4. 7. 2018 | OBOR, PR, THINK Initiative
Centre for European Perspective and Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia kindly invite you to the “crisis room” discussion titled “Rising Dragon and Euro-Atlantic (Security) Paradigm” on 9 July 2018 at 18:00 at the Stow Café, City Museum of Ljubljana. We will be discussing a highly intriguing topic – presence and influence of China as a rising power on the power relations within the Euro-Atlantic space.
Speakers:
Zorana Baković, journalist and one of the best European experts on Chinese politics and culture
Ambassador Marija Adanja, diplomat, former ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in Beijing (TBC)
Dr Uroš Lipušček, journalist and reporter from Beijing
Moderated by: Sabina Carli, Centre for European Perspective/THINK Initiative
Event will be held in English language.
The event will be organized in a format of “crisis room”. It is the first of a series of events organized to support wide public discussions about strategically important international, regional and local events and security challenges in the Euro-Atlantic space. With the first event, we want to shed a light on the rise of China as a (new) power and on its growing influence on the Euro-Atlantic community. Together with you, we would like to search for answers on some of the key challenges and shape possible responses and future steps.
RSVP: [email protected]
We are looking forward to your response.
4. 7. 2018 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR
The Centre for European Perspective, the Bled Strategic Forum and the MUN Slovenia Club kindly invite you to a panel discussion in the framework of the 2018 edition of the MUNSC Salient youth conference: “Euro-Atlantic Integration in the Western Balkans: Not without its Alternatives?” on Tuesday, 10 July 2018, 17.15 – 18.45 at the Grand Hall of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana.
Panel discussion is organised by the MUN Slovenia Club (MUNSC), the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) and the Centre for European Perspective (CEP) as part of the 2018 edition of the MUNSC Salient youth conference.
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Speakers:
Ambassador Paolo Trichilo, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy in Slovenia
Mr Peter Grk, National Coordinator for the Western Balkans, BSF Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
Ms Jelka Klemenc, DCAF Slovenia
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After more than two decades of attempts on the part of the European Union to help stabilise the Western Balkans and gradually integrate it into its political and economic community the results are mixed. While there is no denying the fact that some immense steps have been made, a list of systemic challenges seems to have remained more or less unchanged over the years.
What has changed, however, is the wider geopolitical context in which the Western Balkans policy complex is embedded. Across a range of issue areas relations between the East and the West have deteriorated, with Cold War analogies featuring ever more frequently both in lay and expert deliberations. Given the importance of stability and prosperity in the Western Balkans for the security of the wider European continent, it can hardly be expected that the region will remain unaffected by wider power struggles.
In this context the concluding remarks of the new EU strategy for the Western Balkans, recently adopted by the European Commission, come across as especially revealing:
“Most fundamentally, leaders in the region must leave no doubt as to their strategic orientation and commitment. It is they that ultimately must assume responsibility for making this historical opportunity a reality.” (European Commission 2018)
Yet what if, at least from the perspective of some regional stakeholders, the ‘historical opportunity’ of further Euro-Atlantic integration is not without its alternatives?
This will be the guiding question for a panel discussion that is set to proceed in two parts. The first part will focus on the potential existence of alternatives to Euro-Atlantic integration in the Western Balkans and ways to accommodate them into our current deliberations about the region. In the second part the discussion will shift towards the implications that potential alternatives could hold for future EU policies concerning this region, both at the political level as well as in the day-to-day activities of people working on the ground.
RSVP: [email protected] by Monday, 9 July 2018
Kindly invited!
4. 7. 2018 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR
The Third Regional Youth Forum took place in Novi Sad, Serbia last weekend (29 June – 1 July). The event gathered around 200 young opinionated leaders, between 18 and 35 years old, with a proven record of making an impact in their communities and offered them a place for knowledge sharing and dialogue through networking and a series of panel discussions. A delegation of the Bled Strategic Forum and Young Bled Strategic Forum attended the event as an introduction into a long-term cooperation between the institutions.
The participants at the opening ceremony were greeted by RYCO Secretary General Mr Đuro Blanuša who said that the Forum is looking for the answer to the question how to bring more Europe in the region and how to make a region more present in Europe. He underlined that the Forum’s participants are the future ambassadors of change and those who will create the future that we all want to see. During the opening ceremony, the participants were greeted by Serbian Prime Minister Ms Ana Brnabić who said that the youth of the region should put a pressure on the leaders and make them politically smarter and more active as this will bring “big things” for the region.
The Forum was attended by the mayors of Novi Sad and Tirana, Mr Miloš Vučević and Mr Erion Veliaj. The Mayor of Tirana said that the EU has done a lot for the region because it enabled movement, cooperation and made possible that Serbians and Albanians are today at the same event discussing a bright future. He argued that we need more Europe in the region because of this fact.
The Regional Youth Forum is organized by the European Movement in Serbia – Local Branch Novi Sad, the European Fund for the Balkans, the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, and in partnership with the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) – ORF Promotion of EU Integration. Indispensable support was provided by the Provincial Government of Vojvodina, the City of Novi Sad and the Regional Cooperation Council.
The Forum’s conclusions will be presented at the upcoming London Summit in London within the Berlin Process, at the 8th edition of the Belgrade Security Forum, and the 2018 Young Bled Strategic Forum.
3. 7. 2018 | IECEU, PR
A new article The Berlin Process as an Actor in Internal Security and Counter-Terrorism: Opportunities and Pitfalls, written by Jelka Klemenc from DCAF Slovenia and Ivana Boštjančič Pulko from CEP deals with potential engagement of the Berlin Process in the internal security of the Western Balkans by focusing on the risks and regional security cooperation and reform.
After four years, the Berlin process remains a sparsely documented development. There are not many studies or assessments that would provide a comprehensive view and assessment on this significant initiative. Against this setting, this policy brief is intended to fill this gap in the area of internal security. The policy brief seeks opportunities for the potential engagement of the Berlin Process in Western Balkan internal security governance, points at the risks and draws on the lessons from available experience and views of practitioners engaged in regional initiatives and other efforts aimed at regional security cooperation and reform. The recommendations offered below are focusing mostly on how to achieve sustainability of the role of the Berlin Process as a potential internal security actor. The methodology of the paper is based on identification and subsequent analysis and assessment of official declarations, joint statements, public speeches, political statements, and press releases of the main EU and WB6 institutional actors in the field. It is completed with semistructured interviews with the beneficiaries and implementing stakeholders.
Read the paper here.
This brief was supported by the European Fund for the Balkans – a joint initiative of European Foundations, including the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the King Baudouin Foundation and the ERSTE Foundation through the 2018 Think and Link Regional Policy Programme.
28. 6. 2018 | PR, Serbia - Information exchange, Serbia - Migration, Slovenian Development Assistance
Advancements-orientated discussions regarding flow of information in illegal migrations took place during high-level workshop, which was successfully implemented in the period from 19 to 21 June 2018 on Zlatar, Serbia. The workshop was conducted in the framework of the implementation of international development cooperation of the Republic of Slovenia with the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, related to the support for the accession to the EU.
Hand-in-hand with Slovenian colleagues, Head of the EUROPOL’s European Migrant Smuggling Centre Robert Črepinko, specialist for the process of knowledge exchange dr Tatjana Dragovič and head of the workshop and this programme Andreja Dolničar Jeraj, representatives of various organisational units of the Ministry of interior of the Republic of Serbia, which participated in the field visit in April 2018, analysed, through various cases, the flow of information and operational cooperation in different situations involving illegal migrations, comparing the approach of Serbian police forces with approaches used in the EU and with experiences of Slovenia and looking towards improvements that can be achieved. The goal is to optimize the flow of information by putting to better use the current capacities and consequently, respond better to situations related to illegal migrations.
Project is part of program activities implemented in the cooperation with the Ministry of Interior/Police of the Republic of Slovenia and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia in the framework of Slovenia’s Development Cooperation.
22. 6. 2018 | PR, Youth
“Here we come! – Conference on talent management and youth perspectives in the Western Balkans” took place on June 19 in Brussels where Sabina Carli of CEP presented our endeavors in the field of youth development, entrepreneurship, non-formal education recognition and Western Balkans perspective in the EU.
The conference, organised by the Antall József Knowledge Centre in cooperation with the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, discussed the current challenges of young generations and the future of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans.
Youth unemployment is one of the main drivers of emigration of young people all over the Balkans. The mass exodus of youth from the Southeast European neighbourhood is a severe consequence of sectoral problems, strongly related to unemployment, higher education systems, as well as to the job market conditions. In addition, these countries are also facing brain drain. In this complex situation, the role and importance of social responsibility and entrepreneurship are becoming more and more significant.
The speakers addressed very specific questions in the presence of Commissioner Tibor Navracsics, responsible for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.
In a round table discussion, six young speakers from the Balkans set the scene while presenting current perspectives and challenges. Afterwards, a workshop took place, where the hosts and the participants exchanged their views on the possibilities of knowledge transfer, innovation, and entrepreneurship. In the afternoon, experts from the Western Balkans and Members of the European Parliament provided answers to the questions in the course of two panel discussions.
During the second panel discussion, representatives of NGOs and think tanks active in the region talked about the current challenges and best practices of youth policy in Southern Europe.
