A contribution to the Trieste Western Balkans Conference in July 2017
More than 80 researchers and policy analysts from think tanks and academia met in Trieste at the Central European Initiative. Participants from all EU member states and the six Western Balkans countries were invited.
The Reflection Forum was organised in an innovative manner allowing for an open and direct exchange around four key thematic areas related to the priorities of the process launched in Berlin 2014 and EU integration. It provided a platform fostering the exchange of perspectives in order to broaden the reflection about the regional developments among the policy community, the media and the general public.
Links have also been created to the Western Balkans Civil Society Forum also organised in view of the intergovernmental Conference of Trieste on 11-12 July 2017. As follow-on, in view of the next intergovernmental Conference, outreach events will be held with partners in the Western Balkans region during autumn/winter 2017/18. It is planned to convene another reflection forum during 2018.
The programme is available here.
Organised by Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Rome, the Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE), Nice/Berlin and the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe (CFA), Vienna.
In cooperation with French Institute for International Relations (Ifri), Prais, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Berlin, Austrian Institute for Politics (Oiip), Vienna, European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), Paris, Centre for European Perspective (CEP), Ljubljana, Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory (BiEPAG), Graz, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso (OBC), Rovereto
With the support of Central European Initiative (CEI); Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France; Federal Ministry for European, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria; Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany; Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), Berlin/Sarajevo.
30-31 May 2016, Paris
In this perspective, the CFA, CIFE and IFRI will organise a forum for reflection on the Western Balkans in Paris on May, 30th and 31st 2016, in cooperation with Sciences Po CERI, SWP, EUISS, IAI, Oiip and Erste Foundation, and with the support of the MFA of France, Germany and Austria and the Austrian Embassy in Paris.
The reflection forum, entitled “The Western Balkans in the European Union: new perspectives on integration?”, aims to discuss the relevance of a European dialogue of research and policy institutions on issues related to the Western Balkans and their European integration in the run-up to the Conference of Heads of State and Government from the Western Balkans countries hosted by President François Hollande on 4 July 2016.
The reflection forum will invite the community of European experts working on EU integration in the Western Balkans to highlight the challenges the EU faces in enlargement matters in the Western Balkans today and the contribution research can make to EU policy processes. It will provide a platform fostering the exchange of perspectives between experts working in national and European administrations and researchers affiliated to think tanks or academic institutes in France, the European Union and beyond. The Forum will furthermore contribute to broadening the reflection about the Western Balkans among the policy community, the media and the general public. It will also create links to the Western Balkans Civil Society Forum and Sustainable Investment Forum, both organised on the margins of the intergovernmental Conference of Paris in July 2016, as well as establish a bridge to the next intergovernmental Conference to be held in Italy in the summer of 2017.
Organised by: French Institute for International Relations (ifri), Paris; Centre international de formation européenne (CIFE), Nice/Berlin/Istanbul; Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe (CFA), Vienna.
In cooperation with: Sciences Po CERI, Paris; Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Berlin; European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), Paris; Instituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Rome; Austrian Institute for International Politics (Oiip), Vienna; Erste Foundation (ERSTE), Vienna
With the support of: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of France, Austrian Embassy in France, Federal Foreign office of Germany and Federal Ministry for European, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria.
Contact:
Tobias Flessenkemper (CIFE), tobias.flessenkemper(at]cife.eu
Florent Marciacq (CFA), florent.marciacq(at]oefz.at
Aline Palige (CIFE), aline.palige(at]cife.eu