Vienna – ESI at event on West Balkan strategy

18 February 2019
Stephansdom. Photo: flickr/Simon Matzinger
Stephansdom. Photo: flickr/Simon Matzinger

ESI's Kristof Bender attended a conference on "Perceptions on the EU Western Balkans Strategy", part of the Vienna Security Dialogues 2019 organised by the Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS) from Sofia and the National Defence Academy of Austria.

Kristof spoke on the introductory panel chaired by Ivan Krastev. Kristof assessed the merit of the European Commission's West Balkan strategy, explored the shortcomings of the current accession process and presented a few ideas on how the EU can inspire reform and strengthen reformers in the Western Balkans by focusing the accession process on tools that have previously worked.