Preparatory activities: the activities involved 12 participants, including 3 participants from Italy, 2 participants from Poland, 2 participants from Slovenia, and 5 participants from North Macedonia.
Location / Dates: Skopje, North Macedonia and online, 22-23 April 2021
Short description: these activities consisted of 5 online sessions in which the project partners gathered to discuss project dynamics and timeline, present the situation regarding illiberalism and Euroscepticism in their own countries and in Europe in general, as well as research methodology.
Events:
9 events have been carried out within this project: Event 1,
Participation: The event involved 61 citizens, including 54 participants from North Macedonia, 3 participants from Italy, 2 participants from Slovenia, and 2 participants from Poland.
Location / Dates: The event took place in University of Goce Delcev, (Shtip, North Macedonia), on 28 September, 2021 Short description: The aim of the event was to present the initial findings of the research conducted by the country teams and get feedback from the academic and civil society community in Shtip and rest of North Macedonia (online).
Event 2, Participation: The event involved 36 citizens, including 22 participants from Slovenia, 3 participants from Italy, 8 participants from North Macedonia, 3 participants from Poland, and 9 additional citizens from other European countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Kosovo, and Serbia).
Location / Dates: The event took place in Faculty of Social Sciences at the University Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 14 October, 2021. Short description: The aim of the event was to initiate wider discussion on the preliminary findings of the research in front of the academic community of Ljubljana, as well as network with another EU-funded project, “Europeanisation meets democracy from below: The Western Balkans on the search for new European and democratic Momentum (WB2EU)” supported through the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Networks. The topics of discussion were the state of Euroscepticism in several European countries, with a particular emphasis on the Western Balkans and its relations with the EU. The two initiatives merged the activities and organized a closed session and a public discussion, which took place online and in person.
Event 3, Participation: The event involved 30 citizens, including 15 participants from Italy, 2 participants from Slovenia, 4 participants from Poland, 9 participants from North Macedonia.
Location / Dates: The event took place in Scuola Normale Superiore (Florence, Italy), from on 2 December 2021
Short description: The aim of the event was to present the research findings to the academic community in Florence. Special emphasis was put on the methodological aspects of researching Euroscepticism and illiberalism.
Event 4,
Participation: The event involved 55 citizens, including 2 participants from Italy, 7 participants from Slovenia, 31 participants from Poland, 15 participants from North Macedonia, and 3 citizens from other EU countries (Germany and Bulgaria). Additionally, the event was followed by 66 citizens on YouTube, without registration.
Location / Dates: The event took place in Batory Foundation (Warsaw Poland), from 17 February 2022.
Short description: The aim of the event was present the research findings with the wider Polish public. The event was organized in cooperation with the Batory Foundation and the European Council of Foreign affairs in Warsaw. Due to the pandemic circumstances, the event was streamed through zoom, YouTube, and Facebook, as well as outlets by media partners: Portal Spraw Zagranicznych, Video-KOD, Polityka, EUROACTIVE.pl and OKO.press. The topics of discussion were the state of Euroscepticism and illiberalism in the four countries, as well a wider discussion on the Eurosceptic forces around Europe.
Event 5,
Participation: The event involved 88 citizens, including 2 participants from Italy, 2 participants from Slovenia, 2 participants from Poland, and 82 participants from North Macedonia.
Location / Dates: The event took place in Faculty of Law, University of Tetovo (Tetovo, North Macedonia), on 10 March 2022
Short description: The aim of the event was to present the research findings to the academic community in Tetovo. Special emphasis was put on the methodological aspects of researching Euroscepticism and illiberalism, as well as the inter-ethnic aspects of the EU integration of North Macedonia. After the public event, a closed workshop for students from the University of Tetovo (Law Faculty) and University of Skopje (Law Faculty and Philosophy Faculty) was held, gathering students of various ethnic backgrounds, to discuss counternarratives to Euroscepticism.
Event 6,
Participation: The event involved 25 citizens, including 9 participants from North Macedonia, 11 participants from Italy, 2 participants from Slovenia, 3 participants from Poland.
Location / Dates: The event took place in Scuola Normale Superiore, (Pisa, Italy), on 1 April 2022.
Short description: The aim of the event was to present the research findings to the academic community in Pisa, as well as discuss Euroscepticism in the time of the War in Ukraine. At the end of the session, there was a dedicated part where students presented their views on counternarratives to Euroscepticism.
Event 7, Participation: The event involved 35 citizens, including 28 participants from Slovenia, 2 participants from Italy, 3 participants from North Macedonia, and 2 citizens from Poland.
Location / Dates: The event took place in Faculty of Social Sciences at the University Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 6 May 2022.
Short description: The aim of the event was to organize a workshop tailored for students on the development of counternarratives to Euroscepticism. Additionally, a public discussion of the influence on the War in Ukraine has on European integration.
Event 8, Participation: The event involved 107 citizens, including 2 participants from Italy, 2 participants from Slovenia, 94 participants from Poland, and 9 participants from North Macedonia.
Location / Dates: The event took place in Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wroclaw ,Poland, on 2 June, 2022
Short description: The aim of the event was to organize a workshop tailored for students on the development of counternarratives to Euroscepticism, organized in cooperation with the University of Wroclaw. The findings from the workshop were presented to a wider university audience, and a public discussion of the state of Europe in light of the ongoing war.
Event 9,
Participation: The event involved 25 citizens, including 3 participants from Italy, 2 participants from Slovenia, 2 participants from Poland, 18 participants from North Macedonia.
Location / Dates: The event took place at Faculty of Economics, University of Skopje, North Macedonia on 1 July 2022
Short description: The aim of the event was to organize a closing conference of the project, evaluate the main findings and conclusions from the research and discussions during events, and seek further avenues for research. It was organized in partnership with the European Information and Data Centre at the Faculty of Economics in Skopje. The event was furthermore supported and opened by the EU Ambassador to North Macedonia, and broadly covered by the media.
The project team published a collection of country policy briefs containing the main findings of the research and discussions, including a short comparative study. It can be accessed here.
The project «Tackling Illiberal/Eurosceptic Narratives from Below » was funded with the support of the European Union under the Programme “Europe for Citizens”.
