On 13 September PIPS held a closed discussion on "Balkan Regionalism 2021: SEFTA and Open Balkan" with stakeholders from the government, opposition and experts.

This event brought to the table the views of the parties on the SEFTA and Open Balkan agreements, and confronted the attitudes of key actors to measure the possibility for a unified stance of these actors on regional agreements.

This discussion stressed cautious action regarding:
- Unilateral initiative and positions vis-a-vis the need to strengthen interstate alliances and not to threaten the loss of strategic allies;
- Tendency to see the European Integration process as mutually exclusive from regional integration;
- Articulation of positions and unilateral initiative along with the need to create and strengthen interstate alliances and not to threaten the loss of strategic allies;
- Regional initiatives as a response to the stagnation of the region's European Integration process;
-The security of regional partnerships without equality of the parties and dealing with the past.

PIPS in cooperation with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Office in Kosovo has published the results of the survey "Kosovo citizens' mindset regarding political questions".

The survey has produced interesting data about the views of Kosovar citizens on the relationship of the state with the economy, individual freedoms, ideology and political parties in the country, political participation and segmentation of Kosovar voters according to political ideology.

The report's findings were presented on 19 July. You can follow the presentation via the link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1018364208701645&ref=watch_permalink

On July 14, PIPS held a discussion on the progress of public administration reform in Kosovo.
The discussion brought together researchers, civil society representatives, government representatives and civil servants to talk about the stalemates and proper coordination for the progress of this much-needed reform.

The summary report on public administration reform, prepared by PIPS, was presented during this discussion.

Mrs. Venera Ramaj from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kosovo, Mr. Valon Gashi from the Office for Political Criteria at the Office of the Prime Minister and Mr. Demush Shasha from the EPIK Institute contributed to the panel.

The main points from the discussion were:
- Lack of political vision and will as well as political instability have impacted the stagnation of this reform;
- The digitalization of public administration should be given special emphasis as part of the reform and for the sake of the benefits that would follow;
- In order to create the momentum for the reform, the coordination between the local and central level should be strengthened;
- This reform should not be seen only as a condition by the EU but also as an opportunity for approximation with the EU.

We have concluded the third seminar of School for Political Studies with the 19th generation from 2-4 July.

This time around, the seminar focused on the prevention and countering of violent extremism, through which participants of the School for Political Studies were informed about violent extremism in a global and regional context, the difference between the concepts of terrorism, extremism, radicalism, as well as statistics and initiatives undertaken for the repatriation and rehabilitation of returned fighters to Kosovo.

In a broader context, the seminar addressed Kosovo's foreign policy, world politics, theories of international relations, offering participants several nuances of understanding Foreign Policy and National Security - from a political, legal and social perspective.

Furthermore, the participants had the opportunity to hear from, and discuss with the current Deputy Minister of MFA about the previous approach of Kosovo in regards to regional and global actors and the future plan of this government for Kosovo's foreign policy.

This seminar was held with the support of the Advocacy Training and Resource Center - ATRC through the Resilient Community Program and the Council of Europe.

On 8 June Prishtina Institute for Political Studies (PIPS) has held a closed discussion with representations from institutions, political parties, non-governmental organizations and foreign missions in Kosovo, where we discussed building consensus regarding vital national issues and Kosovo's foreign policy, including the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.
Various stakeholders were present to discuss possible alternatives that could enable Kosovo to articulate a clear position and a more favorable position in the international arena.
This first activity will be shortly followed by other events of its kind.