The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) and the Balkan Center for Constructive Policies – Solution (North Macedonia) in cooperation with Open Society Foundations Western Balkans are honoured to announce that the BSC Leaders Meetings discussion will take place on 17 May 2024, from 10:00 CET, in Tirana, Albania.

The BSC Leaders Meetings present a series of half-day events organised throughout the Western Balkans. They are part of the Belgrade Security Conference (BSC) – a high-level international policy event organised by the BCSP each year in Belgrade. The BSC Leaders Meetings aim to gather policy-makers and experts who will discuss major foreign and security challenges facing the region, geopolitical events and trends affecting it, and to assess the future of democratic reforms, regional cooperation and the place of the Western Balkans in global politics.

Panel discussion “Albania and the Western Balkans in the EU by 2030: Tackling the Obstacles Ahead”

Ever since the publication of the Report of the Franco-German Working Group on the EU Institutional Reform in September 2023, the launching of the New EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans in November 2023, and more lately the Communication from the European Commission on pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews in March 2024, it has become obvious that after an initial geopolitical impulse to accelerated enlargement caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the high speed EU integration train has left the station aiming to see the new member states join the Union as early as 2030. The Communication of the European Commission to the European Parliament and European Council has formally included all constructive proposals from the Western Balkans and European think tanks on how to render EU accession process more effective: introducing Qualified Majority Voting in all interim stages of the EU accession process, candidate countries joining the EU single market and gradual integration of the candidate countries before accession. Whereas there are many reasons for optimism, concerns remain whether the EU will achieve its institutional reforms in due time to welcome new members, and on the other hand whether the candidate countries in the Western Balkans will fulfill the criteria for EU membership before the due date.

The aim of this high-level panel of the BSC Leaders Meetings event is to take stock of the opportunities and obstacles standing between Albania and other Western Balkan countries’ EU membership by 2030.

Each BSC Leaders Meetings event includes a public panel discussion and a Chatham House debate dedicated to different foreign and security policy issues, including EU enlargement.

 

Agenda

10:00 – 10:15 Opening Remarks

· Dr. Srđan Cvijić, President of the International Advisory Committee of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy

· Andi Dobrushi, Director of Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans

10:15 – 11:45 Panel Discussion

· Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania

· Prof. Dr. Daniela Schwarzer, Member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board

· Majlinda Bregu, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council

· Alba Çela, Executive Director and Head of the European Program at the Albanian Institute for International Studies

Moderator: Dr. Nikola Dimitrov, President and co-founder, the Balkan Center for Constructive Policies – Solucija, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia

11:45 – 12:00 Q&A

12:00 – 12:30 Coffee Break