17.03.2013.
Participation of the State Secretary Nikolic in the work of Brussels Forum
During the second
day of the Brussels Forum, State Secretary Aleksandar Nikolic participated in numerous sessions and debates.Within the working session on “Europe North, Europe South - Clash of Civilization” with the participation of Franco Frattini, a Justice and Chamber President of the Italian Supreme Administrative Court, Toomas Ilves, President of Estonia, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Member, European Parliament, and Giorgos Papaconstantinou, former Greek Finance Minister, there was a debate on the impact of the economic crisis on the political, social and structural reforms in the countries of Southeastern Europe. The impact of the current crisis and the division into North and South on the decrease in EU unity and further progress of the Union was underlined.
Within separate “talks with Baroness Catherine Ashton”, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Head of the European External Action Service, chaired by Steven Erlanger, Chief of the New York Times Bureau in Paris, all the problems that the High Representative encountered during the previous period while performing these functions were highlighted.
The High Representative specially emphasized that she believed in reaching an agreement between the two sides during the negotiation process between Belgrade and Pristina, and that there are problems that need to be addressed on both sides in order to reach the final agreement. She particularly expressed her respect to the parties in dialogue for their resolution to jointly find an acceptable solution for all outstanding issues between Belgrade and Pristina.
In the working session on "The Future of the Euro-Atlantic integration" with the participation of Milo Djukanovic, Montenegrin Prime Minister, Alexander Vershbow, NATO Deputy Secretary General, Ruprecht Polenz, Chairman of the German Parliament's Foreign Affairs, the new challenges that the Euro-Atlantic community is facing today were discussed. Addressing new challenges with continued open door policy will require new approaches to solving problems of all members of the Euro-Atlantic community.The achieved level of European and Euro-Atlantic integrations of the countries in the region of Southeastern Europe was mentioned and possible achievement of historic agreement between Belgrade and Pristina was announced in line with the announcements of the media representatives. The mentioned processes are slow but all participants in the debate agreed that there was a shift towards the set goals which is a basic condition for the long-term stability of the region.
During the special session, "The Situation in the Euro Area" with participation of Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of Berkeley, Steffen Kampeter, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mark McGann, senior vice-president, head of European government affairs and public advocacy, and Jean Pisani-Ferry, Director of Bruegel, there was a debate on the impact of the economic crisis on the economies of Greece, Spain, Italy and other EU countries affected by the crisis. The impact of the recent elections in the EU countries, as well as the upcoming elections in Germany, and the announced changes in the attitude of the United Kingdom towards the EU, were also highlighted.
In the special session "What does Europe want from the United States?" with participation of Artis Pabriks, Minister of Defence of Latvia and Steven Vanackere, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Sustainable Development of Belgium, the debate was conducted on cooperation between the EU member states and the USA in the field of trade, regional security and arms control. Also, special cases were discussed on the EU agenda and in the surrounding that will be difficult to achieve without the help of the USA and in the light of changes in the focus of US foreign policy towards Asia.
State Secretary Aleksandar Nikolic participated in the session "Transforming Democracy" in which Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies discussed, as well as in the session on "USA-EU for Economic Partnership" with participation of Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Karel de Gucht, member of the European Commission in charge of Trade, Michael Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, and Martin Jaeger, Vice President, Global External Affairs, Daimler Company.During the second day, on the margins of the Brussels Forum, State Secretary Aleksandar Nikolic met with Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, and on that occasion they expressed mutual satisfaction with the achieved level of bilateral relations. They also discussed the possible areas for further improvement of cooperation in the field of defence.
During the meeting with Stefano Sannino, Director General for Enlargement at the European Commission, the commitment of Serbia to European integration and the importance of getting a date for the start of negotiations with the EU were underlined. Sannino conveyed praises for the Government for conducting reforms in all areas and for the firm's determination to continue the process of European integration of the Republic of Serbia.
State Secretary Aleksandar Nikolic thanked Ivan Vejvoda, Vice President for Programmes, German Marshall Fund of the United States, for the invitation to participate, excellent organization of the Brussels Forum, and called for further cooperation in the forthcoming period.
