ESI in London: visa liberalisation as an example of EU soft power

The London Eye. Photo: flickr/Tristan Legros

Alexandra Stiglmayer presented ESI's visa project at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London at a conference on the 'Economics of conflict resolution'. Alexandra spoke in the session on the 'Politics and economics of Bosnia's post-war transition'.

She argued that the visa liberalisation process was an excellent example of EU soft power and EU conditionality at work, which have been effective even in a politically divided country such as Bosnia. However, she said, this also showed that Bosnia was not dysfunctional per se, but that the political parties are able to make compromises and find solutions to complex issues such as cooperation of 14 police agencies at different levels in Bosnia.