Has the world forgotten about the Western Balkans? – this was the motto of our eighth Euro-Atlantic Café organized in the city of Pécs. Our panelists, Prof. Géza Jeszenszky, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Ambassador to Washington and Oslo and Prof. István Gyarmati, former OSCE Ambassador and well-known expert on the Western Balkans, discussed the developments of the region since the Dayton Peace Agreement and the importance of the Western Balkans in global politics. Prof. Gyarmati challenged the widespread notion that there was a geopolitical struggle going on for the Balkans. As he pointed out, nobody was really interested in the region. Europe has regained some interest since the refugee crisis, the US is satisfied with having two new NATO-members (Albania is already in, Montenegro is invited), and Russia is playing the role of the destabilizing force, without offering a real alternative.  Prof. Jeszenszky argued that the Bosnian model was not sustainable, as it was based on a similar idea as the former Yugoslavia: it would have been better to have a clear-cut solution, rather then creating an artificial and thus politically unsustainable federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both speakers agreed that Europe had a responsibility in the future of the Balkans, while there was a clear danger that the influx of refugees and the lack of European perspectives might destabilize the young democracies.

The event was organised in our Euro-Atlantic Café series in cooperation with the Eastern Mediterannian and Balkan Studies Centre of the University of Pécs and supported by the Pallasz Athéné Geopolitical Foundation and the US Embassy in Budapest.