On 1 October, the Enlargement Strategic Dialogue continued in Prishtina with meetings with Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Chief Negotiator Jeton Zulfaj and Minister of Defense Ejup Maqedonci, followed by a visit to the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK) and a working discussion at KCSF.

The meetings provided space for exchange between officials and experts from EU Member States and Kosovo institutions on the country’s European path, the regional security environment and the wider geopolitical context shaping the enlargement process.

The visit to KEK offered participants a closer look at Kosovo’s energy transition and the questions of energy security, decarbonisation and infrastructure modernisation that increasingly intersect with the region’s European path.

The working discussion, “Powering Enlargement: Energy Security and Geopolitics in the Western Balkans,” featured contributions from Victor Grigorescu, Global Industrial Consult and former Energy Minister of Romania; Julian Popov, Strategic Perspectives; and Trim Ternava, KOSTT, with Rouven Stubbe, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, as discussant and Anna Orosz, Gnosis Institute, chairing the session.

The discussion explored how energy security, infrastructure, investment and emerging dependencies are shaping the geopolitical environment of the Western Balkans and its European path, including the growing interaction between energy diversification, geopolitical alignment and EU enlargement.

The Enlargement Strategic Dialogue was organised together with Österreichisch-Französisches Zentrum – Centre Franco Autrichien,
Balkan Research Institute and Ifri – Institut français des relations internationales, with the support of Open Society Foundations | Western Balkans, Austrian Embassy in Prishtina and Embassy of Sweden in Pristina.