Paris – ESI at panel on Western Balkans youth and meetings with French officials

Adnan Cerimagic speaking at a panel in Paris. Photo: ESI

ESI analyst Adnan Cerimagic participated in a panel discussion titled "What next for the young people in the Balkans", organised by the International Institute for Peace (IIP) from Vienna and co-organised by the Jean Jaures Fondation from Paris, the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, and the Karl Renner Institute from Vienna.

Adnan presented ESI's research on EU and Western Balkans, in particular related to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, the opening of accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania, the visa liberalization process for Kosovo, and measuring and incentivizing reforms in the Western Balkans. Other panelists were young researchers from the Western Balkans.

In the morning, together with other panelists, Adnan visited the French Presidency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly. They met with President Emmanuel Macron's advisor for Europe, Alexandre Adam, and head of the Western Balkans section in the Foreign Ministry, Thomas Bertin, as well as other diplomats, officials and members of the parliament working on the Western Balkans.

This event is part of the IIP's "The Western Balkans Initiative" that aims to bring young researchers from the Western Balkans closer to EU decision makers. The group already visited Belgrade, Pristina, Skopje, Vienna, The Hague and Berlin, while visits to Brussels, Zagreb, Sarajevo and Berlin are planed.

• ESI, "HOW ARE THEY DOING? European Commission assessments of North Macedonia, Serbia and Albania (April 2018)", 29 April 2019.
• ESI Newsletter, "The Hypnotist – North Macedonia this summer – In Memoriam Dejan", 28 April 2019.
• ESI, "The Hypnotist – Aleksandar Vucic, John Bolton and the return of the past", 25 April 2019.
• ESI briefing paper: A West Balkan Agenda for 2019, 29 October 2018
• Politico, Adnan Ćerimagić, "Redrawing Balkan borders would be a fatal mistake", 28 August 2018
• ESI, "Alpbach appeal to Vucic, Thaci and European leaders – Adi Cerimagic", 26 August 2018.
• ESI, "Making history? Macedonia and Elysium", 4 April 2018.
• ESI, "Balkan crises, imagined and real: Bosnian elections – PISA gap", 31 January 2018.
• ESI, "Wine, dog food and Bosnian clichés – False ideas and why they matter", 5 November 2017.
• European Western Balkans, "[EWB Interview] Ćerimagić: We need EU accession to be beneficial for WB states today" (23 October 2017)
• ESI, "The Chapter Illusion – For Honesty and Clearity in EU-Turkey relations", 15 May 2017.
• ESI,  "Rankings that fail – Doing Business, Bosnia and Macedonia in 2015", 9 November 2015.
• ESI, "A reporting revolution? Towards a new generation of progress reports", 9 November 2015.
• ESI, "Measuring corruption – The case for deep analysis and a simple proposal", 19 March 2015.
• ESI, "Why Macedonia is not Finland – rankings and the PISA gap – Part I" , 26 May 2014
• ESI, "A simple idea: All Balkan countries take the OECD PISA test – and the Commission includes it in its Progress Report", 18 June 2014.

Adnan Cerimagic with other participants at the meeting in the National Assembly. Photo: ESI