TIRANA – Belgrade Security Conference Leaders Meetings discussion under the title “Albania and the Western Balkans in the EU by 2030: Tackling the Obstacles Ahead” will be held on Friday, 17 May. Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama will participate in the panel discussion.
Other participants will be Daniela Schwarzer, Member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board, Majlinda Bregu, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council and Alba Çela, Executive Director and Head of the European Program at the Albanian Institute for International Studies.
Nikola Dimitrov, President and co-founder, the Balkan Center for Constructive Policies – Solucija and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia will moderate the discussion.
Opening remarks will be delivered by Srđan Cvijić, President of the International Advisory Committee of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and Andi Dobrushi, Director of Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans
The BSC Leaders Meetings present a series of half-day events organised throughout the Western Balkans. They are part of the Belgrade Security Conference (BSC) – a high-level international policy event organised by the BCSP each year in Belgrade.
According to the announcement of the event, it has become obvious that after an initial geopolitical impulse to accelerated enlargement caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, “the high speed EU integration train has left the station aiming to see the new member states join the Union as early as 2030”.
“Whereas there are many reasons for optimism, concerns remain whether the EU will achieve its institutional reforms in due time to welcome new members, and on the other hand whether the candidate countries in the Western Balkans will fulfill the criteria for EU membership before the due date”, the invitation reads.
The event will be held on 17 May in Rogner Hotel in Tirana, starting at 9:30.