The Southeast European (SEE) countries have strong roots in social and historical terms. Their experience of the last couple of decades indicates, however, that SEE is in continual change and transformation: They want to attain more open societies, functioning markets and well-knit international affairs. This paper examines the economic prospects of the SEE countries from the eye of outsiders. Specifically, we investigate the strength of intra-SEE economic ties, stability at the nexus of financial and real sectors, propagation of shocks from the major economies of Europe to the SEE, and uncertainties surrounding the SEE countries. Along each of these dimensions, we maintain a comparative perspective, spatially relative to continental Europe and Turkey and temporally relative to the pre-crisis period.