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GAP Institute and GLPS organized a roundtable discussion on “Post-Paris, Post-Brexit - Perspectives for the Western Balkans”

09/11/2016

GAP Institute and Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) organized a roundtable discussion entitled "Post-Paris, Post-Brexit - Perspectives for the Western Balkans." The roundtable and debate took places as follow-on to the Reflection Forum “The Western Balkans in the European Union: new perspectives on integration?”organized in Paris in May 2016 and the “Civil Society Forum Paris of the Western Balkans Summit Series” which took place in Paris in July 2016. The roundtable provided a forum for information exchange and reflection on the achievements of the process so far and helped to generate fresh contributions for the way ahead.

Fisnik Korenica, Executive Director of the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) spoke about the challenges that Kosovo face, in comparison with other Western Balkan countries, in moving towards EU integration. Florent Marciacq, Research Associate at the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe, spoke about the EU enlargement process. Valeri Hopkins, a journalist at the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network spoke about the challenges that Western Balkan countries are facing in implementing the projects that were agreed on during the Berlin, Vienna and Paris summit. The panel discussion was moderated by Jeton Mehmeti, Research Director at GAP Institute.


Although the discussion brought out a difference of opinions from the panelists, a thoroughly discussed issue was that the Berlin process as an idea was quite appealing but its implementation is not at the best level. A positive aspect mentioned here was the involvement of CSOs in the whole process, especially the concrete steps taken so far in creating the Regional Youth Community Office (RYCO).   


Another point that was raised was directly linked to Kosovo’s use of the Berlin process in comparison with its two neighboring countries Albania and Serbia. Indeed, it is believed that the latter countries made well use of the Berlin process which can be proved with the opening of negotiations of Albania’s integration in the EU. However, Kosovo’s use of the Berlin process is behind given the lack of a clear vision strategy of using this process.


The roundtable was attended among others by foreign diplomats serving in Kosovo, members of the Kosovo Parliamentary Commission on European Integration, and representatives of civil society organizations. The roundtable was sponsored by Centre international de formation europeenne (Cife), and it is the third in a row after the Tirana and Belgrade roundtables. Three more similar events will take place by the end of the year in the remaining capitals of the Western Balkan countries. 

 

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