With the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Network Project "Europeanisation meets democracy from below: The Western Balkans on the search for new European and democratic Momentum – WB2EU" project, IEP is deepening its work on the EU enlargement process towards the countries of the Western Balkans. The network pursues the goal of creating public attention on crucial issues of EU enlargement and of putting the project results up for a European wide discussion.
The interdisciplinary project is divided into three phases in which research questions on the rule of law and justice, the social dimension as well as democratisation processes “from below” are addressed. Local progressive movements will be mobilised and involved in the project, with a special focus on young people. In addition, transnational networking of junior and senior researchers, representatives of civil society and EU institutions, decision-makers at local, regional and national level will be promoted.
Project outputs include a policy brief series, public discussion events (“Ideas go public Labs”) in different project partner countries, a summer school and a final book publication.
In addition to the project leaders, the Austrian Society for European Politics (ÖGfE) and the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (oiip), the network includes renowned think tanks, NGOs and universities from the six Western Balkan countries and the EU member states Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia and Romania.
For more information on the project https://www.wb2eu.eu/