EU Projects

EU Projects

Professor El. Thalassinos has extended and longtime experience in the successful management of EU projects and currently is the Director of two EU Projects awarded to the Department of Maritime Studies of the University of Piraeus.

• Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in Shipping, Trade and Transport

The EU’s maritime regions account for some 40% of its GDP and population. Europe’s welfare is, therefore, inextricably linked with the sea.

After relevant research proposal, the Department of Maritime Studies of the University of Piraeus was awarded by the European Commission to establish the first Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Shipping, Trade & Transport (JMCE). The Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence are clearly labelled institutes specializing in European Integration studies. They pool scientific, human and documentary resources to European Integration Studies at the highest level of academic and professional expertise.

This Centre’s central goal is highlight the importance of the Maritime sector, European Transport and Trade for promoting the process of European Integration and realizing the European Economic Area.

In this context, the JMCE’s Research Strategy is bound to be three-folded; first, EU Maritime & Transport Polic; second, International Trade, Economic Cooperation & Neighboring Policy and third, Economic & Monetary Union.

Goals:

  1. To Create the framework for comparative research, training and cross-national cooperation;
  2. To Pool scientific, human and documentary resources serving as a hub of knowledge;
  3. To Foster the creation of a Network of related scholars;
  4. To Encourage multi-disciplinary analysis in core European issues that will benefit academics, civil society, policy makers & professional of related fields;
  5. To Highlight the importance of International Trade & Transport for EU’s socioeconomic development;
  6. To Involve a vibrant community of young Researchers;
  7. To Serve as a forum of exchange of ideas;
  8. To Participate in in International Networks & Realize on the spot educational visits.

• European Research Study Group in the Political Economy of the EMU

As the EURO completes its first decade of existence, the EU faces one of its most acute crises, challenged to make the necessary leap forward championing further integration over national strategies and policies. In this context, specialized research on the impact of EU integration has become more significant than ever. Hence, over the period 2012-2014, the project aspires to the establishment of a joint working group of Jean Monnet Chairs and Professors of European Integration Studies that will serve as a centre of contemporary academic research having as end users members of civil society. Its main objective is to act as a pool of human and documentary resources from several Universities located mainly in Western and South-Eastern Europe (as the next region of EU expansion), establishing a network of scholars of joint research on the impact of EMU policy. The profile of this Research Group is bound to be multidisciplinary due to the multidimensional nature of the EU. Hence, all partners stem from a wide range of disciplines such as Economics, Political Economy, European Integration Studies, Law and Political Sciences.

The research focus of the Jean Monnet Multilateral Research Group is traced on the field of European Political Economy of the EMU. The Group’s central concern is to examine the relationships between states and markets in Europe as well as the change in these relationships due to economic, monetary and political integration. If anything, the recent crisis of the EU has highlighted the fact that the idea of a closer Europe is running up against institutional and economic fatigue. In this respect, we aim to examine how the operation of the Single Market and the monetary union interact with the political economy of European states inside and in the neighbourhood of the Community, a question of paramount importance for the EU’s final destination.

Thus, the research focus of this project will be centred around five Research Pillars (R.P.):

  1. the EMU’s impact on Trade and Wealth Distribution,
  2. the EMU’s impact on Economic Transformation and Development on:
    1. EU member States
    2. states aspiring to EU membership
    3. SMEs
  3. the EMU’s impact on Governance & Institutional Change on:
    1. EU member States
    2. states aspiring to EU membership
  4. the EMU’s impact on the relation between States and Markets: Economic Convergence and Fiscal Integration,
  5. the EMU’s impact on Financial Markets and the European Banking System.