The international context is constantly changing, and Serbia is trying to find its place. The European Union is striving to become an independent security actor, "freed" from the influence of the United States. This endeavor, among other things, implies a changed approach to enlargement. On one hand, enlargement is back on the agenda, and on the other – it is more important than ever that new members truly meet the conditions related to democracy and the rule of law.

The Belgrade Open School organized a status review of the European integration process at a two-day meeting titled “OverEUview” with partners supported through the program “Civil Society for Advancing Serbia’s Accession to the European Union – Europe ASAP,” as well as correspondents of the Let’s Talk About Negotiations portal of the Belgrade Open School. The meeting discussed the impact of the new international context on the European integration of Serbia and the Western Balkans.

On the first day, the first discussion was moderated by Dragan Živojinović from the Faculty of Political Sciences. The focus of the discussion was on strengthening the European Union’s capacity in security and political terms. Živojinović spoke about the new strategic environment, the structure of the international system, and the impact of that structure on processes in international relations.

The second session of the first day of the event was held by Vladimir Međak, Vice President of the European Movement in Serbia. Our partners and correspondents had the opportunity to hear and discuss the state of European integration of the Western Balkans and the difference in the success of reforms in these countries.

Vladimir Ateljević opened the second day with a session on Serbia’s foreign policy orientation. The session also included a workshop in which our partners had the opportunity to put themselves in the position of ministries and make decisions on various resolutions and measures within the framework of the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.

The event was closed with a lecture by Vladica Ilić from the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights. Ilić spoke about police brutality, comparing certain cases of excessive use of force in Serbia and European Union member states, as well as the reactions of prosecutors and courts in these cases. It was concluded that, while excessive use of force and human rights violations exist everywhere, in the European Union they often entail legal consequences, while in Serbia they most often go unpunished.

The event was held on April 24–25 at the Putnik Inn Hotel in Belgrade.