ELIAMEP

Associate Professor  at the University of Athens and  Senior Research Fellow at ELIAMEP Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos gave an interview on ABC discussing the policy options of Greek Prime Minister Mr Alexis Tsipras. You can read the article here.

The South-East Programme of ELIAMEP participated in a joint research project, under the auspices of the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels, which examined the EU member states’ policies towards the EU enlargement in the Balkans. The project, which ran throughout 2014 and early 2015, brought together a large group of researches from seventeen EU member states, and resulted in the compilation of an edited report titled “EU member states and enlargement towards the Balkans”. The report, which was recently published by the EPC, provides a detailed account of how different EU member states understand the past, present, and most importantly the future of the EU enlargement process, with a particular emphasis on the Balkans. On behalf of ELIAMEP’s South-East Programme, Dr. Ioannis Armakolas and Dr. Giorgos Triantafyllou, Head, and Research Fellow of the Programme, respectively, wrote the report’s chapter on Greece, discussing issues such as the official Greek position towards EU enlargement in the Balkans, the current political landscape in Greece, and the various positions of the Greek political parties towards the EU perspective of different Balkan countries. Along this line, the South-East Programme of ELIAMEP, in the following months, will initiate a series of public events and discussions on the topic of EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans, aiming to raise awareness and promote the relevant public debate in Greece.

The report is available here.

The content is available in Greek

Research Fellow of  ELIAMEP Dr Filippa Chatzistavrou discusses the new agreement signed in Brussels and the Grexit probability in an article she wrote on Alterecoplus. The article  is available here.

Research Fellow of ELIAMEP Dr Eleni Panagiotarea discussed the Greek crisis on Bloomberg. The interview was given on 13 July 2015 and is available here.

Research Fellow of  ELIAMEP Dr Filippa Chatzistavrou analysed the situation in Greece in an article she wrote for Le Monde. The article  is available here.

Associate Professor  at the University of Athens and  Senior Research Fellow at ELIAMEP Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos gave an interview to Der Spiegel magazine discussing the Greek crisis. The interview is available here.

Research Fellow of ELIAMEP Dr Filippa Chatzistavrou wrote an analysis on the referendum in Greece. This analysis was published on the website of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). It is available here.

Research Fellow of  ELIAMEP Dr Filippa Chatzistavrou analysed the referendum on RTBF. The article was published on 7 July 2015 and is available here.

President of ELIAMEP, Professor Loukas Tsoukalis gave an interview to Fileleftheros discussing the referendum in Greece and the evolution of the crisis. The interview is available here (in Greek).

You can read here comments given by Director General of ELIAMEP in Der Spiegel  on the relation between politics and armed forces in Greece. The article was published on 2 July 2015.

In the run up to the January 2015 elections, the South-East Europe Programme of ELIAMEP undertook an ambitious two part research study in an effort to analyse and document the regional response to and expectations of the new, SYRIZA-led Greek government. Conscious of this crucial moment, the team undertook a monitoring project of local language media in the Western Balkans, while sending out in parallel an online survey to Balkan opinion makers. The media monitoring report revealed that the elections received significant and widespread media coverage across the region, with SYRIZA and its leader Alexis Tsipras at the centre of much of the discussion. Though coverage was often measured, the study revealed cautious optimism about SYRIZA’s potential to enact positive change in the region, which the opinion maker survey confirmed. On the other hand, however, respondents were apprehensive about the influence of Independent Greeks, SYRIZA’s populist rightwing coalition partner, and also noted that domestic issues were likely to limit the new government’s regional engagement.

The report is available here

Given the complex relations between Greece and Kosovo, the Athens-based South-East Europe Programme of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and the Pristina-based Gani Bobi Center jointly implemented the research project “Building new bridges in the Balkans: Understanding misconceptions between Greece and Kosovo”, which was funded by the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS). The study is available here.

The Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations and the Greek International Business Association have the pleasure to organize an evening session on “Greece and it’s neighbouring countries – Strengthening economic dimensions in cross-border collaborations” to be held on Monday, 29 June 2015, 18.00-20.30, at Electra Palace in Thessaloniki.

 The event will explore the impacts of the EU’s Cross-border Pre-accession Assistance projects between Greece and its neighbours and will evaluate the experience gained by their implementation. The focus for the ensuing discussion will be to address the contemporary issues surrounding regional co-operation, paying attention to the economic dimension of the cooperation between Greece and Western Balkans.

Participants are also cordially invited to join the speakers for a networking cocktail reception at the conclusion of the event.

The discussion will be held in Greek and in English, with simultaneous interpretation.

You can find the programme here. 

The number of participants is limited. To register, please send an email to activities@eliamep.gr by Friday, 26 June 2015. 

For further information, you are kindly requested to contact Ms Anastasia Chatzopoulou, ELIAMEP (Tel.: 210 7257124, Email: activities@eliamep.gr) or Ms May Demertzi (Tel.: 2310 535 333, Email: info@seve.gr)

You can read here the article on the importance of the decision of the Greek government, which was written by Director General of ELIAMEP Dr Thanos Dokos. This commentary was published in the Greek daily Kathimerini on 17 June 2015.

Grexit would have profound (although not equally distributed) geopolitical consequences for all sides involved. Even if Greece were to leave the eurozone but remain in the EU, the country’s contribution to various common endeavors would be quite limited, at best.

First, Greece has one of the EU’s most sensitive external borders in the context of immigration. Effective border management would be beyond the capabilities of a bankrupt country.

Second, a healthy Greece, either as a party to a dispute or as a balancing actor between Albanian and Slavic populations in the Western Balkans, can play an important stabilizing role in the region.

Third, further reduction of defense expenditures and military capabilities would negatively affect Greece’s participation in NATO and EU missions.

Fourth, Greece’s privileged relationship—of varying degrees—with Israel, the Arab world, Iran, Russia, and China could allow it to play the role of an additional Western bridge in turbulent regions.And finally, an ostracized Greece would be vulnerable to non-Western great-power penetration.

So a new Greece could certainly be a valuable partner for the EU, as well as for the United States and NATO, in regions of critical importance for European and transatlantic security and interests. Greek political leaders should step up to the challenge and take advantage of the country’s opportunities.

This article was published on Carnegie Europe.

President of ELIAMEP, Professor Loukas Tsoukalis participated as a speaker in the panel debate on ‘State of the Union’ – Is there a need for a ‘new pact’ and are we ready for it? organised by the European Policy Centre (EPC), in collaboration with leading foundations and think tanks,was held in Brussels on Wednesday, 17 June, at 11.00am. Co-panellists include Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign And European Affairs of Belgium, Elmar Brok and Danuta Hübner, MEPs. You can find more information here.

ELIAMEP conference on the Balkans was covered by tovima.gr. Τhe article, which was published on 13 June 2015, is available here.

You can read here the article on the result of the Turkish election written by Research Fellow of ELIAMEP and Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Bilkent University, Dr. Ioannis N. Grigoriadis. This commentary was published in Kathimerini on 11 June 2015.

The conference is jointly organised by ELIAMEP and the European University Institute (EUI) and marks the completion of the IRMA project. The aim is to present the project’s findings on Greece as well as place the Greek case study in an international governance and policy context.

The conference asks three questions:

• how migrants make and change their plans and strategies for migrating despite legal restrictions at destination countries,
• which are the actors (national, local or transnational, state or non-state) that affect their decision making and actions, and how do they do it;
• why specific actors are more effective than state policies in shaping migrants plans and decisions.

The conference adopts a comparative and analytical perspective approaching these questions not only through comparing the three irregular migration systems on which the IRMA project has concentrated, but also on drawing comparisons with main destination countries outside Europe (notably Australia and the USA). The aim is to discuss critically how irregular migration is changing in the 21st century and the new governance and policy challenges this entails.

You can download the program here. The conference will take place at Aegli Zappeiou.

Official language of the conference is English. Greek interpretation will be available for both days of the conference.