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EU Climate and Energy Policies and the Eastern Mediterranean - [EU-CEP-EM]-
This website is a project of the Jean Monnet Chair in EU Climate and Energy Policies and the Eastern Mediterranean of Prof. Andreas Stergiou and of Department of Economics (UTH).
It is supported by the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Network of the European Union.
The Jean Monnet Chair in EU Climate and Energy Policies and the Eastern Mediterranean at the Department of Economics of the University of Thessaly (UTH, Greece) aims to bring forward education and research on the EU’s Climate and Energy Policies and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Objectives
Introducing for the very first time the comprehensive study of the EU integration as a whole and its climate and energy policies in particular with emphasis on the Eastern Mediterranean into the University of Thessaly.
Creating a forum for EU Studies and information of the EU in the region of Thessaly. Raising awareness on the impact of the Climate Change on the Eastern Mediterranean and informing the public opinion for the EU actions to this regard
Raising awareness about the renewables as an alternative exploitation of the natural endowment away from the fossil fuels formulating an alternative paradigm of coexistence for the people of the region.
About
The Jean Monnet Chair on Energy and Climate Policy and the Eastern Mediterranean EU-CP-EM will practically introduce European Studies into the University of Thessaly by developing teaching, research and outreach activities about the EU Climate and Green Energy Policies with specific application on the Eastern Mediterranean.
Notably, the Eastern Mediterranean has been in recent years the terrain of fierce disputes and conflicts among the littoral states about delimitation of Exclusive Economic Zones at the expenses of their neighbours and securing control of fossil fuels nearly provoking large-scale conflicts, often affecting the relations between the EU, the United States and Russia. Yet, while the frictions have been evolving around existing or assumed reserves of hydrocarbons, which notably are responsible for global warming and environmental degradation, the impact of the climate crisis on the same countries has been extreme.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has labelled the Eastern Mediterranean as a ‘‘climate change hotspot’’ expecting the warming across the region to be about 20 percent higher than global averages in the decades to come. Due to the absence of a department of political science, the Chair’s three-pronged teaching, research and outreach activities are designed to introduce for the very first time the comprehensive study of the EU integration as a whole and its climate and energy policies in particular, with an emphasis on the Eastern Mediterranean.
The project aims not only to acquaint undergraduate and postgraduate students of the University of Thessaly with the multifaceted EU energy security strategy and its efforts to contain the climate change, but also to raise awareness about the EU Green Trasnsition course away from fossil fuels and its importance for a region that is beset with bitter energy geopolitical rivalries while being immediately threatened by global warming and environmental degradation.
About the Team
Ph.D. Researchers
Vasileios Avramopoulos
Anastasia Papadimou