Young Political Voices – Belgrade

The conference was opened by Dr. Ralf Melzer, director of the regional office, and Kirsten Schoenefeld, the directress of the Belgrade office, both of whom highlighted the meaning of personal exchanges of experiences and opinions, especially from a youth perspective, in order to advance the democratization of our societies, with an emphasis on the Western Balkans.

The conference program began with a public panel discussion titled “Democratic development? New political forces for progressive politics”, and the panelists that joined the discussion were Adis Ahmetović, the Member of Parliament in Germany, Biljana Đorđević, the Member of Parliament in Serbia, Nebojša Novaković, Member of Parliament in Serbia, Etilda Gjonaj, Member of Parliament in Albania and Delara Burkhardt, Member of the European Parliament. The conversation was moderated by Vedran Džihić (IDESE) and Gazela Pudar-Draško (IFDT).

During the discussion, the speakers reiterated the importance of international institutional support for the development of Western Balkan countries, particularly noting the high expectations towards the role of the European Union. Adis Ahmetović highlighted that the German Social-democratic Party nurtures good relations with opposition parties in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the progressive actors of these countries can always count on the support of SPD.

“If you are asking me for good examples, take a look at the participants of the panel, who are fighting for so many different causes; as leftist parties, we are well connected, but we need to be even better connected as progressive actors – the right parties and conservatives do it better than us, and that is our problem. We need more fighters like Delara, who will advocate for the Western Balkans and the integration of these countries into the European Union”, said Ahmetović.

The fruitful debates from the public panel discussion were continued in close working sessions for the gathered attendees, hoping to establish patterns for better and more efficient exchange and communication among progressive political forces throughout the Western Balkans and Europe.