Garčević Participates in Stratcom Summit Panel

Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, participated in the 7th Stratcom Summit hosted by the Czech think tank European Values, during which he participated in a panel on the Western Balkans. 

Garčević’s panel, titled “How to Incentivize Democratic Transitions in the Western Balkans,” featured panelists from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, experts from the region, and the DT Institute. In his remarks, Garčević stated that Brussels attempted to breathe life into a dying EU perspective in the region by introducing a new enlargement methodology last year. However, the revised strategy has not renewed hope in the region and has little chance of generating the change that both sides need. He went on to say that if the current trends continue, the EU-Western Balkans’ enlargement process may end up as a lose-lose game.

Garčević went on to argue that the EU should redesign the accession process, offering integration into the EU in several steps and setting intermediate goals before full inclusion into the club. He said the EU should offer aspirants more incentives during a long and demanding process of reform, while not compromising the EU’s criteria in the key areas of rule of law, democratization, and home affairs.

During his diplomatic career, Ambassador Vesko Garčević dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School. Learn more about Ambassador Garčević on his faculty profile.