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: Ioannis Stribis

The starting point of this Policy Brief has been the call of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the BSEC Member States (Ankara, 25 October 2007) to strengthen the cooperation among international institutions for the protection and rehabilitation of the Black Sea marine environment. After a succinct reminder of the natural facts impacting on the state of the Black Sea marine environment, the paper goes on to present the international legal framework that regulates the protection and preservation of the marine environment, in order to identify the main principles of the international cooperation in this field. It then identifies the international organisations, institutions and programmes that develop activities relating to the protection of the Black Sea marine environment and analyses their relevant competences and operations. The paper explores the existing institutional and working interaction of these organisations in activities aimed at the protection of the Black Sea marine environment and studies ways and means that such a cooperation can be strengthened, and enlarged to cover international actors that have been so far not involved in the joint effort to protect, preserve and rehabilitate the fragile and vulnerable marine environment of the Black Sea.

The edition is available here.

The post Policy Brief n.17 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Zefi Dimadama, Boris Videv

Renewable energy sources (wind, solar energy, hydropower, ocean energy, geothermal energy, biomass and bio fuels) are the main alternatives to fossil fuels that successfully contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, diversification of energy supplies and reduce the dependence on unreliable and volatile markets of fossil fuels, especially in terms of oil and gas. The EU has been estimated as a leader in the development of renewable energy sources. It holds 40 percent of the world's patents in the field of renewable energy sources and in 2012 almost half (44%) of global capacity to produce energy from renewable sources (excluding hydropower) was located in the EU. Currently, the sector of energy production from renewable sources in the EU employs about 1.2 million people. EU legislation on the promotion of renewable energy sources has evolved considerably in the recent years. As a main priority in the “Horizon 2020” the EU has included the intelligent transformation of European cities into smart energy hubs. Around 200 million euros would be provided as a program budget for research and innovation in the framework of “Horizon 2020” for funding the smart cities.

The edition is available here.

The post Policy Brief n.32 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Panayotis Gavras and Ghinea Arminio Iorga

The Black Sea Region was impacted severely by the advent of the September 2008 global financial and economic crisis. Access to financing disappeared, especially hitting economies that are dependent upon external financing flows. Timely government interventions averted financial collapse, but a sharp economic downturn followed, which for most countries has resulted since then in economic contraction and uncertainty concerning future performance. Black Sea countries are currently coping with the downturn, mostly individually, but recovery also depends on exogenous factors and developments, namely the situation internationally in general and within the eurozone in particular. Aside from increased official lending, there has been no direct support or cooperation at the regional and international level, nor has there been any support from the European Union’s side. A full return to previous high growth appears unlikely, but medium-term prospects are good for resumed growth, even at lower levels.

The edition is available here.

The post Policy Brief n.18 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Anthi Charalampous, Alexis Chatzimpiros, Panos Coroyannakis, Zefi Dimadama, Bratislav Đorđević, Ilias Eftymiopoulos, Liana Gouta, Bengt Olof Grahn, Vitalii Gryga, Lise Guennal, Terry Hegarty, Søren Hermansen, T. Ionescu, Bertil Klintbom, Kostas Komninos, Vasileios Kyriazis, Ioanna Lagoumidou, Elvira Laneborg, Michael Larsen, Mirjana Lenhardt, Jimmy Margo, Najiba Mustafayeva, Kai Niklasson, Kaidi Nõmmerga, Filipe Oliveira, Anatoli Pataridou, Agne Petersoo, Christian Pleijel, Penélope Ramírez, C. Sandu, R. Suciu, K. Tošić, Lili Vasileva, Savvas Vlachos, Alkisti Florou

Preface by: Zefi Dimadama

Managing Editor: Athina Korovesi

The ICBSS Edition "Xenophon Paper no. 15" is the outcome of the 8th International Black Sea Symposium on “Science, Technology & Innovation in the Black Sea: Moving Forward”, that was held in Athens, Greece, from 19 to 20 November 2015, under the framework of the Black Sea Horizon Project.

In its eighth year, the International Black Sea Symposium built on the success and positive impact of its previous seven editions to bring together the next generation of stakeholders with an interest in the Black Sea area, focusing on STI Cooperation, a key parameter for sustainable development.

The 8th IBSS dedicated a special session to women and their contribution to sciences and innovation. We were pleased to welcome the participation of inspiring women scientists from variable sectors.

Within this framework, through the 8th IBSS, the ICBSS aimed to offer a platform for dialogue among stakeholders in order to stimulate enhanced regional STI cooperation for mutually beneficial joint actions.

The edition is available here.

The post Xenophon Paper No.15 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Tedo Japaridze, Panagiota Manoli, Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, and Yannis Tsantoulis

The relationship between the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the European Union (EU) has been characterised by many as limited and rather ambivalent. Since 2008, with the launching of the Black Sea Synergy (BSS), it seems to have gained a new momentum. However, many issues remain open as the almost parallel initiation of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) that overlooks and bypasses the BSEC’s (potential) role, appears to have posed somehow a significant challenge to the existing regional equations, thus questioning the future development of the interaction between the BSEC and the EU. Overall, although the emergence of both the BSS and the EAP is a positive development in many regards there are still some open issues and a clear scepticism in regard to both initiatives. To assess this rather complicated situation and to clarify some of the pending issues, this paper undertakes a “reality check” by analysing the key features of both the BSS and the EaP while reflecting on the probability of a future upgraded relationship between the BSEC and the EU especially with the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to reflect on the relatively recent past of this relationship, assess the current situation and table some proposals for the evolution of the relationship, thus considering the impact of these two policy approaches (BSS and EaP) and the BSEC’s potential role for the region as a whole and beyond it.

The edition is available here.

The post Policy Brief n.20 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: Gulcin Bilgin Turna, Bratislav Dordevic, Francesco Frangialli, Dionyssis Gangas, Rania Georgiadou, Willis Hughes, Vicky Katsoni, Gabriela Korcheva, Zeta Korda, Geogria Miloni, Savina Nedyalkova-Rupelieva, Dimitrios Rapidis 

Preface by: Zefi Dimadama

Managing Editor: Athina Korovesi

In its seventh year, the Symposium builds on the success and positive impact of its previous six editions to bring together the next generation of stakeholders with an interest in the Black Sea area, focusing on tourism, a cross-cutting sector of economy of the wider Black Sea region.

The tourism industry is considered of great importance in world economy. The Black Sea countries possess remarkable cultural and ethnic diversity, rich historical and architectural heritage and diverse natural resources, aspects which are blended over the millennia to shape unique communities, languages, religions and trades, namely a distinctive and attractive match to travelers.

Keeping in mind the importance of the matter and respecting the ambition of BSEC to encourage and strengthen the cooperation between the Black Countries in the field of Tourism, ICBSS would like to engage in the whole attempt the young professionals who show willingness to contribute and to be sincere, the responding was great.

The post Xenophon Paper No.14 appeared first on ICBSS - International Centre for Black Sea Studies.

Authors: Zefi Dimadama and Alexia Timotheou

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.21 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.