On 30th March, TransConflict Serbia organized an initial public discussion about NATO’s new Strategic Concept in Belgrade. Supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, this initiative has been designed to promote active debate about, and involvement in, the development of a new Strategic Concept amongst specific key target groups from throughout Serbia.

Facilitating a compromise between the respective parties to the name issue requires a better understanding of the multi-layered character of the dispute, the historically conditioned perspectives of the parties, and the main actors and their perceived interests.

Russia’s re-emergence in the Balkans – thanks, in part, to financial loans, energy investments and the provision of emergency relief – could leave Serbia in the middle of a conundrum as the region itself increasingly becomes a point of contestation between the West and Russia.

Despite requesting the extradition of Ejup Ganic – which has already damaged relations between Bosnia and Serbia, and will negatively impact this autumn’s elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina – it remains far from clear whether Serbia possesses the will to actually try Ganic in court.

The growing opposition to military interventions amongst a majority of member states means that NATO’s new Strategic Concept must consider how the Alliance can and will pursue a stronger political and co-ordinating role.