11 October, 2010
UEF Serbia research project to identify major challenges for pro-European development of Western Balkan countries
UEF Serbia, in cooperation with Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Center for European Studies in Brussels, has started implementing a research project ”Sustainability of the Process of Association and Accession of Serbia and the Western Balkans to the European Union: Research on the Possible Scenarios of Accession“.
The aim of the project is to identify major challenges for pro-European development of Western Balkans countries, focusing on the assessment of the potential obstacles to the full European integration of the region, so as to develop possible scenarios of either full integration of all Western Balkans countries into the EU, or defining possible alternative forms of relations between the bloc and some of the Western Balkans countries.
The result of the research will be the creation and publication of the policy study in November 2010. The policy study will be presented at the regional conference, which will take place in Belgrade in December 2010.
The most important part of the research will include series of meetings and interviews that a research team will conduct with individuals, whose daily work is closely related with the process of the European integration. Interviews will take place in Brussels, Banja Luka, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tirana, Zagreb and Belgrade. The main intention of the researchers is to obtain information, which will lead them to better understanding of this complex process in the region of the Western Balkans, as well as to learn and get better insight in the policy solutions related to the European integration process that so dynamically affect the public life of the target countries.
Persons to be interviewed are chosen among political parties’ senior members, members of the parliament, political analysts, public administration officials, NGOs, think-tanks dealing with the EU enlargement issues, journalists, university researchers, science institutes, etc. All interviews will be informal, meaning that no part of the interview will be quoted in the final publication, but will be used exclusively for the analytical purposes of writing a policy study.
