Enlargement stuck in a rut? Staged accession model as a solution

Today’s episode of European Talks discusses the issue of the EU enlargement impasse and how it is being dealt with. With the rising skepticism regarding enlargement and slow reforms in candidate countries, Srđan Majstorović, Chairman of CEP Governing Board, Steven Blockmans, Director of Research at CEPS, and Milena Lazarević, CEP Programme Director, talk about “thinking out of the conventional enlargement toolbox” when it comes to this process. Blockmans and Lazarević present their ideas on how to overcome this impasse with a staged accession model. Find the paper here: https://cep.org.rs/en/publications/a-template-for-staged-accession-to-the-eu/ 

Corrosive Capital, Environment & External Actors: Assessing the Western Balkans

The issues of corruption, the rise of external actors, and environmental neglect are becoming increasingly present in the Western Balkans. We are joined by Tena Prelec, a research fellow at Oxford University, a research associate at the LSE, and a member of BiEPAG, with whom we talk about whether and how all of these issues are interconnected.

Imperatives for the Biden Administration: What can the US, the World, and Serbia Expect?

Our guest was Mr John Allen, a retired four-star general and the President of the Brookings Institution, one of the most influential think tanks in the world. Although the outgoing President Trump continues to claim that the US elections were rigged, President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take his position in the White House, with the aim to diminish divisions in the US. As the world and Europe have high hopes for the Biden administration, we discussed what can be expected in the next four years.

Work-life balance in the EU – Benefits of becoming a member state

Armenia and Azerbaijan at the same table: an attempt to approach opposing positions

A conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno Karabakh, a territory which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but de facto ruled by the Armenian majority living there, re-erupted a couple of days ago. In order to get the full picture of what is happening on the ground, and to see what can Europe to prevent the conflict from escalating, we have invited two prominent experts, one from Armenia and the other from Azerbaijan. Discussants: Benyamin Poghosyan - Chairman of the Centre for Political and Economic Strategic Studies in Yerevan - Former director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the Armenian Ministry of Defence - Graduated at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Anar Jahangirli - Consultant in public affairs and communication - Former diplomat from Azerbaijan, with the focus on NK - Graduated at Harvard

Winds of change in Montenegro: What to expect in the next period?

Advancing Albania’s road to EU: Side with agendas and ambitions

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Council of the EU gave the green light to the opening of accession talks with Albania. What are the expectations regarding the next steps, given the current pandemic restrictions? Can the revised enlargement methodology lead to a more effective accession process? What is the current political climate in this country? In this episode, we talked to Gjergji Vurmo, programme director of Institute for Democracy and Mediation - IDM, Tirana-based think tank.

What does the future of EU accession process hold? The case of North Macedonia

In this episode, we talked about the current political situation in North Macedonia, EU sentiments of its citizens, and about the strengths and risks of the revised accession methodology for the Western Balkans. Our guest is Dr Simonida Kacarska, director of the European Policy Institute - EPI in Skopje, North Macedonia.

EP remains engaged in fostering democracy in the Western Balkans

A few days ago, elections were held in Serbia, in which the ruling party won a convincing victory. These elections were boycotted by part of the opposition. With our dear guest, Vladimír Bilčík, member of the European Parliament and its rapporteur for Serbia, we talked about the election results, relations between the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans, and regional relations, especially the turbulence between Montenegro and Serbia, and how this affects the EU accession process.

European Investment Bank: assisting the Western Balkans against COVID-19

The European Commission announced over €3.3 billion of EU financial support for the Western Balkans mobilised jointly with the European Investment Bank (EIB) in order to tackle the COVID-19 crisis and help with the social and economic recovery. How will this support be implemented and what will be the role of the EIB? We will address these questions in this podcast episode with the Head of EIB Regional Representation for the Western Balkans, Dubravka Negre.