On 7 May 2009 the European Union and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine will officially launch the new Eastern Partnership, which was originally proposed by Poland and Sweden. At a lecture , organised by the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation and the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) on April 8th, held at the Onassis Foundation, Professor Helen Wallace, who is currently Onassis Fellow in Athens, spoke on The European Union and its Neighbourhood: The Need for a Rethink.

In her speech, Professor Wallace concentrated on the perspectives of Eastern Partnership, which is a newly developed initiative concerning the EU’s eastern neighbourhood based on two pillar. [More..]

In ELIAMEP Thesis 3/2009 Evangelos Kofos analyses the 16-year old Balkan diplomatic imbroglio over the name issue of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (FYROM). The paper wants to initiate a discourse with the assessments and proposals of a recent report of the International Crisis Group, Macedonia’s Name: Breaking the Deadlock. [More..]

On March 23rd, 2009, in an article regarding the consequences of the global financial crisis on the Balkans, the  well-known German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung referred to ELIAMEP Thesis 2/2009 by Jens Bastian, quoting statistical data from the study, as wεll as an abstract from Mr. Bastian’s speech at the Evangelical Academy in Tutzing.

On April 1st, 2009 ELIAMEP coorganised a workshop on “Security Sector Reform: Challenges and Priorities” with the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) in the framework of the Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP).

IfP is a conflict prevention network funded by the European Commission that draws together the complementary geographic and thematic expertise of 10 civil society organisations [More..]

As the global crisis deepens, the economic outlook for the region of southeast Europe darkens. How are countries in the Balkans affected by and reacting to the global financial riptide? The crisis resistance of countries in the region has not been tested before on such a scale. Their institutional arrangements remain distinctly fragile. Confronting the crises will require bold and coordinated policy initiatives, sustained international support and the recognition of its social implications.

The global financial and economic crises mean tough times ahead in all hemispheres. The crises will not detour the Balkans. The downturn is proving a major test for political and economic institutions that have little to no experience with such a magnitude of challenges. Much is at stake for the region’s short to medium-term outlook. The economies in the Balkans are facing a serious stress test against the unfavourable backdrop of plummeting economic activity, increasing fiscal problems and worries about the health of their banking sectors. [More..]

In ELIAMEP Thesis 2/2009 Jens Bastian, Senior Economic Research Fellow at ELIAMEP, argues that the economic outlook for the region of southeast Europe darkens as the global crisis deepens. The crisis resistance of countries in the region has not been tested before on such a scale. [More..]

This Working paper brought together the conclusions and policy relevant implications of the research conducted by the IBEU research partners. In an interim meeting in Athens in May 2004, and in the final conference that was held in Brussels in November 2004, the final results of this inter-disciplinary research and of the empirical findings of the two major surveys that were conducted within IBEU were presented to a wider audience of policy-makers, EU officials, diplomats, journalists, economists and academics.

Dissemination of the project’s output
The core of the findings of the IBEU research team have been presented in public conferences in Athens (Greece), Forlì (Italy), Belgrade (Serbia) and Brussels (Belgium). The key papers of the project’s work-packages are available from the co-ordinator’s website (www.eliamep.gr) and a series of articles have been published in academic journals focusing on the region. Furthermore, the policy relevant implications of our research have been disseminated to the wider public in the form of policy briefing notes and articles in European and Balkan newspapers and journals. The core papers have been published in the Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, published by Taylor & Francis (previously Frank Cass) and produced by ELIAMEP. Details on the samples, the methodology and the statistical analysis of the empirical data are available in the WP2 papers and in the IBEU Final Reports submitted to the EU Commission.

The summaries and policy briefs for all the WP:

• WP2 Summary and Policy Brief
• WP3 Summary and Policy Brief
• WP4 Summary and Policy Brief
• WP5 Summary and Policy Brief

Researchers

Gropas Ruby
ELIAMEP
IBEU Assistant Scientific Coordinator

Tsoukalis Loukas
ELIAMEP
IBEU Scientific Coordinator

This Working paper explored migration trends within the Balkans and between the Balkans and the EU. With regard to internal migration trends, particular emphasis was placed on forced migration and rural-urban migration flows as a result of the disintegration of Yugoslavia. With respect to migration from this region and into the EU, our WP focused on Albanian migration into two relatively new EU host migration countries (Greece and Italy) that have been profoundly affected by the inflow of an Albanian workforce. This involved extensive surveys with Albanian immigrants and with employers of Albanian immigrants. A workshop and an edited volume on migration flows in Europe published by Longo Ravenna are among the key outputs.

Researchers

Baroncini Federica
IECOB

Bianchini Stefan
IECOB
Lead WP 5

Chiodi Luisa
IECOB

Devole Rando
IECOB

Francario Silvia
IECOB

Gropas Ruby
ELIAMEP

Lyberaki Antigone
ELIAMEP

Maroukis Athanasios
ELIAMEP

Priviters Francesco
IECOB

Sekulić Tatjana
IECOB

Tsoukalis Loukas
ELIAMEP

Zuccheri Fabio
IECOB

This Working paper focused on regional co-operation. The region’s rail and road infrastructure was studied in order to understand practical factors that may hamper or encourage cross-border trade and communication patterns. In addition, regional trade and trading patterns within the region and between the region and the EU were studied to identify the areas and sectors with potential within which co-operation at the regional level can be further pursued. The banking sector was also studied as a case-study of heavy foreign investment, illustrating even further the extent of the ‘hub-and spoke’ relationship that exists between SEE and the EU. In addition to the workshops, two conferences were held within the scope of this WP – one in Vienna and one in Belgrade – that provided the opportunity to discuss the challenges to regional co-operation with academics, policy-makers and officials from the countries of SEE.

Final Papers

The final papers of WP4 that were presented at our Final Conference in Brussels on 18 November 2004 can be downloaded below.

• Conceptual: Gligorov V., “Southeast Europe: Regional Co-operation with Multiple Equilibria.”
• Trade: Christie E., “Trade flows in SEE.”
• Banking: Stubos G. & Tsikripis I., “Regional Integration Challenges in SEE: Banking sector trends.”
• Infrastructure: Christie E., Gligorov V. & Holzner M., “Infrastructural needs and economic development in SEE: The case of Rail and Road Transport Infrastructure.”

See also:

Researchers

Edward Christie
WIIW

Gligorov Vladimir
WIIW
Lead WP 4

Gropas Ruby
ELIAMEP

Holzner Mario
WIIW

Stubos George
ELIAMEP

Tsoukalis Loukas
ELIAMEP

This Working paper studied informal networks and the informal economy in the Balkan region. Special emphasis was placed on Bulgaria and Croatia for the case studies on the role of informal networks in influencing the privatisation process. Bulgaria was also the principal case-study for the survey on factors that function as incentives for firms to operate ‘in the shadows.’ This empirical data provided concrete information on the factors and conditions that lead domestic and international firms to conduct parts of their activities in an informal manner. In addition, research conducted within the WP estimated the size of illegal trade in the region.

Final Papers

The final papers of WP3 that were presented at our Final Conference in Brussels on 18 November 2004 can be downloaded below.

• Conceptual: Bojicic-Dzelilovic V., “Informal Sector in the Balkans.”
• Informality & Privatisation: Bulgaria Bojkov V. & Bojicic-Dzelilovic V., “Informality in Post-Communist Transition: Determinants and Consequences of the Privatisation Process in Bulgaria.”
• Informality & Privatisation: Croatia Barrett E., “The Role of Informal Networks in the Privatisation Process in Croatia.”
• Survey Stanchev K. (ed), “Report: Study of Incentives, Characteristics and Strategies of Firms Operating ‘in the Shadows’.”
• Illegal Trade in SEE: Gligorov V. & Holzner M., “Illegal Trade in SEE.”

Researchers

Barrett Liz
LSE

Bogdanov Latchezar
IME

Bojicic-Dzelilovic Vesna
LSE
Lead WP 3

Dimitrov Martin
IME

Gropas Ruby
ELIAMEP

Stanchev Krassen
IME

Stoev Georgi
IME

Tsoukalis Loukas
ELIAMEP

Yonkova-Hristova Assenka
IME