Rome – ESI visa advisory board meeting with Giuliano Amato

Nigar Goksel, Jan Tasci, Lars Wahlund, Iulian Groza, Gerald Knaus, Charles Clarke, Giuliano Amato, Cengiz Aktar, Burak Erdenir, Alexandra Stiglmayer, and Christian Altfuldisch

On 31 January and 1 February, members of ESI's "White List Project" Advisory Board and other experts met in Rome at the Aspen Institute Italia. They discussed the situation concerning visa liberalisation in Europe including recent developments and upcoming issues in Turkey, the Western Balkans, Moldova and other Eastern neighbours. They also brainstormed about the future of EU-Turkey relations and an ESI proposal for a new generation of progress reports.

Participants:

• Cengiz Aktar, professor of political science, senior scholar at the Istanbul Policy Centre (an initiative of Sabanci University and Stiftung Mercator), author and columnist
• Christian Altfuldisch, head of the Berlin office of the European Stability Initiative
• Giuliano Amato, former Italian prime minister and interior minister, former chairman of the ESI White List Advisory Board
• Charles Clarke, former UK Home Secretary, member of the ESI board
• Burak Erdenir, Deputy Under-Secretary at the EU Ministry of Turkey
• Nigar Göksel, Istanbul-based Senior Analyst of the European Stability Initiative
• Iulian Groza, Deputy Foreign Minister of Moldova
• Gerald Knaus, Chairman of the European Stability Initiative
• Angelo Maria Petroni, Secretary-General of the Aspen Institute Italy
• Alexandra Stiglmayer, Brussels-based Senior Analyst and General Secretary of the European Stability Initiative
• Jan Taşçı, Stiftung Mercator, project manager
• Lars Wahlund, Ambassador of Sweden to Turkey

ESI is grateful to the Stiftung Mercator for supporting this meeting and other activities in relation to visa liberalisation for Turkey.

• Agenda
• Participants list
• Presentation: Enlargement until 2020 (February 2014)
• Report: Cutting the visa knot (May 2013)
• Report: Moldova - The surprising front-runner (December 2013)
• Appeal: Happy anniversary? EU-Turkey relations at age 50 (September 2013)
• Presenting European Commission assessments based on progress reports (January 2014)
• Restoring trust: How EU countries can ease the visa burden for Turkish citizens (January 2014)
• Rome and theVisa White List Campaign - Liberalisation in an era of fatigue (February 2009)
• Asylum seekers from the Western Balkans (January 2014)

Gerald Knaus, Giuliano Amato, and Angelo Maria Petroni

Iulian Groza, Nigar Goksel, and Burak Erdenir

Charles Clarke, Christian Altfuldisch, and Cengiz Aktar

Lars Wahlund, Jan Tasci, and Alexandra Stiglmayer

Meeting room "Studio dei Presidenti" at the Aspen Institute