The Institute for Global Analytics is pleased to have joined the Three Seas Partnership, a platform for cooperation coordinated by the Warsaw Institute. The Partnership brings together think tanks from member states of the Three Seas Initiative with the aim to devise and implement ideas for civil-societal and policy-making collaboration within the region.
In an inaugurating online event which took place on August 24, 2022, Liliana Śmiech (Vice President of the Warsaw Institute), Dr. Rumena Filipova, and Dr. Livia Benko (Research Fellow at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy) discussed Austrian and Bulgarian views of the Three Seas and future prospects for cooperation. In Bulgaria, the Initiative has received subdued rather than vigorous and committed support, as Russophile and nationalist political and social networks have demonstrated reservations and sometimes outright opposition. A much more sustained internal discussion and promotion of the Three Seas is necessary in Bulgaria in order to create a greater recognition on both the political and business level of the important opportunities it offers in infrastructure, diplomacy and regional cooperation, combatting disinformation and enhancing digital connectivity. For its part, Vienna perceives the Initiative as an opportunity to foster further European cohesion and strengthen Austria’s role as a bridge between the eastern and western countries of the EU.