EFB Community Meeting ‘Envisioning Europe’, Sarajevo (15-17 of May, 2014)

The European Fund for the Balkans gathered 40 community members from the region to participate in the specially designed EFB Community workshop ‘Envisioning Europe’, which was held in Sarajevo in the period between 15-17 of May, 2014. Since the mission of the EFB Community is to serve the interests of the EFB Community members by providing a forum for networking, communication and collaboration, the workshop was envisaged as a “live platform” where the EFB Community members from the different programmes like Fellowship Programme for Young Government Officials and Leadership Development Programme envisioned the future of Europe, can participate in the open discussion which was clustered in four topics/groups: European Integration Democratic Reforms Social and Economic Reforms Interethnic Relations and Stateness issues During the two brainstorming waves ‘Colours of EFB Community’ and ‘Towards Europe 2020 – synchronising effects’ each group worked on different topics, discussing the trends which can create better future in Europe. The workshop offered an interactive setting and free flow of creativity, but it also motivated the participants to propose various scenarios for our common future. The work of each group was be facilitated by the three trainers Milos Antic (Facilitas, Serbia), Ksenja Perko (TiPovej!, Slovenia) , Sonja Candek (TiPovej!, Slovenia) and the discussion outcomes were presented at the end of the workshop. The conclusions were framed through basic EFB programme directions - policy development, capacity development and community building. In the frames of the workshop, the community members were presented with the findings of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) and their final policy document ‘The Unfulfilled Promise: Completing the Balkan Enlargement’ and the 2 policy recommendations based upon the 4 elaborate scenarios about the future of the EU Enlargement of the Western Balkans. The policy paper “The Unfulfilled Promise: Completing the Balkan Enlargement” and the briefs with clear recommendations for the EU Commission and the Accession states, which were result of six months of consultations and discussion among the BiEPAG researchers and policy analysts from the Balkans and the EU on how to complete the EU enlargement in the Western Balkan, were also food for thought for joint envisioning of Europe and future strategies of the European Fund for the Balkans and its programmes.