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Multinational (International) projects in Europe with the special
focus on the South Balkans
Session Number: EPM07
Zoran Ljubicic
IBM Netherlands
What should be in a presentation…
And… what is in the presentation…
• Religions• Politics • Money • Technology• Men and Women• … and no joke…
Easy questions… easy answers!?
• Where are the borders of Eastern Europe?
• What can we expect when traveling to EE?
• How different are Easterners from Westerners?
• Is Eastern Europe really progressing?• What do we know about EE projects?• … etc
Introduction - major presentation parts
• Overview of Eastern Europe
• South Balkans
• The major EU-sponsored programmes in the EE
Overview of Eastern Europe
• Geopolitical and geographical terms
• Cultural quiz
• Travel tips
• Religions
• Common cultural and political traits
• Economic overview
• Personal touch
Geopolitical and geographical terms
• European Union
• Acceding countries
• Visegrad group
• CIS
• Baltic countries
• Balkans
Eastern Europe
Visegrad, Baltics and Balkans
Cultural quiz
• To kiss, bow or shake hands… or do it all!?
• To tip or not!?
• To deal with facts or with emotions!?
• Women approaching unknown men!?
• To ask for a word or for a signature?
• To discuss history and politics?
Travel tips
• Visas
• Money
• Electricity and video standards
• Time zones
• Communications
• Driving in EE
Major EE religions
• Orthodox Christians
• Roman Catholics
• Muslim
• Jewish
Common EE cultural traits
• Getting very individualistic
• Many people are turning to religion
• Large majority with Slavic Origins
Common political traits
• Moving towards Western-type democracy
• Joining EU
EE Economic overview (1)
GDP growth 2004 - 2008
GDP growth 2004 - 2008
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
US
Japan
EU
EE
Figures provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit
EE Economic overview (2)
Comparison 2004
Comparison 2004
050
100150200250300350400
GDP/head index
population in mil
Figures provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit
EE Economic overview (3)
EE regions 2004
Figures provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit
EE regions 2004
0
50
100
150
200
Balkans Visegrad CIS (w/oRussia)
Russia
0100200300400500600
population (mill)
GDP(US$ bil)
EE Economic overview (3)
EE regions 2004
Figures provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit
Overall risk
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Overall risk
Personal view on the business cultural differences between Netherlands and EE
• long-term persistency vs short-term achievements
• to-the-point talk vs elaboration
• separate work & life vs interconnected
• advance planning vs improvisation
• getting buy-in vs imposing a decision
South Balkans
• South Balkans = Western Balkans – Croatia
- Albania
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Serbia & Montenegro
- Macedonia
Albania
• 3.1m. Tirana, Albanian language
• Muslims 70%, Orthodox 20%, Roman Catholics 10%
• Tensions within the ruling party
• Focus on the relationship with the West, especially with the USA
• “Node a head to say NO”
Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 4.2m. Sarajevo, BSC language
• Two entities (Federation and Republika Srpska)
• Muslims 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman Catholics 15%, others
• Office of the UN High representative
• Three-member presidency
• Still tensions between entities
Macedonia
• 2.0m. Skopje, Macedonian language
• Orthodox 69%, Muslim 27%
• Tensions between Slavic
and Albanian ethnic groups
• Recent death of the President Boris Trajkovski in a plane crash
Serbia and Montenegro
• 10.7m. Belgrade, Serbian language (Albanian predominant in Kosovo)
• Orthodox 70%, Muslims 20%, the others 10%
• Unstable situation in Kosovo
• No indicative table for the EU accession
South Balkans
Comparison 2003
Figures provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit
South Balkans - comparison 2003
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Albania BiH Macedonia S&M
0
5
10
15
20
25
Population (mill)
GDP(US$ bil)
Major EU-sponsored programmes and their budgets for the period 2000-2006
• Phare – €1.5 billion per year
• Sapard - €500 million per year
• ISPA - €1 billion per year
• CARDS - €4.65 billion per year
• Tacis – n/a
Briefly about the programmes (1)
• Provide pre-accession support to the EU candidate countries (acceding countries plus Bulgaria and Romania)
- Phare – institution building
- ISPA – large-scale infrastructure projects in the fields of agriculture and rural
development
- Sapard – for taking on the acquis in the fields of agriculture and rural development
Briefly about the programmes (2)
• Tacis – provides grant-financed technical assistence to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan). Launched in 1991.
• CARDS – assistance to the western Balkans as part of the Stabilization and Association process (SAp)
Useful links related to the programmes
• European Union: http://europa.eu.int/
• European Commission: http://europa.eu.int/comm/index_en.htm
• European bank for reconstruction and development: http://www.ebrd.com/
• European Investment Bank: www.eib.org
• European Agency for reconstruction: http://www.ear.eu.int/
Summary 1 (answers to the questions)
• Where are the borders of Eastern Europe?– This presentation did not help us to define
the borders of Eastern Europe – there are ever expanding just like the Universe
• What can we expect when traveling to EE?– When traveling to Eastern Europe we can
expect to find a good Internet connection… afterwards, everything will be easier
• ..etc
Summary 2 (answers to questions)
• How different are Easterners from Westerners?– Easterners are getting more similar to
Westerners… and opposite way…
• Is Eastern Europe really progressing?– Yes, Eastern Europe is progressing towards the
Western Europe that is at the moment stagnating…
• …etc.
References etc.• Economic figures used in the
presentation are retrieved from www.viewswire.com (Economist Intelligence Unit site)
• The information on the European programmes in EE collected from the sites listed in the slide #29
• Most of the information has been collected during the author’s involvement in the PMI EU Task Force.
Contact Information
Zoran Ljubicic
Business e-mail:
Private e-mail:
