TRAIN - POLICY ADVOCACY IN THE GERMAN CONTEXT

KCSS researcher Donika Emini participated in the TRAIN Alumni meeting in Berlin. This event is organized by the German Council on Foreign Relations and it gathers young professionals and researchers from the Western Balkans – part of the previous TRAIN generations.

This year’s first TRAIN alumni workshop in Berlin provided the opportunity to broaden networks and to advocate for your policy concerns vis-à-vis German decision makers, and contained four major elements:

- An Advocacy-Workshop to get familiarised with the German political system and possible advocacy strategies specifically in the German context.

- Meetings with German political actors to not only discuss the German stance towards further EU enlargement but also to reflect upon the reform processes in the Western Balkans countries and the expectations towards German support in this regard.

- Participation in an event organised by the DGAP on EU policies towards the Western Balkans. This roundtable discussion is part of the event series “Brussels Briefing”, which regularly invites experts, policy makers, and employees of EU institutions in Brussels to discuss issues European foreign and security policy in Berlin.

- As experts – former TRAIN participants - peer-reviewed the draft papers of the current TRAIN generation which focus on “corruption and informal practices” as major challenges in the EU integration process.