Empowering the geopolitical eu in the eastern neighbourhood and the western balkans

The project’s main 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 ambition is to go beyond the ‘state of the art’ and 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. To address this ambition, GEO-POWER-EU’s work plan builds on six specific objectives:

1. i) Propose ideas for the adaptation of EU Enlargement policy to the new realities. ii) Interrogate the continued relevance of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and articulate policy prescriptions for its reform. iii) Assess the influence of other geopolitical actors (United States, Russia, China, and Turkey) in the two regions. iv) Provide strategic foresight about the prospects of geopolitical competition in the two regions. v) Explore the growth of the EU’s ability to contain military threats from the deteriorating geopolitical environment beyond its borders. vi) Propose a comprehensive and multidimensional EU strategy that will guide relations with the Western Balkans (WB) and EaP countries.

The IDSCS will lead the organization and execution of case studies on disinformation in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and Georgia. This task will examine the changing challenges in the media space heightening the exposure to disinformation in WB and EaP countries. Research into media and social media will be coordinated by UNIRI and performed by local partners using local knowledge and languages. It will seek to identify the extent of the penetration of information propaganda by external actors (like Russia, China, etc.) exploiting existing ethnic and religious tensions and promoting anti-Western and anti-EU sentiment. Additionally, IDSCS will actively participate in all of the work packages, including: State of the art and conceptualization, Enlargement and EaP, Geopolitical competition and EU strategic autonomy, A comprehensive and multidimensional policy framework, Dissemination, communication and exploitation, Project Management.

Duration:  36 months from 1 June 2024

Budget: Project total funds: € 2,999,980; IDSCS dedicated funds: € 110,875

Project website