South East Europe

Catching Up? The Western Balkans and the New Europe
	12-14 May 2003 Hotel Voksenasen, Oslo In association with ESI [European Stability Initiative] and sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"The moderates are winning," remarked the senior adviser to one reformist Prime Minister from South East Europe remarked at the opening of the conference in Oslo. "The difference in language between now and last October's (2002) Wilton Park conference is clear", he added.

"A strikingly coherent set of priorities were outlined", one OSCE adviser observed. It was agreed that this is not an overnight phenomenon but the result of several years of change in the region, which has only become apparent relatively recently.

Click here for the conference report.

The conference, held by Wilton Park in association with the leading think-tank, the European Stability Initiative, was hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kim Traavik, the Norwegian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs opening the conference, said that "we should however perhaps be less preoccupied with demanding reform and rather more so with supporting reform".

Radmila Sekerinska the Deputy Prime Minister of Macedonia setting out a detailed agenda of measures she urged the EU to adopt, warning that the Balkans risk being in a "European black hole."
For her powerpoint slides click here.

Neven Mimica,
Croatian Minister of European Integration, cautioned against excessive optimism at the Thessaloniki EU Council on the Western Balkans.

Gerald Knaus, President of ESI described the Thessaloniki EU Summit in June 2003 as a "reality check" for SE European leaders, in the Serbian weekly, Vreme, June 27 2003.
For an English version click here.

For the conference agenda click here.