"EU enlargement - State of Play" - Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina
The Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity cordially invite you to our fringe meeting: “EU enlargement state of play” which will take place on Tuesday 30 March in Sarajevo in the framework of the PES Balkan Conference. The meeting will be an interesting start to the discussions at the PES Balkan Conference and all the participants of the conference are invited to attend.
PROGRAMME
Monday 29 March
20:00 | Welcome dinner
Tuesday 30 March
09:30 – 12:00 | Is Europe ready for future enlargements?
12:00 – 13:30 | Lunch
13:30 – 15:30 | Towards a coherent EU policy for the Western Balkans
16:00 | Opening of the PES Balkan Conference
SHORT REPORT
On Tuesday 30 March the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity organised a fringe meeting: “EU enlargement state of play” in Sarajevo in the framework of the PES Balkan Conference. The meeting was an interesting start to the discussions at the PES Balkan Conference. Approximately 40 participants — representatives of social democratic political parties and foundations from southeast Europe and the EU, non governmental organisations, EU institutions, international organisations and experts on the issue — actively participated in the discussion and had the opportunity to listen to interesting speakers.
Is Europe ready for future enlargements?
After a warm welcome by the president of the European Forum, Lena Hjelm-Wallén, it was discussed during the first panel if Europe is ready for future enlargement. Prof. Dr. Vasile Puscas, director Institute for International Studies, “Babes-Bolyai” University and professor of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam and chairman of Alfred Mozer Stichting
André Gerrits provided the participants with the academic background on the subject. While Prof. Puscas emphasised the importance of internal preparations of future EU member states before entering the negations process, Prof. Gerrits argued that politically both the EU and western Balkans are not ready yet for future enlargements, referring to enlargement fatigue and the lack of willingness among local political elite to speed up the EU integration process. Zoran Thaler, member of the European Parliament for the S&D Group argued that it is clear that if Western Balkans are ready, they will enter the EU, adding that setting clear goals (such as the visa liberalisation) will make it easier to achieve progress and reforms. The first panel ended with an interesting presentation by Tamás Szemlér, senior research fellow at the Institute for World Economics in Budapest. Among others Szemlér stated that the costs on non-enlargement in terms of stability, geo-strategy and legitimacy are much higher for the EU.
Towards a coherent EU policy for the Western Balkans
The second panel, chaired by senior policy advisor at Foundation for European Progressive Studies François Isserel-Savary, was opened by Dr. Zlatko Lagumdžija, president of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lagumdžija argued that there is no coherence in policy which bring us to two crucial questions for both the EU and Western Balkans: do we really wish to integrate Western Balkans into the EU and do we work to get there? The perception of most BiH citizens is that there is no honest wish from the EU and some BiH politicians to get the job done. Andris Ķesteris, European Commission principal Advisor Civil Society and Inter-institutional Relations said that it is of crucial importance to promote the political culture of solidarity and to take the political responsibility to unify Europe. Kristian Vigenin, vice-president the S&D Group in the European Parliament was somewhat surprised about some pessimistic views during the first panel on Western Balkans EU membership prospects. According to Vigenin, the EU policy towards the region is very clear: Western Balkans are part of the Europe and will enter the EU. Ilir Meta, deputy prime minister and minister of the foreign affairs of Albania and president of the Socialist Movement for Integration said that although it is not the best time to talk about EU enlargement — referring to the crisis and enlargement fatigue — it is of crucial importance to make clear to both the EU and Western Balkans citizens that EU integration is a project of peace and stability. The last speaker of the second panel, Ranko Krivokapić, speaker of the parliament of Montenegro and president of the Social Democratic Party argued that for the first time in history the countries in the region have the same ideological and economic concept, adding that we have to remain optimistic and to show that we are reliable partners for the EU.
A full and detailed report will be published on our website shortly.
