Venue: Palace of Serbia, Hall Belgrade, Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 2, Belgrade
During the Trump administration, several good developments have occured in the South East Europe: the PRESPA agreement between Greece and Macedonia, Montenegro and North Macedonia accessions to NATO, a recent improvement in Serbia-US relations confirmed by the recently signed bilateral agreement on the normalization of economic relations between Belgrade and Pristina and so called “Mini Schengen” area of a free movement of goods, people, services and capital among Western Balkans (WB) countries …. What can we expect from the new administration? What should be its focus in in the Western Balkans and South Est Europe? What is at stake in the US-EU-NATO cooperation in the area? Are agreements reached at the recently held Berlin Process Sofia Summit (November 10th, 2020) sign of more or less harmonization between the EU and the US policies in the region? In the era of the great power competition and debate about global supply chain restructuring can more flexible forms of cooperation and integration among EU MSs like the Three Sees Initiative, level the filed for deeper WB Euro-Atlantic integrations? How compatible it is with “Mini Schengen”?
Venue: Palace of Serbia, Hall Belgrade, Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 2, Belgrade
Assessment of NATO-Serbia relations against the backdrop of the most recent events: from the Alliance’s support to the fight against the ongoing pandemics, and NATO’s commitment to fight disinformation, to NATO’s continuous support for the Belgrade-Prishtina dialogue, and the recently brokered agreement on the normalization of economic relations between Belgrade and Prishtina; from the role of KFOR as a projector of stability in the region, to the requirement for enhanced regional cooperation.
How relevant is stronger cooperation between Serbia and NATO and the US for the SEE and Transatlantic community’s stability and prosperity? What is the potential impact of the recent decision taken by Serbia to suspend defense-related cooperation activities with all its partners, including NATO? What are the potential consequences in terms of regional cooperation? Serbia is usually linked and assessed through WB6 cooperation, but now is also significantly improving its relations with other neighbors - Hungary, Romania Bulgaria and Greece. How their provisions can be best utilized for Serbian and WB connections to the Three Sea Initiative? (Serbia as a Danube country, Serbia-Bulgaria interconnections, port of Alexandroupolis developments)? Assessment of the Berlin Process Summit in Sofia (November 10th, 2020).
What is the state of affairs now? What are key challenges for further progress? How would improvement in Serbia-US defense cooperation contribute to Serbian EU integration, the stability and security of the WB, EU and NATO? What can we expect from the new US administration? Lessons learned from Poland as a NATO ally and EU MS, and Israel.