Periphery at Risk

The Periphery at Risk project steps on the experience and findings of the Europe at Risk project successfully implemented by the same organizations in 2012-2013.
Several factors force us to re-asses the risks and opportunities of the new security environment in the European continent. There is a growing consensus that the economic, political, and institutional dimensions of the EU crisis, combined with the eruption of the Middle East, the severe political crisis after Putin’s return to power in Russia and the new strategic vulnerability of Turkey demand radical re-thinking of the risks of de-stabilization of Europe’s different peripheries and the potential for common effort to bring stability there.
Periphery at Risk aims to explore the possibility of a common effort between the EU, Russia and Turkey in order to bring stability in Europe’s Southern periphery - namely the Balkan and the MENA region. These two European peripheries are of very different nature. While in the Balkans the risk is one of the reverse of the process of post-crisis consolidation, in the region of MENA we face a most powerful demonstration of global political awakening that brings vast opportunities but also significant risks for the stability of Europe.

The series of seminars included:
- EU, Russia and Turkey - Security Trends and Challenges in a Contested Neighbourhood (June 17 - 19, 2013) 
- EU, Russia and Turkey - Security Trends and Challenges in the Balkans (September 23 - 25, 2013)
- MENA Forum: The Middle East - Common Risks and/or strategic opportunities. Framing the ME debate of regional powers (Nov 26- 27, 2013)
- EU, Russia and Turkey - Security Trends in a Contested Neighbourhood (February 13-14, 2014) 

Seminar I
EU, Russia and Turkey – Security Trends and Challenges in a Contested Neighbourhood
June 17-19, 2013
Public discussion: Imploding Balkans – Exploding Middle East. How to frame security challenges, nightmares and dreams
Panel 1: Common Policy Agenda for the Middle East - Security Trends and Challenges
Panel 2:  Common Policy Agenda for the Balkans - Security Trends and Challenges
Plenary discussion: EU, Russia and Turkey – Security Trends and Challenges in a Contested Neighbourhood
Participants: Alexander Rondos, EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa; Ali Tekin, Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations, Yaşar University, Izmir, Turkey; Anna Ganeva, Executive Director, Centre for Liberal Strategies; Antoinette Primatarova, Programme Director, Centre for Liberal Strategies; Avraham Burg, Israeli author and political activist, former Speaker of the House, Jerusalem; Can Kasapoğlu, Research Fellow, Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies EDAM; Dimitar Bechev, Senior Policy Fellow and Head of the Sofia office, European Council on Foreign Relations; Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies; Permanent Fellow IWM; Johanna Deimel, Deputy-Director Southeast Europe Association, Munich; Joseph Bahout, Professor of Middle Eastern Politics at Sciences Po, Paris, and a researcher at Académie Diplomatique Internationale; Peter Stegny, former Russian ambassador to Turkey and Israel; Pavel Shlykov, Associate Professor, Middle Eastern History Department, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University; Stefan Lehne, expert on European foreign policy and international security, visiting scholar, Carnegie Europe, Brussels; Timofei Bordachev, Deputy Dean, Director, National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

Seminar II
EU, Russia and Turkey – Security Trends and Challenges in the Balkans
September 23-25, 2013
Public discussion: Nightmares, dreams and security challenges in the Balkans
Panel 1:  Security Trends and Challenges - the View from the Balkans. 
Panel 2:  Common Policy Agenda for the Balkans – the View from the European Union
Panel 3:  Common Policy Agenda for the Balkans – the View from Russia and Turkey
Plenary discussion: EU, Russia and Turkey – Security Trends and Challenges in the Balkans
Participants: Anna Ganeva, Executive Director, Centre for Liberal Strategies; Bernhard Bair, Lieutenant General, Director for Security Policy, Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence and Sports; Daria Khaspekova, Program coordinator, Russian International Affairs Council, Russia; Dimitar Bechev, Senior Policy Fellow and Head of the Sofia office, European Council on Foreign Relations; Ergun Fevzi Doruk, Research Assistant, Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), Turkey; Erion Veliaj, Minister of Social Welfare and Youth, Albania; Gerald Knaus, Director, European Stability Initiative; Gertraud Auer Borea d'Olmo, Secretary General, Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue; Heidemaria Gürer, Head of the Western Balkan and Eastern Europe department, Austrian MFA, former ambassador of Austria to Ankara; Helfried Carl, office of the President of the Austrian National Assembly; Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies; Permanent Fellow IWM; Johanna Deimel, Deputy-Director Southeast Europe Association, Munich; Kamer Kasim, Vice President of International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO-USAK), Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Abant Izzet Baysal University; Marius Calligaris, National Defence Academy Vienna, former Ambassador of Austria to Ankara; Milica Delevic, Deputy Secretary General, European Bank for Research and Development; Natalia Burlinova, President, Public Initiative “Creative Diplomacy” (PICREADI); Program Director, Gorchakov Foundation, Russia; Nathalie Tocci, Deputy Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali; Serhat Güvenç, Associate Professor of International Relations, Kadir Has University, Turkey; Vessela Tcherneva, Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations; Veton Surroi, Publisher of Koha Ditore, Kosovo's Largest Albanian-Language Newspaper; Wim Van Meurs, Associate Professor of European History and Politics in the Political History Department, Radboud University Nijmegen.

Seminar III
MENA Forum: The Middle East: Common risks and/or strategic opportunities. Framing the ME debate of regional powers
November 26-27, 2013
Session 1: Risks, opportunities and strategic fault lines I: Regional perspectives
Session 2: Risks, opportunities and strategic fault lines II: EU perspectives
Session 3: Syria: The crucible of regional struggles
Public discussion: The Middle East: What is/was the Garden of Eden? Common Security Risks and/or Strategic Opportunities
Session 4: Risks, opportunities and strategic fault lines III: Russian and US perspectives
Session 5: Mapping common interests: Towards regional stabilisation
Participants: Ahmet K. Han, Associate Professor of International Relations, Kadir Has University; Alia Malek, Senior Staff Writer, Al Jazeera America; Alia Moubayed, Head of Research for the Middle East and North Africa, Barclays Bank; Anna Ganeva, Executive Director, Centre for Liberal Strategies; Ashraf Khalil, Egyptian-American Journalist and Author; Avraham Burg, Former Member and Speaker of the Knesset and Senior Fellow at Kreisky Forum; Bernardino Leon, European Union Special Representative for the Southern Mediterranean region; Christian Berger, Director for Middle East at European External Action Service; Daniel Levy, Director Middle East and North Africa Programme, European Council on Foreign Relations; Efraim Halevy, Lawyer and an Israeli Intelligence Expert; Ellie Geranmayeh, Visiting Fellow at European Council on Foreign Relations; Emir Polat Öğün, Office of Prime Minister of Turkey; Fawaz Gerges, Professor of Middle Eastern politics and International Relations, London School of Economics; Florence Gaub, Senior Analyst, EU Institute for Security Studies; Gertraud Auer Borea d'Olmo, Secretary General, Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue; Gholamali Khoshroo, Senior Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Islam; Former Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Islamic Republic Iran; Gudrun Harrer, Senior Editor, Der Standard; Helen Gale, Middle East and North Africa Programme, European Council of Foreign Relations; Jamal Khashoggi, Journalist, columnist, author, and general manager of the Al Arab News Channel; Joseph Bahout, Professor and Research Associate, Sciences Po-Paris; Consultant Policy Planning Unit, French MFA; Julien Barnes-Dacey, Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations; Khalid Almezaini, Assistant Professor, Qatar University; Louise Körnung, Political Advisor to the European Union Special Representative for the Southern Mediterranean region; Luay Al-Khatteeb, Founder and Director, Iraq Energy Institute; Mahmood Sariolghalam, Professor of International Relations, National University of Iran, Tehran; Mark Leonard, Co-Founder and Director, European Council on Foreign Relations; Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General, Palestinian National Initiative; Myriam Benraad, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and Associate Fellow at the Center for International Studies and Research (CERI), Sciences-Po Paris; Nawaf Obaid, Senior Fellow, King Faisal Center, Riyadh; Visiting Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard University; Nina Khrushcheva, Professor for international relations at New School New York; Nuh Yilmaz, Office of Prime Minister of Turkey; Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor, University of Maryland and Board Member of the Council on Foreign Relations; Sinan Ülgen, Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Europe; Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies EDAM; Taha Özhan, President, Foundation for the Political, Economic, and Social Research SETA; Veniamin Popov, Director of Center for the Partnership of Civilizations, Moscow State Institute of International Relations; Vessela Tcherneva, Programme Director, European Council on Foreign Relations; Walter Posch, Senior Associate, The Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; Zena Ali-Ahmad, Country Director in Jordan, UNDP
 
Seminar IV
EU, Russia and Turkey – Security Trends and Challenges in a Contested Neighbourhood
February 13-14, 2014
Session 1:  EU, Russia and Turkey – Security Trends and Challenges in a Contested Neighbourhood
Session 2:  Common Policy Agenda for the Balkans - Security Trends and Challenges
Session 3: Common Policy Agenda for the Middle East - Security Trends and Challenges
Public discussion: Ukraine Crisis settles in a Deadlock – for Now
Plenary discussion: How to Stabilize Europe´s Periphery?
Participants: Adrian Karatnycky, founder and Managing Partner of the Myrmidon Group LLC; former President and CEO of Freedom House; Anna Ganeva, Executive Director, Centre for Liberal Strategies; Avraham Burg, Former Member and Speaker of the Knesset and Senior Fellow at Kreisky Forum; Bernardino Leon, European Union Special Representative for the Southern Mediterranean region; Bernhard Bair, Lieutenant General, Director for Security Policy, Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence and Sports; Biljana Dakic Djordjevic, Senior Program Officer, Balkan Trust for Democracy; Celine Bayer, assistant to Hannes Swoboda; Fiona McIlwham, Senior Adviser to the Director-General of Enlargement in the European Commission, former UK Ambassador to Albania; Georg Lennkh, Member of the Board, Bruno Kreisky Forum; Gertraud Auer Borea d'Olmo, Secretary General, Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue; Goran Svilanovic, Secretary General, Regional Cooperation Council, Sarajevo; Gudrun Harrer, Senior Editor, Der Standard; Helfried Carl, office of the President of the Austrian National Assembly; Heidemaria Gürer, Head of the Western Balkan and Eastern Europe department, Austrian MFA, former ambassador of Austria to Ankara; Hannes Swoboda, Chair, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; Inna Berezkina,  Programme Coordinator, Moscow School of Civic Education; Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies; Permanent Fellow IWM; Jamal Kashoggi, Journalist, columnist, author, and general manager of the Al Arab News Channel; Johanna Deimel, Deputy-Director Southeast Europe Association, Munich; Mahmood Sariolghalam, Professor of International Relations, National University of Iran, Tehran; Maxim Trudolubov,  Opinion Page Editor and columnist, Vedomosti ; Associate Director, Center for New Media and Society at the New Economic School, Moscow; Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General, Palestinian National Initiative; Nina Khrushcheva, Professor for international relations at New School New York; Ognyan Minchev, Director, Institute for Regional and International Studies, Sofia; Sinan Ülgen, Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Europe; Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies EDAM; Soli Ozel, Professor Kadir Has University, Turkey; Vessela Tcherneva, Programme Director, European Council on Foreign Relations; Veton Surroi, Founder of Koha Ditore, Kosovo's Largest Albanian-Language Newspaper; Zoltán Martinusz, Director for Enlargement, Security, Civil Protection and FAC Support in the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU

Presentation of the policy paper European Security in a World of Geopolitical Upheaval
30 June 2014
Participants: Avraham Burg, Former Member and Speaker of the Knesset and Senior Fellow at Kreisky Forum; Anna Ganeva, Executive Director, Centre for Liberal Strategies; Carl Hartzell, Private Office of HRVP Ashton, responsible for Balkans and Central Asia, Eastern Neighbourhood, Russia, Turkey, PSC, Enlargement; Goran Svilanovic, SG Regional Cooperation Council, Sarajevo; Joris Van Bladel, Researcher, Research group Russia and CIS countries at Stiftung Wissenschaft Und politik (SWP); Sinan Ulgen, Chairman of the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels; Vessela Tcherneva, Programme Director, European Council on Foreign Relations; Wolfgang Mühlberger, Senior Research Fellow, European Union Research Programme, Finnish Institute of International Affairs; Zoltan Martinusz, Director, Directorate 2 - Enlargement, Security, Civil Protection, Foreign Affairs Council Support, DG C, Council of the EU.

Period: April 2013 - October 2014

Coordinators: Anna Ganeva, Ivan Krastev

Financing Organisations: Directorate for Security Policy of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence and Sport, Balkan Trust for Democracy

Partners: Bruno Kriesky Forum for Inetrnatonal Dialogue; European Council on Foreign Relations