By organising this discussion immediately after the publication of the reports, CEP maintained its tradition of creating a timely and constructive platform for dialogue with the European Commission – enabling direct engagement on the findings of the Enlargement Package.

The webinar featured Thomas Hagleitner, Head of Unit for Enlargement Strategy and Coordination (DG ENEST, European Commission), as the keynote speaker.

As in previous years, the webinar also featured perspectives from Western Balkan capitals, thanks to interventions by our regional partners from the Think for Europe Network (TEN), offering a comprehensive and comparative view of how this year’s Enlargement Package was perceived both in Brussels and across the Western Balkans.

Webinar Structure

• Keynote Address by Thomas Hagleitner (DG ENEST): Presented the key priorities and challenges shaping the 2026 Enlargement Package, with insights into how these could influence the future direction of EU enlargement.
• Welcome Note by Srđan Majstorović (President of CEP’s Governing Board): The intervention briefly outlined the wider, regional perspective of the Enlargement Package and set the tone for the subsequent unpacking of national reports.
• Regional Partners’ Perspectives:
  • Djego Abedinaj, Researcher, Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM-Tirana)
  • Haris Ćutahija, Director, Foreign Policy Initiative BH (FPI-Sarajevo)
  • Ema Pula, Programme Manager, Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS-Pristina)
  • Marko Sošić, Programme Director, Institute Alternative (IA-Podgorica)
  • Ardita Abazi Imeri, Programme Director, European Policy Institute (EPI-Skopje)
  • Milena Mihajlović Denić, Programme Director, European Policy Centre (CEP-Belgrade)

The full webinar recording is available here.

Članak Enlargement Package 2026: Brussels Meets the Western Balkans se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

The event, titled “Invigorating EU Enlargement”, will take place at the BIP Meeting Centre, Rue Royale 2-4, 1000 Brussels and will mark the Final Conference of the Horizon Europe-funded “InvigoratEU – Invigorating Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy for a Resilient Europe” project. Launched in 2024, the project has gathered experts from leading universities and research institutes across Europe and candidate countries to identify and address the pressures and challenges to European enlargement.

The event will comprise interactive sessions and panel conversations featuring high-level speakers from EU institutions, the media, and civil society organisations. Director-General for DG ENEST, Gert Jan Koopman, will also be present, delivering a keynote speech on the future of European integration. Additionally, the event will showcase InvigoratEU’s communications activities to raise awareness of EU enlargement, including the winning submissions of the public contest “What future for the European continent?”, which ran in the Summer of 2026.

Commenting on what to expect from the Final Conference, Project Coordinator Michael Kaeding (University Duisburg-Essen) and Scientific Lead Funda Tekin (Institut für Europäische Politik) stated, “The Final Conference of the InvigoratEU project comes at a pivotal moment for European integration. On 6 October, the European Commission presented its pre-enlargement policy reviews, which concluded that the EU could take in new members without changing the existing Treaties. On top of this, Member States have shared their own ideas through new non-papers, notably on gradual integration and a new generation of accession treaties. These developments point to a widespread desire to accelerate accession and to finding a solution for how to square the circle between a geopolitical enlargement and the merit-based approach of accession. How can this momentum be translated into tangible results? Drawing on the project’s research, we will bring together researchers, policymakers, and civil society representatives to explore how enlargement can advance in a way that strengthens both the EU and its future members.” 

Registrations are now open on TEPSA’s website. Discussions will be livestreamed via TEPSA’s YouTube channel – subscribe by clicking here.

Notes to Editors

InvigoratEU is a Horizon Europe-funded project launched in 2024 under the leadership of Michael Kaeding of the University of Duisburg-Essen as Coordinator and Funda Tekin of Institut für Europäische Politik as Scientific Lead.

Alongside the University of Duisburg-Essen and Institut für Europäische Politik, the InvigoratEU consortium includes: Carnegie Europe, the Trans European Policy Studies Association, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, PMCG Research, Istituto Affari Internazionali, the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Vilnius University, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, Institutul pentru Initiative Strategice, University of Montenegro, Maastricht University, Jagiellonian University, European Policy Centre Belgrade, CIDOB, ETH Zurich, and Razumkov Centre.

For press and media presence at the Conference, please contact Barbara Vanotti, TEPSA’s Communications Manager.

Članak “Invigorating EU Enlargement”: TEPSA hosts a high-level conference on accelerating European integration se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

Author: Nelly Didelot
26 October 2026

In these murky times of a rising far right and attacks on democracy, Serbia turned the tables on Sunday, October 25, writing a new page in its history that reads almost like a political fairy tale. In power for twelve years as prime minister, then president, then aspiring prime minister, the nationalist Aleksandar Vučić and his SNS party were defeated in the parliamentary elections by the Student List, with 52% of the vote against 39%. It is a crushing victory for a civil society movement, born of two years of repressed protests, which organised itself without a leader, without many resources and far from the traditional political parties, to bring down its exact opposite.

From the height of his twelve years in power, Vučić controlled the institutions of the state, a party turned into a clientelist machine, and most of the media. He had made Serbia a “partly free” country, according to the NGO Freedom House, and an “electoral autocracy”, according to the Swedish research institute V-Dem.

On Sunday, the former president quickly acknowledged the results, blaming them on a “revolution carried out with the direct support of several European countries and the American deep state, which is also against President Trump”. At the same moment, in the streets of Belgrade and Novi Sad, thousands of people were jumping for joy into the night.

A rejection of clientelism

Their victory was born of their tenacity. The anti-Vučić movement has been taking to the streets for almost two years, ever since the canopy of the Novi Sad railway station collapsed in November 2024, killing sixteen people. The structure, which had just been renovated at an astronomical cost and under dubious conditions, became the symbol of a public fed up with corruption. It sparked mass protests not seen since at least the fall of the Milošević regime in 2000. From the outset, it was the students who led the struggle, occupying their universities. In the face of harassment by the authorities, their initial demands for the publication of the station renovation contract evolved into broader and more political ones.

“In May 2025, when the students called for early parliamentary elections, they set an unusual condition: no student would appear on their list of candidates. The implicit message was that they wanted to remove those in office, but without taking their place,” notes Dušan Pavlović, professor of political science at the University of Belgrade, in an online analysis. In a country riddled with clientelism, where the traditional opposition parties were seen as an integral part of the “system”, this contributed greatly to their credibility. “The students were simply too young to be caught up in these networks. They had no history of appointments to public posts or political deals. In a system defined by patronage, their lack of political experience became their greatest advantage,” he adds.

When Vučić finally announced early elections last month, he sought to turn them into a weapon in his favour, stepping down as president a few months before the end of his (non-renewable) term to head the SNS list. The students, for their part, stayed true to their method. Their list is made up solely of members of civil society regarded as experts: many university professors, doctors, farmers and athletes. It includes Dejan Bodiroga, president of basketball’s EuroLeague and former star player of the Yugoslav national team, and the cardiologist Ilija Srdanović, chosen to head the list – but no official candidate for prime minister. Every name was put to a vote of the general assembly of the striking universities. The same went for the programme, centred on restoring democracy and the economy, which aims to make Serbia a country its young people would stop fleeing to work or study abroad.

The horizontal mode of organisation, used since the earliest days of the mobilisation, made the task of government propaganda harder, as it did not know which figure to target. It also shaped the organisation of the campaign, conducted mainly door to door across the country. “Horizontality was the only way to win,” says Milena Mihajlović Denić of the European Policy Centre. “It made it possible to create the referendum-like climate that was essential to victory. And two years of direct democracy organised by the students in their plenums proved that liberal, right-wing and left-wing sensibilities share common values. Ideological differences became secondary to the absolute imperative of changing the government and restoring the rule of law.”

Lessons for Europe

This “now or never” feeling also influenced another key factor in the vote. At 68.8%, turnout reached levels not seen in parliamentary elections since… 1992. The diaspora mobilised massively, despite hours of queuing at polling stations. This is what decisively tipped the balance in favour of the student list, even though the SNS gathered around 1.7 million votes, almost the same total as in the 2023 elections. “Before the student movement took shape, many disillusioned citizens abstained because they saw Vučić as unbeatable and the opposition as incapable of replacing him, which fuelled a vicious circle,” observes Dušan Pavlović.

The jubilation in Serbia’s streets and the feeling of having achieved the impossible recall the scenes in Hungary in the spring, when Viktor Orbán fell. With the notable exception of how the movement was organised (around an undisputed leader in Hungary, horizontally in Serbia), the methods of democratic victory are similar. In both cases they relied on a patient grassroots campaign, on the engagement of young people and on their political creativity to challenge an all-powerful party and subservient media. Both elected political newcomers as MPs and buried the existing opposition parties.

It is a sign of hope for Central Europe, proving that democratic backsliding is not irreversible. It also holds for the youth revolts shaking the continent. “Serbian students have shown that peaceful protests, sustained over time and built on organisation, can bring down a government,” says Milena Mihajlović Denić. In her view, the model is “replicable anywhere”.

Članak Libération: In Serbia, how students brought down Aleksandar Vučić’s “electoral autocracy” se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

A panel of experts from the Think for Europe Network (TEN) will follow, with representatives of the European Policy Centre (CEP, Belgrade), Institute for Mediation and Democracy (IDM, Tirana), the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI, Sarajevo), the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS, Pristina), and the European Policy Institute (EPI, Skopje) and Institute Alternative (IA, Podgorica). They will discuss how the Package is seen by Western Balkan think tanks and what it will take to turn recommendations into reforms. The discussion will be moderated by Strahinja Subotić from CEP.

The event will take place on 5 November 2026; the exact time will be confirmed soon.
Learn more about the event and register to join on Zoom.

Članak Webinar – Enlargement Package 2026: Brussels Meets the Western Balkans se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

The event was jointly organised by the European Policy Centre (CEP), Belgrade, and the European Policy Institute (EPI), Skopje, which over the summer engaged with and polled think tanks across the Western Balkans and the EU on key enlargement-related issues.

Building on three consultation webinars held between June and August 2026, participants discussed the main findings and draft recommendations on three key themes: enlargement-related non-papers and the operationalisation of gradual integration; bilateral disputes, regional cooperation and the role of civil society; and the risk of a renewed enlargement slowdown following the accession of one or two frontrunners.

Following opening remarks by Dušan Šabić (OSF-WB) and a presentation of the strongest survey findings by Strahinja Subotić (CEP), a moderated discussion was held, led by Stefan Ristovski (EPI), with the participation of Andrej Lepavcov (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of North Macedonia), Srđan Majstorović (CEP), Duško Lopandić (European Movement), Jana Juzova (EUCRTA) and Bojana Selaković (NKEU). The panel discussed how consultation findings and poll results could be translated into a concise set of common messages and priorities for the upcoming Berlin Process, rather than reopening each individual debate.

The event concluded with a session on generating concrete recommendations, followed by a Q&A segment in which participants reflected on and discussed the proposed priorities.

Članak “From Polls to Policy: Shaping the Upcoming EU Enlargement Agenda” event held in Belgrade se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

Dates: 14–16 October 2026
Place: Niš, Hotel Marica

The European Policy Centre (CEP) invites civil society representatives, young professionals and experts, journalists, researchers, and other interested individuals from Serbia and Kosovo to apply for a three-day Winter School dedicated to strengthening knowledge and capacities for monitoring the normalisation process between Belgrade and Pristina.

Building on the first Winter School, held in December 2025 in North (Kosovo) Mitrovica, CEP is continuing this initiative with the aim of bringing together participants from Serbia and Kosovo, encouraging the exchange of perspectives, and deepening their understanding of the dialogue and normalisation process. The second cycle of the Winter School will be organised in Niš, following the plan to alternate hosting between cities in Serbia and on the territory of Kosovo.

This year’s Winter School is organised within the project “Preserving Peace through Normalisation: Kosovo-Serbia Relations in Focus”, implemented by the European Policy Centre (CEP) with financial support from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI). The project focuses on contributing to peace preservation and advancing the normalisation process between Serbia and Kosovo, with particular attention to the role of civil society, transparency of the process, monitoring the implementation of agreed commitments, and fostering constructive dialogue.

Sbunker, a civil society organization based in Pristina, will provide support in organising the Winter School, while one of its experts will also contribute to selected project activities.

About the Winter School

The Winter School will bring together up to 12 participants from Serbia and Kosovo for an intensive three-day programme consisting of thematic lectures, discussions, practical exercises, and facilitated group work.

The programme will enable participants to deepen their understanding of the normalisation process between Belgrade and Pristina, peacebuilding, conflict prevention and reconciliation, as well as the role of civil society in monitoring the dialogue and implementation of agreements and in advocating for greater transparency and accountability. This year’s cycle will pay particular attention to the role of the EU and enlargement policy, as well as to the impact of other relevant third actors, such as the United States, Russia and Turkey, on the normalisation process.

Particular attention will be devoted to different perspectives and experiences of stakeholders from Serbia and Kosovo, as well as to exchanging views on the challenges and opportunities for advancing dialogue and regional cooperation.

Building on the previous cycle, this year’s programme will also involve alumni of the first Winter School in an appropriate capacity, with the aim of connecting the two generations of participants and encouraging further exchange and cooperation.

As in the previous cycle, the Winter School will also contribute to the preparation of a new Shadow Report on the state of the normalisation process, to be developed within the project.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must:

• be residents of Serbia or Kosovo;
• be active in civil society, media, youth initiatives, academia, or public institutions;
• demonstrate an interest in EU integration, security, dialogue processes, and/or related fields;
• be able to attend the full three-day programme from 14 to 16 October 2026;
• have working proficiency in English, which will be the working language of the Winter School.

Application Deadline

15 September 2026

Selection Process

Participants will be selected by the European Policy Centre, and in cooperation with Sbunker, based on:

• motivation letter – clarity of motivation, relevance of interests, and potential to apply the knowledge and skills acquired;
• curriculum vitae (CV);
• demonstrated interest or existing experience in topics related to the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue, EU integration, civil society, peacebuilding, or regional cooperation;
• balance considerations, ensuring representation across gender, ethnic and local communities, sectors, and geographical areas.

The selection process will be completed by 25 September, and the list of selected participants will be published on the CEP and Sbunker websites on the same day.

Costs

The costs of participation in the programme are fully covered, including: accommodation, meals and travel expenses.

Details regarding travel arrangements will be communicated to selected participants.

How to Apply

Please submit your application through the following online form: https://forms.gle/AVPLn2Zyip5MxcmJA

Applicants are required to submit a curriculum vitae (CV) and a motivation letter as part of the application.

Contact

CEP: ljubica.kovacevic@cep.org.rs
Sbunker: info@sbunker.net

Članak Public Call for Participation in the Winter School: Bridging the Gap between Serbia and Kosovo -Normalisation of Relations in Challenging Times se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

The event brought together officials from the European External Action Service (EEAS) directly involved in the Kosovo–Serbia dialogue, representatives of the European Commission, NATO, diplomats, as well as experts from civil society organizations and research institutes from across the region and Europe.

The central focus of the discussion was the presentation of the joint report, “Shadow Report on the Kosovo-Serbia Normalisation Process: Between Agreement Implementation and Managing Tensions,” authored by Miloš Pavković (CEP) and Fitim Gashi (Sbunker).

The report provides a joint assessment of the implementation of the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex through a methodology applied for the first time, known as the “Normalisation Index.”

The findings show that, three years after the Brussels Agreement, the overall level of implementation remains at 21.1 percent.

The setbacks in the process are not only related to the lack of political will from the parties, but also to structural challenges in the architecture of the dialogue itself.

Participants in the roundtable noted that the lack of political commitment, ambiguities in the formulation of agreements, the absence of effective implementation mechanisms, and recurring crises on the ground have often transformed the dialogue from a process of normalization into a process of crisis management.

It was emphasized that future progress will depend not only on the commitment of Kosovo and Serbia, but also on the ability of international mediators to ensure greater implementation of existing agreements.

Participants assessed that the formation of new institutions in Kosovo and ongoing efforts to reactivate the process create opportunities for the resumption of substantive discussions. However, it was stressed that success should not be measured by the conclusion of new agreements, but by the concrete implementation of those already in place.

The report on the dialogue was published within the framework of the project “Supporting the EU Enlargement Through the Normalisation Process Between Serbia and Kosovo: Civil Society as a Driver of Progress,” supported by the Open Society Institute – Sofia Foundation (OSIS) through the Think Tanks for the Future of EU Enlargement Program (TFEP).

Read the full report here.

Članak Shadow Report on the Kosovo-Serbia Normalisation Process presented in Brussels se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

Among the key topics of the conference was the question of how user-centred approaches and public service design should become an integral part of public administration. Through panel discussions and interactive sessions, participants shared experiences from the WeBER Policy Lab process and local initiatives funded under the WeBER small grants programme, discussing how design thinking methodology and participatory approaches can contribute to more accessible, inclusive and efficient public services.

An important part of the programme was the presentation of the findings of the Western Balkan PAR Monitor Report 2024/2025 – WeBER’s flagship analytical product, which provides a comparative assessment of reform progress from the perspective of civil society and citizens. The findings were further discussed through thematic breakout sessions, aiming to move from identifying challenges towards concrete dialogue on obstacles and possible solutions.

On the second day of the conference, grant beneficiaries from across the region will present their projects and the results achieved in local communities, showing how citizen engagement and co-creation can help shape public services that better respond to their needs. Through an interactive discussion format, participants will go on to examine experiences to date and the challenges in applying inclusive and participatory approaches to the design of public policies and regulations.

Članak Fourth WeBER Regional Conference “Citizens First: A Decade of Advancing Citizen-Centred PAR” Opens se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

The European Policy Centre (CEP), with the support of the Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hosted a panel discussion entitled “Serbia and the European Union: Geopolitics and Values – In Conflict or in Tandem?”, which took place on June 1, 2026 at the European House in Belgrade.

The event was dedicated to presenting the findings of a comprehensive research project on the attitudes of Serbian citizens toward the European Union at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty. The research was conducted by the Ninamedia agency on behalf of CEP, using the face-to-face interview method (TAPI), on a representative sample of 1,000 respondents across the territory of the Republic of Serbia, excluding Kosovo*. Data was collected between January 19 and February 2, 2026, with post-stratification controls applied for gender, age, education, settlement type, and region, as well as validity checks on 20% of the sample.

Building on the quantitative research and statistical modeling of factors influencing citizens’ support for Serbia’s EU membership, CEP researchers also conducted two focus groups that provided qualitative interpretation of the statistical findings.

The panel discussion addressed questions of key importance for understanding the current state of public opinion in Serbia: whether a social consensus exists on the country’s European path, how much citizens trust the EU as a partner, and to what extent their attitudes are driven by the perception of interests rather than values.

The panel featured the following speakers:

• H.E. Kevin Colgan, Ambassador of Ireland to the Republic of Serbia
• H.E. Andreas von Beckerath, Head of Delegation and EU Ambassador to Serbia
• Marko Todorović, Senior Researcher, Center for European Policies (CEP)
• Ana Milinković, Senior Researcher, Center for European Policies (CEP)
• Milena Mihajlović Denić, Program Director, Center for European Policies (CEP)

Find the research results here.

Find the livestream recording of the event here.

Članak European Policy Centre Hosted Panel Discussion on Serbian Citizens’ Attitudes Toward the EU se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

Članak Second Plenary Session of the Intersectoral Working Group for Monitoring the Implementation of Reform Agenda of the Republic of Serbia (IWG) was held in Belgrade se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.