On the Typologization of Sub-regional Forms of Cooperation in the European Union and the Role in International Processes in the Region

Abstract

Subregional cooperation of the countries of the European Union acquires special significance in the context of the formation of a new European reality. The emergence of new threats to security, difficulties in the internal processes of the EU stimulate individual states of the united Europe to group themselves into small associations to protect their own interests, which may not be a priority for Brussels. The article examines some of the subregional groups that exist within the EU: Benelux, the Nordic Council, the Visegrad Group, the Baltic Assembly, the Central European Initiative, the Weimar Triangle and the Slavkov interaction (Austerlitz format). The authors attempted to typologize subregional associations according to the principle of membership of Western European or Eastern European countries, including states of the former socialist camp. Such an ordering of the aggregate and a comparative analysis of subregional groups made it possible to study the degree of influence of this or that association on the processes in the European Union, as well as to trace new trends in integration processes. In the course of the study, the authors made a conclusion about the growing role of sub-regional groupings in the European space. At the same time, an increase in the number of small groups of states may indicate the intensification of localization processes in the EU policy, which will undoubtedly create difficulties for the development of integration processes and the implementation of a common European policy, which is advocated by Brussels and the leading states of the European Union.