The seminar was opened by the Official Representative of KAS Daniel Braun, who stressed that Germany strongly supports the country's further path of EU integration. Braun pointed out that KAS provides support for strengthening the capacity of different party structures of the VMRO-DPMNE, such as the parliamentary group, the Youth Forces and the Women's Union, and thereby also supports the work of the Assembly.
In his video address, Peter Beyer, Member of the German Bundestag, welcomed the cooperation between Germany and North Macedonia, as well as KAS' focus on capacity building in the countries it is present in. Beyer expressed his and Germany's sincere support to VMRO-DPMNE and to the country in its attempts to continue on the path towards integration into the EU. Stressing the importance of EU accession, Beyer concluded that Bulgaria should not block Macedonian path based on bilateral issues.
Hristijan Mickoski, President of VMRO-DPMNE, applauded the cooperation between his party and KAS and stressed that joining the EU is of great importance for the country, adding that the unprincipled blockade by neighbouring Bulgaria mostly refers to events from the 19th century and has nothing to do with European values or the future of the two countries. Mickoski focused on three key aspects for the further development of the country: a strong and stable economy that prevents the youth from emigrating, good education and high-quality healthcare for a strong nation capable of taking development further, and a new generation of political actors who will fight corruption and crime.
The Coordinator of the Parliamentary Group of VMRO-DPMNE and the Coalition Nikola Micevski also addressed the audience. He emphasised the importance of the cooperation between KAS and VMRO-DPMNE during the last two decades and thanked KAS for the support provided to the parliamentary group so far, expressing his hope that it will continue in the future.
Zhaklina Peshevska, MP and President of the VMRO-DPMNE Women's Union, pointed out the importance of women's participation in decision-making and in all party structures. Thanking KAS for the support received during all the years, Peshevska called for a better representation of women on the lists of candidates for mayors and councillors, not only for quantity's sake, but also recognising their personal quality and added value.
The welcoming speeches were concluded by Stefan Andonovski, Director of the Party Research and Analytical Center "Ljubisha Georgievski". He expressed his expectation that the participants would gain knowledge about global politics' directions during the seminar and added that the event will provide discussions, interaction among the participants and the opportunity to share experiences and arguments, but also introduce new topics of political activism such as green economy and digitalisation.
In the working part of the three-day seminar, several prominent Macedonian and German politicians and experts addressed the audience. Vladimir Gjorchev, former MP, member of the Executive Committee and Secretary for International Cooperation of VMRO-DPMNE, spoke about citizens' expectations with regard to their MPs and how to convey political messages in the most efficient way. The main topic of André Algermissen, Policy Advisor on Climate, Agriculture and Environment at KAS, were green politics. He elaborated on why European centre-right parties focus on agriculture and environmental decision-making. The next speaker, Tankred Schipanski, Member of the German Bundestag and Spokesperson of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group for Digital Policy, focused on the digital agenda and the importance of digital change for effective governance in Germany and in the EU. The role of women in politics, adequate representation of women and gender equality were discussed by Lilly Fischer, the youngest member of the Erfurt City Council, and Ana Krstinovska from the Association for strategy development, research, education and promotion of international values ESTIMA. Dragan Sekulovski from the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) initiated a discussion on political disinformation and the development of methods and ways to recognise and prevent it. Ljupka Naumovska from the Rennes School of Business analysed the transformation of institutional (political) marketing in the digital age which provides the essence of political leadership in the new era. Former MP and current professor at the Faculty of Law "Iustinianus I" in Skopje Aleksandar Spasenovski dwelled on the position of the legislative power, i.e. the Assembly within the system of separation of powers, sharing information and statistical indicators from his own experience and research.
