Events

THE PIVOTAL ROLE OF V4 IN THE CURRENT PROCESSES OF EU ENLARGEMENT

We are pleased to invite you to the Online Roundtable on “The Pivotal Role of V4 in the Current Processes of EU Enlargement”. The roundtable will take place online on 15th of January 2024 starting at 11.00 AM CET. The event is organized by the international consortium of organizations behind the “Alliances for EU” project (https://www.alliancesforeu.org/), supported by the international Visegrad Fund and co-financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea.

Please register for the event no later than 13th of January 2024 by following this link and filling in the registration form.

Roundtable: “The Pivotal Role of V4 in the Current Processes of EU Enlargement”

The project implemented by the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities - Skopje entitled “Alliances for EU: Overcoming Cultural Disputes, Opening Pathways of EU Enlargement” (Project ID: 22230012) has been dedicated to the promotion of improving intercultural relations between North Macedonia and its neighbors, particularly Bulgaria, as well as strongly advocating for the country’s commitment to its EU accession. It has also sought to present the issue as not merely a local or a regional one, but also European, researching and raising awareness of EU’s reinvigorated commitment to its enlargement and refashioned idea of European geopolitics (launched in 2019). On 23 November 2023 we organized a roundtable entitled “The Future of the European Union and its Enlargement: Does its Cohesion and Global Geopolitical Competitiveness Rely on Its Enlargement?” which took place the Slovak Academy of Arts and Sciences in Bratislava but also via zoom. Many important questions were open in addition to those we believed we closed by agreeing there is no alternative to the EU enlargement and North Macedonia’s accession to the Union. The new questions that beg further discussion concern: the role of the Visegrad 4 group of countries in the enlargement process; if Europe has truly assumed a more geo/political instead of a technocratic approach to the enlargement process and how strongly is the Union truly committed to the process? Is the 2030 truly a deadline for the full integration of Western Balkans as the November 2022 resolution of the European Parliament states? Can Western Balkans opt out from the integration process and at what geopolitical (including economic) cost?

Panelists:

- Prof. Juraj Marušiak, Research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences

- Ambassador David Geer, European Delegation in North Macedonia

- Prof. Spasimir Domaradzki, Ass. Professor at University of Warsaw, Institute of Central Europe, Visegrad Fellow 2020-2021 at Res Publica Nova

- Prof. Gábor Egry, Director at the Institute of Political History-Budapest

- Prof. Michal Vit, Assistant Professor at Metropolitan University Prague and a Senior fellow and Director of the Institute of Modern Development in Prague

- Prof. Dimitar Vatsov, President of the Human and Social Studies Foundation, Sofija

- Prof. Katerina Kolozova, Executive director of the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, Skopje, Moderator

The panel discussion will be followed by an open floor for all participants.

Here you can find the official agenda of the event and the programme

Agenda

Programme

THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS ENLARGEMENT: DOES ITS COHESION AND GLOBAL GEOPOLITICAL COMPETITIVENESS RELY ON ITS ENLARGEMENT?

We are pleased to invite you to the Hybrid Roundtable on “The Future of the European Union and its Enlargement: Does its Cohesion and Global Geopolitical Competitiveness Rely on Its Enlargement?”. The roundtable will take place at the Institute of Philosophy SAS, 4th floor on 23 November 2023 starting at 9:45. The event is organized by the international consortium of organizations behind the “Alliances for EU” project (https://www.alliancesforeu.org/), supported by the Visegrad Fund and co-financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea.

Please register for the event no later than 18 November 2023 by following this link and filling in the registration form. Please note that the number of in-person participants is limited to 50, so if you accept the invitation, the sooner you register the better.

Roundtable: “The Future of the European Union and its Enlargement: Does its Cohesion and Global Geopolitical Competitiveness Rely on Its Enlargement?”

We are witnessing times when the European Commission labels itself and even once “politically neutral” programs (such as science and education) as geopolitical, its president speaks of Europe’s global competitiveness and raises the issue of enlargement among the priorities for such competitiveness (the Speech from Oct. 5th, Granada, Spain). After the Russian full-scale aggression on Ukraine of Feb. 24, 2022, the EU granted the candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, thus expanding the group of candidate states at the EU’s doorstep. Can Kosovo-Serbia become a source of instability for Europe, and can as a counterbalance, improved Macedonia-Bulgaria relations help in that sense. Will the expanded group of candidate states make a difference? How will the EU enlargement policy change? Can the EU soft power resolve regional conflicts?

Panelists:
– Juraj Marušiak, Research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences
- Spasimir Domaradzki, Ass. Professor at University of Warsaw, Institute of Central Europe, Visegrad Fellow 2020-2021 at Res Publica Nova
– Gábor Egry, Director at the Institute of Political History-Budapest
– Michal Vit, Assistant Professor at Metropolitan University Prague and a Senior fellow and Director of the Institute of Modern Development in Prague
– Valentin Valkanov, Researcher at Human and Social Studies Foundation, Sofija
– Risto Aleksovski, Researcher at Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, Skopje

The panel discussion will be followed by an open floor for all participants.

Discussants-Respondents:

Július Lörincz, former journalist and diplomat (former Ambassador of Slovakia to Zagreb)
Ján Cingel, head of Strategic Analysis think tank

Please note: That every registered participant at the Roundtable can take up the role of the Discussant.

Here you can find the official agenda of the event and the programme

Programme

Agenda