Europe’s Future

We are excited to announce that Debates on Europe will be hosting a second event at the Leipzig Book Fair:

Hall 2, B401
Thursday, 28 April 2023, 3pm – 3:30pm

Where Europe’s Future Is at Stake
Debates on Europe: Bosnia & Herzegovina and Georgia

With Vedran Džihić (Austrian Institute for International Affairs) and Volker Weichsel („Osteuropa“ magazine)

Visiting Tbilisi, Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, recently declared that the door to EU candidate status is “wide open” for Georgia. But will the country find the political unity necessary to implement essential democratic reforms? Heavily exposed to Russian pressure and influence, Georgia’s European future is currently at stake. 

In December, Bosnia and Herzegovina was actually granted EU membership candidate status. However, the troublesome after-effects of the Dayton Peace Agreement continues to be felt and deeply rooted tensions threaten to escalate. In Bosnia, it has become clear that the end of war doesn’t automatically bring lasting peace – a lesson not only for the Balkans, but for Europe as a whole.

Debates on Europe – a joint initiative of the S. Fischer Stiftung and the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung – takes a look at two countries whose hopes and fears are closely tied to the European project and some of the darkest moments of recent European history.

Main organiser: BKM