Opening Remarks

Ajla Delkic, President

Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Discussants

Reuf Bajrovic, Co-Chair

US-Europe Alliance

Richard Kraemer, President

US-Europe Alliance

Moderated by

Viola Gienger, Washington Editor

Just Security

The Western Balkans Post-Brexit and a New Anglo-American Partnership

Presenting a new paper from US-Europe Alliance on future Anglo-American cooperation in the Western Balkans

February 13, 2020

Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina

1510 H Street Northwest #900

Washington, DC 20005

The Western Balkans was thrown into an existential political crisis after France blocked Albania’s and Macedonia’s European Union accession negotiations late last year. The significance of this hold on EU expansion should not be underestimated. European Union membership was the overarching social and political goal of the region’s six countries for almost two decades. Forces adversarial to transatlantic interests and democratic values are now effectively poised to fill the void, namely, Russia and China. Russian machinations in Balkan politics and societies are manifold, ranging from multiple soft power interventions to economic and energy coercion, to hard power exercises such as the Kremlin-backed October 2016 coup attempt in Montenegro.

Genuinely sustainable progress in the Western Balkans turns on jobs, equitably distributed revenue, and the physical security that undergirds effective governance, without which democratic gains will remain threatened by authoritarian actors. The U.S. and the U.K. are exceptionally well-positioned to prevent such a disadvantageous outcome by clearly defined and cost-effective means. The White House and Whitehall should act now to effectively counter malign authoritarian influence in the region through a multi-faceted program affording economic and military support to the benefit of all parties, regional and transatlantic.

This event is hosted in conjunction with the Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Macedonia Diaspora.