On 28 February 2024, from 12:00 – 13:30, the European Institute of Romania organised an online event dedicated to researchers who published articles in the Romanian Journal of European Affairs during 2023. Entitled “RJEA Network of Research Event – 5-minutes ideas”, the event, now in its second edition, aimed to provide a platform for communication and debate for researchers from different countries (e.g. Albania, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Ukraine). It also aimed to facilitate the identification of forms of collaboration for authors, as well as an exchange of ideas that could open up new research directions or inspire projects of common interest.
The following ideas emerged from the presentations of the guests and the comments made by the participants:
- For the first time the fundamental principle of energy efficiency has been introduced as part of European legislation (at directive level);
- The contribution of motorways to regional development is seen to be greater among less developed countries in Eastern Europe than in the West; this is also explained by the fact that the newly introduced infrastructure elements have the potential to facilitate the development of the region concerned;
- In the Western Balkans, the perception of corruption differs politically and socially; on the one hand, the fight against corruption is seen as a strategic objective, on the other hand, more progress needs to be made in the collective mentality;
- A trend observed in the Visegrad Group is to use collective forms of financial support (from one international structure to another) rather than individual approaches (from one state to another);
- The European Union plays an important role in promoting democracy in the EaP countries, but its influence is limited by domestic factors in some countries;
- Although the Russian financial system was initially badly affected by the sanctions imposed by the European Union, the measures taken by the Russian authorities have led to a softening of the shocks and a strengthening of the system;
- There are administrative and legal challenges to support by civil society organisations for national defence systems;
- Approximation of reality is a challenge in research especially when analysing social change; thus, four levels of analysis should be considered (breadth of knowledge, congruence between the framework of analysis and the real world, distorted perception of reality, and correct use of knowledge, methodology and indicators).