To prevent external threats, risks, and problems, as well as to promote our country's leading role in the broader European, Balkan, and Mediterranean neighborhood, our active participation in the European Union plays a fundamental role.

This exact daily coupling and interaction of our "classic" foreign policy with our dynamically emerging European policy is what I had the opportunity to design, negotiate, and experience "from within" during my tenure as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (2004-2009).

With the collaboration of colleagues and experts, this book has been prepared primarily for educational purposes. For the first time, I believe, both policies, the foreign and the European, are covered in parallel and complementary ways, as they are indeed practiced daily.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]