While the renewed EU interest in the Western Balkans is without doubt positive, it rests on several myths and misconceptions. This is the general stance of the authors of the new Policy Brief “The Balkans as a Geopolitical Chessboard?” Myths, Realities and Policy Options of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group Florian Bieber, Professor…
The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group and the European Western Balkans are organizing the public event “Global Actors in the Western Balkans” in the EU Info Centre Belgrade ( 11.00 – 14.30) on June 17, 2019. What is the real impact of the non-Western actors in the Western Balkans? What are their interests? Are…
The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) and the Clingendael Institute, supported by the European Fund for the Balkans are organizing the public event “The Netherlands, the Western Balkans, and the EU” on 6 June at Aeroklub (Uzun Mirkova 4, Belgrade). The event is an occasion for the policy experts from the Western Balkans…
The BiEPAG experts had a series of events and meetings with opinion-makers and officials from the U.S. administration last week in Washington, DC. The goal was to provide an insight into the state of affairs in the Western Balkans and to explore the possibilities of how the U.S. engagement in the region can lead to…
WASHINGTON – What will be the role of the EU’s transformative power in the region in the coming years and how will the Western Balkans deal with the security challenges and past conflicts were some of the questions brought out at the conference “Western Balkans: Managing Challenges Ahead” organized by Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG), Johns…
What will the next decade look like for the Western Balkans? Although the prospective 2025 EU enlargement remains in place, the actual fulfilment of that promise remains elusive. While the rise of populism and related uncertainty about its institutional design have fostered a sense of enlargement fatigue in Brussels, the EU’s is still perceived as…
Photo: Flickr EEAS (CC BY-NC 2.0) The term ‘partition’ in our modern political lexicon invariably conjures up images of mass displacement and population transfer. The idea that creating ethnically-homogeneous spaces, or a homeland for a given national group, is a viable solution to inter or intra-state conflict has been employed throughout recent history as the…
Photo by: © European Union The Clingendael Institute and the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) are jointly organising a public event on ‘Serbia, The Western Balkans and the EU’. During the event, you will have a chance to join the debate on the Serbian accession process to the EU and regional cooperation and…
The rule of law is not defined through the adopted laws, but through their implementation and practice, and the current approach of the European Union is not sufficient to help the countries of the Western Balkans in transforming themselves. This is the conclusion of the panel discussion “Why the EU should care for the rule…
Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) and the Institute for Democracy ‘Societas Civilis’ (IDSCS) titled ‘The Western Balkans beyond resolution of bilateral issues’ are organizing the panel discussion “The Western Balkans beyond resolution of bilateral issues” in Skopje on March 29,2019. EU’s credible enlargement perspective has put the resolution of bilateral issues in the Western Balkans at…