Rome – Regional stability and enlargement to the Western Balkans

Karel Schwarzenberg (middle) in the audience, former Minister of foreign affairs of Czech Republic, now chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Czech Parliament. Photo: ESI

ESI's Gerald Knaus was invited to participate in an Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy (IPC-CFSP/CSDP) at the Palazzo Madama, the seat of Italian Senat in Rome.

Gerald spoke on the future of EU enlargement on a panel with Tanja Miščević, head of the negotiating team for accession of the Republic of Serbia to the EU, Fernando Gentilini, European External Action Service (EEAS), Director for Western Balkans, and Srđan Majstorović, deputy director of the EU Integration Office, Government of Serbia. He presented ESI arguments on Bosnia (start serious EU accession process now), Macedonia (make one more serious initiative on the name dispute now) and the future of enlargement policy (revise progress reports and monitoring for 2015; make process more strict and more fair) to the chairs of most EU member state foreign affairs committees and large number of MPs.

• Agenda and list of participants
• ESI on European enlargement
• Rumeli Observer: Enlargement reloaded – ESI proposal for a new generation of progress reports (31 January 2014)
• Video presentation: Enlargement and the benefits of competition

Srđan Majstorović – Gerald Knaus – Fernando Gentilini

Palazzo Madama, seat of Italian Senate. Photo: Panoramio/Guido Masiello