The Centre for European Perspective is holding the second capacity-building training on countering disinformation in Portorož (SLO), bringing together representatives of government, civil society and media from all 6 countries in the Western Balkans.
At this weeks training, the representatives from the media and NGO’s, had the chance to discuss disinformation issues with the governmental representatives. All sides presented good practices and made next steps in strengthening regional cooperation.
Project “Strengthening societal resilience and countering foreign perpetrated disinformation in the Western Balkans” is financed by the National Endowment for Democracy and Slovenian Development Aid fund (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia).
Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje (IDSCS) and Centre for European Perspective (CEP) Slovenia organised the event “2021 Slovenian Presidency with the Council of EU, the integration of WB and the role of the Visegrad countries” on 5 October in Ljubljana, Slovenia as part of the Think Balkans project.
The welcoming remarks were delivered by Ms Urška Volk Kovačič, Head of Bled Strategic Forum and Danube Programme and representative of the Centre for European Perspective, Mr Gjergj Murra, Executive Director of the Western Balkans Fund (WBF), Mr Marko Troshanovski, President of the Institute for Democracy (IDSCS) and Mr Peter Grk, Secretary General of the Bled Strategic Forum and National Coordinator for the Western Balkans at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.
Ms Volk Kovačič welcomed the attendees and in her remarks endorsed the Think Balkans project as a mechanism that contributes to the enlargement process of the Western Balkans. “Think Balkans in particular is of a great importance for the enlargement process and it is a valuable project for the Centre for European Perspective (CEP) which was created with the goal of assisting Western Balkan countries on their road to the EU”, said Volk Kovačič.
Mr Murra emphasised the importance of setting mechanisms that will contribute to the on-going trust-building processes between institutions and think tank community in the region.
“Encouraged by the support and partnership relations of the project with MFA’s in the region, as relevant beneficiaries of your products, let me stress and highlight the advice for keeping as close as possible connections with the focal points in the respective ministries. I firmly believe that Western Balkans Fund may become the natural partner of the initiative, playing an essential role in developing think tanks and their cooperation in the region“, said Murra.
Mr Troshanovski talked about the main motivation behind the project, the prospective goals and upcoming activities in the period to come.
“The idea of Think Balkans is to move towards a permanent mechanism, and the support and recognition we get from the donor side, as well the MFAs and our partners in the consortium, is very much encouraging. The mechanism aims to create more formalised and institutional platform that will bring the region closer”, stated Troshanovski
Mr Grk stressed the importance of strategic importance of the WB for the future of the EU the enlargement process for the WB and positioning them as equal partners.
“There is a need for substantial transformation of the region, not just economic but social, better rule of law, protection of human rights, and this can only be achieved through active and serious enlargement process. The Slovenian presidency aimed towards bringing back the light, focus and strategic discussion on the region”, said Grk.
The first panel addressed the topic of European Union’s revised enlargement methodology and the future of the Western Balkan. Mr Dragan Tilev, State Counsellor for Support of the EU Membership Negotiations at the Secretariat for EU affairs and Associate Researcher at the Institute for Democracy (IDSCS), Ms Nedžma Džananović Miraščija, Professor at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Sarajevo and Researcher at the Humanity in Action, Ms Jelica Minić, Vice-President of the European Movement in Serbia (EMiNS), Mr Tomas Strazay, Director of the Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA) and Ms Jana Juzova, Research Fellow at the EUROPEUM- Institute for European Policy shared their perspective on the topic.
Each of the panelists addressed different aspect of the New or Revised Methodology and their perspective of its impact over the WB enlargement process. Tilev discussed the future of the New Enlargement Methodology and whether it will become the new hope for the WB or the labyrinth with no exit. Minić presented her perspective on how the New Methodology will reflect on Serbia accession process to the EU. Džananović talked about the impact of the revised methodology on Bosnia and Hercegovina which still has not achieved the candidate status. Strazay stressed Visegrad countries and Slovenia’s role in advocating for the WB in the EU enlargement process and representing them at the Conference of the Future of Europe. Juzová added to the opinion of Visegrad being the voice for Western Balkan in the EU but also emphasised that EU should perceive the WB beneficial in terms of geopolitics and security for the whole continent.
The second panel touched the topic of reinventing regional cooperation under decreased EU leverage in the Western Balkans. The topic gathered Mr Nikola Mumin, Executive Director of the Politikon Network, Mr Ledion Krisafi, Researcher at the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS), Ms Donika Emini, Executive Director of the CiviKos Platform and member of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG), Mr Zoran Nechev Head of the Centre for EU integration within Institute for Democracy (IDSCS), Mr Ferenc Nemeth, Research Fellow at the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (IFAT) and Ms Marta Szpala, Senior Fellow at the Central European Department of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW).
Mumin presented his perspective on regional cooperation and the benefits of it for Montenegro. However, he said that currently the regional cooperation for Montenegro seems to be on hold, despite the political discourse saying otherwise, especially in the case of the Open Balkan initiative where Montenegro is currently not taking part. Krisafi briefed on the Albanian perspective of regional cooperation stressing the fact the Albania focus has to be expended on increased regional cooperation with every country in the region. Emini emphasised that regional cooperation has to be present among the countries despite all of the on-going bilateral issues in the region. Presenting the Macedonian perspective, Nechev agreed that regional cooperation is essential for the region, not just as conditionality for EU accession but for a more connected, stronger and better functioning region. Nemeth suggested that regional cooperation is not valuable only prior to the EU accession but also after becoming a Member State, and following the example of Visegrad, WB6 needs to be in alliance before joining the EU. Finally, Szpala shared her thoughts on the fact that parliaments are playing a crucial part in increased regional cooperation and increasing their capacities for regional cooperation will be beneficial for the future of the region.
The concluding remarks were delivered by Mr Marko Troshanovski, President of IDSCS. The panels were moderated by Mr Zoran Nechev, Head of the Centre for EU integration within IDSCS and Ms Ana Novak, Project Manager at the Centre for European Perspective in Slovenia.
The TalentMagnet consortium is happy to present the third eNewsletter of the project!
Fifteen months of the project have already gone by and the consortium has created important outputs and achieved great progress with the Practical Guide to Talent attraction and retention and the training for writing the Local Talent attraction and retention plans.
The most important activity in this period happened this September: the partnership of project TalentMagnet met in person for the first time at the 3rd SC meeting, in Nyíregyháza. Until this meeting, we only had online meetings, which are – as we all know – not the same as meetings in person.
But we won’t spoil more about the content of the eNewsletter – you can read it here.
The development cooperation of the Republic of Slovenia with the Republic of Serbia is proceeding successfully. It is expected that between 12 and 16 October 2021 a field visit of organizational units in the Bor, Pirot, Požarevac and Zaječar police administrations is planned in Serbia with the aim of facilitating the involvement in the use of patrol management systems, implementation of expert assistance in deployment and on-site counselling.
Patrol management is an important part of the police response to people’s needs when their lives, their safety or property are at stake, and the speed of response can save lives.
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
Slovensko razvojno sodelovanje s Policijo Republike Srbije se uspešno nadaljuje
Razvojno sodelovanje Republike Slovenije z Republiko Srbijo uspešno poteka. Predvidoma med 12 in 16. oktobrom 2021 je v Srbiji načrtovana izvedba terenskega obiska organizacijskih enot na področju policijskih uprav Bor, Pirot, Požarevac in Zaječar s ciljem spremljanja vključevanja uporabe sistema za upravljanje patrulj, izvajanja strokovne pomoči pri uvajanju in svetovanja na licu mesta.
Upravljanje patrulj je pomemben del odziva policije na potrebe ljudi, ko je ogroženo njihovo življenje, njihova varnost ali premoženje, hitrost odziva pa lahko reši življenje.
Projekt je del programskih aktivnosti mednarodnega razvojnega sodelovanja, ki ga financira Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve Republike Slovenije in ga izvajamo v sodelovanju z Ministrstvom za notranje zadeve in Policijo Republike Slovenije.
From 5 to 7 October 2021 in Portorož in Slovenia, Centre for European Perspective will organise the second capacity-building training on countering disinformation.
We will bring together representatives of government, civil society and media from all 6 countries in the Western Balkans. With the input from experts, role plays and simulations, the training is aimed at enhancement of resilience and encourages further cooperation of the six countries in the Western Balkans against disinformation.
Project “Strengthening societal resilience and countering foreign perpetrated disinformation in the Western Balkans” is financed by the National Endowment for Democracy and Slovenian Development Aid fund (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia).
Between 15 and 17 September, the Centre for European Perspective conducted an online pilot training on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in EU missions and operations.
The training was designed for a wide range of participants who will be deployed to EU international missions and operations in third countries in the near future. Following the conclusion of the pilot training, all content and participating lecturers will be assessed and evaluated. Based on the conclusions of the evaluation, the content and structure of the training will be standardized and permanently available to participants from EU Member States.
The protection of cultural heritage is increasingly on the agenda of international organizations as well as relevant European Union bodies. In June, the EU Council adopted its conclusions, which also declared the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage among the European External Action Service’s foreign policy priorities. Based on coordination with European partners and a preliminary needs analysis prepared by the Center for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Italian Carabinieri, the Center for European Perspective designed a new training course and recently conducted a pilot training. Throughout the training, participants were familiarised with various forms of cultural heritage and differing factors threatening cultural heritage. The participants were acquainted with the international legal framework that provides the legal basis for the protection of cultural heritage sites in crisis areas, learned about basic approaches and tools for fieldwork and concrete experiences of civilian and military representatives in EU missions and operations who were responsible for the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage during previous deployments.
The three-day training was conducted in English. It was attended by representatives of ten European countries; Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Cyprus, Belgium, Romania, the Netherlands and Slovenia. The participants held varying degrees of previous experience with the topic of the training. Some were introduced to the topic for the first time, while others already had previous experiences with the protection of cultural heritage and attended the training to deepen their knowledge. Participants were active, and the online training format did not represent a significant barrier for participants.
Based on the evaluations of the participating lecturers, participants, and our own evaluation, we are convinced that the pilot training was a great success. The participants praised the experience of the lecturers and the contents of the training being based on concrete information from the field. Based on the feedback future trainings will be carried out in a similar manner to the pilot training.
