The EU's multiple cores and the CEEs : a threat or an opportunity ?

The sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone has caused a fundamental shift in the EU’s internal power balance with Germany, the strongest political and economic player, essentially determining the political response to the crisis. The establishment and implementation of more efficient mechanisms to ensure fiscal responsibility amongst the eurozone members and the aspiring ones led to the emergence of complex differentiated multiple cores of integration, i.e. the Euro-17, Euro Plus and a detached periphery. The CEE countries are represented in all three of the emerging cores. This puts them at the heart of the emerging political division of the EU, thus generating several challenges and opportunities to their broadly understood political and economic security. The objective of this chapter is to explore these issues