From 26 October to 30 October 2020 ReSPA hosted the 2020 Seasonal School on EU Accession Negotiations in collaboration with EIPA. EIPA and ReSPA have a long-standing cooperative relationship, which has recently been continued by winning a successive tender which called for EIPA to design a programme to prepare potential EU Member States for enlargement.
The 2020 Seasonal School
EIPA was the architect of the programme; proposing how best to disperse knowledge to officials of Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia to equip them for the upcoming EU accession negotiations. The autumnal school focused on the substantive competences and matters of the procedural aspects of accession negotiations. EIPA’s experts delivered training sessions on accession negotiations and the legal and political dimensions of enlargement.
As ReSPA’s Programme Manager Legal, Gentian Xhaxhi points out:
the Seasonal School builds on these two pillars: firstly, by explaining the new negotiations methodology, how the chapters will be divided into six clusters and how will the negotiations be conducted; and secondly, by providing clear tips and recommendations on the negotiation process on specific Chapters of the acquis.
The 2021 follow-up Seasonal School
This (initial) Seasonal School strives to be the first step in a two-step process, due to its well-founded success. Pending future developments, it is foreseen that the second step will be a 2021 Spring Seasonal School held in the South Western Balkans. The spring school would follow up and develop on the knowledge learnt this October; honing the professional skills required to engage in negotiations successfully. The skills taught include drafting legal proposals, legal analysis and positioning. These skills would increase the participant’s ability to participate in accession meetings.
As is the case for EIPA’s other long-term cooperations, we aim to deliver a sequence of trainings, creating a learning path, hereby enabling the beneficiary parties to fully benefit from deepening and widening their knowledge and skills acquired from sequential trainings.
ReSPA premises in Danilovgrad, Montenegro
Long-standing cooperation with ReSPA
EIPA has a long-standing cooperation with ReSPA having been awarded the original and subsequent EU contract by the European Commission to establish the school in the Western Balkans in 2008. Since then, EIPA has remained involved at various degrees, continuing to host a spectrum of activities such as seminars, conferences, and workshops.
