2022-07-15

It is important to recognise and support the need to improve regional collaboration

Nataša Vučković at the regional conference Novi Sad Plenum Quo Vadis Balkan?

The Secretary General at the Center for Democracy Foundation and Coordinator of Intersectoral Working Group for Regional Cooperation within National Convention on the EU, Nataša Vučković said at the Novi Sad Plenum Quo Vadis Balkan? that it is important to recognise and support the need to improve regional collaboration in the Western Balkans.

In the coming period, we should be moving toward an integrated approach concerning regional collaboration initiatives, their advantages and results. We should be looking into merging their infrastructural capacities in order to promote regional collaboration in the best possible light, said Vučković during the Open Balkan debate.

All regional initiatives, in addition to having an economic aspect, are fundamentally political. Building solidarity and trust in the region is a positive development. Thus, it is necessary to include the value aspect. We are on the European path and would like the Western Balkans to be a democratic space, one where rule of law and non-discrimination prevail, and a region which is free from corruption. Economic collaboration should support this and contribute to improving the living standards of the people.

Nataša Vučković warns of the excessive frustration which exists in Western Balkan states resulting from the delayed EU integration process. This stems from the lack of fulfilled obligations of candidate countries, but also from the situation in the EU which fails to provide an answer to the question: what is next for the Western Balkans?

The Novi Sad Plenum Quo Vadis Balkan, held 14 and 15 July 2022 in Novi Sad, organised by Regional Academy for Democratic Development (ADD), Centre for Civic Education (CCE) and the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB).