Event
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The EU perspective of the Western Balkan states is a current and debated topic in Brussels and has gained in im-portance since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Since other states besides the EU, such as Russia or Turkey, want to expand their influence in the region, the negotiations and the underlying desire to bring the Western Balkans closer to the EU play a decisive role. With the exception of Kosovo, which is not recognised as independent by all EU member states, all states in the Western Balkans have the status of EU accession candidates, and official acces-sion negotiations have been underway with some of them for several years. Montenegro has long been considered a beacon in this context: negotiations have been ongoing since 2012, all 35 chapters have been opened and three of them have already been closed. Since the Parliamentary Elections in 2020, however, the country has not been able to rest politically. Two governments have failed and President Milo Djukanovic drew criticism in 2022 when he did not want to appoint a new candidate to form a government and in return was deprived of the right to do so by parliament. He nevertheless won the most votes in the first round of the upcoming Presidential Elections and intends to continue his policies in the highest office of the state for another term. Early Parliamentary Elections will be held later this year.
How should the status quo of relations between the European Union and Montenegro be assessed? What role do the Presidential Elections of 2023 play in this context? In which framework do political decision-making processes take place in Montenegro? How strong is the influence of other states or institutions in Montenegro and (how) does this affect the process of rapprochement with the EU?
The event "KAS Europe Talks: EU-Montenegro Relations between EU Accession and Political Standstill" will take place on Wednesday, 05 April 2023 from 15:00 - 16:00 CET via Zoom. We look forward to discussing the above-men-tioned topics with our colleague Jakov Devčić, Director of the KAS Offices in Serbia and Montenegro. After the con-versation between Mr. Devčić and Dr. Hardy Ostry, Director of the European Office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, participants will have the opportunity to contribute their questions to the discussion. The event will be held in German and will also be simultaneously translated into English.
We look forward to your participation! Registration here
Here you will find the program for download: Programme 23-04-05 KAS Europe Talks (Montenegro).pdf
