Conference in Bratislava: EU Enlargement in the Balkans in 2011 - Make Not Break

21 October 2010
Gerald Knaus (second from right). Photo: Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Gerald Knaus (second from right). Photo: Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs

This one day expert international conference on the margins of the meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Visegrad and Western Balkans countries was to assess the status of the EU integration, as well as to discuss the perspectives of revitalizing the process of EU enlargement and to exchange information about official development aid projects in the Western Balkan countries.

The event was co-organised by ESI. Gerald Knaus was a speaker at the panel "Is EU enlargement in the Western Balkans stuck?" and Kristof Bender chaired a panel on "How to move the enlargement agenda during 2011?"

ESI discussion paper: The Noah-Joker Effect. How to turn the Balkans into an EU foreign policy success (21 October 2010)

Kristof Bender (second from left). Photo: Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Kristof Bender (second from left). Photo: Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Speakers:

  • Milan Ježovica State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic
  • Amb. (Ret.) Rastislav Káčer President of the Slovak Atlantic Commission
  • Axel Wallden Head of the Unit Enlargement Strategy, Directorate General for Enlargement, European Commission
  • Gerhard Almer Director, European Union External Affairs Division, Federal Foreign Office of Germany
  • Gerald Knaus Chairman, European Stability Initiative
  • Kristof Bender Deputy Chairman, European Stability Initiative
  • Zsolt Pataki Department for CSFP, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary
  • Anna Sochańska Deputy Head of the European Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland
  • Ivica Bocevski Former Deputy Prime Minister of Macedonia
  • Milan Nič Deputy Director, Office of the State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic
  • Roman Holý Coordinator of Development Aid Program for Western Balkans, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
  • Brigitta Jaksa Policy Officer, DemNet
  • Hedvig Morvai-Horvat Executive Director, European Fund for the Balkans

The event was also widely covered in the media: