• IBEU Brainstorming Session
Athens, 11 January 2003
The first brainstorming session of all the IBEU Consortium was organised in Athens by ELIAMEP in January 2003. The aim of this workshop was for all the WP to present their research objectives and to stimulate an exchange of ideas and insight on the inter-dependencies between the case-studies. Central to the discussions were the concepts of ‘functional borders’ and ‘sustainable security’. In addition, experts from the region were invited to this workshop to include their perspectives in the issues studied and also to disseminate to the wider region IBEU’s objectives.
Research policy workshop on new dimensions of security and conflict resolution
Brussels, 14 February 2003
This workshop was co-organised by DG RDT and DG RELEX of the European Commission and aimed to highlight cross-cutting issues on roots of conflicts, relations between security and civil liberties, processes and means to foster peace and stability, and the evolution and prospects of CFSP. IBEU’s research objectives were presented from a regional perspective but also thematically in the context of processes and means to foster peace and stability.
KA – 3rd Call – Kick Off Meeting
Brussels, 13 March 2003
The Directorate General for Research of the European Commission organised a meeting for all research proposals under the 3rd call. The aim of this meeting was to discuss the Commission’s research priorities and to address issues related to project management, dissemination and ‘clustering’ activities. The IBEU project was presented by Ruby Gropas in ‘Session 3B: European integration, enlargement and security’ which was chaired by Angela Liberatore, Scientific Officer, DG RTD.

  • WP 2: Interim workshop on civil society and social capital
Sofia, 19 April 2003
The interim workshop for WP2 took place in Sofia and was organised by the CLS. The aim of the workshop was to finalise the questionnaires on social capital that will be carried out in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and fYR Macedonia, as well as to define the content and focus groups analysis that will be undertaken during the course of the empirical research. Researchers from WP 3 on the Informal Sector also participated in order to further elaborate connections between networks and informal activities.

  • WP 5: Interim workshop on migration
Bertinoro, 24 May 2003
The Interim Workshop was organised by IECOB in Bertinoro. The aim of the workshop was to stimulate an exchange of perspectives of the current literature on migration, and in particular to compare between the Greek and the Italian cases. In addition, the workshop aimed to finalise the questionnaires that will be carried out in the Albanian immigrant communities in Italy and Greece.
  • WP 4: Interim workshop on regional cooperation
Vienna, 20 November 2003
This workshop was organised by WIIW in Vienna. It concentrated on infrastructure, investment trends, the shadow economy and the region’s path towards the EU. This workshop was held within the context of the Conference on “SouthEast Europe: the path to EU Accession” that focused on the prospects and obstacles to EU membership and the reform process through a country by country approach.

  • WP 5: Second interim worshop in migration
Forli, 5 December 2005
The second interim workshop on migration hosted by IECOB concentrated on the questionnaires and surveys that were being carried out in Italy (IECOB) and Greece (ELIAMEP) on the Albanian immigrant community. Preliminary results were reported and discussed.

  • WP 3: Interim workshop on the informal sector
Sofia, 10 December 2003
This workshop was organised by the IME in order to conduct a progress review of the research that had been undertaken by the LSE and IME teams on the informal sectors in SEE. In addition, connections were discussed with WP2 on civil society and social capital.

  • WP 2: Second interim workshop on civil society and social capital
Bucharest, 24 April 2004
The second interim workshop was hosted by the Romanian Academic Society. This meeting among the WP 2 team (ELIAMEP, CLS and SAR) focused on presenting the interim reports on the analysis of the questionnaires on social capital that were conducted in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia & Montenegro and fYR Macedonia. In addition, particular emphasis was placed on deconstructing Balkan particularism and examining the concept of social capital.

  • IBEU Interim Conference
Athens, 14 May 2004
The aim of this interim conference was for all the workpackages of the IBEU project to present and discuss their interim results with all the partners involved (ELIAMEP, LSE, IME, CLS, SAR, WIIW and IECOB). Experts and practitioners in the present fields were invited to provide feedback on the papers. This meeting was organised in preparation of the final IBEU Conference that in Brussels in early autumn 2004.

  • WP 4: Workshop on Economic Developments & Regional Cooperation
Belgrade, 1 October 2004
Our IBEU partners, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) organised an international scientific workshop with G17. The main IBEU findings on economic developments and prospects for SEE were presented in this two-day conference.

  • WP 6: IBEU Final Conference
Brussels, 18 November 2004
The final reports and policy briefs of all the IBEU team were presented to the EU Commission and to experts on the Balkans and EU-SEE relations. For summaries of the conclusions and policy-related implications of each WP’s research please see the documents attached below. A list of all the IBEU papers is also available: The final papers of each WP are available from each WP section.