On 13 September PIPS held a closed discussion on "Balkan Regionalism 2021: SEFTA and Open Balkan" with stakeholders from the government, opposition and experts.
This event brought to the table the views of the parties on the SEFTA and Open Balkan agreements, and confronted the attitudes of key actors to measure the possibility for a unified stance of these actors on regional agreements.
This discussion stressed cautious action regarding:
- Unilateral initiative and positions vis-a-vis the need to strengthen interstate alliances and not to threaten the loss of strategic allies;
- Tendency to see the European Integration process as mutually exclusive from regional integration;
- Articulation of positions and unilateral initiative along with the need to create and strengthen interstate alliances and not to threaten the loss of strategic allies;
- Regional initiatives as a response to the stagnation of the region's European Integration process;
-The security of regional partnerships without equality of the parties and dealing with the past.