NEW WIND IN EUROPE’s WESTERN BALKAN POLICY?

Christoph BEECK, Board Member, ProCredit Bank, Frankfurt a. Main
Nora HASANI, Managing Director, German-Kosovar Business Association (OEGJK-KDWV), Pristina
Marzena KISIELEWSKA, Head of Southeast Europe Division, Global Relations Secretariat, OECD, Paris
René SCHLEE, Director of the FES Office for Regional Dialogue, Sarajevo*

Verena ALLERT, Senior Advisor, Energy Transition Collaboration Western Balkans, Germanwatch, Berlin
Vladimir ĐURĐEVIC, Professor at Institute of Meteorology, Faculty of Physics, Belgrade
Aleksandra TOMANIC, Executive Director, European Fund for the Balkans, Belgrade

Adnan CERIMAGIC, Senior Analyst, European Stability Initiative, Berlin

Against the background of the difficulties in the EU accession process for the Western Balkan countries, this ideas workshop will scrutinize the policy initiatives of the EU and its Member States that are trying to have an impact in the region in different areas and with different approaches. Particular attention will be paid to the Berlin Process, the Economic and Investment Plan / the EU's Green Agenda, and the New Growth Plan. Using the thesis paper method and elements of pre-conference polling among participants, this interactive part of the conference aims to assess what impact these European policy initiatives towards the Western Balkans can have, what difficulties and obstacles arise, and where there are opportunities for improvement. The timing of this discussion is favorable. The new legislature of the European Parliament, which has just started, and the new EU Commission, which is taking office, offer opportunities to set a new course in Western Balkans policy.

Marika DJOLAI, Researcher and Policy Analyst, BiEPAG (Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group), London
Silvana MOJSOVSKA, Professor at the Institute of Economics, Skopje University, Skopje
Florent MARCIACQ, Deputy Secretary-General, Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe, Vienna/Paris
Klodjan SEFERAJ, Programme Manager, Open Society Foundation Western Balkans, Tirana (Kommentator)

Agron DEMI, Director, Balkan Green Foundation (BGF), Pristina*
Kristijan FIDANOVSKI, Economist, Vienna Institute for International Ecomic Studies (WiiW), Vienna
Ivana Markovic BOSKOVIC, Senior Expert on Green Agenda, Regional Cooperation Council, Sarajevo*
Sascha FUZUL, Department EU Enlargement, Southeast Europe and Turkey, Ministry for Economy and Climate Protection, Berlin

Ardian HACKAJ, Research Director and Coordinator of Tirana Connectivity Forum, Cooperation and Development Institute (CDI), Tirana
Milica UVALIC, Visiting Fellow, Robert Schumann Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute (EUI), Florence
Valbona ZENELI, Senior Fellow at Europe Center and Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council of the United States. Visiting Scholar Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University*

What’s the Method and the Procedure? What is the Envisioned Outcome? Why were exactly these three regional policy Initiatives selected? How to split up the participants in three different breakout groups?

We will start the workshop phase with focused presentations of the theses papers (approx. 15 Minutes each). These will be commented on and discussed by the working group.

Based on the discussion of the theses papers the groups will enter into collective writing exercise trying to pen innovative policy ideas related to the regional policy initiatives.

Book presentation “Ankommen” by Vedran DZIHIC, Senior Research at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (oiip), lecture at the University of Vienna and non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Vienna

* invited
** preliminary confirmation

(in plenary)

David McALLISTER, Member of European Parliament (Christian Democrats), Chairmann of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Brussels/Bad Bederkesa
Manuel SARRAZIN, Federal Government Special Representative for the Countries of the Western Balkans, German Foreign Office and President of the Southeast Europe Association, Berlin/Hamburg*
Marta STACHOWIAK, Director, Department for European Union External Policy, Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw

* invited
** preliminary confirmation