We kindly invite you to the round table discussion »Light at the End of the Tunnel: Western Balkans & the European Union Part II«.
Round table will be held on Thursday, 7 December 2017, starting at 11 am, followed by a Pre-New Year’s Reception starting at 1 pm, at Jable Castle (Grajska cesta 1, 1234 Loka pri Mengšu, Slovenia).
The discussion will build upon the panel on the Western Balkans of Bled Strategic Forum 2017 that confirmed a clear message: the EU enlargement process carries a transformative power for the countries in the region (this message was supported by EU representatives, clearly stating that the future of the region lies within the EU). While the common values of the region and the EU are a strong driving force for both sides, some ministers still speak of alternatives, saying that a high level of support should not be taken for granted.
Welcome Address Dr Gorazd Justinek, Executive Director, Centre for European Perspective
Opening Remarks Mr Iztok Mirošič, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
Panelists H. E. Dr Vujica Lazović, Ambassador of Montenegro (TBC) H. E. Mr Pëllumb Qazimi, Ambassador of the Republic of Albania H. E. Mr Nexhmi Rexhepi, Ambassador of Kosovo H. E. Mrs Zorana Vlatković, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia.
Moderated by Mr Peter Grk, National Coordinator for Western Balkans, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.
The discussion will be followed by a pre-New Year’s Reception, hosted by the Centre for European Perspective.
RSVP by 4 December: CEP-WesternBalkans
Event is organized by the Centre for European Perspective in cooperation with the Bled Strategic Forum international conference and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.
In the framework the “Readiness Of Slovenian E-Invoicing” (ROSE) Action a workshop entitled »Preparing for the EU standard of eInvoice« took place today in Novo mesto in the premises of the Dolenjska and Bela krajina Chamber of Commerce. The workshop provided an introduction into the requirements of the European Directive on eInvoicing for Public Procurement (2014/55/EU), which obliges all budget users and contracting entities in public procurement to receive eInvoices transmitted in EU standard.
The partners of the ROSE Action, Public Payments Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, ZZI d.o.o.,Mojdenar IT d.o.o. and Centre for European Perspective, which are working on the preparation of the project and technical solutions for Slovenia in order to prepare it for the upcoming changes in the field of eInvoicing, briefed the participants on the new directive, the process and goals of ROSE Action, new EU standard and eSlog 2.0. standard, technical solutions for eInvoices reception and the single eInvoices recipients register.
The Directive 2014/55/EU and the new EU standard for eInvoices bring some changes to the operations of budget users and an entirely new obligation for public companies and private law entities operating on the basis of special or exclusive rights in infrastructure-related activities. Therefore, the workshop attracted the representatives of management, heads of financial services and officials responsible for procurement processes.
A series of workshops in the framework of ROSE Action will be organized across Slovenia, the next workshop is taking place on 29 November in the premises of the Pomurska Chamber of Commerce.
Grad Jable je 22. novembra gostil Razpravo o prihodnosti EU, s poudarkom na varnosti in obrambi, ki jo je organiziralo Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve Slovenije, udeležili pa so se je tudi predstavniki Centra za evropsko prihodnost. Na dogodku se je zbralo okrog 40 strokovnjakov iz vrst uslužbencev ministrstev, poslancev, akademikov, novinarjev, ki so se skozi dve-urni dogodek dotaknili okvirja stalnega strukturnega sodelovanja PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation), ki predstavlja mehanizem lizbonske pogodbe za evropsko obrambno sodelovanje ter širših vidikov nacionalne varnosti in obrambe.
Poudarjeno je bilo, da je potrebno umestiti pričakovanja in aktivnosti Slovenije na področju obrambe v aktualni evropski in širši kontekst. Želimo si, da bi Slovenija aktivno prispevala k EU varnosti in stabilnosti. Vprašanje pa ostaja kako naj krepitev na tem področju uporabimo v svojo korist? Kako naj naše interese prenesemo v EU aktivnosti?
Predstavniki so skozi debato predstavili PESCO, kjer so poudarili, da je članstvo prostovoljno, država pa je iz njega izključena, če ne izpolnjuje pogojev. Glavno sporočilo iniciative naj bi bilo, da bo EU bo prevzela večjo odgovornost za lastno varnost nase. Od držav članic se pričakuje načrt kako bo kriterije dosegla, le te mora biti sposobna realizirati.
Redno povečevanje obrambnih proračunov, da bi dosegli dogovorjene cilje.
Povečanje deleža odhodkov, dodeljenih obrambnim raziskavam in tehnologiji z namenom dosega 2% celotne obrambne porabe (kolektivno merilo uspešnosti).
Zaporedno srednjeročno povečanje izdatkov za obrambne naložbe na 20% celotne porabe za obrambo (kolektivno merilo), da bi zapolnili strateške vrzeli v zmogljivostih skozi sodelovanje pri projektih obrambnih zmogljivosti.
Skupne nabave ter razvoj vojaških tehnologij. Država članica mora sodelovati vsaj v enem projektu PESCO.
Vzpostavitev sistema rednega pregleda dosega teh zavez.
Za uspešno sodelovanje potrebujemo voljo, sposobnost, kjer je predvsem mišljena finančna sposobnost ter širšo javno in politično podporo. Potrebno bi bilo notranje prestrukturiranje (na račun povečanja sodelovanja v EU misijah, bi bilo npr. potrebno zmanjšati sodelovanje v NATO misijah). Kakšno bo javno mnenje o tem? Ali obstaja podpora? Predstavljeno je bilo javno mnenje državljanov EU in Slovenije: na drugem mestu (za vrednoto prostega pretoka ljudi) je skupna varnost in obramba (75% zelo pomembno, v Sloveniji 97%). Jasno je, da javna podpora zatorej obstaja.
Po drugi strani je bilo predstavljeno mnenje, da sistemi znotraj EU ne delujejo, države so prepuščene same sebi tudi, ko gre za EU varnost in stabilnost. EU države naj bi bile brez ZDA nesposobne poskrbeti za svojo nacionalno varnost. Prav tako je bilo poudarjeno, da Slovenija nima lastnih zmogljivosti.
Centre for European Perspective’s Executive Director dr. Gorazd Justinek participated in the China-CEEC Think Tanks Network conference entitled “The Achievements of 16+1 Cooperation in the Latest Five Years” on Monday, 20 November 2017, hosted in Budapest, Hungary. The conference has been jointly sponsored by the Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the China-CEEC Think Tanks Network, by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and by the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
CEP has recently been involved in an ongoing research of China’s involvement in the Western Balkans in the light of the One Belt, One Road initiative, infrastructure investments and projects, and digital cooperation in the framework of the 16+1 Platform.
“Five years have passed and together we have made great achievements in policy consultation, economic cooperation, cultural exchanges, and many other fields,” Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Duan Jielong said in his opening remarks. He said the bilateral relationships today between China and CEE countries are “at their best in history.” “We expanded our infrastructure and industrial partnerships,” he said.
Istvan Ijgyarto, Hungarian State Secretary for Cultural and Science Diplomacy, praised the importance of think tanks in the “16+1 cooperation”. Hungary upholds the view that China-CEEC cooperation constitutes an important part of cooperation between the European Union and China in the framework of their comprehensive strategic partnership, Ijgyarto said.
Huang Ping, director-general of the Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, “We are here to implement the great ideas and suggestions and to use this forum as a platform to improve the bilateral relations of all the sixteen countries with China.”
High on the agenda of the conference were the evaluation and discussion on the progress of the investment of China in CEEC, on the local collaboration in the 16+1 cooperation, and on the progress of transportation and communication.
The future is digital and it is of great importance for the public institutions, governments, ministries, embassies to get on board and embrace the potentials of the new technologies. Unlike the traditional diplomacy, digital diplomacy allows anyone, everyone, anywhere, anytime to have a voice. Individuals are no longer just passive receivers of information, they can respond, influence and contribute. This is the way to engage the public in the broadest sense into the decision-making processes, but also to engage into a multi-channel communication flow.
In order to build the knowledge base in the field of digital diplomacy in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe, Centre for European Perspective is working together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and the United States Department of State. New development cooperation project »Enhancing Digital Diplomacy Activities in the Western Balkan and Eastern European Countries” is kicking-off next week, addressing and bringing together the public institutions PR and digital services.
An advanced public relations training, focused on digital diplomacy, taking place in Bled, Slovenia, from 28 to 30 November 2017, will offer in-depth knowledge about the importance of the digital presence, European digital media landscape, audience identification, story-telling, ecosystem and strategy creation, digital campaigns, visual contents and digital media (such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube).
Over 70 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine and Slovenia will get a chance to work with the digital engagement experts from the U.S. Department of State, academic or private sector as well as experts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia. The programme aims to strengthen the capacities of the public institutions to plan, coordinate and prepare digital campaigns through various digital communication tools.
The project is part of the CEP program activities financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the scope of international development cooperation, this time in cooperation with the US Department of State.
A round table discussion “The Evolving and Ever-present Cyber Security” attracted a large crowd of participants from various fields interested in cyber security, ranging from academics, IT specialists, companies to embassy and ministry representatives, who discussed the evolving challenges on Friday, 17 November, in Ljubljana. The event was organized in the framework of the Bled Strategic Forum international conference in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Centre for European Perspective and Club Alpbach Senza Confini.
The event was open by Meliha Muherina, Project Manager at CEP, who briefly introduced the idea and organizers behind the event. The opening remarks were delivered by Miriam Možgan, cyber security coordinator at the Slovenian ministry of foreign affairs, who presented the recent engagements of Slovenia in its foreign policy in relation to the topic of cyber security; Domen Božeglav, adviser for digitalization in the office of the Slovenian minister of public administration, who continued with the internal aspect of Slovenian preparations and reactions to the cyber security developments; and Vesna Kuralt, president of Club Alpbach Senza Confini, who presented Forum Alpbach Network, its work and future plans for cooperation.
The panelists, Daniel Cohen, Head of the Strategy program at the Institute for International Diplomacy and a researcher at Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Institute, Dobran Božič, Director of the Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information, Gorazd Božič, Slovenian Computer Emergency Response Team, and Peter Geršak, International Business Machines Corporation, Slovenia, addressed various aspects of cyber security, starting with the question of the ownership of the infrastructure relevant to the cyber space. The dilemma of the agreement between the society, state and private companies on the ownership and regulation of the cyber space was discussed as one of the crucial questions in the times when the public demands protection from the state, emphasized Dobran Božič.
In contrast to the past perception of cyber-attacks as something that is in the domain of young hackers from the science fiction movies and books, the issue is considered as an act of organized crime today. The trends show that they are usually motivated by financial profits, said Gorazd Božič. Peter Geršak approached the discussion from the perspective of businesses, exposing the challenges of the protection of the devices that the employees use, lack of skills of employees in this field and the provision of advising services for the mitigation of the effects of cyber threats on businesses.
While a number of potential scenarios was discussed as the emerging trends in cyber-attacks, the worst-case scenarios would involve an attack on critical infrastructure, including energy sector, telecommunications and banking. Dobran Božič explained Slovenia’s and wider European preparations for such cases, also in the light of the recent EU Directive on Security of Network and Information System. Gorazd Božič exposed a number of already functioning response systems and expressed his positive view on the existing capabilities.
Daniel Cohen, specializing in cyber terrorism, elaborated on the challenges of the web and social media use in terrorist recruitment, especially in the case of ISIS, discussed fake news, elections meddling and information leaks, but also touched upon the rather unproductive cooperation between the public institutions and the private enterprises.
Internet of Things (IoT) was approached from the perspective of privacy protection of the citizens and the evolving public perception of private data sharing with the private corporations such as big international corporations and with the state, who on the other hand is expected to protect the citizens in case of a security breach. The round table discussion, moderated by Sabina Carli of CEP, also engaged into a vivid exchange of views relating to the challenges that are brought to both software developers and the authorities when it comes to encrypted communications, crypto, blockchain, internet voting and artificial intelligence.
