In order to support the joint strategic goal Hungary and the EU have for the European future of the Western Balkan region, the Center for EU Enlargement Studies (CENS) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) organized a conference on 22 March 2011 entitled “The Western Balkans in the Realm of the 2011 Hungarian EU Presidency: The Way Forward.” The conference, comprised of two key note speeches and two panels gathered a distinguished group of Western Balkan and international leaders from governments, universities and international institutions to discuss burning issues affecting economic, regional, social and European advancement of the seven Western Balkan countries on the path toward Euro-Atlantic integration.

Peter Balazs, Director of CENS, started his opening speech by emphasizing that the conference’s purpose was “to update our knowledge about a special region of Europe called the Western Balkans.” He highlighted the fact that the region has a real geopolitical perspective which is already recognized in the West due to its name and special location, posing the question of what is to be done in order to gain a real European status. Balazs stressed the importance of finalizing the state-building process, progressing on EU conditionality and establishing good regional and neighborhood relations in order to show willingness and readiness for cooperating with other partners, ultimately resulting in joining the EU.

The first key note speech, delivered by Janos Hovari, Deputy State Secretary for Global Affairs, Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highlighted the importance of the Western Balkans in the current Hungarian EU Presidency program. He recognized the Western Balkan region to be a sensitive issue for Hungary due to its geographical proximity, history, geopolitics, security, and especially due to economic and trade interests. Among other Hungarian foreign policy priorities towards the Western Balkans he mentioned the EU accession of Croatia and the Hungarian support for its successful closing of the negotiations process. The Deputy State Secretary expressed the wish for other countries in the region to gain the full-fledged EU membership as well.

The first panel entitled “The Western Balkans then and now: What prevents it from catching up and why?” was chaired by Tibor Varady, CEU University Professor/Chair, International Business Law Program, Department of Legal Studies, CEU, and was composed of Damjan Krnjevic Miskovic, Advisor to the Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Serbia; Milan Begovic, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Montenegro; Agneza Rusi, Director of the EU Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Macedonia; Gary D. Robbins, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina; Jelica Minic, Deputy Secretary General and Head of Expert Pool, Regional Cooperation Council, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Johannes Eigner, Acting Director General for European Affairs, Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Austria. The first panel underlined the existence of various obstacles for the enlargement process in the Western Balkans. Due to the economic crisis and “enlargement fatigue,” the majority of Western Balkan countries face continuous domestic obstacles, internal disagreements, reforms which must be accelerated and consolidated, democratic foundations in some of the countries which remain fragile where political leaders bear a huge responsibility to overcome differences to steer their countries and the region towards better governance. However, the general conclusion of the panel was positive. It was strongly emphasized by the speakers that things are moving forward in areas such as regional cooperation, CEFTA and the visa liberalization process. More attention should be given to the unsettled issue of the name of Macedonia, fresh tensions between Serbia and Kosovo and the lack of a proper governmental set-up in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The key solution lies in mutual cooperation, reconciliation, dialogue and engagement.

The second key note speech was delivered by John Shattuck, President and Rector, CEU, who shared with the audience his personal involvement in the 1990s Balkan crisis. As Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under President Clinton, Professor Shattuck was directly involved in the Dayton Peace Agreement negotiations, as he gathered evidence of war crimes as they were committed, based in Bosnia, and also spending time in Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo. As Professor Shattuck explained, these pieces of evidence were then provided for Richard Holbrooke, who as a Special Envoy to Bosnia among others met Milosevic to confront him with the findings. Professor Shattuck furthermore explained how in July 1995 he was the first international diplomatic visitor to reach the male survivors of the genocide and mass killings in Srebrenica, who in the Tuzla refugee camp shared their stories. The report based on the survivors’ stories then led to the UN resolution in late 1995, which consequently led to the intervention by NATO. Professor Shattuck continued by highlighting both the positive and negative elements of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. Among the positive elements, he mentioned that it provided a legal framework to stop the violence, and it authorized the entrance of NATO peacekeeping forces. Among the negative elements he listed the nature of the negotiated constitution and the lack of a mandate to international peacekeeping forces to arrest war criminals. Professor Shattuck then pointed out the continuing challenges in the region. First, the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state is still being plagued by ethnic and political tensions which prevent the country from EU integration; second, the status of Kosovo remains fully unsettled; third, the name of Macedonia is still disputed over; and fourth, the arrest of war criminals continues to be a serious issue. On the other hand, he emphasized positive developments, such as the broad recognition in civil society that “war was caused by bad leadership,” that the peace process needed to be taken into hand by the people as opposed to the international community, and he also referred to recent encouraging acts of local leadership. John Shattuck concluded by saying that it was crucial for countries in the region to be incorporated into the EU as a means of developing permanent peace, democracy and prosperity.

The second panel entitled “A collective will as the key solution: A better use of regional cooperation in the future” was chaired by Jozsef Pandur, Regional Director for SEE, Political Capital, convened Davor Vidis, Director General for Neighboring Countries and SEE, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Croatia; Branimir Mandic, Assistant Minister for Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Delfin Pllana, Minister Advisor, Kosovo Embassy in Budapest, Hungary; Mitja Strukelj, National Coordinator for the Western Balkans, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Slovenia; Mihailo Crnobrnja, Dean and Professor, Faculty of Economics, Finances and Administration, Belgrade, Serbia, and Milan Nic, Special Advisor to the State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Slovakia.

The second panel focused on the fact that regional cooperation in the Western Balkans is progressing, but at an uneven pace due to the changing regional and European environment. A turning point for achieving concrete and coordinated regional cooperation was the establishment of the Regional Cooperation council (RCC) which gave an answer to problems such as overlapping efforts and lack of coordination, and to grant effectiveness to regional demands facing the EU throughout one single “spokesperson” representing regional cooperation. In fact, all regional initiatives established in SEE were externally driven, lacking a fundamental component of regional ownership, awareness and responsibility. The key answer lies in maintaining all the Western Balkan countries “on board” (including Kosovo) with no single country left out of the European perspective. Moreover, a pragmatic approach is needed in order to enhance cooperation with countries in the neighbourhood. Several modalities have been explored in the practice and those which proved to be successful should be continued.

Each panel was followed by a question and answer session, moderated by their respective chairs, and touching upon a large number of issues ranging from the Serbia-Kosovo matter, the name issue of Macedonia, minority rights and international community engagement to gender equality in governmental institutions.

Peter Balazs concluded by stating that although there have been positive and negative developments in the Western Balkan region, the EU should “remain involved and keep the enlargement process alive.” He stressed that CENS will use the valuable contribution of the conference panelists by summing them up, publishing, analyzing and deepening the issues that have been dealt with. CENS is working on a new project called “EU36” that includes all those potential future members which have been named by the 2010 Enlargement Progress Report. A model of the future maximum extent of the EU helps to identify problems and obstacles to coming enlargements. It will result in a set of policy advice to the Hungarian Presidency and EU Commission.