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BSF-Bled-Strategic-Times-2019.Pdf Bled Strategic Times Official Gazette of the Bled Strategic Forum 30 August – 3 September 2019 bledstrategicforum.org P bledstrategicforum N Bled Strategic Forum Bled Strategic Forum BledStrategicForum @BledStratForum, #BSF2019 @BledStratForum [email protected] Content The Western Balkans: from “power keg of Europe” to a Transatlantic perspective By Philip T. Reeker 2 The bell at Bled welcomes you! By Dr. Miro Cerar 3 Cooperation is realpolitik By Walter Kemp 4 Europeans must keep their eyes on the long-term challenges By Dr. Robin Niblett 5 Slovenia: saving you time By Alenka Bratušek 6 We need to prepare for a world in 2050 Interview with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid 7 Shaping the future. Bearing responsibility. By Marjan Šarec 7 Winning the ’20s: a leadership We need to prepare for a Shaping the future. agenda for the next decade By Martin Reeves 8 world in 2050 Bearing responsibiity. A clean, well-lighted place… By Majlinda Bregu 10 President Kaljulaid, who had On the national level Slovenia is Regional cooperation for Euro- many words of praise for Slovenia pledged to sustainability. On the pean integration and sustainable development and Bled, expects the forum to EU level, we will be a future ori- By Roberto Antonione 11 Whither Europe? bring an in-depth debate on sus- ented Presidency, well aware of By Charles Powell 12 tainable development and answers modern challenges, which sees Building the digital economy that benefits everyone on how to prepare for a further the European Union as a glob- By Josko Mrndze 14 Earth population rise and prevent al trendsetter. EU ambitions for Creating ‘virtous cycles’ By Andrea Illy 15 the planet from suffering. the future must be to enshrine Are we really ready to risk our / An interview with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid standards of sustainability as the own future? conducted by STA. By Dr. Janez Potočnik 16 only future oriented response to Gender equality in the Euro- eptember's visit comes after President Kaljulaid already at- the traditional as well as mod- Mediterranean tended the Slovenia-hosted June summit of the Three Seas By Nasser Kamel 18 S Initiative. Kaljulaid will couple the attendance at the Bled fo- ern challenges. If each of us also A world of rules or a world rum with a state visit to the country. strives in this direction, we might of power "The issue of resources is becoming more and more important for By Iztok Mirošič 20 the whole world and Europe has been a leader in these discussions. manage to solve the puzzle on the How much future for our past? I hope we can find a model of sustainable development in Europe By Tobias Flessenkemper 22 which would also be economically more feasible than the previous or global level. On democracy and its opponents. current industrial one," she said. / By Marjan Šarec, Primer Minister of the Republic of Notes from Southeastern Europe Kaljulaid is confident that "while Europe would be leading in find- Slovenia By Vedran Džihić 23 ing the solutions and definitely benefiting from them, the rest of the The promises and perils of world would simply follow, because these solutions should be actual- Big Data ly also commercially feasible, cheaper than the current alternatives". By Jolene Creighton 24 "So I really hope that we will discuss how to save the resources, Learning and teaching in the how to be prepared for the world, let's say in 2050 when there will be era of Artificial Intelligence even more people on our planet and make sure that our planet will By Dr. Jernej Pikalo 25 not suffer." Central and Eastern Europe The Estonian president noted that the digitalisation of society, a at the heart of the EU field where Estonia is a leader, is part of the same debate. By Katja Geršak 26 "Let's face it - 15% of electricity spent today is spent on the in- The politics of migration ternet. But new technologies are not only consumers of resources. By Camino Mortera-Cortez 28 The internet and new technologies are a huge opportunity to save Youth perspectives on a social resources." and sustainable Union "We for instance don't need to travel so much, we can have con- By Giorgio Trichilo 30 ferences over the net, we can work over the net and don't have to travel to work any more," illustrated Kaljulaid, arguing the current living habits will be changed profoundly by digitalisation and new Bled Strategic Times Rethinking reality. Official Gazette of the Bled Strategic Forum technologies. Issue date: 2 September 2019 "Jobs will be geographically neutral, so people will choose where henever one gets the opportunity to rethink reality, one Publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of they live according to the societies they like to live in, which means a also gets the opportunity to rethink actions. Bled Strate- Slovenia, Prešernova cesta 25, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Centre for European Perspective, Grajska cesta 1, new kind of competition between states." W gic Forum definitely is one of such opportunities. Grasp- 1234 Loka pri Mengšu, Slovenia Turning to Estonia's digitalisation experience, Kaljulaid stressed ing this challenge, being aware of it and making the most of the dis- Editor-in-Chief: Katja Geršak Design: David Fartek there were no universal recipes, with things playing out differently cussions with leaders, decision makers and thinkers from Europe DTP and Prepress: Premedia, Andrej Juvan in individual countries, since each is an individual culture, meaning and beyond that beset the brains of the participants, is a privilege. Printing: Grafične ideje, Alenka Potočnik Circulation: 2000 copies each needs to find its own solutions. The 14th Bled Strategic Forum once again underlines and out- Still, once a country embarks on the path of digitalisation of pub- lines what is most pertinent, and most challenging. Unfortunately, #BSF2019 lic services, "people will expect you to keep the level of services up this year, we cannot escape the fact that the most urgent issue is the www.bledstrategicforum.org Continued on page 7 Continued on page 7 The Western Balkans: from ‘powder keg of Europe’ to a Transatlantic perspective The Western Balkans are an integral part of a shared vision of a ‘strong and free Europe’ and needs to be supported on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration. / By Philip T. Reeker, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State his year, the Transatlantic commu- to use loaded, pejorative terms like “powder nationalistic and cultural barriers that had tegic industries through its “17+1” and “Belt nity marks the 101st anniversary keg” or “balkanization.” They believe that, held the region back for decades. They paved and Road” initiatives, we need to increase T of the end of World War I; the 74th rather than pursuing an upward trajectory of the way toward North Macedonia becoming engagement in the region and re-energize anniversary of the end of World War II; the stability and prosperity, the countries of the the 30th NATO Ally and joining the EU. The partnerships with Western Balkan countries. 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Trea- region are condemned to a vicious and end- Prespa Agreement was arguably the most These countries need to know what they ty Organization (NATO); the 30th anniver- less cycle marked by poverty, zero-sum com- significant purely diplomatic achievement in will get—and what they stand to lose—from sary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the petition, nationalist resurgence, democratic the Balkans since the Dayton Peace Accords. the “deals” Moscow and Beijing peddle. The collapse of Communism in Central Europe; backsliding, corruption, and conflict. It stands as proof that, with real leadership, United States will continue to offer these and the 20th anniversary of the end of the This does not have to be the case, as re- persistence, and compromise, even the most countries a reciprocal and fair trading rela- Kosovo conflict. It is also deeply rooted historical and tionship and is working to boost U.S. invest- the 15th anniversary of the cultural conflicts can be ment in the region through new tools like “big bang” enlargements of Balkan integration with Western institutions overcome. the Development Finance Corporation. the European Union (EU) is in the political, security, and economic In 2016, Montenegro Strengthening the Transatlantic alliance and NATO in 2004, and the thwarted a brazen coup at- to preserve and defend our shared values, 10th anniversary of NATO’s interests of the countries in the region, the tempt aimed at undermin- including individual liberty, representative 2009 enlargement. These EU, and the United States. ing Montenegrin democra- democracy, media freedom, free markets, anniversaries are a reminder cy. This coup attempt was and the rule of law is a top strategic priority of the enduring strength of only one prong of Russia’s for the United States in a new era of geopo- the West, but also that the work of fulfilling cent actions by Balkan leaders demonstrate. effort to destabilize the country; Russia also litical competition. The close collaboration our shared vision of a “strong and free Eu- In defending the landmark Prespa Agree- unleashed a pervasive anti-NATO disinfor- between the United States, the EU, and the rope” remains incomplete. We have come a ment, former Greek Foreign Minister Niko- mation campaign to thwart Montenegro’s Organization for Security and Cooperation long way, but the work isn’t done yet. The laos Kotzias said, “History should be a school NATO accession. On May 9, a Montenegrin in Europe (OSCE) in the Western Balkans is Western Balkans are an integral part of this and not a prison.” The Western Balkans are court found two Russian GRU officers guilty a shining example of this partnership.
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