Brussels – ESI joins high-level strategy meeting on EU foreign policy

Atomium in Brussels. Photo: flickr / Gilbert Sopakuwa

Adnan Cerimagic, ESI’s senior analyst, took part in the European Council on Foreign Relations Neighbourhood Strategy Group meeting. The event, titled “Shifting Geopolitics: The EU’s Response to Old and New Challenges in the Western Balkans and Eastern Neighbourhood”, was supported by the French Development Agency.

The two-day meeting gathered EU officials, experts, and civil society representatives to discuss how the EU can adapt its policies amid growing authoritarian trends, shrinking democratic space, and changing global dynamics under the second Trump administration. Topics ranged from Georgia’s deepening political crisis to EU enlargement dilemmas, shifting financial priorities, and the role of external actors such as Russia, China, Turkey, and the US in the EU’s neighbourhood.

Adnan contributed to the discussions online, bringing ESI’s perspective on EU enlargement, and strategies to reinforce European influence and credibility in the Western Balkans.

• ESI proposal: “Preventing violence – transform Kosovo dialogue”
• ESI report: “Scoreboard - The true state of accession - What the Commission assessments reveal”
• ESI proposal: “End the turtle race How the EU can address the crisis of the accession process”
• ESI proposal: “Offer the four freedoms to the Balkans, Ukraine, and Moldova For a merit-based EU accession process with a credible goal”
• ESI proposal: “47 again? Russia out, Kosovo in Support Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe”
• ESI proposal: “Abandon clichés about Bosnia: Push EU-related reforms instead of arbitrary conditions”
• ESI proposal: “No partition: Why Kosovo and Serbia must not discuss territory”
• ESI report: “Anti-Corruption Report for the West Balkans: Measure corruption in order to fight it”