26. 7. 2022 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR
The focus of this year’s Bled Strategic Forum, which will be held between 29 and 30 August under the title ‘The rule of power or the power of rules’, will be the discussions about the repercussions of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the crisis of multilateralism. Parallel to the main event, the Young Bled Strategic Forum (Young BSF) will also take place from 26 to 29 August in Ljubljana and Bled.
Between 29 and 30 August 2022, the participants of the Bled Strategic Forum will seek answers to questions about the future of multilateral order and its role within the European Union. Global crises (climate, economic, food, energy) and the emergence of new crisis hotspots, but above all, Russian aggression against Ukraine and changes in the international order, have shown that the international system that was formed around the UN after the end of the Second World War must change. With the changes to the east-west and north-south axes, there was a question of reconfiguring the already established structure. The role of the EU, especially in the light of the Ukrainian crisis, is to strengthen its voice on the international stage and strengthen its own ability to deal with current and future challenges, such as the food and security crisis.
The main topic of the first day of the BSF will be a discussion with the leaders of European countries, high representatives of the European Union and foreign ministers of European countries about the challenges facing the European Union and the region.
On the second day of the Bled Strategic Forum, discussions will focus on the situation in the European neighbourhood, the aid and reconstruction of Ukraine, and the consequences of Russian aggression on food and energy security in Europe and the enlargement of the EU. The talks will also touch upon the future of the global economy, cooperation in the fight against climate change, the challenges of the European security architecture, digitalisation and cyber security. The tourism panel of this year’s BSF will be devoted to discussions on the response to the obstacles in tourism and the economy resulting from the global crisis.
This year’s Young BSF will focus primarily on discussions about the future of democracy, also in the light of Russian aggression against Ukraine, and young people will have the opportunity to present their ideas and conclusions at the Bled Strategic Forum.
Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) is a leading conference in Central and South-Eastern Europe, which for the seventeenth year has been an inclusive platform where a diverse structure of people from the fields of diplomacy, politics, economy, private and public sector and academia come together to discuss key challenges in the 21st century. The purpose of the BSF is to encourage participating actors to discuss and exchange opinions and to find innovative solutions to regional and global challenges.
7. 7. 2022 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR
On Tuesday, 5 June the Bled Strategic Forum and the Centre for European Perspective were honoured to host the discussion with H. E. Dr Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, President of the Republic of Kosovo and Mr Vojko Volk, State Secretary for International Affairs from the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia.
The event titled ‘Western Balkans: Where do we go from here?’ focused on the EU enlargement process with H. E. Dr Osmani pointing out that the EU now “finally, after decades, looks at enlargement as a geostrategic concept, rather as a bureaucratic process”. While it can be discussed if this has changed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine or in spite of it, the fact that Ukraine and Moldova were given candidate status shortly after submitting membership applications, did trigger a debate on whether the EU wants at all to admit the remaining six Western Balkan countries to full membership. And since 19 years have passed since the adoption of the Thessaloniki agenda for the Western Balkans, other than the promises about the European perspective of the respective countries, no such concrete steps have happened with respect to their membership in the EU.
The visit of Dr Osmani to Slovenia did reinforce Slovenian support for the process, with Mr Volk reinforcing the support for the continuation at Tuesday’s discussion, stating: “This region [Western Balkans] is our courtyard and it should all become the EU. The sooner, the better”. The discussion, moderated by BSF Secretary General, Peter Grk, also touched upon the current situation in the Western Balkans and the public’s opinion on the enlargement process, Kosovo’s future perspective, Russian influence in the Western Balkans and more.
You can watch the video of the discussion here
5. 7. 2022 | PR, Serbia - management of patrols
Klikni tukaj za več o projektu v slovenščini 
Workshops to integrate new police directorates into a state-of-the-art remote patrol management system were held in Serbia from 27 June to 1 July 2022. This is an ICT solution developed by the Serbian police on the basis of Slovenian know-how within the framework of the international development assistance of the Republic of Slovenia and has been successfully used for some time in the police directorates Sremska Mitrovica, Vranje, Bor, Pirot, Požarevac, and Zaječar.
The workshops that just took place were organized for representatives of the police directorates Užice, Pančevo, Novi Pazar, and Šabac, which have newly joined this patrol management system.
Representatives from the police directorates Ljubljana and Novo Mesto of the Police of the Republic of Slovenia and representatives of police directorates Sremska Mitrovica, Vranje, and Požarevac of the Police of the Republic of Serbia joined efforts as mentors and as active interlocutors in these workshops.
They gave workshop participants first-hand insights into how the system works and the positive experiences they have had and shared the advantages of the system that enable them to work more efficiently. They highlighted better responsiveness to people’s needs and other security challenges, increased safety of police officers when performing police tasks in the field, more efficient use of human and other resources of the Ministry of the Interior, and better service for citizens. The workshops also included a visit to the Police directorate Zaječar, where the participants had the opportunity to see and test the operation of the new patrol management system in practice. With the knowledge they acquired, they were also able to immediately engage in the new system, which has now been extended to 10 police administrations.
Participants agreed that changes towards increased patrol management capacity are necessary and welcome, not only for the more efficient operation of the police in Serbia but also to meet EU standards, which is also of utmost importance in the process of European integration.
The activities that Slovenia and Serbia have carried out in partnership in recent years within the framework of international development cooperation confirm the good bilateral relations between the two countries and significantly contribute to the constant progress and development of the Serbian police and strengthen the professional and friendly ties between these two important institutions.
The workshops that just took place confirmed this once again, while also indicating that there is an interest in further cooperation and additional activities in this direction in the future as well.
The project is part of the program activities of international development cooperation, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior and the Police of the Republic of Slovenia.
Further information:
Andreja Dolničar Jeraj
Programme Director
Centre for European Perspective
4. 7. 2022 | PR, Strengthening Societal Resilience and Countering Foreign Perpetrated Disinformation in 6 Western Balkans Countries
Mengeš, 4 July 2022 – Democracy report 2021* by V-Dem Institute shows that an overall decline in democratic standards is noticeable around the globe. A wave of autocratization has reached Europe as well. A big problem in countries with a decline in democratic standards is the polarization of societies. Disinformation contributes greatly to this polarization with the use of misinformation to shape domestic and international opinion.
We are happy to introduce the new CEP publication titled ‘Information war and fight for truth’, which is the result of cooperation between various stakeholders in the Western Balkans in the framework of the project “Strengthening societal resilience and countering foreign perpetrated disinformation in 6 Western Balkans countries”.
This publication seeks to provide insight into the situation in the Western Balkans and the harmful effects of foreign perpetrated disinformation. The use of disinformation tactics is not a new phenomenon, especially with the spread of modern technology that helps move information faster. The amount of misinformation in the past years has increased enormously and it threatens societies in a way that inflicts divisions, undermines democratic values and stalls EU integration processes. Counternarratives about climate change allow countries and corporations to ignore the effect of their actions on the planet Earth. Misinformation on vaccines in the COVID-19 pandemic has even cost lives. Moreover, we have witnessed the two-tracked war in Ukraine: the one on the ground and the information war.
As the authors of this publication show foreign, mostly Russian disinformation is strongly present in the Western Balkans with the aim to keep the region politically unstable and to slow its path to the EU. Experts from the Western Balkans write about the interconnectedness of Russian and local media, and disinformation about the war in Ukraine in the region.
Read and download the publication HERE.
The project is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia through the program activities of international development cooperation.
