Shifting the narrative – a revitalised approach to the Western Balkans

Uranik Begu leads the work of ICK, the leading integrator of innovative business and economic development in Kosovo*. The centre was founded with the mission to support entrepreneurship, innovation and commercially-based business development, with a focus on Kosovo’s* ICT and green energy sectors. Prior to joining ICK, Begu served as the head of marketing at Post Telecom Kosovo*. Begu is a renowned lecturer in the field of management and has taught at the University of Prizren, amongst others. He is also an active Member of the Economic Development Council of Prishtina and a Board Member of the Zurich CMO Conference, also known as ‘the Davos of Marketing’.

* For the United Nations, references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999)

Mila Carovska is the former minister of education and science, as well as of labour and social welfare, in North Macedonia. She has also previously served as the deputy prime minister responsible for economic affairs during the transition government in 2020. Carovska is an avid proponent of human rights whose professional career to date has been marked by a commitment to social work on behalf of the most vulnerable and threatened citizens, whether it be Roma, disadvantaged youth, drug addicts or victims of domestic violence. Projects she has managed over the years include organising drama workshops with children housed in institutions, hosting educational workshops, offering consultations for drug users and their families, and conducting field research. Carovska has used her platform to advocate for gender equality, the elimination of violence against women and anti-discrimination.

Gordana Čomić was appointed to the cabinet of Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić’s in October 2020. Formerly a member of the Serbian parliament, she served as deputy speaker of the Serbian National Assembly and acted as the chair of the Foreign Policy Committee. Čomić was also a member of the National Assembly delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, where she was elected rapporteur of the Committee on Human Rights, Democracy and Humanitarian Affairs. Having founded the Women’s Parliamentary Network of the Serbian National Assembly, Čomić has actively advocated for gender equality and the equal participation of women in all decision-making positions in Serbia.

Maja Handjiska-Trendafilova leads the RCC’s work in coordinating the Common Regional Market and Green Agenda, as endorsed by the Prime Ministers of Western Balkan countries. Before this, she had been the Regional Economic Area Coordinator of RCC’s South East Europe (SEE) 2020 Strategy, working on various regional cooperation, consensus, confidence and capacity building initiatives across a range of policy areas. Her professional career of over 15 years has been dedicated to furthering the progress of EU integration and regional cooperation processes of SEE. Prior to joining RCC, Handjiska-Trendafilova served in North Macedonia’s national administration for more than ten years and additionally worked at the North Macedonian Mission to the EU in Brussels.

Igor Luksic is an Associate Professor at the University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro and currently works on sustainable development initiatives in Southeast Europe related to the United Nations SDGs and 2030 Agenda. Having served in several governmental positions, Luksic has demonstrated his commitment to political and economic freedoms and reforms throughout his 18 years working in the public sector. Luksic has long advocated for transparency, with an emphasis on dialogue and proactivity when it comes to both internal and foreign relations, as well as the need for enhanced regional cooperation in the Western Balkans.

Lilyana Pavlova is Vice-President and Member of the Management Committee of the European Investment Bank (EIB). She took up her duties in November last year and is the first Bulgarian national to join the Management Committee. Pavlova is responsible for transport financing and has more than twenty years of experience in the field of management of European funds and projects. She held various public functions in Bulgaria and has been a Member of the Bulgarian Government since 2009. Pavlova was Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2018 – the first time that the country held the rotating presidency.

Maciej Popowski is a Polish diplomat, who previously served as deputy director-general of DG NEAR before assuming his current role. He is the former deputy secretary-general of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Popowski has also previously served as the head of Jerzy Buzek’s cabinet, Poland’s permanent representative in the EU’s Political and Security Committee, and deputy head of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union. At the time of Poland’s EU accession negotiations, he was the director for EU affairs at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ardita Seknaj leads the work of the National Committee of the ICC Albania and lectures on EU institutions and structures at the universitylevel. Her areas of interest also include sustainable development, international trade and finance, as well as EU integration processes. Seknaj serves as consultant on various regional projects and currently sits on the temporary Advisory Board of the United States-Albania Transparency Academy. Previously, Seknaj worked in the banking sector across various fields, including trade finance, project management and insurance.

Biljana Spasovska is an expert in democracy and civil society development, EU integration, good governance and accountability. Prior to her position as Executive Director at BCSDN, she was responsible for the network’s policy and advocacy activities. Spasovska has more than seven years of experience in project development and coordination of international projects with civil society organisations, think tanks and academia, and she has worked in the government sector. She is also a Fellow at Stanford University’s Leadership Academy for Development.

In her current position, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger leads UNDP’s work in supporting countries across the Western Balkans in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, amongst other responsibilities. Egger previously served as Head of United Nations and International Organisations Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, where she was instrumental in shaping Switzerland’s position to the UN. She combines a strong policy background with field experience and has had several assignments in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Dubravka Šuica leads the Commission’s work on demography, deliberative democracy, Conference on the Future of Europe, giving people a say in how the Union is run and what it does. She is in charge of devising innovative and transformative policies to address the demographic transition, including adequately addressing the needs of an ageing population. She coordinates the intersectionality of demographic challenges and opportunities, from its territorial dimension, to harnessing Europe’s human capital, the work-life balance to the digital transition and climate change, as well as the global demographic transition. She furthermore leads the European Commission’s work on children’s rights and child protection, both inside the EU and globally. Šuica is a former member of the European and Croatian parliaments. She served as the vice-president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe for 10 years and was the first female to serve as mayor of the city of Dubrovnik.

Olivér Várhelyi is an experienced diplomat who has spent the past 25 years dealing with EU politics in various roles. Prior to his current position, he served as Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU and worked as the Head of Unit responsible for Industrial Property Rights at the European Commission. He also held the positions of Head of the Legal Service at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Hungary to the European Union and Legal counsellor at the Mission of the Republic of Hungary to the European Union.

Prior to his tenure as mayor, Erion Veliaj served as a member of the Albanian parliament and minister of social welfare and youth. At the time, he introduced influential reforms on pensions, welfare payments, employment opportunities and professional education. His leadership in Tirana has been most notably marked by the city’s focus on creating a greener, more humane and more sustainable city. For the first time in the country’s history, Veliaj structured the Socialist Party’s branches in countries where the Albanian diaspora resides and successfully contributed to the organisation of the voting process for Albanian immigrants in the 2013 elections.

Prior to joining Friends of Europe, Dharmendra Kanani was director of policy at the European Foundation Centre (EFC). He was the England director at the Big Lottery Fund, the largest independent funder in the UK and fourth largest in the world. Dharmendra has held senior positions in the public and voluntary sectors and advisor to numerous ministerial policy initiatives across the UK.

*Consultant at Friends of Europe.

Retiring from NATO in September 2018 after 38 years at the organisation, Jamie Shea has occupied a number of senior positions at NATO across a wide range of areas, including external relations, press and media, and policy planning. As NATO’s spokesperson, he was the face of the alliance during the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts. He later worked as the director of policy planning in the private office of former secretary general Rasmussen during the preparation of NATO’s 2010 Strategic Concept. Shea is also a regular lecturer and conference speaker on NATO and European security affairs.