Rome – ESI at Nato Defense College on war, peace and the future of the Balkans
12 June 2025
Phoe: NDC
ESI’s Gerald Knaus returned to the NATO Defense College in Rome to lecture a senior course on “War and peace in the Balkans – the other history of Europe”. His presentation retraced the arc from the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the horrors of the 1990s to the hard-won peace that followed, offering a clear message: European integration, NATO enlargement and international justice worked.
Gerald argued that violence returned to the Balkans in the 1990s not because it was inevitable, but because political leaders chose confrontation, backed by dangerous historical myths. He showed how diplomacy, military deterrence and post-war justice helped to end the conflicts – and stressed that peace was made to last through EU and NATO enlargement, not through frozen disputes or external disengagement.
He also warned that this peace is under threat. Drawing on recent events in northern Kosovo and nationalist rhetoric in Serbia, Gerald described how the region risks sliding back into instability. He called for a renewed EU strategy, one that offers a concrete goal to all candidates: access to the single market for those who meet EU standards. A realistic, staged path to integration – a “Norway in the Balkans” model – could preserve peace and counter the influence of outside powers.
The senior course comprised military officers and government officials from 37 countries, including NATO members, Partnership for Peace countries, the Mediterranean Dialogue, the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and Partners across the Globe. The session was part of a day-long panel on the Western Balkans and together with Marilena Koppa, a Greek academic and former politician. She is an associate professor of comparative politics at Panteion University in Athens, specialising in European integration, Balkan politics and security studies.