Getting the Western Balkans back on track

Venue: Residence Palace

Time: Wednesday 24 January, 09:30-11:00 (welcome coffee from 9am)

A public panel discussion with:

Fiona Mcilwham, Director for the Western Balkans Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, United Kingdom

Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, Director for Western Balkans, DG for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission

Vessela Tcherneva, ECFR Deputy Director and the director of ECFR Sofia office

Chair:

Fredrik Wesslau, Director of ECFR Wider Europe Programme

The Western Balkans is back on the EU’s agenda. But how to get it back on track? Regional instability, strongmen politics, assassinations, faltering reform efforts, and meddling by external powers has underscored the necessity of increased EU engagement. But the EU’s credibility – and the credibility of membership perspective – has suffered as the EU has been consumed by internal and external crises in recent years. While the EU accession paradigm remains essential, it has proven insufficient as a driver for reform. What more can we do get the Balkans back on track? Join us for a discussion on what more the EU should be doing in the Western Balkans.

Fiona Mcilwham is the Director for Western Balkans at the FCO and was previously UK Ambassador to Albania from 2009 to 2012 and a senior advisor to the Director General at the Directorate General for Enlargement.

Genoveva Ruiz Calavera (@CalaveraRuiz) Director of the Western Balkans at the DG NEAR. Since joining the Commission in 1992, she has worked on accession negotiations, the Taskforce for the Reconstruction of Kosovo, on Montenegro and Serbia, as well as on crisis response and peacebuilding issues.  

Vessela Tcherneva (@vtcherneva) is the Deputy Director of ECFR and head of the ECFR office in Sofia. Previously a spokesperson for the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the political cabinet of Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov.

Fredrik Wesslau (@FWesslau) is the Director of the Wider Europe Programme at ECFR. He has previously worked for the EU, OSCE, and UN on conflicts and crisis management in the Balkans, South Caucasus, and Africa. He has spent several years working in Kosovo.