Social, Political and Security Challenges in the Western Balkans: Common Search for Solutions

Type: 
Workshop
Audience: 
Open to the Public
Speaker: 
Erhard Busek
Goran Svilanovic
Zsuzsa Hargitai
Organizer: 
Hungarian Europe Society
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 5:00pm
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Date: 
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 5:00pm to 7:00pm

On 17 May 2006 starting from 9:00 a.m., the Hungarian Europe Society (HES) and the Center for Policy Studies (CPS) organized an international workshop concerning the political and security challenges of the Western Balkans.

At this event, together with the Hungarian participants, experts, politicians, journalists and senior officers of NGOs arriving from Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and also representatives of European institutions discussed the most fundamental issues of the future of this region with special emphasis on the perspectives of EU-accession and the question related to the peaceful coexistence of different national and ethnic groups.

Among others, the list of speakers included:

  • Dr. Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe;
  • Goran Svilanovic, Member of the Serbian Parliament, Former Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia;
  • Zsuzsa Hargitai, Head of the Budapest office, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
  • Matthew Rycroft, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo.

The general aim of the event was to draw attention to the important and exciting political, social and economic transformation taking place in Hungary’s neighborhood and, by placing the issue of minority rights of Hungarians beyond the border in a broader context, to offer a new political approach to domestic decision-makers and the media.

Further information on the website of the Hungarian Europe Society (http://www.europatarsasag.hu)