difficulties, it should be noted that the results are uneven also because the countries are in different stages of the EU integration process. The modest effects of all the analyzed integrations encourage the questioning of their expediency, and the questioning whether they contribute to the liberalization of international trade and the increase in the well-being of the member countries. Keywords: regional economic integration, Southeastern Europe, international trade, CEFTA, Open Balkan, EU, regional cooperation 1552100 978-605-71219-5-0 2023-06-05T07:42:55.979Z 44 no 46 Predrag Bjelić Univerzitet u Beogradu Ekonomski fakultet 12871271 0000-0002-9777-8403 Miloš Rajković person application/pdf 255298 https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/o:29987 no yes 1 70 92000004 11A03 Proceedings of the 14th SCF International Conference "Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability in the post Covid-19 World", Antalya, 13-16. October 2022 44 56 2022