Empowering the Geopolitical EU in the Eastern Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans (GEO-POWER-EU)

Client/Funding Institution

European Commission, Horizon Europe

Abstract

GEO-POWER-EU’s primary objective is to contribute to the empowerment of the EU to manage security threats within the deteriorating geopolitical environment that lies in its Eastern Neighbourhood and in the Western Balkans. The project’s main goal is to articulate a proposal for a comprehensive EU strategy towards these regions that will employ new and reformed means and policy instruments, taking into consideration foresight concerning the strategic ambitions of other geopolitical actors. The project seeks to improve the EU neighbourhood policy and accession process. Conceptually, GEO-POWER-EU will link both the enlargement and EaP policies, two areas traditionally studied as two distinct political regions falling under different policy radars, in order to reflect the post-Russian invasion in Ukraine EU policy needs. Methodologically, the project will combine traditional quantitative and qualitative methods (desk research, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, case studies and a population survey in the WB and the Associated Trio), together with digital methods (Sentiment Analysis), among other things. The project will create a special ‘Interdependence Database’, which will become publicly available, as well as three Indices, measuring different aspects of interdependence. GEO-POWER-EU project brings together a consortium of thirteen European research organisations and universities and is being coordinated by the University of the Peloponnese. wiiw’s main contribution is the development of an interdependence database aimed to measure the influence of EU’s geopolitical competitors in the two regions concerned and the investigation of emigration and brain drain from these.

Duration

June 2024 - May 2027

wiiw team Leader

Branimir Jovanović

wiiw Staff

Vasily Astrov, Alexandra Bykova, Corinna Covi, Kristijan Fidanovski, Richard Grieveson, Olga Pindyuk, Maryna Tverdostup

Project Partners

University of the Peloponnese (UoP) & PEDIS (Coordinator), Center for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe (CAS SEE) at the University of Rijeka, European Neighbourhood Council (ENC), Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” in Skopje, Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) “Viitorul”, Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University (ONU), SEERC, Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), The Democratization Policy Council, Faculty of Political Science at the University of Belgrade, Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, VE Insight

External Publications

GEO-POWER project website

Countries covered: CIS, EU, SEE

Research Areas: International Trade, Competitiveness and FDI

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