Resolving open issues is an important step for the sustainable improvement of bilateral relations between Serbia and its neighbors, and it has a positive influence on Serbia’s EU accession process. Therefore, on two occasions, in mid-2017 and early 2019, CPES organized roundtables where the participants suggested and discussed ways to resolve outstanding issues between Serbia and its neighbors. In the first cycle of 2017, the bilateral relations between Serbia and its “old” neighbors (Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary) were discussed, while the issues with the “new” neighbors (countries created by the breakup of the SFRY) were analyzed in both cycles, in 2017 and in 2019. Relations between Serbia and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia have been analyzed on a continuous basis, both for their specificity and complexity, and for the fact that many of the outstanding issues have not been resolved after more than twenty years.

The roundtables were organized with the aim of gathering participants of different professional orientations, participants that will contribute through debate and argumentative discussion to the successful consideration of (at least some) possible steps towards solving open issues between Serbia and the four neighboring countries.

The basis for the discussion was policy analysis, provided to selected participants in advance, and the topics were divided into two panels:

– Open questions: War heritage (BiH, Croatia), borders, succession…and

– Ongoing bilateral relations, political tendencies and their impact on (non)resolving of outstanding issues.