Project “Confidence building measures between North Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria”
The focus of this project is to assess how political and economic dynamics could help to unblock bilateral relations between North Macedonia and neighbouring countries namely, Greece and Bulgaria. Within this context, the bilateral agreements, the Prespa Agreement and the Treaty on Good Neighbourly Relations with Bulgaria, are considered as building blocks toward sustainable neighbourly relations.
The project will build upon our previous research reports (in a four year period) on fostering Confidence Building Measures and the proposition of a functional framework for cooperation between Greece and North Macedonia. These projects have been successful and the proposed project intends to expand the scope and success also in the triangle North Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria. The overall aim of the project is to identify positive lessons in building functional relations including potential obstacles and challenges in sustaining good neighbourly relations.
Main goal of the project:
The purpose of the project is to improve the ‘good neighbourly relations’ and to increase the ‘connectivity’ among the countries of Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia, while seeing the opportunities for development of trilateral cooperation among the three countries, based on the legacy of improved relations between North Macedonia and Greece following the resolution of the name dispute.
Activities foreseen within this proposal will include:
- analysis of internal and external influences over the relations with comparative aspects both at the level of actors and beyond bilateral issues such as, regional, or global developments.
- non formal actors understanding of power of connectivity in furthering relations and how those policies have worked toward achieving ultimate goal of good neighbourly relations
- working together with key stakeholders in identification of potential challenges ahead for sustaining or improving current state of affairs
- forecasting analysis of how EU accession process with newly adopted methodology will play role in bilateral relations for North Macedonia
- in-depth analysis with experts to further understand issues of concern for citizens of North Macedonia on bilateral relations with Greece and Bulgaria
- facilitation and organization of workshop in Skopje to present findings of the research and presentation of policy recommendations
- communication and dissemination of findings to larger audiences through op-eds, social media, and other media outlets.
