Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks

BiEPAG's Coordinator Florian Bieber is hosting his guests Majda Ruge (Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR Berlin) and Milan Krstić (Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade) to discuss the possible implications of the results of the U.S. Elections 2024 and the incoming Donald Trump presidency for the Western Balkans, with special focus to his first nominations for key foreign posts.

What do the results of the 2024 EU elections mean for the Western Balkans?Host: Damir Kapidžić, BiEPAG Member Guests: Dušan Reljić, Independent consultant and former Head of Brussels office for SWP and Corina Stratulat, BiEPAG Member and Associate Director and Head of the European Politics and Institutions Programme at the European Policy Centre, Brussels.

The 8th podcast episode of Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks is all about the recent repeated local and municipal elections in Serbia.BiEPAG's Member Tena Prelec discusses the topic from different aspects with two experts that have followed the situation on the ground - Tamara Branković, Deputy Programme Director at the Serbian NGO CRTA and Aleksandar Ivković, Journalist at European Western Balkans and Serbia Elects project.

The last episode for 2023 of the BiEPAG's podcast Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks focuses on:The results of the Serbian parliamentary, local, and provincial electionsHost: Florian BieberGuests: Tara Tepavac, Researcher at Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade, and Nikola Burazer, Programme Director at Centre for Contemporary Politics and Executive Editor at European Western BalkansFocus on the BiEPAG policy brief Beyond Stabilitocracy. Unveiling the Rise of Autocracy in the Western Balkanswith Damir Kapidzic, Marika Djolai and Marko Kmezic, BiEPAG Members and authors of the briefCheck the brief at the following link.

Every winter the same? Air pollution in the cities of the Western BalkansHost: Florian Bieber Guests: Gorjan Jovanovski, EarthCare.ai - North Macedonia and Denis Žiško, Aarhus Centre - BiH Every winter we have the same picture – heating, traffic, heavy industry and coal fueled power plants are having harmful effects and causing increased air pollution, which is directly connected with many diseases, health problems and a reason for thousands of premature deaths. The winter season across the Western Balkans is all about the bad air quality and listing the capitals of the region among the most polluted cities in the world.Green Transition in the Western Balkans and the Role of External Actors Host: Tena Prelec Guests: BiEPAG Members Dimitar Bechev, Nikos Tzifakis, Marika Djolai, Donika Emini and Vujo Ilic.  The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group conducted a comprehensive study on the geopolitics of the green energy transition in the Western Balkans. The study is based on desk research, several detailed case studies and an opinion poll conducted between March and April 2023 in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. BiEPAG Members and experts that were involved in this research project are discussing the main findings on the Green Energy Transition in the Western Balkans and the role of external actors.

The fourth episode of BiEPAG Podcast is on #Ukraine. BiEPAG's Coordinator Florian Bieber and BiEPAG's Member Damir Kapidžić are hosting important interlocutors on this subject:Ukrainian Perspectives on the Enlargement and Synergies with the Western Balkans Host: Florian BieberGuests: Ivan Nagornyak, Deputy Director of the Government Office for Coordination on European and Euro-Atlantic IntegrationAdvisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine at the Cabinet of Ministers of UkraineMaria Mezentseva, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the European Union, Parliament of UkraineWhat does the War in Ukraine means for the Western Balkans? Host: Damir Kapidžić Guests: Jelena Džankić, Co-Director of the Global Citizenship Observatory and SEE Director for the Robert Schuman Centre’s Global Governance Programme Veronika Anghel, Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University – School of Advanced International Studies (Check the publication https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75524 A Year Later: War in Ukraine and Western Balkan (Geo)Politics. Edited by Jelena Džankić, Simonida Kacarska, and Soeren Keil; published by the European University Institute in 2023).

Hosts: Florian Bieber and Tena Prelec, BiEPAG Part 1The position of Serbs in Northern Kosovo in the light of tensions between Serbia and KosovoGuests: Marina Vulović (SWP) and Milica Andrić Rakić (New Social Initiative) Part 220 years since the Thessaloniki promiseGuests: Nikola Dimitrov and Milica Delević 

Seriously Balkans - The BiEPAG Talks, Episode 2The second episode looks into two very sensitive topics, but also important ones. The first segment tackles the mass shootings in Serbia, and the social and political implications of this events. In continuation the discussion is related to the recent works that look into the issue of foreign fighters going to Ukraine.🔹The Mass Shootings in SerbiaHosts: Tena Prelec and Damir KapidžićGuests: Srđan Cvijić, BiEPAG Member and President of the International Advisory Committee of BCSP Ilija Vojnović, Programme Director, International Republican Institute's (IRI)🔹Foreign Fighters in Ukraine and the legacy of ISISHost: Florian Bieber Guests: Asya Metodieva, Researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, Czech RepublicKacper Edward Rekawek, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo