Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

In parallel to its efforts within the BSEC framework, Greece has worked towards the
identification of external sources for the advancement of regionalism around the Black
Sea. An example of those efforts is the request of Greece as a member of the Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) that the BSEC is recognised as a candidate for Official
Development Assistance. 23 The inclusion of the BSEC in the DAC program approved
in June 2007 provides the Organisation with new opportunities for funding by international
donors and other members of the DAC programme of the OECD.
Another developmental tool of Greece, the Hellenic Plan for Economic Reconstruction
of the Balkans (from which several BSEC countries benefit - Albania, Bulgaria, Romania,
Serbia) accounts for 550 million Euro and aims at materialising large infrastructure
projects and enhancing private sector initiatives and cooperation for the realisation of
investments, studies and actions supportive of the projects that the Hellenic Plan finances.
Acting as a bridge to the EU
‘Bringing BSEC closer to the European Union’ has been the flagship of the second
Hellenic Chairmanship-in-Office of the BSEC (November 2004 – April 2005). Though
there had been previous efforts to establish a regular interaction between the EU and
the BSEC, progress had stalled due to a number of obstacles including the lack of
coherence among the BSEC countries vis-à-vis their relations with the EU, the absence
of strong lobby in Brussels, the pre-occupation of the EU with other issues such as the
adoption of the Constitutional Treaty and the enlargement.
The BSEC calls for a Black Sea Dimension of the EU had not been addressed until the
2004 enlargement was concluded. Besides the favourable geopolitical developments on
the continent (EU/NATO enlargement towards the Black Sea and the ‘coloured revolutions’
in Ukraine and Georgia) that nourished European interest, much has to be attributed to
the consistent efforts of Greece to launch a new regional dimension in EU’s policies.
The Hellenic Chairmanship-in-Office of BSEC (November 2004 – April 2005) adopted a
step by step approach. 24 While inserting the issue of EU-BSEC relations on the agenda
of relevant EU organs, Greece undertook efforts to secure participation of officials from
the EU in the sectoral ministerial meetings that were held during the Hellenic Chairmanship.
23 Stylianidis, Evripidis (2006), ‘Greece and the BSEC’, BSEC Day Celebration, Hellenic Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and ICBSS, Athens, pp. 9-12.
24 This approach is described on the strategy paper ‘BSEC – EU Interaction: The BSEC Approach’ adopted by
the BSEC on 17 January 2007. This sections draws heavily on it. The text is available on http://www.icbss.org.
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