Paris – ESI at CERI: Imagining the Balkans: European Societies on the Move

Sarajevo. Photo: flickr/blandm

ESI's Gerald Knaus was invited to a conference on "Imagining the Balkans: European Societies on the Move" organised by the Centre d'études et de recherches internationales (CERI) in Paris. Gerald spoke on a panel with Jacques Rupnik (CERI-Sciences Po), Gilles Pernet (former head of the department for "NATO, EU and candidate countries" of the Strategic Affairs Delegation of the French Defence Ministry), and Stefano Bianchini (University of Bologna).

Using the example of visa liberalisation, Gerald looked into the reasons why the EU's success in the Western Balkans is being recast in the language of failure in the public discourse and outlined a positive vision of European soft power. An audio recording of the whole panel discussion is available here: