Prague – ESI at the Prague Forum 2000

2 September 2022
PraguePrague. Photo: ESI 

ESI’s Gerald Knaus was invited to participate in a panel on “Opening the internal market on the way of the EU accession? Opportunity for Ukraine”, at the Prague Forum 2000.

In his presentation, Gerald underlined the importance of the accession process for Ukraine and how the EU Czech presidency can be a determining factor. In addition, Gerald presented ESI’s proposals for reviving the EU accession process, saying that the EU should offer membership in the Single Market, including the four freedoms, as a credible and reachable interim goal to Ukraine, Moldova, and any of the six Western Balkan nations interested in it.

The other panellists were Jozef Síkela (Minister, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Czechia), Taras Kachka, (Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economy, Ukraine), Maciej Popowski (Acting Director-General, Directorate General Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) European Commission, Poland), and Piotr Buras (Director, ECFR Warsaw, Poland).

The panel was moderated by Kateřina Šafaříková, Journalist, Czechia