Young BSF ended in Bled with a panel and round-table workshop organised in close cooperation with Italy, which currently chairs the OSCE. Slovenian Foreign Affairs Ministry State Secretary Iztok Mirošič delivered the first address, in which he pointed to the youth as one of the groups most susceptible to radicalisation. This is why it is necessary to provide it with opportunities for jobs, education and active involvement in political processes.Another challenge faced by the OSCE, EU, and the Mediterranean region are migrations. Youth is also the group widely affected by negative developments related to this, especially through the use of technologies like social media. Mirošič highlighted efforts in Slovenia at fostering an atmosphere of tolerance, for instance through a Foreign Ministry-developed teaching tool intended for pupils in Slovenian schools, who learn about the experience of children refugees. The state secretary also emphasized gender equality efforts, pointing out women are a vulnerable group in migration-related trafficking in people while they also have strong capabilities in the processes of deradicalization and reintegration. “Security is inextricably linked to gender equality,” he stressed.
Matjaž Nemec, the chair of the Slovenian National Assembly’s Foreign Policy Committee, said that the Euro-Mediterranean region has seen many new bonds develop but also tension arise. The challenges require a stepped up effort in the context of OSCE-Mediterranean cooperation. He also highlighted the issues raised by Mirošič, arguing the youth and its role is being underestimated.
“They have the predominant feeling that they live on the margins of society with no voice of power,” he said, expressing the fear things will sooner or later erupt in political instability, economic crises, ethnic religious tension, migration. Occasions and opportunities like today’s can be a good source of pressure on governments to further develop strategies and plans at international, regional and local levels, he noted.Italian Ambassador to Slovenia Paolo Trichilo, who provided the idea for the session, focused on migrations, quoting Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi as recently describing migrations as an issue of common responsibility that “must be generally shared to the maximum extent possible without nationalistic reserves since the Mediterranean presents one of the great global challenges”. The phenomenon must also be understood as human trafficking and human slavery exploitation, “therefore we must not close our eyes and turn our head the other way”. He moreover called for action to ameliorate social and economic conditions in the origin countries of migration, taking particular account of the added value of youth.
The round table discussions that followed explored some of the issues raised by the opening speakers, with one of the findings highlighted a lot being the fragmentation of opinions among the young as regards migration as well for instance in their attitude to the establishment. One topic explored was education, with the need raised to transform it so as to enable employability. The need was also expressed for a better understanding of the situation of civil society in individual countries and for maybe moving beyond just working with NGOs to directly empower young individuals. As to the migration situation in general, the need was noted to first find a common understanding of the phenomenon in Europe.
The first of the two Young BSF panels that were incorporated into the main forum in Bled this year tried to find ways to prevent conflicts, build peace and use mediation, by focusing on contemporary cases in the Balkans and the Middle East – from the political, cultural and social aspects.
Faris Kočan, research assistant at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences, presented an ongoing project, entitled Strengthening European Integration through the Analysis of Conflicting Discourses: Revisiting the Past, Anticipating the Future. The interdisciplinary project, which involves several universities, will include a cross-cultural analysis of the conflict discourses in Cyprus, Ireland, Greece, Bosnia, Kosovo, Spain, Germany, and Poland, looking at histories, media, arts and culture, and political narratives as the key elements allowing a better understanding of the specific situations.
Asked by an audience member about the view that forgetting the past is sometimes similarly important as remembering it, Kočan said that in the case in Bosnia, for instance, it cannot be expected that the past will be forgotten, with three different narratives currently present. “It is important to get a common narrative, so once you have it, you life together. You will never forget about a conflict in my opinion,” he said.
Miro Haček, social sciences professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences, presented a study that highlights democratic consolidation as a key aspect of peacekeeping in the Western Balkans. The study analysed the consolidation trends in former Yugoslav republic, for instance via the Human Development Index and through Freedom House’s Democracy index. Both show Slovenia and Croatia standing out, in particular the former as the only one deemed a consolidated democracy in 2016. Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia are currently not considered democratic. Haček is particularly concerned by the negative trend seen in recent years, not only in the former Yugoslavia but across Central and Eastern Europe.
He does “believe that the EU is motivation for the Western Balkans to consolidate its democracy, to at least begin with processes, begin adapting their legislation to the acquis”. “Without this external motivation these democratic processes would be more difficult and we would talk not about four countries that are at least stable, semi-consolidated or consolidated democracies.”
Maja Dolinar, a double PhD candidate in international relations and social and cultural anthropology at the University of Ljubljana, looked at developments in EU-Mediterranean relations. She argued that the EU had approached the region under three basic assumptions that proved misguided. The first was the idea it would be able to engage in region building, ignoring that the region has never been homogeneous. It moreover primarily saw it as its southern neighbourhood, neglecting the influence of other international players that are also present and have become more present after 2011, actually treating the region as a battlefield that has seen rough competition for power and influence. The third assumption was the EU has a high level unity in policy formation and implementation. The EU’s foreign policy however remains highly intergovernmental and consensus and coherent action as regards the Southern Mediterranean has been elusive.
“In the case of the Arab uprising it even become obvious that in several cases the EU members were pursuing national interests which were often at odds with the official position of the EU,” she said, highlighting the military intervention in Libya and the handling of migration flow as examples. The incoherence of the EU’s policies and their implementation has undermined the bloc’s credibility in the region. In its recent declarations the EU has acknowledged the problem and its trying to act with more flexibility and sensitivity towards its partners, which is proving more effective.
Mostafa Khalili, an Irani student at Doshisha University who is researching interethnic relations in Iran with a focus on Iranian Azeris and Kurds, spoke about how Iran is much more fragmented than it seems from the outside – only about 50% of Iranians are Persian. Khalili, who fears “balkanisation”, meaning confrontations, in the area, also noted the many divisions among the Kurds. He sees a more sociological, anthropological approach as very useful for getting to understand how ethnicity is being constructed and deconstructed in the region, including by political players.
“We really need to understand the situation first and only then try to put forward some proposals. This for instance did not happen in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq – they just started with big policy moves without establishing the social problems,” he illustrated.
Akihiro Ienaka, a graduate student at Doshisha University who has researched politics in modern Turkey and memory studies, provided an analysis of Turkey’s evolution from Kemalism to Erdogan. One thing he highlighted as an issue was the sidetracking of talks on EU membership, which he believes is also a result of the Erdogan government’s alledged focus on staying in power as its main objective.
As Priority area 10 of the EUSDR is focusing on Institutional Capacity and Cooperation we aim to include young professionals in the policy processes that are defining not only youth policies but tackle the major societal challenges. Institutions need to be able and ready to work with various groups of the society, as most of their work is dedicated back to its citizens.
We have decided to take the opportunity of the Young Bled Strategic Forum that is an integral part of the annual Bled Strategic Forum, a leading conference in Central and South East Europe focused on discussing and seeking solutions to pressing regional and global issues, organised jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and the Centre for European Perspective.
Special emphasis at the Forum will be given to cross-regional cooperation. A new generation of leaders will demonstrate that such cooperation is not only necessary, but inevitable for positive next steps in democratisation, fighting corruption, terrorism and climate change, and fostering social, economic, and cross-cultural sustainable development. To do this, young leaders have to learn from their peers from different regions, sharing their knowledge, ideas and know-how. Sustainable regional cooperation programmes are the key to a comprehensive, inclusive, and innovative approach that engages youth.
The Young BSF 2018 will host young leaders that will discuss Sustainable Security: The Role of Youth in Bridging the Divides. A ‘sustainable security’ approach prioritises the resolution of the interconnected underlying drivers of insecurity and conflict, with an emphasis on preventive rather than reactive strategies. The central premise of the sustainable security approach is that we cannot control all the consequences of insecurity successfully, but have to work to deal with the root causes of instability.
We have encouraged young leaders from Danube region between 18 and 35 years to participate through the public call. They needed to list their experiences, most pressing issues in their countries and proposed solutions that would have wider impact. The YBSF team selected 30 young professionals from 12 Danube countries that will join workshops, debates, round tables and study visits in Ljubljana and Bled, Slovenia, from 7 – 10 September. They have various backgrounds and working experiences – some are students or working at the Universities, some working for non-governmental institutions, international organizations, city administrations, there are as well entrepreneurs among them.
Discussions will than continue at Bled Strategic Forum will be held from 10 – 11 September and will bring together experts, practitioners and politicians who will tackle the hot topics of the world, joined together under title Bridging the divide. There are particularly three panels that will address challenges related to the action of the Priority area 10 and its targets within the Action plan for the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube region:
Digital Bridge: Transformation for Institutional Resilience
Digitalisation is a modern imperative. Institutions find themselves in a fast-paced and evolving environment in which rapid changes in communications media and power dynamics have significant effect on the role and voice of governments, business, media, and civil society organisations. In order to remain resilient and pliant while further serving the best interests of society, institutions must embrace on the digital future and transform and transcend traditional ways of operating. They must form the bridge.
Bridging the Trust Divide between People and Institutions
Levels of trust in institutions vary across time and cultures. The 2018 Edelman TRUST BAROMETER, measuring trust across a number of institutions, sectors and geographies, reveals a world of seemingly stagnant distrust in business, government, NGOs and the media. However, trust in institutions is one of the most critical elements of healthy societies, as it matters for their legitimacy, well-being and, ultimately, stability. This participatory panel will seek to discuss the root causes of people’s declining trust in well-established and alternative institutions and share experiences of how this challenge is addressed in various regions and at different levels.
Western Balkans: Lost Years or New Hope?
The EU enlargement process has always been a political process. Despite the technical benchmarks, monitoring missions, evaluations and progress reports, it took only one sentence from the President of the European Commission five years ago to raise doubt and fear about belief in the enlargement policy and the Western Balkans. After several years of uncertainty, it again took only one sentence from the same President to revive hope and enthusiasm in the region, which in the past was much more concerned about having a positive external appearance than internal reforms. This hope was translated into concrete language with a new strategy on enlargement; new tasks have been divided among the countries of the region, and uncertainty has been replaced by actual dates for enlargement.
All expert discussions are designed in interesting formats, host excellent guests and are enriched with inspiring moderators. However, many times participants (more than 1100 yearly) put rich networking opportunities into the spotlight of the reasons to come to Bled. It is an excellent opportunity for seeking fresh opportunities, starting new partnerships and exchange of ideas between political and business leaders.
It was the fifth time that the six Western Balkans countries participated in a Summit dedicated to a common cooperation and integration with the European Union. This year’s Summit took place in the United Kingdom in London on 10 July. Prime Minister Theresa May hosted Heads of the Government of the Western Balkan 6: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The representatives of Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Greece as well as the EU institutions were also present. The whole idea is set within the Berlin Process initiative launched by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on August 28, 2014. The process was designed as a four-year series of meetings of prime ministers, ministers, civil society, and business communities of the Western Balkans. Before the fifth summit, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) put many efforts into making this meeting a success. A special department was set up to deal with the preparations and they held different meetings and seminars with experts on the region, both in the UK and in the region itself. Bled Strategic Forum and Center for European Perspective representatives took active role in preparatory sessions, meetings held prior to the event, as well as at the event itself.
Process has after four years brought various positive developments to the region. The connectivity agenda has contributed to economic co-operation and growth sustainability, while various infrastructure construction and economic space connectivity projects have been developed. There has been some success in resolving bilateral issues as well. Two interstate agreements were signed following the adoption of the Declaration on Bilateral Issues, while the biggest success has been the historic agreement between Macedonia and Greece, whose name dispute, along with the dispute between Belgrade and Pristina, is stated in the final declaration of the Berlin conference in 2014 as one of the key bilateral issues. A lot of progress has been made in recognizing role of youth and youth involvement, while Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) role, established as the Berlin Process product, was welcomed as a very important organisation in promoting reconciliation and increasing regional cooperation between young people. Topic discussed most was youth unemployment. The representatives agreed that young people’s potential need to be harnessed but also remained concerned about high levels of brain drain. The Chair’s Conclusions of the Heads’ meeting of the London Western Balkans Summit welcomed the role young people and civil society had played in shaping the London Summit and strongly agreed that young people are the region’s biggest asset. They also agreed that more needs to be done to harness the potential of the young people.
London summit produced many results, particularly declarations of intent and respective agreements. The heads of state agreed to a “Joint Declaration on Regional and Good Neighborly Relations”, a “Joint Declaration on Missing Persons”, and a “Joint Declaration on War Crimes” (see the documents here). The interior ministers confirmed their intentions to further strengthen information exchange on serious organized crime and other security threats; to further cooperate in tackling the illicit possession, misuse and trafficking of firearms; to deal with human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants; and to deal with corruption (see here). They also agreed to establish a “Berlin Process Security Commitments Steering Group” to oversee the commitments, headed by the UK (see here). Foreign Ministers reiterated the positive developments in the region in the past year (see here).
In addition, the UK used the stage to announce changes in its Western Balkans policy (see here) which included a doubling in UK funding to the region from the Conflict, Security and Stability Fund, as well as a doubling of UK staff in the region dealing with security issues affecting the UK. Furthermore, the UK committed £10 million for digital education among young people; this is a programme run through the British Council from which 4,500 schools will benefit. In addition, the UK promised £1 million to help address legacy issues in the region, especially emphasizing the issue of missing persons in this context, which also had a particular importance during the summit.
One of the downsides of the Berlin process and commitments made at the Summit, is lack of monitoring institutions. Civil society, and its integral part, youth organizations, play a large role here, with keeping track, reporting and disseminating of actions of their respective governments in regards to the commitments made. Civil society should also continue with its contributions in shaping the priority areas to be tackled within the Berlin process, as well as ensure recommendations are provided on the issues at hand.
“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.
In order to support the endeavor of the countries of the Western Balkans, the Centre for European Perspective (CEP) has been engaged in the entrepreneurial programmes for the last five years and its main objective is empowerment of young entrepreneurs from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Empowerment is understood in many layers – support in development of their idea, networking with colleagues from the region and wider, introducing them and their ideas to investors from all over the world as well as enable them to connect with peers from all across their country. The ultimate goal is to unite them in an informal setting that offers framework for cooperation, discussion and shaping of national policies. Encouraging young ones to contribute their perception of the world to the national policy process is essential for brighter future in their homeland.
Programme started in beginning of the year with two workshops in Sarajevo and Pristina and continued with online challenge where entrepreneurs needed to present their idea, team and business plans. Workshops were well visited which resulted in high number of submitted applications – 75 from Kosovo and 34 from Bosnia and Herzegovina. A selection committee selected best 10 ideas from each country and invited two people from each to come in May to Slovenia. Their transport, accommodation and meals were organized, along with ticket for PODIM conference.
CEP prepared an intensive and interesting programme which included meetup with Ambassadors from their countries, representatives of Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for the Western Balkan policies, pitches in front of experienced investors, discussion with start-up mentors and experts for entrepreneurship development. On 15 and 16 May 2018 the group of young and promising entrepreneurs moved to Maribor to participate in the biggest networking event for start-ups in the Alps-Adriatic Region, to take part in the PODIM Challenge pitching competition and to meet PODIM investors and blue-chip partners.
Programme in Maribor involved a number of intriguing lectures, panels and round-table discussions on business, business development, investments, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, block chain technology and ICOs and other topics that are of high interest to the young entrepreneurs. As part of the programme, PODIM Challenge TOP 20 took place in which the best 20 start-ups attending the conference pitched their ideas in front of an expert jury – and there was as well one start-up from Bosnia and Herzegovina among them – Meerkiddo.
Youngsters concluded their visit with bunch of positive stories, new contacts and connections, and even new ideas for their future developments. They have promised to stay in touch, support each other and in return for great opportunity, share their expertise with new start-ups that are yet to emerge in their local surroundings.
Programme is part of the Centre for European Perspective’s activities that are supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Slovenia’s Development Cooperation.
List of the selected BiH and Kosovo selected start-ups
Evaluation of the programme of BiH participant – start-up Meerkiddo
Some tips and hints from Dr Jernej Pintar, Technology Park of Ljubljana
