Could Balkan newcomers to NATO and the EU affect the security of the West?

Details

PROGRAMME

16.30-17.00 Registration

17.00-18.30 Debate

18.30 Cocktail Reception

With Croatia on the threshold of EU membership, and along with Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia headed for NATO too, the day when Balkan countries will have an important influence on Western security policies is fast approaching. Although it’s nearly a decade and a half since the Dayton Accord that brought peace to the region, and ten years since NATO intervened over Kosovo, dangerous tensions persist. How great is the risk that old enmities and rivalries between Balkan newcomers to the EU and of NATO will spill over into wider policy areas? The argument for stabilizing Balkan countries through integration into the EU and NATO remains strong, but with Euro-American relations still badly scarred by last year’s disagreements over the advisability of Georgian and Ukrainian NATO membership, how deep are the pitfalls?

Panel Speakers (Brussels):

Admiral Giampaolo di Paola, Chairman of the Military Committee, NATO

Doris Pack MEP, Chairwoman of the Delegation for relations with the countries of South-East Europe

Jamie Shea, Director for Policy & Planning, Private Office of the Secretary General, NATO

Panel Speakers (Washington D.C.):

H.E. Alexander Vershbow, former US Ambassador to Russia

Jeffrey Simon, Senior Research Fellow, National Defence College Institute for National Strategic Studies, USA

Janusz Bugajski, Director of the New European Democracies Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Co-Moderators:

Peter R. Weilemann, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Brussels office

Giles Merritt, Director of the Security & Defence Agenda

H.E. Robert Hunter, former US Ambassador to NATO (Washington D.C.)

VIP Discussants:

H.E.Tacan Ildem, Permanent Representative, Delegation of Turkey to NATO

H.E. Kire Ilioski, Ambassador, Mission of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to NATO

H.E. Artur Kuko, Ambassador, Mission of Albania to NATO

H.E. Branislav Milinkovic, Ambassador, Mission of Serbia to NATO

H.E. Igor Pokaz, Ambassador, Mission of Croatia to NATO

H.E. Nikola Radovanovic, Ambassador, Mission of Bosnia-Herzegovina to NATO

H.E. Thrasyvoulos Terry Stamatopoulos, Permanent Representative, Delegation of Greece to NATO

H.E. Veselin Sukovic, Ambassador, Mission of Montenegro to NATO

H.E. Nikolaos Tzifakis, Head of the International Cooperation Department, Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy