The New Strategy Center, in partnership with the Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCSP) think tank in Serbia, publishes the study “The wider Balkan region at the crossroads of a new regional energy matrix”. The paper was presented as part of the panel “Energy Diversification in Southeast Europe” at the Belgrade Security Conference, taking place 27-28 October in the Serbian capital.

The paper addresses a theme that has dominated the public agenda since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: dependence on Russian gas and the development of alternative sources of supply. Analyzing the challenges facing the Balkan region from an energy perspective, the study describes the struggle of different actors in this field, manifested in particular by the emergence of new transport networks. In addition, the authors look at Serbia’s and Romania’s place in the European energy architecture, bilateral cooperation opportunities, and dependence on Russian gas.

“The wider Balkan region at the crossroads of a new regional matrix” was written by Sergiu Mitrescu, international relations expert at the NSC and Vuk Vuksanović, BCSP researcher, with a foreword by Ambassador Viktor Jackovich, the first US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and former ambassador to Slovenia.

The wider Balkan region at the crossroads of a new regional energy matrix