Monitoring and Policy Research This task includes monitoring political and economic developments in the Black Sea region including the relevant EU policies and initiatives; reporting on current regional cooperation structures; preparing policy proposals. 

In this framework, the ICBSS has published the following policy briefs: 

- Japaridze, Tedo, Panagiota Manoli, Dimitrios Triantaphyllou and Yannis Tsantoulis. “The EU’s Ambivalent Relationship with BSEC: Reflecting on the Past, Mapping out the Future.” ICBSS Policy Brief, no. 20. Athens: ICBSS, January 2010. 
- Gavras, Panayotis and Ghinea Arminio Iorga. “The Impact of the Current Economic and Financial Crisis on the Black Sea Region.” ICBSS Policy Brief, no. 18. Athens: ICBSS, October 2009. 
- Stribis, Ioannis. “Pooling Forces in Protecting the Black Sea Marine Environment: Actors and Actions.” ICBSS Policy Brief, no. 17. Athens: ICBSS, October 2009. 
- Stribis, Ioannis. “Black Sea Sectoral Partnerships: A Tentative Model.” ICBSS Policy Brief, no. 14. Athens: ICBSS, April 2009. 
- Tsantoulis, Yannis. “Black Sea Synergy and Eastern Partnership: Different Centres of Gravity, Complementarity or Confusing Signals?” ICBSS Policy Brief, no. 12. Athens: ICBSS, February 2009. 
- Japaridze, Tedo. “A Memo on How to Make the EU-BSEC Relations Relevant and Productive.” ICBSS Policy Brief, no. 11. Athens: ICBSS, February 2009. 
- Manoli, Panagiota and Stelios Stavridis. “An Emerging Euro–Black Sea Parliamentary Dimension: Contributing to the Black Sea Synergy.” ICBSS Policy Brief, no. 9. Athens: ICBSS, December 2008. 

Media Monitoring 

Media monitoring is carried out through the systematic review of foreign press and policy publications. An output of this activity is the Black Sea News Update (BSNU). 

The BSNU is a fortnightly brief of political and economic developments covering the Black Sea region. 

The BSNU pdf files are available for download.


Visa Policy Monitoring 

Monitoring developments in the European context regarding visa issuing for citizens of the Black Sea states. 

Visa Brief No. 4 - January 2010 
Visa Brief No. 3 - September 2009 
Visa Brief No. 2 - June 2009 
Visa Brief No. 1 - March 2009 

Networking Networking will be ongoing and includes promoting the organisation of the International Black Sea Symposium. 

The Symposium is targeted at young experts and professionals from the Black Sea region. 

Duration: 12 November 2008 – 11 November 2010 (24 months) 

Funding Source: Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The post EU – Black Sea Observatory appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Martin Felix Gajdusek and Gabriela Cikikyan

Deliverable Lead: Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI)

This analytical paper has been written under the 7th Framework Programme funded project “S&T International Cooperation Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia” (IncoNet EECA). The project aims to support and strengthen the scientific cooperation between the EU and EECA region.

The added value of this report is that it not only provides a snapshot of the EECA participation in the given programmes, it also contains the EC perspective and outlook into the future under the Erasmus for All programme. Furthermore, the report at hand includes a comprehensive part on the practical experiences with studied programmes in the region at national as well as project level. This report is a result of 8-month work involving a number of experts from the European Commission, EACEA as well as experts from National Tempus Offices and the Higher Educational Reform Experts

The edition is available here.

The post Xenophon Paper No.11 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Sergiu Celac, Tedo Japaridze, David Kereselidze, Zefi Dimadama and Ilias Roubanis

In accordance with the recent developments, the financial and economic crisis proved to have profound and long-lasting implications for the Black Sea area. Under these circumstances the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), a multilateral political and economic initiative which aims at the promotion of stability, prosperity and good-neighbourly relations in the region, had to acquire an attractive, feasible, prospect and renewed intellectual effort, in order to forward revised priorities for the countries of the Black Sea region in the difficult years to come. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats set the framework for the BSEC to enter a new phase with an overarching strategic approach under the concept of sustainable development. The priority areas which were defined by the BSEC Economic Agenda for the Future of 2001 here are revised and enhanced with twenty years of experience. Trade, energy, transport, environment, science and innovation, good governance, EU partnership are some of the significant areas for regional cooperation and the main thrust of the BSEC activities.

The edition is available here.

The post Policy Brief n.24 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Black Sea Symposium: a chance for extroversion of the Black Sea area as an influential crossroad between east and West, by Dr. Zefi Dimadama

The post Black Sea Monitor 23 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Zefi Dimadama, Gulshan Pashayeva, Gulmira Rzayeva, Charalambos Pippos, Theodoros G.R. Tsakiris, Ramiz Rahmanov, Dimitris Papastefanakis, Christos Nychtis

Preface by: Zefi Dimadama and Gulshan Pashayeva

This latest Xenophon Paper Special Edition emanates from one of International Centre for Black Sea Studies’ (ICBSS) most important bilateral synergies, which has underlined the importance of the Center’s role as a mutually advantageous framework for the synthesis of ideas, the composition of policy proposals and the facilitation of scientific exchanges at the highest level. The paper at hand is the scientific offspring of a joint programme developed by the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) and the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan (SAM) that underlined the significance of this joint Hellenic-Azeri Green Energy Forum.

The edition is available here.

The post Xenophon Paper No.10 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Ilia Roubanis and Zefi Dimadama

This policy brief focuses on a case study. It is suggested that an environmental disaster during the summer of 2010 in the Black Sea region triggered in winter 2011 a food crisis in the Arab World; in turn, this led to massive riots, revolts, political instability, a NATO operation and, alas, an oil crisis that accentuates an already suffering global economy. Coextensively, it maybe suggested that an environmental crisis triggered a political crisis, which escalated in a series of conflicts that are of major concern for traditional security structures in Europe and beyond. In sum, the argument is made that as a result of this experience, the human security agenda must have a direct effect on our traditional security agenda. The question addressed at this point is how these interrelated chains of events affect the security establishment and our notions of a ‘high strategy.

The edition is available here.

The post Policy Brief n.23 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Matteo Bocci, Frédérick Herpers, Thanos Smanis, Christophe Le Visage Thodoros E. Kampouris, Andrew Kennedy, Nataliia Korzhunova, Emmanouil Nikolaidis,  Natalia Zubchenko

Preface by: Georgios Mitrakos

Managing Editor: Georgia Chantzi

Blue economy has always been high in the agenda for policy stakeholders and researchers over the years, however through scarce and uncoordinated actions. Therefore, it is optimistic that over the past years, there are coordinated efforts from all parties involved, to implement a result-oriented strategy with targeted policies related to the sustainable development of the marine and maritime sectors.

The concept of Blue Growth is evaluated positively by the Black Sea countries, as it addresses a significant potential of the wider region that remains untapped. Besides, the inter-connectedness of the seas and of the maritime activities demands for enhanced cooperation and coordination of actions among stakeholders for the optimum results.

The edition is available here.

The post Xenophon Paper No.16 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Author: Vladimer Papava

Preface by: Dimitrios Triantaphyllou

Despite the widely divergent economies of the countries of the Black Sea region in terms of structure and levels of development, a number of common challenges concern them as a whole. Among these, the global economic and financial crisis has deeply affected the region collectively and each country individually.

Written by Vladimer Papava, a well-known economist and policy practitioner, this Xenophon Paper touches upon the consequences of the crisis on the countries of the Black Sea region in a specific analytical framework. Based on his own “theory of necroeconomics,” Papava assesses, in the context of the ongoing crisis, the key economic obstacles that the countries of the region face in achieving sustainable economic development. His analysis is based on two economic phenomena: the “necroeconomy” and the “zombie-economy.” A “necroeconomy,” which is created by uncompetitive industries (the “necrocompanies”) that are remnants of the command economy, differentiates the economy of post-Communist capitalism from all other models of capitalism. In times of economic crisis, though,“necrocompanies” can also appear in developed economies, as “zombie-firms,” creating a “zombie-economy.

The edition is available here.

The post Xenophon Paper No.9 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Author: Tedo Japaridze

This ICBSS Policy Brief is not a standard article or some witty academic text. Its form or “genre” could be defined as some personal reflections or some inchoate notes on the margins or even a draft for some informal discussion. It is exclusively addressed to those who one way or other possibly may care about the current state or the perspectives of the Black Sea region in general or of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and its Related Bodies specifically. The regional policy-makers, the BSEC bureaucrats, the international experts, but first of all peoples of the wider Black Sea area have to know some details and nuances of the ongoing discourse within that vast space as well as in the BSEC or, for example, specifically at the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) on the sensitive and delicate problems and issues that concern the Black Sea region. For example, due to the formally international status of the ICBSS, the aforementioned discourse is qualitatively unlike the discussions and debates at the formal gatherings of the BSEC. But the author’s goal is not to be too didactic or even somehow compulsive; he merely wishes to reflect in his personal capacity on some ideas that so many times have been vibrantly discussed and discerned in the BSEC community.

The edition is available here.

The post Policy Brief n.22 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Author: Fraser Cameron

Preface by: Dimitrios Triantaphyllou

Within an evolving world order, dominated by a number of actors that deploy their strategies in a variety of ways, the Central Asian region (i.e. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) retains the central premise of the Great Game – big powers exercising their influence over the region. Geographically situated between China, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and the South Caucasus and rich in energy resources, the region is emerging as a critical geostrategic and geo-economic nexus between Russia, the European Union and its member states, the United States, and China.

In this context, Fraser Cameron, the author of this Xenophon Paper, sheds some light on the interaction between Russia and the European Union, suggesting that although the rivalry between the two sides is bound to continue, they are less likely to seriously collide over Central Asia. Overall, Fraser Cameron’s analysis highlights the relevance of the ever-growing agenda between Europe’s key players – the European Union and Russia – and the need to seriously assess its symbiotic nature as well as its potential for irreconcilable differences. If only for this, it merits serious consideration.

The edition is available here.

The post Xenophon Paper No.8 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.