Almost three years after adopting the South East Europe 2020 Strategy, the region is inching towards some of its 2020 targets. While the results have been mixed, efforts vested by the governments are in most part real. But will they be enough to convince the skeptical and largely pessimistic citizens?

In November 2013 the governments of South East Europe came together to adopt the SEE 2020 Strategy, a joint effort to boost job creation in SEE and reinforce the region’s EU perspective. Inspired by the EU’s own 2020 strategy, SEE 2020 was a clear recognition by the national governments of the need for a ‘change of gear’.

The implementation started in the aftermath of the largest global economic crisis in recent history which had a particularly negative impact in the SEE, reversing many of the gains achieved during the 2000s. The region has witnessed its economies contract, employment and investment plummet, and its financial sector at dire risk. The narrowing fiscal space and limited scope for monetary policy interventions considerably reduced the policy options and instruments at the governments’ disposal.

The full article was published by Europeanwesternbalkans.com on 21 September 2016.