EU and the New Neighbours: in Search of a New Relationship

Period: May 2007, 27-29th

The Seminar admits only 10 researchers coming from Coimbra Group Universities and Russian Universities in order to guarantee high level of interaction. About 15 scholars, university lecturers, experts, high level officials and politicians from different European countries, CIS and Russia will participate in the Seminar. The speakers will be chosen among the numerous contacts of the Institute, the Universities of the Coimbra group and other partners involved.

The project main aim is to develop and empower the knowledge of the European enlargement process and the neighbourhood policy through the organisation of seminar for university researchers. During the seminar analysis different subjects of peculiar importance concerning the widening process of the EU, the neighbourhood policy and the EU-Russia relations will be discussed and analysed, with an interdisciplinary and comparative approach.

The specific aim of the project is to give to university researchers the possibility to discuss their researches and exchange views and experiences with scholars and experts coming from different European countries, Russia and CIS. The seminar will last 5 days and will gather a group of prominent professors, journalists and policy makers together with well-known experts and scholars from Russia, Italy, other EU member-states and officials of the European Commission.

The Seminar offers to researchers a unique international arena for deepening the problems of the Enlarged Europe and neighbourhood policy through the active participation of a prominent and well experienced International Faculty and the selection of a differentiated group of researchers.
Thanks to its scientific and methodological approach, the Seminar contributes in creating strong roots for high standards of self-understanding and tolerance, as basic values for the development of an advancing of the civil societies, for the consolidation of political institutions in CIS as well as Russia and, possibly, Caucasus and the overcoming of conflicts in these Regions. Indeed, these are the basic prerequisites for the establishment of a good neighbourhood.

Following several meetings and an analysis of the scarce training and exchange possibilities for university researchers, the Coimbra Group Universities decided to create a special seminar for university researchers in order to offer them the opportunity to exchange opinions and ideas and discuss their researches with prominent European and Russian experts.

The seminar is designed for the intensive training of researchers from Russian Universities and from the Coimbra Group universities, that includes 37
Universities all around Europe, with a view to contributing to the formation of a European neighbourhood policy specialists that cares for development, peace and successful European enlargement.

The goal of the proposed seminar deals with the European Integration process and neighbourhood policy challenges with particular focus on EU -Russia relationship. During the seminar some relevant topics and theory related to the enlargement process and neighborhood policy management will be presented to the participants in order to develop their knowledge, perceptions and analytical skills.
The seminar will be focused on how the European Union is looking at the State building process in post-Soviet Russia and its relations with the newly independent states. In fact most of them, being part of the New Neighbourhood policy, are involved in a set of agreements, promoted by the European Commission. In this framework, the discussion will also consider the impact of radical events that, while changing the geopolitical balance in Ukraine, Georgia, and other Central Asian countries, affected domestic policy of Russia, the Russian approaches to integration with EU and CIS, as well as the Russian policy towards the "near abroad" and the reconcilability of Russia integration with EU and the NIS.
The proposed seminar will help participants to learn about governance, stabilisation of political institutions, democratic development, security issues, and to look into emerging patterns of economic growth and work practices related to the neighbourhood policy.

The seminar will be organised in occasion of an international conference focused on the relationship among Russia, Europe and the West jointly promoted by the United Democratic Center in Moscow and the Istituto per l'Europa Centro-Orientale Balcanica, University of Bologna-Forlì Campus. The event is also sponsored by the Italian Association of Slavists and the Garzanti Foundation.

University researchers will follow the international conference where several topics will be presented and discussed, among which the cooperation between Russia and the EU, the revolutions in the CIS, the challenges and prospects of the reforms in Russia, the phenomenon of color revolutions and their influence on the political process in Russia, the social instability in modern Russia, the investment climate in Russia, the security and foreign policy issues in Russia, the CIS and Europe.
Then the researchers will participate in three days of intensive seminar devoted to discuss and compare the results of their researches taking also into account the outcomes of the conference.
During the seminar university researchers will have the possibility to discuss their papers with other researchers and prominent experts in order to examine and verify their thesis. Different and complementary methods will be used: working groups, interactive learning, cooperative learning, open discussions and comparative analyses.

Location:
Hotel della Citta',
Corso della Repubblica 117
Garzanti Hall
Forlì, Italy

Contacts:
Istituto per l'Europa Centro-Orientale e Balcanica: eurobalk@spbo.unibo.it e dessislava.krasteva@poloforli.unibo.it
Coimbra Group: quici@coimbra-group.be