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MONTHLY BULLETIN
"EUROPA"
"EUROPA" is a monthly review whose main goal
is to bring the country's European Integration process and "Europe"
closer to Albanian
citizens. ...read more

EUROPEAN PROGRAM

AREAS OF RESEARCH
Euro-Atlantic Integration

Democracy, Security and Transition

Regional Security and Cooperation

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FORUM
Launched as the Albanian Forum initiative in 1999, the Forum evolved into the Foreign and Security Forum in 2004 due to the enlarged scope of the themes under discus-sion. Since its founding, the Forum has benefited from the financial support of: Open Society Founda-tion for Albania (SOROS) in 1999, EC Delegation in 2000, US Emba-ssy in 2001, and EC Delegation in 2002 to June 2003... ...read more

NEW BOOK
WEAK STATES & SECURITY
Rethinking the Balkan Post-Cold War
Security Agenda
By Albert Rakipi, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

Although the weak / failing states have often been described as the single most important problem for the international order since the end of Cold War (F.Fukuyama 2004:92) several dimensions of this phenomenon still remain unexplored. While this phenomenon has been present in the international politics even earlier, only the post Cold War period accentuated its relationship with security issues. Following the Cold War’s “peaceful” period and the bloody 1990s, the Balkan region today represents a mixture of weak states and international protectorates, positioned equally far from failure as from eventual success.
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AIIS Foreign and Security Policy Forum
Albania's Domestic and Foreign Policy
2008 Agenda
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On February 7th, 2008, the Albanian Institute for International Studies organized the forum: "Albania's Domestic and Foreign Policy - 2008 Agenda". Following is the speech of His Exellency Prof. Dr. Bamir Topi, President of the Republic of Albania.

Firstly I would like to wholeheartedly thank you for the invitation and opportunity extended to me to address, as you already mentioned, this excellent audience regarding the viewpoint of the President of the Republic about the domestic and foreign policies of Albania. Availing myself of this opportunity, I would like to state that the policies of Albania in both domestic and foreign levels are important institutional policies, are policies which in no way cannot be based upon individual wills, where all the distinguished representatives of state structures and politics have become part of this wonderful symphony where the Albanian state is increasingly day by day being represented better. Keeping in mind the expression that you used about small or big states, we are truly small in the geographical sense, but our continuous aspiration has been and will be that we like to make friends, it does not matter small or big friends, but what is important is that Albania today is not alone. It is part of the international institutional policies and I believe what clearly expresses the position of Albania and its institutions are the powerful aspiration held by Albania and Albanian society first of all and its institutions to be part of the Euro-Atlantic world.
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The Future Status of Kosovo

On December 16th, 2007 the AIIS organized a public speaking event in Sheraton International Hotel with Veton Surroi, one of the most prominent Kosovo Albanian publicists and politicians, leader of the political party “Ora” and member of the Kosovo negotiating team. For circa 60 minutes Mr. Surroi addressed and audience made up of senior Albanian politicians and members of the diplomatic community accredited in Tirana. The future status of Kosovo, the possible outcomes to this seemly intractable problem and costs and benefits of the alternative solutions under discussion, as well as their repercussions for the broader Balkan region were the subject of the discussions and the questions and answers session that followed.
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EU Integration: Regional Experiences and the Need for Local Ownership
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With the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, on November 20th, AIIS organized the conference titled “EU Integration: Regional Experience and the Need for Local Ownership.” The conference discussed the serious lack of local ownership of the process of integration in Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as well as the steps that are being undertaken to address this problem. The event was envisioned as a forum of senior representatives of Albanian institutions, representatives of the international community, Albanian and Macedonian experts, and representatives of the local government and of civil society in Albania. The Albanian experience was presented by Mr. Albert Gajo, Deputy Minister of Integration and Mr. Ilir Meta, Head of the Parliamentary Commission for European Integration. The audience was also addressed by His Excellency the German Ambassador Mr. Borchardt, who shared the view of integration from the German perspective, and by Albanian and Macedonian experts, such as Dane Taleski from the Institute for Democracy Skopje, who analyzed the economic effects of integration and exchanged the experiences of the two countries with regional cooperation projects.
AIIS also presented its latest informative publication titled “Regional Cooperation for Development and European Integration.” As a product of a regional project involving 7 Balkan countries, the publication seeks to contribute to the enhancement of regional cooperation as a practical guide for the relevant institutions and the wider public.
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Albania and the EU: Perceptions and Realities 2007
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On October 18th the Albanian Institute for International Studies organized its fifth annual conference since 2002 (Hotel Tirana International) on the perceptions and attitudes of Albanians towards the EU and the integration process. The conference discussed the findings of the survey by the same title conducted by the AIIS during June and July 2007.
Differently from previous years however when the AIIS aimed to gauge the perceptions, awareness and levels of information of the elite groups of Albanian society, in 2007 the target group of the survey were Albania’s ordinary citizens. The findings which were compiled into a report published by the AIIS in November include data on the support and opposition to the EU integration project, awareness of costs and benefits of the process as well as understanding of the nature of the European Union. The conference was attended by a number of distinguished guests, such as the Albanian Minister for EU Integration, Her Excellency Majlinda Bregu, former prime minister and Head of Parliamentary Committee on Integration Ilir Meta, Head of EU Delegation in Tirana, Mr. Helmut Lohan, His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador, Manuel Montobbio as well as by AIIS members, Dr. Albert Rakipi and Mr. Maklen Misha. The report based on the survey has also been published by the AIIS and, alongside the previous four reports, it constitutes an invaluable source of information on the trends of support and opposition to the EU integration process, what the Albanians expect to gain or lose from accession into the EU, as well as on the perceptions of Albanians on the nature and mission of the Union.
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The State of the European Union and the Accession Perspectives of Albania
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On Monday September 24th 2007 the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) organized a workshop on the state of the European Union, the accession perspectives of Albania and the costs, challenges and benefits to be gained by membership. The participants discussed the achievements Albania has made in its integration process and the significant challenges that still lay ahead for the country as well as some of the shortcomings that have contributed to slowing the pace of reforms. The discussions also focused on the integration experiences of Slovenia and Hungary which helped place the Albanian case in perspective, as well as on the state of the European Union and the position of the new member states in it. Another line of discussions focused on the economic aspects of the EU integration such as criteria for businesses and the economic consequences of EU membership.
The workshop which was conducted under the moderation of Dr. Albert Rakipi the Executive Director of the AIIS was attended by a number of distinguished guests such as the former Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of parliament Besnik Mustafaj, deputy minister for Integration Alfred Gajo Michael Ehrke from the Fredrich Ebbert Stichtung Budapest as well as a number of renowned experts on the field of EU integration such as Professor Attila Agh of the Corvinus University, Budapest, Janja Petkovisk of the Slovenian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, professor Andras Inotai, director of the Institute for World Economics in Budapest and Andrej Kumar of the University of Ljubjana.
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AIIS DONORS
European Commission's Delegation in Albania

Embassy of United States of America, (Tirana, Albania)

National Endowment for Democracy, USA

The Balkan Trust for Democracy

...and more

AIIS PARTNERS
Network of Open Society for Albania

Albanian Media Institute

Institute for Communication and Dialogue

Center for Strategic & International Studies

Austrian Institute for International Affairs

...and more

USEFUL LINKS
Tirana Times - Albania's weekly English language newspaper

Institute for War and Peace Reporting

European Stability Initiative

...and more

USEFUL LINKS:

Last updated 5/24/07• webmaster@aiis-albania.org