Policy Recommendations – “Solidarity in Action: A Transatlantic Collaboration Platform for Peace and Democracy in the Western Balkans”

At a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty and renewed great-power competition, sustained transatlantic cooperation remains essential for advancing peace, democracy, and long-term stability in the Western Balkans. Yet diverging priorities and evolving strategic agendas have strained the transatlantic partnership at a moment when unity and alignment are most needed.

The Solidarity in Action initiative was launched to respond to this challenge. Organised by the Aspen Institute Germany in cooperation with the Aspen Strategy Group, the Aspen Institute Romania, and the Aspen Institute Italia, this initiative convenes a unique transatlantic network of young civil society representatives from the Western Balkans, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Romania. Through sustained exchanges, the initiative empowers participants to collectively develop actionable policy solutions to some of the Western Balkans’ most pressing challenges, while identifying strategies to strengthen both transatlantic and regional cooperation.

In 2025, the project brought together a cohort of twenty participants from a variety of fields, including our Emerging Expert Benjamin Selimotic. Over a series of virtual exchanges and an in-person working meeting in Tirana, Albania, participants engaged directly with experts and senior stakeholders while building a transatlantic network grounded in trust, shared responsibility, and regional ownership. The project’s unique consensual methodology ensured that recommendations reflected the perspectives of the entire cohort, keeping the final proposals locally relevant, realistic, and rooted in the collective expertise of civil society actors.  

The resulting publication presents a set of concrete, action-oriented policy recommendations aimed at decision makers on both the transatlantic and regional levels. The recommendations focus on three key challenge areas:

• Structural inequalities, limited prospects for youth and marginalized groups, and institutional capacity gaps,

• Lack and erosion of accountability,

• Lack and weakening of national and regional cohesion.

Across these areas, the publication advances several core recommendations, including:

• establishing transatlantic public–private partnerships to expand merit-based traineeships and economic opportunities for young people in the Western Balkans;

• creating regional civic service and mobility programmes to strengthen community development and cross-border cooperation;

• supporting investment screening and transparency mechanisms to enhance accountability and resilience against undue foreign influence;

• developing digital democratic accountability tools that enable citizens to monitor decision-making processes and institutions;

• strengthening or creating regional cooperation frameworks in areas such as data sharing or reconciliation initiatives to rebuild trust and cohesion across societies and borders.

For each thematic area, the publication outlines both transatlantic and regional policy recommendations, accompanied by concrete action points, timelines, and responsible stakeholders, underscoring a strong emphasis on implementation rather than abstract policy debate. By sharing these recommendations with decision makers across the Western Balkans, the EU and the United States, the project aims not only to provide concrete suggestions for change in the region, but also to demonstrate that transatlantic cooperation remains both possible and essential for advancing peace and democracy in the Western Balkans.

The final publication, “Solidarity in Action: A Transatlantic Collaboration Platform for Peace and Democracy in the Western Balkans,” is available here: https://www.aspeninstitute.de/wp-content/uploads/Solidarity-in-Action_Policy-Recommendations.pdf

More information about the project can be found here.

The project is supported by the Global Fund Grant of the Aspen Institute International Partners.