WEASA2024 is successfully finished!

The WEASA2024 edition successfully finished becoming a part of our history.  

With the theme: “Seeking momentum. Embracing Euro-Atlantic integration in times of crises”, the objective of this year edition was to bring participants from Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans to the College of Europe in Natolin to debate current issues related to European enlargement, security and geopolitics; to exchange experiences and find common solutions which would advance Euro-Atlantic integration in the long run. 

Around 35 participants were selected in an extremely competitive basis coming from 12 countries from the spheres of public administration, academia, civil society and media to take part in an intense 7-day summer academy. 

We were honoured to host Mr. Petras Auštrevičius, Member of the European Parliament Lithuania, as a keynote speaker! His address was focused on revitalising Euro-Atlantic integration in challenging times, which was followed by an interesting Q&A session. 

By recommendations of our alumni members this year we have included the two sessions related to experience and lessons learnt of Poland on its way to Euro-Atlantic integration. 

Ms Ewa Ośniecka-Tamecka, the Vice-Rector of the College of Europe, shared her hand on experience in preparing Poland for EU integration. One of the best takeaways among the others was her advice to the countries in transition to be well prepared as membership means good preparation. “A significant element of preparation is education: that’s why I am here”, – concluded the Vice-Rector. 

The NATO’s integration was presented by Mr Michal Baranowski, the Managing Director of the GMF East office of The German Marshall Fund of the United States, touched upon the steps and peculiarities of integration. 

An indispensable component of WEASA are panel discussions. This year as well we hold discussions about the future of European integration of Eastern Partnership countries and the Western Balkans. Moreover, we have introduced another panel discussion related to the threats coming the emerging powers. The prominent backgrounds of the panelists allowed the participants to participate in lively Q&A sessions. 

There is no WEASA without touching upon the security issues: sessions related to personal security, OSINT tools, securing the elections as well as a hot fireside chat with the Deputy Ambassador of Poland to NATO Mr Dominik P. Jankowski, who spoke about the role of NATO in the coming world challenges. 

The excellent profile of the participants allowed to have insightful and fascinating SWOT analysis about the state of play of the countries who strive for Euro-Atlantic integration. Furthermore, the participants were enthusiastically involved in an unprecedented Oxford Debate on the theme: “There should be a Big Bang EU enlargement by 2030”. WEASA is a platform, which provides an opportunity to the beautiful minds to discuss complex topics from different perspectives. We revealed not only brilliant minds, but also excellent public speakers among our participants. 

We thank our partners for their support, our great speakers who triggered great discussions, our external evaluators, the whole support team in Natolin and, naturally, a big thank to our amazing participants.  

Welcome to WEASA family.