This project has received funding from the

European Unions Seventh Framework

Programme for research, technological
development and demonstration under grant
agreement no 320115.

EU Integration and Minority Protection in the Western Balkans: mapping the

way ahead
20-21 November 2014, Radon Plaza Hotel, Sarajevo
This conference, organised as part of the FP7-funded MAXCAP project (http://www.maxcapproject.eu), will bring together EU officials and leaders, domestic politicians, civil society
representatives, and academics to assess the effectiveness of EU instruments and strategies for
strengthening minority rights protection in the Western Balkans. Through a series of
roundtable discussions and workshops, the aim will be to both take stock of existing initiatives
and to identify future priorities. The primary focus will be on ethnic and national minorities,
Roma, and LGBTI communities from across candidate and potential candidate states.
The keynote address will be presented by Jakob Finci. Other confirmed participants include
Lejla Somun-Krupalija (University of Sarajevo), Dr Paul Stubbs (Institute of Economics,
Zagreb), and Dr Bojan Bili (University of Amsterdam).
The objectives of the conference are:

To take stock of the effectiveness of EU instruments and assistance directed at minority

rights protection on the ground
To explore the limits of EU conditionality in this region by evaluating the various
instruments and strategies employed by the EU with respect to minority rights
protection, and to consider how EU intervention may be reformed and strengthened.
To have an interactive bottom-up approach discussing previous findings on the issue
with domestic leaders, EU officials, academics, and practitioners in order to debate the
future of minority protection in the region

The event is being organised by the Balkan Civil Society Network (BCSDN), Queen Mary
University of London, and LSEE - Research on South Eastern Europe. Conference attendance is
free of charge, but participants are required to register due to limited space. To confirm your
attendance, please send an e-mail message to Biljana Stojanoska <bst@balkancsd.net>
before 10 November 2014.