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European Neighbourhood Council (ENC)

The European Neighbourhood Council (ENC) is a Brussels-based not-for-profit think tank founded in 2016. It aims at strengthening a common European foreign policy by facilitating dialogue and cooperation between academia and policy-makers across Europe and its southern and eastern neighbourhoods.

ENC focuses on five key-areas, including democracy, economy, education, foreign policy and security.

Structure and Academic Representation
ENC’s consists of an advisory and academic council, both of which provide the core guidelines for ENC’s academic research, policy events and projects. Members are geographically represented on equal footing through ENC’s Academic Council, which consists of over 70 university academics from universities in each of ENC’s mandate countries.

ENC mandate countries include both EU Member countries, as well as non-EU countries like EU Accession countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey), ENP South (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia) ENP East countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), as well as certain +1’s like the five Central Asian republics, Iran and the countries that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Research and Events
ENC conducts research and helps implement neighbourhood activities in partnership with academics, civil society, private sector partners and governments from across 36 mandate countries.

Its work includes parliamentary roundtables, academic conferences, diplomatic trainings and non-governmental workshops, as well as field projects, partnerships and research publications with its university network. It is mandatory for all ENC research to be conducted in cooperation with its Academic Council.

ENC has worked extensively on issues related to security and threats in Europe’s wider neighbourhood from its inception. It published ‘Threats to Stability in Wider Europe – Challenges in the Neighbourhood & Beyond’ in July 2017, part of an annual project with the University of St Andrews, which will include a book publication in 2018. The project involves the University of Coimbra and the University of Ghent, while also including multiple policy workshops and conferences. The research looks at a variety of Southern and Eastern threats through a traditional and holistic security perspective.

Other research areas developed by ENC include work on the Turkey-EU customs Union reform, revising identity groups in post-coup Turkey, and research analysis on trade and Kurds in Syria. Important focus areas for research and parliamentary roundtables have also included the Cyprus negotiations, the Ukrainian conflict, East-med energy developments and ‘perceptions about a neighbourhood in crisis’ in cooperation with the University of Saint Louis. ENC produces regular policy videos and podcasts through its ‘’ENC In-Depth’’ platform available on Youtube and Soundcloud.

Funding
ENC’s funding primarily comes through membership fees, including ones from its vast university network, external advisors and European grants.

Partnerships and Media
ENC regularly works in partnership and cooperation with international institutions and organisations, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Apart from its foundational relationship with its academic partners in Europe and its neighbourhoods, ENC also works closely and regularly with civil society organisations across its mandate region, as well as media outlets and think tanks in Egypt, Georgia, Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, and the Ukraine among others countries.

Useful links

 * ENC official website
 * Facebook page
 * Twitter page
 * Soundcloud page
 * ENC Youtube page