On 13th and 14th May a conference of think tanks was held in Skopje. It was organised by the Centre for Eastern Studies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in co-operation with the Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje (IDSCS). The conference ‘Reinforcing the European Integration of the Western Balkans – Learning from the Past, Preparing for the Future’ was opened by the director of the Centre for Eastern Studies, Adam Eberhardt, and the director of the Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje, Marko Troshanovski.
The inaugural speeches were made by: Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, the deputy head of the Polish MFA, who is the Polish government’s plenipotentiary for the organisation of the Western Balkans Summit; Andrej Zhernovski, the Deputy Foreign Minister of North Macedonia; and – on behalf of the European Commission – the Deputy Director-General at the European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Department (DG NEAR), Maciej Popowski.
The aim of the conference was to strengthen co-operation between experts and to develop recommendations regarding the European integration of the Western Balkan states and actions in the priority areas of the Berlin Process prior to the Western Balkans Summit which will be held in Poznań on 4th – 5th July.
On the first day of the meeting, the participants discussed the possibility of using the experience of Central European countries in order to expedite reforms, the strengthening of regional co-operation, the integration of the Western Balkan states with the EU, and the future of the EU and its policy towards the Western Balkans. On the second day the main issue were regional co-operation, security, the establishment of regional democratic institutions which would be able to resist the influence of third countries and the settlement of bilateral disputes.
The conference was attended by representatives of think tanks from Western Balkan states, Visegrad Group member states and other EU countries which are involved in the Berlin Process.
