EU Presidency Conference on Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans

This conference was organised in Vienna by the Austrian Federal Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs, in association with DCAF (Geneva) and the EU Institute for Security Studies (Paris). It was attended by nearly two hundred participants from EU member states, candidate states and potential candidates from the Western Balkans, as well as from the EU and various international organisations and research institutes.



Words of Welcome

Chair: Wolfgang Wosolsobe, Defence Policy Director, Austrian Ministry of Defence

Günther Platter, Federal Minister of Defence, Austria

Judy Batt, Senior Research Fellow, European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS)

Theodor Winkler, Director, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)

Keynote Addresses:

Wolfgang Petritsch, Ambassador, former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Pedro Serrano, Director, DGE IX, Civilian Crisis Management, General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union

Panel I: Conceptual Basis for EU Security Sector Reform Activities

Chair: David Law, Senior Research Fellow, DCAF

Roland Zinzius, Deputy Head, Civil/Military Cell, EU Military Staff

Stefano Sannino, Principal Advisor, DG RELEX, European Commission Representative to the Political and Security Committee

Paul Eavis, Director, SaferWorld

Panel II: SSR Perspectives from the Region - Security Concerns and Needs

Chair: Joseph Marko, Professor, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz

Zeljko Grubesic, Advisor for Defence and Security Matters, Parliamentary Assembly, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bajram Ibraj, General Director, State Police, Albania

Pavle Jankovic, President, International and Security Affairs Centre (ISAC), Serbia and Montenegro

Nikola Prokopenko, Head, Courts and Public Prosecution Office, Ministry of Justice, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Panel III: EU SSR Activities in the Western Balkans - Lessons Learned and Future Perspectives

Chair: Willem van Eekelen, Senator, Dutch Parliament, former Secretary General of the WEU

Torbjörn Sohlström, Personal Representative of the EU SG/HR in Kosovo

Martin Ney, Senior Deputy High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Panel IV: Other Important Actors in the Field of SSR

Chair: Thomas Hajnoczi, Director for Security Policy, Austrian MFA

Susan Pond, Head, Partnership for Peace and Cooperation Programmes, Political and Security Policy Division, NATO

Heinz Vetschera, Deputy Head of Mission, EUMM (Sarajevo); Former Deputy Director, Department for Security Co-operation, OSCE Mission to BiH

Tony Welch, Co-ordinator for the Kosovo Internal Security Sector Review, UNMIK

Kim Traavik, Ambassador, Special Advisor, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Pieter Verbeek, Director, Working Table III: Security, Stability Pact

Parallel Working Groups

Working Group A: Conceptual Basis for EU SSR Activities - Enhancing Cross-pillar Co-ordination within the EU

Chair: David Law, Senior Research Fellow, DCAF

Inger Buxton, DG RELEX, European Commission

Christophe Deherre, Civil/Military Cell, EU Military Staff

Working Group B: Lessons Learned in the Western Balkans and Future Perspectives

Chair: Torbjörn Sohlström, Personal Representative of the EU SG/HR in Kosovo

Istvan Gyarmati, Senior Political Advisor, DCAF

Predrag Jurekovic, Senior Analyst, Institute for Peace Support and Conflict Management, Austrian National Defence Academy

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