‘Eyes wide shut: How EU member states reject democracy in the Western Balkans in favour of geostrategy’.

In her eye-opening lecture, Professor Ivanka Popovic, former Rector of the University of Belgrade and one of the leaders of the Proglas movement, painstakingly documented the gradual backsliding of Serbia and other Western Balkan countries on issues of respect for democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law, aided and abetted by foreign powers with malign intentions. At several intervals, Prof. Popovic exposed the EU institutions’ ineptitude in dealing with the situation and member states’ colusion with increasingly autocratic leaders in the region. The latter was vividly illustrated by way of a history of dirty deals concluded over mining projects across the Western Balkans, most recently in Serbia (see 2 REUNIR blogposts on the matter), further eroding the European Union’s credibility and that of its enlargement policy.

The public lecture took place on 9 October at the campus of the College of Europe in Natolin (Poland) and attracted around 60 people. Apart from REUNIR consortium members, faculty, students and fellows of the College, representatives of Warsaw-based embassies, academic institutions and think tanks participated in the event.