Connecting Agenda for the Western Balkans

We are pleased to invite you to our third debate in the European Conversations 2.0 series, entitled Connecting Agenda for the Western Balkans - Significance for Serbia. The online debate will take place on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, starting at 11 am.

The connection agenda was launched six years ago as part of the Berlin Process. The Energy Community, established in 2006, as well as the Transport Community for Southeast Europe, whose establishment it contributed to in 2017, joined its realization. The two organizations are working to integrate the energy and transport markets and infrastructure of the Western Balkans into the EU, helping to adopt and implement EU legislation in those sectors and supporting projects linking countries in the region to each other and to the EU.

In the new strategy from 2018, the credible perspective of enlargement and increased EU engagement in the Western Balkans, the initiative to improve the connection in the field of transport and energy is one of the 6 leading initiatives that envisage new investment support. It was also announced that the Program for Connecting Europe in the Western Balkans will be used more effectively. In addition, in order to strengthen the EU Energy Union, all its dimensions will include the Western Balkans.

More than 10 years ago, the EU established the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), as a platform for co-operation and co-ordination led by the European Commission, which brings together international and national financial institutions, as well as bilateral donors and beneficiaries from the region. Over the years, assistance has been provided in the preparation and financing of important infrastructure connection projects in the Western Balkans, by combining grants from pre-accession funds. Through WBIF, EUR 210.7 million of assistance has been provided for Serbia by 2018, as well as EUR 2.4 billion in loans for 39 projects, of which 67% are in the field of transport and energy.

Topics to be raised during the debate:

• What are the challenges for Serbia in implementing these projects and initiatives?
• What is the expected benefit of the just announced Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans?
• How to better inform citizens in regions and cities of Serbia such as Kraljevo?

Participants:

• Matej Zakonjšek, Director, Permanent Secretariat of the Transport Community
• Zvonko Tufegdžić, Director, Regional Chamber of Commerce Kraljevo
• Aleksandar Kovačević, Senior Visiting Researcher, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES)
• Gligo Vukovic, Energy Expert, Delegation of the European Union to Serbia

The European Movement in Serbia, with the support of the EU Delegation to Serbia, is organizing a series of online debates European Talks 2.0, in order to improve meaningful communication with citizens and help them assess and make their own judgment on Serbia's European perspective.

We look forward to your participation and contribution to the debate. Register and see the biographies of the participants - LINK

The working language will be Serbian, and participation in the debate is free for all companions. The debate will be broadcast live, and questions will be collected on the EU's Facebook page in Serbia.