2. Regional Environment The states in the region of Southeast Europe accept and promote the values of democracy, economic and social stability and security. In line with these commitments, they opt for dialogue, which reduces the possibility of conflict and positively influence the security environment. Enhancing regional security is increasingly based on cooperation and joint and co-ordinated activities in the area of security, politics and economy and other areas that are aimed at preserving stability and focused on crisis prevention in the region. Inherited problems from the past, historical contradictions and consequences of the conflict between the nations and states in the region of Southeast Europe, particularly in the Balkans, in recent history and today affect the security situation in the region. Geostrategic position of Southeast Europe, through which the energy and communication lines pass, linking developed countries of Europe with the regions of the Caucasus, the Caspian basin, the Middle East and Mediterranean, also significantly and directly affects the security situation of the states on the European continent. Conflicting interests of states in the use of transit routes and available resources may lead to the creation of regional crises and threats to security and stability in Southeast Europe. Risks of the outbreak of wars and other armed conflicts in the region of Southeast Europe, although reduced, have not been eliminated. Trying to review the provisions of the Dayton agreement, which would be contrary to the interests of any constituent nation, would destabilize the security situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thus in the region. Separatist aspirations in the region are real threat to its security. By its level of difficulty and complexity, as well as negative implications for the internal stability of countries in the region and their security situation, the attempted secession of a part of the territory of the Republic of Serbia based on the unilateral declaration of independence by the provisional institutions of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija is a particularly distinguished problem. 6

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