PRESS RELEASES

What will the Western Balkans look like in 2025? Will we witness Republika Srpska declare independence, a worsening of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, and the rise of ethnic tensions across the region - or will we celebrate Montenegro and Serbia joining the EU, with good reason to hope that the rest of the region will soon follow? BCSP Researcher Isidora Stakic contributed to the paper “Balkan futures - ...

Under the European Commission’s 2018 Western Balkan strategy, candidate countries from the region must resolve bilateral disputes before joining the EU. As it wants to avoid importing conflicts, the EU puts the onus to ensure good neighbourly relations onto the region itself.

{image1}Improving the narratives of the technical dialogue in both Kosovo and Serbia by highlighting impact of the agreements on the everyday lives of the citizens is the goal of the project “Promoting and Communicating Benefits of the Kosovo-Serbia EU Facilitated Dialogue” launched by Kosovo Serbia Policy Advocacy Group (KSPAG). The project foresees a number of communication and outreach activities which will disseminate and promote the benefits of the technical ...

  Dear friends and partners, BCSP wishes you a safe and sound year 2019! We promise that we will contribute to this through #BREAKINGFEAR that is becoming increasingly important in the era of intimidation of citizens by portraying as a threat those who think differently, neighbours from the region, conflicts of great powers and so-called new threats. As always, the response from the BCSP will be based on research ...

Academic Event at this year’s BSF was dedicated to answering the question how conflict-sensitive is the EU crisis response. Participants concluded that the EU shifted to a more pragmatic approach and improved its crisis response capacities, but that it needs to learn from both successes and failures more quickly. It was agreed that the local has to be included on different levels, but with re-examining what ’local’ means. “The ...

It is necessary to perceive citizens as allies, and actively involve them in budget planning in order to fulfil their security needs - this was highlighted at the event organized by Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) in Nis, on December 18th 2018. Opening the panel discussion, BCSP Researcher Sasa Djordjevic emphasized that the budget for 2019 was adopted without a proper debate in the Assembly, and that that ...

Journal of Regional Security (JRS), founded by BCSP among others, in the new categorization of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia was assigned the M24 category, which is in the same range as the best international journals. Only two journals in the broader category Political sciences can be assigned this category. Since 2018 JRS can be found in databases Serbian Citation Index, ...

Confidence in the police in Serbia is growing, as well as the perception of corruption and the impression that the work of the police has been politicized, it was shown in the public opinion survey results presented by the POINTPULSE network and Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) on November 6, 2018, in Belgrade. According to the research, six out of ten citizens in Serbia trust the police, which is ...

{image1} The new normal requires that the EU changes its approach to the Balkans and identifies problems concerning the rule of law and democracy, but also that the Balkans change its approach to the EU, it was concluded at the eight Belgrade Security Forum (BSF) held on 17-19 October 2018. Politicians alone are not going to tackle corruption because of their vested interest in nurturing kleptocratic networks; citizens and ...

The Armament Industry European Research Group (ARES Group) published a policy paper titled "Defence Industrial Policy in Serbia: Drivers and Influence" authored by Belgrade Centre for Security Policy researcher Katarina Djokic. The author deals with the issue where is currently the defence industry in Serbia, but also what are it’s prospects for the future. Djokic gives an overview of the relevant political context, describes the state of the industry ...

Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) Director Sonja Stojanovic Gajic was again given the highest number of votes for membership in the Joint Consultative Committee in the priority area of ​​the Rule of Law. There were 154 civil society organizations voting for 8 candidates in three priority areas, and the BCSP Director received the highest number of votes in the priority area of ​​the Rule of Law. BCSP is ...

The apartment where Belgrade Centre for Security Policy Executive Director Predrag Petrovic lives with his wife and child was broken into on May 22, 2018. Things were stolen only from his study room. The entrance door was violently broken, and things of greater value, such as laptops or jewelry, were not taken out of the apartment. Petrovic was out of the city and the apartment was empty at the ...