Interview with Matthew Palmer, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the United States of America. The interview was taken during the Bled Strategic Forum 2018, which took place on 10-11 September in Bled, Slovenia, where Palmer was one of the speakers.

EWB Interview with Hashim Thaçi, President of Kosovo. The interview comes at the time of widespread discussion about the agreement on comprehensive normalization of relations, and the possibility of territorial exchanges as a part of the solution. EWB asked Thaçi about the possibilities of the final agreement and the Euro-Atlantic future of Kosovo.

Op-ed by Florian Bieber, professor at the University of Graz and coordinator of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG). Bieber will be a speaker on the event “Beyond Berlin: What Does the Next Decade Hold for the Western Balkans?”, organized by Chatham House, European Fund for the Balkans and DG Near in London on 10 July.

See more at: https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2018/07/10/time-ditch-berlin-process/

According to Catherine Ashton, Senior Adviser at Chatham House and the former EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (2009-14), the European Union needs to be clear that membership will be the outcome for Western Balkan countries if they undergo the neccesary reforms.

Interview with Tanya Domi, Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Prior to her faculty appointment at Columbia in 2008, Domi worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights, gender and sexual identity issues and human trafficking. During her previous policy work in Bosnia and Herzegovina implementing the Dayton Peace Accords for the OSCE Mission 1996-2000, she served in the position of Spokesperson, Counselor to U.S.

The Enlargement Strategy, entitled “Credible Perspective of Enlargement to the Western Balkans”, will be presented on 6 February during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Following of the adoption of the official text of the document by the College of Commissioners, the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, will present a Strategy before the members of the European Parliament when it will be also publicly disclosed.

TIRANA – The governments of Albania and Kosovo signed Monday on the joint meeting in Korça 12 agreements and understanding memorandums between the two countries, materializing the continuum of Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

Overall, the two governments have signed four cooperation agreements on social insurance and integration and eight memorandums on electricity, Diaspora, environment, culture, foreign investments as well as on veterinary certificates.

http://bit.ly/2iZmBx4

Interview with Igor Šoltes, member of the European Parliament (Slovenia, Greens/EFA) and the newly appointed European Parliament rapporteur on Kosovo was published on the European Western Balkans portal today.

European Western Balkans: You have recently been appointed as the European Parliament standing rapporteur on Kosovo. What do you see as the most important current obstacles on Kosovo’s EU path?

Interview with Pieter Feith, Dutch diplomat and the former European Union Special Representative in Kosovo (2008-2011) and the International Civilian Representative for Kosovo (2008-2012) was published today on the European Western Balkans portal.

The interview was conducted at the Belgrade Security Forum 2017, which took place from 11 to 13 October, 2017, and Peter Feith was the speaker on the panel “The EU as a Civil-Military Crisis Manager”.

Discussing the role of the Kosovo Specialist court at the public presentation of the report “Public Perception of the Kosovo Specialist Court: Risks and Opportunities”, organized by NGOs PAX, Integra, and Center for Peace and Tolerance, President Thaçi criticized the one-sidedness of the “mono-ethnic” court and slammed the international community for falling short of fulfilling their part of the “bargain”.