The Balkans remain in a two-decade purgatory of accession negotiations without an end in sight. Weak states are integrated in the defense value chains of the Single European but are not anchored institutionally. A TACTICS report released in June 2020 describes a “captive state” phenomenon, whereby regimes such as the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shape industrial policy in countries like Serbia, but also EU member states such as Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. This creates a “back door” for European arms to war zones.

The next stop for this kind of investment is Germany, Sweden and Greece. In this scheme, are we ready for the implications of a common defence industry integrated with the value chains and political priorities of authoritarian regimes?

Speakers:

Marketa Gregorova MEP is a Member of the European Parliament for Czech Pirate Party (Greens – European Free Alliance). Ms Gregorova was elected as the Member of the European Parliament in 2019 and is engaged in 6 committees and 2 delegations. As a rapporteur of the Dual Use Export control regulation she pushed for a EU-wide transparency and fought against surveillance from the Authoritarian regimes.

Jan Lipavsky MP is a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic since 2017. Brigadier-General Metodi Hadji-Janev is a military security analyst and an Associate Professor at the Military Academy General Mihailo Apostolski in Skopje; the University of Goce Delcev in Stip, and an adjunct faculty member at Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, Arizona State University (ASU).

Brigadir General Hadji-Janev specialises in the legal aspects of countering asymmetric, cyber, and hybrid-based threats, with an emphasis on critical information infrastructure and critical infrastructure protection. He has served as a co-director of four NATO SPS projects at NATO’s Center of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism.

Michal Vit is a member of the TACTICS Advisory Board, an Assistant Professor at the Metropolitan University of Prague and Visiting Professor at South-East European University (NKM). He obtained his doctorate in 2017 from Masaryk University and the University of Leipzig. Previously he was associated with the Institute for European Policy (IEP), Berlin and the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy. His research interests are EU Enlargement and Justice and Home Affairs policies.

Eleni Panayiotou is the TACTICS Institute Communications Manager and a Media Professional with over 15 years of experience in online and radio journalism, specialising in defence and security.