ELIAMEP

The book Aftermath of the Ukrainian Crisis edited by Dr Panagiota Manoli, Assitant Professor Panagiota Manoli, Head of the Programme of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies of ELIAMEP  was published by Routledge. The book has contributions by Hanna Shelest, Theodoros Tsakiris, Nadia Alexandrova-Arbatova, Alexey Gromyko, Sharyl Cross, Steven Blockmans and Ino Afentouli. Contributions in this edited volume attempt to address a number of key aspects of the Ukrainian issue. How does the crisis impact upon Black Sea geopolitics and on regional governance? How can EU – Russia relations evolve under the new multipolar system? How is NATO affected? How important is the energy parameter in Russia-Ukraine-EU triangle? This edited volume aims to discloses the diverse narratives on the roots, evolution and repercussions of the crisis, indicating the extent of its complexity and highlighting important parameters of the Ukrainian issue. This book was originally published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.

You can find more information here.

You can read here the article on the Cyprus Question, which was written by Director General of ELIAMEP Dr Thanos Dokos. This commentary was published in the Greek daily Kathimerini on 21 September 2016 [in Greek].

At the aftermath of the financial crisis, both elites and citizens have had to rethink the nature of the market, the role of the state as a market regulator and as a provider of welfare, the role of political parties in representing society’s main political and social cleavages, the role of civil society in voicing the concerns of citizens, and the role of the citizen as the ultimate source of power in a democracy but also as a fundamentally powerless subject in a global economy. However, this new book edited by Pablo Iglesias-Rodriguez, Anna Triandafyllidou and Ruby Gropas shows that the changes carried forward are at best partial and incomplete. We propose the notion of ‘incomplete paradigm shift’ to analyse this situation and argue that instead of radical reforms we are witnessing today the stillbirth of a new political and economic paradigm.

You can find more information here.

You can read here the article on the SYRIZA administration, which was written by Professor George Pagoulatos. The commentary was published on 18 September 2016  in the Sunday edition of Kathimerini and is available in Greek.

On 16 September 2016 The Economist made a particular reference to Professor Tsoukalis’ new book ‘In Defence of Europe’. You can read the article here.

France awarded a prestigious distinction to the President of the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Professor Loukas Tsoukalis. The President of the French Republic has named Loukas Tsoukalis Chevalier dans l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur for his contribution to the reflection on the future of the Union and his exceptional engagement in European integration.

This distinction and the explicit recognition of a life’s work reflects positively on Loukas Tsoukalis, but also on ELIAMEP and Greece itself, at a time where the country’s European image has been tarnished.

The Fourth ICLARS Conference on “Freedom of/for/from/in Religion: Differing Dimensions of a Common Right?” took place from the 8th to the 11th of September at St. Hugh’s College in Oxford. The Conference featured a number of leading scholars presenting on a broad spectrum of interesting themes; the Grassrootsmobilise researchers participated with their panel on “Freedom(s) of Religion and the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights”, based on the preliminary results of their fieldwork research on the uses of ECtHR religion-related case law in national high courts.

You can find further information here.

Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos has accepted a visiting professorship for one month (mid-September to mid-October 2016) at Sciences Po, in Paris. During his stay at the Sciences Po, he will continue his research on democracy in the Western Balkans. Ηe will give two seminars at the “Laboratoire interdiscplinaire d’ evaluation des politiques publiques” (LIEPP), where the quality of democracy is a major research topic. Τhe topics of his seminars will cover the Western Balkans and separately the on-going crisis in Greece.

You can find more information here.

President of ELIAMEP, Professor Loukas Tsoukalis, commented about the European debt crisis on Al Jazeera. The article was published on 10 September 2016 and is available here.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Ελληνικά.

The 19th issue of the Middle East-Mediterranean Report deals with the economic cooperation between Greece and the Muslim world. It, inter alia, analyses the role of Greek  companies in the reconstruction of Gaza, and business collaboration between Greece and Iran.

On the occasion of the organisation of a debate by  LOMIGRAS research team on Tuesday 5 September 2016, Greek media reported on findings of the programme (in Greek). You can read examples on: in.gr, Kathimerini, Euro2day.

The Mercator European Dialogue aims at encouraging a European network of EU parliamentarians, providing emerging and senior members of parliament the unique opportunity to exchange ideas on the future of Europe, share national concerns, on a European level and better understand emerging trends. Stiftung Mercator launched the Mercator European Dialogue in cooperation with the German Marshal Fund of the United States (GMF) in Germany, the Instituto Affari Internationali (IAI) in Italy, the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) in Spain and the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) in Greece.

You can watch a video here.

You can read here the article on the need of a strategic reconsideration in Greek national defence, which was written by Director General of ELIAMEP Dr Thanos Dokos. This commentary was published in the Greek daily Kathimerini on 7 September 2016 [in Greek].

You can read here the article on the potential risk of radicalisation in Greece, which was written by Director General of ELIAMEP Dr Thanos Dokos. This commentary was published in the Greek daily Kathimerini on 24 August 2016 [in Greek].

You can read here the article on political developments in Greece, which was written by Professor George Pagoulatos. The commentary was published on 21 August 2016  in the Sunday edition of Kathimerini and is available in Greek.

You can read here the article on developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, which was written by Director General of ELIAMEP Dr Thanos Dokos. This commentary was published in the Greek daily Kathimerini on 9 August 2016 [in Greek].

Πηγή: Ria Novosti, CGI

The Center on Global Interests launched a debate on relations between Russia and Turkey. Director General of ELIAMEP Dr Thanos Dokos was among the interviewees. His comment was the following:

‘The strained Russian-Turkish relationship of the past few months has often obscured the fact that Moscow and Ankara have had close economic and political relations for many years. Trade, investment, tourism and energy cooperation have been flourishing. Despite a historically adversarial relationship, and an inherent distrust, Russia and Turkey shared an uneasiness about increased U.S. and NATO presence in the Black Sea. It should also be noted that Turkey did not apply sanctions against Russia in the context of the Ukraine crisis, despite being a NATO member, and that President Erdogan has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Vladimir Putin.

Although the two countries supported opposing sides in the Syria conflict, and the stakes were quite high, the shooting down of the Russian military plane and the substantial deterioration of their relations came as a surprise to most observers. The high cost of the bilateral crisis, especially for Turkey, led to expectations that President Erdogan would take early action to restore relations. Probably because of pride (personal but also national), such action was not taken until a few weeks ago, when the tourist season was almost lost for Turkish resorts expecting Russian tourists. President Erdogan realized that the cost of a strained relationship with important countries such as Russia, Israel and Egypt was too high for Turkey and made a rational choice to try to improve relations with all three. The failed coup d’etat also allowed him to advance the rather dubious story of the coup organizers being responsible for the shooting down of the Russian plane. Therefore, the Turkish initiative to repair relations with Russia was a rational and expected action, which was, however, influenced to some extent by Turkish annoyance about the suspected U.S. role in the failed coup.

If the Russia-Turkey convergence is indeed a rational and expected development, should we expect a negative impact for Western interests? There are several unknown variables that render any prediction highly uncertain. First, although President Putin would probably welcome any opportunity to weaken the unity of NATO – assuming, of course, that the relationship between the West and Russia will remain adversarial –, it is unclear whether he trusts Erdogan enough to seek a full restoration of bilateral relations, especially as their two countries continue to hold widely diverging positions in the Syria conflict.

Second, a rapprochement may lead to a revival of plans for energy cooperation, i.e. the so-called Turkish Stream. Such a development may be perceived in some circles as incompatible with Western efforts to reduce reliance on Russian natural gas. Third, closer cooperation between Turkey and Russia (countries holding specific levers) may complicate the refugee situation for EU countries. The fourth and perhaps the most important question is whether President Erdogan truly believes that the U.S. tacitly supported the failed coup and therefore intends to further distance himself from the West, or whether he is using the issue as a bargaining chip. Turkey’s ambitious foreign policy agenda has transformed it into a rather unpredictable partner for the West during the past few years, and Erdogan himself has not always made rational choices – at least from a Western perspective – but he surely understands the cost of an estrangement between Turkey and the West. It is therefore too early to tell whether the attempted rapprochement with Moscow is a rational tactical move or an irrational strategic shift.’

The article is available here.

Head of ELIAMEP Crisis Observatory Dr  Dimitris Katsikas spoke in the Greek daily Naftemporiki on the course of the Greek economy. You can find here the article (in Greek).

Assistant Professor at the University of Nicosia and Head of ‘Geopolitics of Energy’ ELIAMEP Programme, Dr Theodore Tsakiris, wrote a working paper on the impact of the recent rapprochement between Turkey and Israel on the policies of Greece and Cyprus. You can find here this working paper (76/2016).