The event will be opened byAleksandra Tomanić, Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans andH.E.Henk van den Dool, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Serbia.

In the first panel,Wouter Zweers(Clingendael Institute),Jan Marinus Wiersma(Clingendael Institute) andSrdjan Majstorovic(European Policy Centre / BiEPAG) will discuss what are the real obstacles to the EU enlargement and whether this stuck process can be overturned. This panel will be moderated byMitra Nazar(NOS).

The speakers of the second panelNikola Burazer(European Western Balkans),Vuk Velebit(political analyst, Talas.rs) andMarko Savković(Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence) will discuss what is the reallity, what are the causes and consequences of a foreign influence in the Western Balkans. This panel will be moderated byMaja Bjelos(Independent security expert).

In the third panel,Donika Emini(Kosovar Centre for Security Studies / BiEPAG),Srdjan Cvijić(Open Society European Policy Institute / BiEPAG) andZoran Nechev(Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” / BiEPAG) will discuss regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations. Specifically, the negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo on land swapping in the context of democratisation of the region will be addressed. This panel will be moderated byIgor Bandović(European Fund for the Balkans).

The discussion is a follow-up of the event that took place in The Hague last week as a product of a close cooperation of the BiEPAG and Clingendael Institute.

Programme

9.00 – 9.30Registration and coffee

9.30 – 10.00Welcome remarks and opening address

10.00 – 11.15Panel 1: Real Obstacles to the EU Enlargement

11.15 – 11.30Coffee break

11.30 – 12.45Panel 2: Foreign Influence – Between Reality and Excuses

12.45 – 13.45Lunch break

13.45 – 15.00Panel 3:Democracy as the Driving Force of Resolving Bilateral Disputes