Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

- The progressive disillusionment as to the cooperation potential in Southeast Europe.
The ravaging war in Bosnia allowed no realistic hopes for a regional cooperation
framework to be re-institutionalised in this part of Europe, thus inviting a fresh new
look into other possibilities.
- New considerations regarding Greece’s position within the EU as a result of the
enlargement/deepening process and its role in the neighbouring countries to the
EU in the wider Southeast Europe.
- Greece came to realise the importance of the challenge it faced as the only EU
member in BSEC. 8 As a result, it started to respond and seek to be seen by its
BSEC partners as a possible bridge between them and the EU.
- Considerations of economic nature also surfaced in Greece and acted as an
additional incentive. The Black Sea region came to be seen as constituting a natural
economic outlet for the expansion of the Greek private sector. The exploitation of
new markets that businessmen and investors did not have access to in the past
provided new opportunities and dynamism to the Greek economy.
However, as Greek officials have stated, regardless of the economic and security
considerations there is another factor that heavily influenced the decision of Greece to
engage in initiatives concerning the Black Sea. That has been the existence of a population
of Greek origin in almost every new independent state which following the dissolution of
the Soviet Union faced immediate survival problems. 9 It was expected that the presence
of Greece in the BSEC would complement the efforts of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs
to provide economic assistance to the communities of Greek origin in the Black Sea region. 10
The centrepiece of Greece’s Black Sea policy: integration at a European level
Cooperation in the Black Sea region was promoted by Greece to the degree that it
worked complementarily to the efforts of the European Union to promote economic
development and political stability in its immediate vicinity.
8 “The application of Greece, a member of the EC, to become a member of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
project is clear evidence of the complementary nature of this model and its compatibility with other European
groupings”, see Ozuye, Oktay (1992), ‘Black Sea Economic Cooperation’, Mediterranean Quarterly, vol. 3, no.
3, Summer, p. 52.
9 In the beginning of the 1990s, the population of Greek origin was estimated in Armenia at 7.000, in Azerbaijan
at 2.000, in Georgia at 105.000, in Ukraine at 150.000 and in Russia at 90.000. A large proportion of that population
left to Greece following the collapse of the Soviet Union. For further information on the subject see Agtzidis, Vlasis
(1997), ·Ú¢Í›ÓÈÔ˜ ¢È·ÛappleÔÚ¿, OÈ ∂ÏÏËÓÈΤ˜ ÂÁηٷÛÙ¿ÛÂȘ ÛÙȘ ‚ÔÚÂÈÔ·Ó·ÙÔÏÈΤ˜ appleÂÚÈÔ¯¤˜ ÙÔ˘ ∂‡ÍÂÈÓÔ˘ fi-
ÓÙÔ˘ [Euxinos Diaspora, Greek establishments in Northeast regions of the Euxinos Pontus], Kuriakidi, Thessaloniki,
pp. 589-698.
10 Exchange of views with senior officials of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, June 2003.
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