The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) and the Balkan Center for Constructive Policies – Solution in cooperation with Open Society Foundations | Western Balkans co-organized the third BSC Leaders Meetings in Tirana on May 17, 2024, in a series titled “Albania and the Western Balkans in the EU by 2030: Tackling the Obstacles Ahead.”. 

Ever since the publication of the Report of the Franco-German Working Group on the EU Institutional Reform in September 2023, the launching of the New EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans in November 2023, and more lately the Communication from the European Commission on pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews in March 2024, it has become obvious that after an initial geopolitical impulse to accelerated enlargement caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the high speed EU integration train has left the station aiming to see the new member states join the Union as early as 2030. The Communication of the European Commission to the European Parliament and European Council has formally included all constructive proposals from the Western Balkans and European think tanks on how to render EU accession process more effective: introducing Qualified Majority Voting in all interim stages of the EU accession process, candidate countries joining the EU single market and gradual integration of the candidate countries before accession. Whereas there are many reasons for optimism, concerns remain whether the EU will achieve its institutional reforms in due time to welcome new members, and on the other hand whether the candidate countries in the Western Balkans will fulfil the criteria for EU membership before the due date. 

The aim of this high-level panel of the BSC Leaders Meetings event was to take stock of the opportunities and obstacles standing between Albania and other Western Balkan countries’ EU membership by 2030. 

The event featured prominent speakers, including Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama; Prof. Dr. Daniela Schwarzer of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board; Majlinda Bregu. PhD Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council; and Vessela Tcherneva Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. The discussion was moderated by Nikola Dimitrov President and Co-founder of the Balkan Center for Constructive Policies – Solucija and former Foreign Affairs Minister of North Macedonia. 

Andi Dobrushi, the Director of Open Society Foundations | Western Balkans, opened the event, welcoming the opportunity for the insightful discussions facilitated by the BSC Leaders Meeting format. 

The event concluded with a Chatham House on the presentation of the publication ‘Bilateral Disputes and EU Enlargement: A Consensual Divorce’ which stimulated the debate on bilateral disputes as key obstacle on the EU enlargement process of the Western Balkans. 

The BSC Leaders Meetings is a series of half-day events organised throughout the Western Balkans. They are part of the Belgrade Security Conference (BSC) – a high-level international policy event organised by the BCSP each year in Belgrade. The BSC Leaders Meetings aim to gather policy-makers and experts who will discuss major foreign and security challenges facing the region, geopolitical events and trends affecting it, and to assess the future of democratic reforms, regional cooperation and the place of the Western Balkans in global politics.