The European Union and the Western Balkans: Enlargement and Resilience

The project aims to offer university students on the one hand a better understanding of European foreign policy matters, with particular focus on Southeastern European and Eastern Partnership countries, on the other hand to deepen the concept of resilience in relation to European policies. It includes interactive seminars that are also streamed online for a wider audience, internship opportunities at Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), and a students' blog.

The project is promoted by the Jean Monnet Excellence Centre of the University of Trento in cooperation with Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa and with the support of the European Union.

ARTICLES

Inzko, the future of Bosnia and the Balkans

According to Valentin Inzko, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country is at serious risk. The idea of ​​its "peaceful dissolution" would also begin to take hold in Brussels circles. For this reason, in his opinion, it is necessary for the EU to quickly change its approach with respect to the Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina

France, the Western Balkans, and the EU: on the wave of scepticism

Together with Christine Hübner, Jan Eichhorn, and Luuk Molthof, political scientist Srdan Cvijic recently published a report that analyses the French point of view on the enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans. We interviewed him

Jens Woelk: Status quo in Bosnia and Herzegovina is an illusion

Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot wait any longer. It must embrace the constitution, which can no longer be just an "annex" to the Dayton Peace Accords. The opinion of the jurist Jens Woelk

EU-Balkans: more glue for this house of cards

We need a new approach to enlargement policies, lest their complete failure. And it is necessary to start afresh from the abolition of unanimous voting. An interview with Srdjan Cvijić, author together with Adnan Ćerimagić of "Rebuilding Our House Of Cards: With More Glue"

EU and the Western Balkans, a long engagement

Cautious optimism and a new package of economic incentives for the Western Balkans: with the "2020 enlargement package", the EU tries to relaunch the integration of the region, but the prospects remain of slow, never predictable progress

Kosovo, Brussels, and the enlargement process

The EU enlargement process in general and the recent developments in Kosovo, this is what we've talked about with Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, German Green/EFA Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur for Kosovo for the European Parliament

EU: An ever smaller, ever older population

A recently published study outlines the EU’s demographic future: in 2080, if current trends continue, the EU population will fall from the current 513 million people to 504 million, while flight from rural areas shows no sign of slowing. We take a look at south-eastern Europe, by way of the global context

EU: doors closed to the Balkans

Last June, the European Council dealt another blow to the hopes of Albania and North Macedonia for the opening of EU accession talks. For the other Balkan countries, the situation isn’t much more encouraging.

SEMINARS 2021

seminars 2021

Guest Lectures - Spring 2021

Daniela Lai (London South Bank University): The political economy of war and post-war justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 13 May 2021
Damir Kapidžić (Università di Sarajevo) Implications of power-sharing as a peacebuilding mechanism after ethnic conflict, 12 May 2021
Pietro de Perini (Università di Padova): "EU human rights foreign policy in the Mediterranean neighbourhood", 7 April 2021
Irene Costantini (Università di Napoli L'Orientale): "Fragility and resilience in the European Union’s security strategy", 15 aprile 2021
Cedric de Coning (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo): "The role of Resilience in Adaptive Peacebuilding", 21 aprile 2021

Guest Lectures - Spring 2020

Arianna Piacentini (EURAC, Bolzano), Young Generations, Ethnonational Identities and Clientelism: Evidence from Bosnia-Herzegovina and North Macedonia, 6 May 2020
Jelena Dzankic (European University Institute, Fiesole), Europeanisation of Contested States in the Western Balkans: Reality or Fad?, 13 May 2020
Florian Bieber (University of Graz), The Authoritarian Virus: The Impact of COVID19 on Democratic Decline in the Western Balkans, 14 May 2020
Filip Ejdus (University of Belgrade), The Secession of Kosovo and Serbia’s Ontological Insecurity, 20 May 2020
Senada Selo Sabic (Institute for Development and International Relations, Zagreb), Migration Trends in the Western Balkans in the Context of the EU Enlargement, 21 May 2020
Eugenio Cusumano (University of Leiden), Projecting Resilience Across the Mediterranean, 22 May 2020
 

Video recordings of seminars

 

SEMINARS 2018

Students during their interniship had the opportunity to write a blog on enlargement issues (in Italian)

Call for papers for a conference to be held in Trento in September 2021

APPOINTMENTS

Seminars Cattedra Jean Monnet "The European Union and the Western Balkans: Enlargement and Resilience"

15 May 2019 - EU Foreign Policy and Resilience
Garcia Ana Elisa Juncos, University Bristol 

9 May 2019 - Social Cohesion and Conflict Resilience in Conflict-Affected Societies
Timothy D. Sisk, University of Denver - Colorado

8 May 2019 - 21st Century Challenges, Crises and Changes: when is Democracy Resilient?
Timothy D. Sisk, University of Denver - Colorado

17 April 2019 - Mobilizing at the Periphery of Europe: Social Movements in the Western Balkans
Chiara Milan, University Graz

10 April 2019 - Understanding Power in EU-Russia Relations
Tom Casier, Director Global Europe Centre, University of Kent

27 February 2019 - Global Europe. Navigating Complexity: the EU’s Rationale in the 21st century
Nathalie Tocci, Director dell’Istituto Affari Internazionali - Roma

 

 

EDUCATIONAL TOOLS

A platform enabling rapid, systematic access to an expanding collection of resources on media freedom and pluralism in Europe .

An interactive teaching module devised to facilitate the comprehension of the EU policy-making process, with focus on the evolution of anti-discrimination policies in the EU and the role of the European Parliament

The project Wiki4MediaFreedom aims to disseminate knowledge on a crucial aspect for our societies and democracies, enriching Wikipedia's contents.


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