WDR Europaforum – How Europe looks from Ljubljana
Ljubljana is a fantastic place, it truly is. I have been here before but rarely has it struck me as forcefully as this time how pleasant the capital of Slovenia can be. This was a short trip indeed,...
View ArticleThe message from Prague is loud and clear
Our meetings, organised by ESI and the Prague Security Studies Institute, took place in the first week of December at the marvelous Czernin Palace of the Czech Foreign Ministry. Czech policy makers,...
View ArticleThe Stockholm consensus on EU enlargement
A disclosure at the very outset: since 2000 Swedish governments have been among ESI’s most faithful supporters. This is hardly a coincidence. On every foreign policy issue important to us Sweden is a...
View ArticleIs the EU visa proposal anti-Muslim?
Let me first say that ESI welcomes the recent Commission proposal on visa free travel to the Balkans. Considering what expectations of progress were only 12 months ago – looking forward to a year with...
View ArticleWhat is really wrong with Bosnia?
A few weeks ago I wrote on this website that “recently, some people have argued that there is a possibility of a new violent conflict in the Western Balkans”. Let me be more specific here. Today I was...
View ArticleHigh noon in Slovenia. A referendum and the future of Balkan enlargement...
On Sunday, Slovenia’s citizens will cast their votes in a referendum on a question of apparently modest global significance: Are you in favour of a law ratifying an arbitration agreement between...
View ArticleA Proposal for breaking the Macedonian deadlock: A matter of trust
What follows is a concrete and simple proposal how to break one of the most important deadlocks undermining the stabilisation of the Western Balkans. The aim is to bring to an end a situation that has...
View ArticleA name compromise now. Or perhaps never? (Interview in Dnevnik)
Here is the most recent interview on the ESI proposal on the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece which I just gave to the Macedonian daily Paper Dnevnik. The Macedonian version is online as well....
View ArticleA pledge to Zoran
It was a fascinating, deeply emotional event: a commemoration gathering in Belgrade, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the 5th of October, the day Serbian citizens took their country back from...
View ArticleThe march of Balkan history? – Gerald Knaus 5th October presentation
On 5th October I was invited to the anniversary conference commemorating the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia one decade ago. It was a thought-provoking gathering with a wide range of...
View ArticleParadise Lost? From Smyrna to Skopje to Berlin (part 1)
I have spent the past month travelling through the Balkans (Skopje, Tirana, Pristina, Belgrade) and visiting Sweden, Bratislava and Chisinau. I presented on and drafted texts about a lot of different...
View ArticleMultikulti and the future of Turkish Balkan Policy
Below is the short version of a presentation I gave in Amsterdam at the invitation of the Turkish Institute (The Hague) about Turkish foreign policy. Is Turkey’s Balkan policy today inspired by a...
View ArticleThe Balkan employment catastrophy. A joint appeal with Kori Udovicki
Kori Udovicki (UNDP) – Declining industries in Leskovac Media reactions to this appeal: USA TODAY, Melanie Sevcenko and Jacob Resneck, “Alienated voters may divert Serbia from West-friendly rule” (6...
View ArticleWhy Croatia’s accession will strengthen the EU (in German)
Opinion piece (in German), 19 Oktober 2012 Warum Kroatiens Beitritt die EU stärken wird Gerald Knaus und Kristof Bender Den Anfang machte eine Schlagzeile der Frankfurter Allgemeinen am 9. Oktober:...
View ArticleWhy Croatia’s EU accession will strengthen the EU (in English)
Why Croatia’s EU accession will strengthen the EU Gerald Knaus and Kristof Bender First there was the headline in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 9 October: “Brussels reprimands Croatia:...
View ArticleSkopje and Athens – can a version of the ESI proposal work?
A few months ago I visited Macedonia to present EU diplomats, ambassadors, the Macedonian prime minister, the foreign minister and party leaders a slighly revised version of the ESI proposal for...
View ArticleMacedonia and the EU council conclusions – a small but important step forward
Macedonia and accession: how the arguments of supporters of early accession talks prevailed As EU member states gathered last week to discuss Council Conclusions relating to Macedonia two camps of...
View ArticleNewest ESI report on Saving Visa Free Travel
Dear friends, 2013 could be a big year for visa free travel in Europe, with important decisions upcoming concerning Turkey and Moldova. It could also be a disastrous year for the cause of free travel...
View ArticleOped in Koha Ditore: One decade has been lost. What about the next one?
One decade has been lost. What about the next one? Op-ed by Gerald Knaus (for Koha Ditore) In Athens, spring 2003 One decade ago, in spring 2003, the New York Times published an appeal by four...
View ArticleThe EU and the upcoming Albanian elections – interview
THE EU SHOULD ACT NOW IN ALBANIA The EU should become stronger and more outspoken well before the Albanian elections taking place on 23 June 2013. This requires it to keep its distance from all...
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