The European Policy Centre, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, is pleased to invite you to this Policy Dialogue on 12 May, with :
Ulrike Lunacek
Vice President of the European Parliament
Haki Abazi
Program Director for the Western Balkans, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Jeta Xharra
Kosovo Director, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Kosovo
Valerie Hopkins
Journalist, Author of BIG DEAL
EEAS representative (name to be confirmed)
Rasa Nedeljkov
Program Manager, Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, Serbia
Corina Stratulat
Senior Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre (Moderator)
Tuesday 12 May 2015, 10.00-12.00 (registration from 9.40)
EPC Auditorium (3rd floor), 14-16 Rue du Trône, 1000 Brussels
The Brussels agreement between Belgrade and Pristina reached in April 2013 was heralded as historic. Two years on, implementing the deal is proving difficult. In part, the 2014 elections in Serbia, Kosovo and the EU have drained some momentum from the talks, but opposition to the compromise persists on both sides and is holding up the process. Despite important breakthroughs – on integrating Kosovo’s police and judiciary, for example – the positive impact of the dialogue is yet to trickle down. The protests and mass migration that Kosovo witnessed in the first months of 2015 are just some of the recent knock-on effects of the unfulfilled promise of a better life for ordinary citizens offered by the negotiations. What are the main hurdles and how can they be overcome ? How is the current state of Serbia-Kosovo relations viewed in Brussels, and what is the EU doing to encourage progress ? How can civil society actors support the implementation and normalisation process at a local level ? These and other issues will be discussed by our panel of experts on the basis of the latest report by the project “BIG DEAL : civic oversight of the Kosovo-Serbia agreement implementation”.
European Policy Centre
Tel : 02 231 03 40
www.epc.eu
