E_21: One market, many challenges

We are proud to present you a new mini-series of five podcast episodes within our MladiRini Talks, achieved in cooperation with the EU Balkans Forum. EU Balkans Forum is an opportunity for youth from the entire European continent to discuss common issues, face policymakers and mobilize new energies from below, facilitating the emergence of a young transnational network to engineer new initiatives and bring about fresh views on both the EU and Balkan integration. The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), Study Center for International Politics from Rome, and the Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa were involved in the creation and work of the forum. The forum was financially supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Within this initiative, two university students for each of the 27 UE Member States and four from each of the Western Balkans 6 countries gathered together in Rome to discuss topics on the importance of the Western Balkans and the EU. They were divided into five working groups. Now, you have an opportunity to hear what their experiences were, what they learned, what are the common problems that young people from the EU and the Western Balkans share. In the fourth episode, our guests were the Italian Ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Carlo Lo Cascio, and Veljko Ristić, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. He was included in Working group 4: One Market, Many Challenges. In the WB-6, the public sector does not always serve the needs of citizens and companies, because of a lack of transparency and persistent inefficiencies. All too often, products from the WB-6 face barriers that prevent them from reaching consumers in the EU-27 markets. Youth inactivity rates in the labour market remain high. The prospect of EU integration has lost credibility in the whole region due to profound doubts about admitting new members in some EU capitals, creating a dangerous vacuum for nationalist projects. Did the Western Balkan youth encounter that the participants from the region had different views on the discussed issues from the colleagues from the EU? How hard was it to come to conclusions and recommendations? And what was the main point that youth took away from being participants in this WG? Find out in this episode! The new episode will arrive every Monday at 14.00. Subscribe to European Talks and do not miss our next episodes! More information: www.mladirini.org / www.eubalkanforum.org