{"id":25498,"date":"2024-10-04T13:59:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T12:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/news\/2bs-forum-2024-balkan-world-building-future-and-security-posture-amid-geopolitical-challenges\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T12:14:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T11:14:47","slug":"2bs-forum-2024-balkan-world-building-future-and-security-posture-amid-geopolitical-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/news\/2bs-forum-2024-balkan-world-building-future-and-security-posture-amid-geopolitical-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"2BS Forum 2024: Balkan World: Building Future and Security Posture Amid Geopolitical Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is currently an appetite for enlargement in Brussels, and it is up to the Balkan countries to seize this moment so that malicious actors do not fill the void in the Balkans and expand their influence. This was one of the messages from the panel titled Balkan World: Building Future and Security Posture Amid Geopolitical Challenges.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

Peter Grk, the national coordinator for the Western Balkans in Slovenia\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary-General of the Bled Strategic Forum, stated that the countries of the Balkans cannot afford not to cooperate. However, he emphasized that the mentality of the region needs to change. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cHow? I think it\u2019s a long process; the enlargement process has been ongoing for 20 years, but we need to change our way of thinking in light of Russia\u2019s aggression in Ukraine, as well as the EU\u2019s mentality. In the Balkans, we still hear voices from the past that dwell on history without looking toward the future. Political elites must realize that while they are reopening old wounds, time is passing. Meanwhile, the geopolitical perspective of the region should serve as a lesson for both the region and its political elites to understand the moment we are in and to implement what they have repeated so many times in the past,\u201d Grk said. <\/p>\n\n

Grk also noted the importance of Slovenia being entrusted with the enlargement portfolio in the European Commission. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s significant that Slovenia has established this portfolio and that our representative is leading it. However, in the end, it doesn\u2019t matter who the commissioner is, even if it were the Pope. Everyone must do their homework. For 20 years, we\u2019ve talked about how the process is unclear and how we don\u2019t know where we\u2019re going. But now, when we look at Montenegro, we have a clear situation and a clearly defined process. We know what Montenegro needs to do, and this enlargement process must happen,\u201d Grk emphasized. <\/p>\n\n

Grk believes there is a strong appetite for further enlargement in Brussels from the EU side, driven by practical reasons. According to him, this has been propelled by Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere are dissenting voices in Europe, but even those countries that were once hesitant about enlargement are now turning toward that goal. The EU is ready, and we need a strong voice from the Balkans,\u201d Grk emphasized. <\/p>\n\n

Speaking about the Growth Plan and the plan for joining the single market, Grk believes the Balkan countries are not yet ready for entry into the single market. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe rules of the single market are not respected in the Balkans, so the Growth Plan and everything related to it aim to establish an effective rule of law. There are no shortcuts. If they want to join the single market through the Growth Plan, they must do their part, and the most important aspect is the rule of law. There can be no single market if you don\u2019t have institutions that uphold the rule of law and can show resilience to foreign influence,\u201d Grk concluded. <\/p>\n\n

Kurt Volker, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, speaking about the situation in the Balkans, stated that we cannot assume everything is under control or that nothing bad will happen. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere is a sense of complacency among the leaders, and they think they can play with identity issues. But that\u2019s dangerous because it can spiral out of control. I don\u2019t believe immediate violence will occur, but we cannot take for granted that it won\u2019t,\u201d Volker warned. According to him, the region is complacent for several reasons. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere are leaders who benefit from playing the nationalist card, which is why they underestimate the intentions of various external actors who want to create disruption, especially Russia\u2014and also the Russian church\u2014which seeks to destabilize the region and keep it distant from Europe. There are people in the region who want to play this game, which is very dangerous,\u201d the American diplomat emphasized. <\/p>\n\n

Nikola Luni\u0107, the executive director of the Council for Strategic Policies in Serbia, believes that military neutrality in the Balkans, particularly in Serbia, is largely symbolic. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe Serbian budget is estimated at 76 billion euros. One and a half billion constitutes the military budget, and President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 has announced that an additional 730 million euros will be allocated to the military. Additionally, we have the purchase of Rafale aircraft for 420 million euros. When these transparent figures are added up, Serbia spends 3.5% of its GDP on the military, positioning it as the second-highest in military spending in Europe,\u201d Luni\u0107 stated. <\/p>\n\n

He pointed out that Serbia\u2019s strategic documents do not indicate the need to enhance military capabilities, as there is, according to him, no imminent threat of conflict. Therefore, he argues that the Balkans are caught in a paradox where military conscription becomes the focus despite no clear military threat. <\/p>\n\n

Luni\u0107 believes that the concept of military neutrality, based on the principle of total defense, is more virtual than real, as it does not align with Serbia\u2019s foreign policy. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cVu\u010di\u0107 says we are militarily neutral, but we are not politically neutral externally, which means that such military neutrality is meaningless,\u201d Luni\u0107 emphasized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is currently an appetite for enlargement in Brussels, and it is up to the Balkan countries to seize this moment so that malicious actors do not fill the void in the Balkans and expand their influence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[68,78,80,69],"class_list":["post-25498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2bs-en","tag-defence","tag-region-en","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25499,"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25498\/revisions\/25499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascg.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}