After the success of ICDT’s Summer Seminar for Young Leaders of the Western Balkans in 2010, the Centre organized a second Summer Seminar in Budapest between July 14-21, 2013 aimed at educating talented and ambitious young people from the Western Balkans and the V4 region. The focus of the week-long event was presenting Hungary’s experience on accessing the EU, its challenges, and the importance of regional cooperation in the path towards the European integration.

The project brought together 24 young current and recently finished university students from Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and the V4 countries, enabling them to meet 21 acknowledged and distinguished lecturers and visit various sites in different fields related to the topics of the program.

The goal was to vest the participants with considerable knowledge on the process of the EU integration, the EU enlargement and neighborhood policy – including the Mediterranean Union and the Eastern Partnership Initiative –, the EU legislation and the experiences of the Central European countries, with special regard to those that participated in regional cooperation. The sessions were highly interactive and involved all participants in an inspiring and intense discussion.

Based on the positive feedbacks of the participants and the lecturers the summer university has been a great success and the ICDT is keen on organizing further similar event in the future.

The project is supported by the International Visegrad Fund.