• • June 17, 2020
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• • November 14, 2025

On June 17, 2020, the Aspen Institute Germany and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) hosted an online discussion on the topic “Viktor Orbán’s Growing Interest in the Western Balkans“ with Goran Buldioski, Director of the Berlin Office of Open Society Foundations and Director of the Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE), Adnan Ćerimagić, Analyst at European Stability Initiative (ESI), Ivana Jeremić, Editor at Balkan Insight, and Péter Krekó, Director at Political Capital Institute and Europe’s Future Fellow, IWM/Erste Stiftung. Together with the other participants of the event, they discussed the influence of Hungary in the Western Balkans, more specifically in Serbia and North Macedonia. The focus was on the economic ties between Hungary, Serbia and North Macedonia, the relationship and common interests of Viktor Orbán and Aleksandar Vučić, and the role of civil society. The effects on the EU enlargement process and rule of law as well as the relevance of other external actors in the region were also discussed. The event was jointly moderated by Valeska Esch, Deputy Executive Director, and Program Director Europe, Aspen Institute Germany, and Milan Nič, Head, Robert Bosch Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).