Panel

European Dialogues – Opening

Bosnian Cultural Center

17 Sep 6:30pm

This edition of the cycle “Facing War – European Dialogues in Bosnia and Herzegovina” is part of the Shared Horizons program. This program strengthens dialogue between the youth of the Western Balkans, with a view to the enlargement of the European Union. The European Dialogues in Bosnia and Herzegovina will bring together new voices from civil society and research in the Western Balkans and the rest of Europe.

Thirty years after the Dayton-Paris Accords, the European Dialogues in Bosnia and Herzegovina will serve as a platform for civil society and the youth of the region. From a European perspective, this event will explore, since the end of the war in the Balkans, societies’ aspirations for the future and the role of trust in social cohesion, peace processes, and democratic resilience.

Over three days, participants will examine the various sources and dimensions of trust. The program will be built with the 32 new voices in research and activism that the IF supports as part of the Shared Horizons program. Committed to ecology, women’s rights, fighting corruption and disinformation, these personalities, with highly diverse profiles, represent a formidable pool of expertise and perspectives on contemporary realities in the Western Balkans.

The European Dialogues in Bosnia and Herzegovina will take place in Sarajevo from September 17 to 19, in partnership with the Sarajevo Fest and the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Banja Luka on September 20, in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska. A pre-dialogue event was organized in Tuzla on June 20, 2025, in partnership with the Festival of Contemporary Women.

Speakers: René Troccaz (Special envoy for the Balkans), Vesna Pusić (former Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Croatia, director of the Foreign Policy Forum, TBC), Oleksandra
Matviïtchouk (Ukrainian Lawyer, Nobel peace Prize, online), Velma Šarić (Co-founder et
director of the Post conflict research center), Burak Doluay (co-founder of Social tech Lab).

Moderation: Lejla Mazlić

In Collaboration with the French Institute in BiH.