Ioannis Armakolas, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the South-East Europe Programme, represented the Hellenic Foundation of European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) at a two -day event in Prague (13-14 October) organized by the 2022 Czech EU presidency in collaboration with EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy under the title: “Rethinking Enlargement in times of Geopolitical Earthquakes” with the participation of 50 think tankers and civil servants from all around Europe.

On the second day of the event, Dr. Armakolas participated at a panel discussion entitled: “How to counter foreign influence in the Western Balkans” along with Marketa Gregorova, member of the European Parliament (Greens/ EFA), Valbona Zeneli Chair Strategic Initiatives Department George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Marco Sosic, Policy Analyst (Institut Alternativa) and Nad’ a Kovalcikova Senior Researcher (European Union Institute for Security Studies) moderated by Jamie Fly, President CEO (Radio Free Europe).

His intervention at the panel discussion highlighted the misunderstandings, and wrong perceptions of the EU when assessing the foreign influence of third factors in the Western Balkans. “There is no black and white situation,” he stressed, while noting that the influence of foreign actors in the region is differently perceived by separate EU member states, since this is heavily depended on their own relations with these countries and of course, their own national interests. Dr Armakolas thinks that if the EU is to counter foreign influence in the Western Balkans, it should first understand how the countries of the region currently assess the benefits of third actors, especially when their European perspective is not clear and when there is lack of unity within the Union itself in terms of foreign policy issues. “Only the real perspective of a membership makes sense if the EU would like to secure these countries in its own geopolitical bandwagon,” he said.

You may read the key points of his intervention here.

More info about the event can be found here.