On the margins of the London Summit, which will be held on Monday and Tuesday at Chatham House, the British Royal Institute for International Affairs, a panel discussion will be held on the topic “Beyond Berlin: What’s does the next decade hold for the Western Balkans?”.
The event will be co organized by Chatham House, the European Fund for the Balkans and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR).
Senior EU officials, as well as experts from Europe and the region, will discuss the future of the Berlin Process, as well as the influence of Russia, Turkey and the United States in the region.
In the first panel, introductory remarks will be delivered by EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn and Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov. The panel will discuss the progress of the Berlin Process and perspectives and opportunities for the region, as well as failures in the process. They will also discuss how the EU can improve communication with the citizens and the political elites of the Western Balkans.
Discussion will be attended by Christian Danielsson, Director General of the European Commission’s Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), Zoran Nechev, Head of the Center for EU integration, the Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” from Skopje, Srđan Majstorović, President of the Governing Board (CEP) from Belgrade and Milica Delević, Director of Governance and Political Affairs at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The panel will be moderated by professor Richard Wittman of Chatham House.
The second panel will discuss the influence of non-EU actors in the Western Balkans, such as Russia, the United States and Turkey. Introductory remarks will be given by Catherine Ashton, the former High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the current Senior Adviser at Chatham House.
Participants in the second panel will be Tena Prelec, an expert from the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Nikola Burazer, executive editor of the portal “European Western Balkans” and Florian Bieber, Professor at the University of Graz and coordinator of the Balkans in Europe Advisory Group (BiEPAG).
