While there is a large body of EU innovation policy to build on, the EU’s conception of innovation fails to take account of the true breadth of innovative activities and processes that can contribute to societal progress. There has been an unfortunate failure to understand that support for innovation is not the same as support for R&D. Innovation cannot be organised by decree. It comes from people, and only people. Innovation is neither an explicitly economic process, nor indeed an objective itself.

Regional business clusters (RBCs) in Western Balkans are scarce and institutional support for national clusters is very limited . Any existing clusters in the region are the outcome of external donors’ policies rather than genuine local initiatives; they have very limited government support although they are national in character and nature; awareness of clustering advantages is very low, even for their members. In other words, they are underdeveloped, while good practices are missing due to the fact that they are rather new initiatives without precedents.

Proposals  expressed by Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference.

There seems to be a real discrepancy between the rhetoric on the American side of the Atlantic and the European side. Within the EU clearly there is also a division of opinions. There are more hawkish nations: Poland, the Baltic states have gotten even further than the US in providing military assistance to Ukraine. And on the other hand, Germany, France, Britain and Denmark have ruled it out so far.

The agreement was drawn-up by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, which consisted of representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE. The group was established in June 2014 as a way to facilitate dialogue and resolution of the strife across eastern and southern Ukraine. Meetings of the group, along with informal representatives of the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, took place on 31 July, 26 August, 1 September, and 5 September 2014.

Protocol

The text of the protocol consists of twelve points:

The possibility of a political solution in Ukraine can only consist of a special autonomous status for the Donbas region within Ukraine. This solution corresponds to history and local reality, because the Donbas is in fact a region with its own culture and traditions.

Extent of corruption

Corruption is a serious problem in Serbia, affecting the everyday lives of its citizens and hampering economic development. Corruption is ranked as the most important problem identified by businesses in making a decision for starting economic activities. Serbia tops the Balkan states for illegal financial flows with an estimated US$5 billion disappearing every year through illicit flows, including the proceeds of crime, corruption and tax evasion.

There is no regulation or a job description for lobbyists in any official document issued by the Croatian government. Professional lobbyists in Croatia have thus been working under dubious conditions for the last 20 years, some of them as business consultants and others as lawyers under the protection of Croatian labour law.

In Croatia, lobbying is considered as ”selling influence” and this causes lots of problems in the not-yet-defined lobbyist profession.

USAID's Business Enabling Project (BEP) did help Serbian business associations improve their advocacy and lobbying skills by collaborating with them in a process that included:

In October 2014, the Montenegro's government  approved a new bill that imposes limits, rules and penalties on lobbying. With penalties of up to € 20,000, the government aims to curb lobbying-related corruption in the public sector - the illegal involvement of public officials, failures to report contacts with lobbyists, as well as receipts of gifts and services.