Overcoming Polarization and Rising Euroscepticism and Erosion of Trust in the Process Among Civil Society in North Macedonia and Serbia

Hybrid conference from 27 till 29 May 2026 / Online and in person (Skopje)

Dear Friends, Dear colleagues,

We would like to invite you to join us at our Hybrid three-day conference taking place 27-29 May 2026 titled “Overcoming Polarization and Rising Euroscepticism and Erosion of Trust in the Process Among Civil Society in North Macedonia and Serbia.”

(The onsite component will take place in Skopje at premises provided by ISSHS, we will inform you about the address upon sending the confirmation and final agenda)

The Scope of the conference:

We are aware that public sentiment is mixed, and that criticism of the process does not necessarily imply opposition to integration, even when expressed through skepticism across political-ideological positions. We therefore aim to move beyond cynicism by examining how to balance legitimate reservations with the geopolitical and civilizational choices our countries face.

With this in mind, we address the following questions:

– Can that middle ground be created? Is it necessary?

– How do we revise our grand narratives of national pride while retaining our dignity?

– How do we strike a balance between pragmatic interests and preserving a sense of identity?

– How do we balance over-interpretative reporting—which often resorts to sloganeering and ends up misinforming—with a proper critique that is factually rigorous?

Given that many young people already choose education in the EU, societal orientations appear to be shifting.

We look forward to exploring how these balances can be achieved in practice.

Information and confirmations:

Please find the agenda below for further details. Also, you can find the agenda and the program information on our platform https://www.reaccessingeu.org/, on the ISSHS website, and in the project app you can download here. You are more than welcome to use the app to submit your ideas regarding raised questions even prior to the conference so we can shape the program by taking some of your ideas into consideration.

Kindly note that the working language will be English only.

The conference is organized by the Consortium of the Project “Combatting anti-EU discourses and misinformation in North Macedonia and Serbia” is a 2025/2026 project implemented by an international consortium of European academic institutions and organizations (Andrássy Gyula German-Speaking University Budapest, Research Centre for Cultures, Politics and Identities – IPAK, Slovak Academy of Sciences: The Institute of Political Science, Institute of Central Europe and Institute for Modern Development) coordinated by the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities – Skopje. It is funded by the International Visegrad fund.

For participation please register here

Agenda of the Conference

Day 1

May 27, 2026 (Wednesday)

09:45 Registration (the event is hybrid; those in the zoom room will register prior to the event)

10:30-11:30 Keynote: Christina Griessler 

Illiberal Influence: Viktor Orbán’s Regional Clientelistic Networks in the Western Balkans

11:30-12:00 Coffee break and snacks

12:00-13:30 Voices of Dissenting Media:

Special keynote intro  Ljubomir D. Frčkoski (TBC)

followed by Panel with Borjan Jovanovski, Aleksandar Mitovski, Ljubomir D. Frčkoski (TBC)

13:30-14:30 Lunch break

14:30-15:30 Breakout sessions in parallel groups on the following topics (use of different cabinets, then reconvening in the plenary space)

– Nuanced discussion about “misinformation”: when facts are checked but put in tropes, slogans and narratives are shaped; are we witnessing a post-truth era which is beyond mere “fact checking”?

– Think tank experts and academia meet: where are the boundaries between interpretation loaded wording and cold precision in stating and naming facts, does it matter if we call the EU negotiating framework the French proposal (still in 2026) and, if yes, in what ways?

15:30-16:30 Streamlining of the discussions in groups moderated by Michal Vit.

Day 2

May 28, 2026 (Thursday)

10:30 Keynote: Michal Vit

Shaping the narrative of (dis)information, view from the Czech Republic

11:30-12:00 Coffee break and snacks

12:00-13:30 Keynote: Juraj Marušiak

Russia as a Dividing Issue in Slovakia : Slovakia’s Eastern Policy in a Shadow of the Domestic Political Competition

13:30-14:30 Lunch break

14:30-15:30 Keynote: Spasimir Domaradzki

Internal mobilization and European integration

15:30-15:50 Coffee break

15:50-16:50 Breakout sessions in parallel groups on the following topics (use of different cabinets, then reconvening in the plenary space)

 – Discussion of research papers, split in two groups per two groups of topics (TBD)

– Online discussion with colleagues from Bulgaria, Greece, Albania to receive feedback.

16:50-17:15 Streamlining of the discussions in groups moderated by Junior Researcher Risto Aleksovski

Day 3

May 29, 2026 (Friday)

11:00-12:30 Panel The Voices of Youth: Where Do You Imagine Your Future, in the EU or Home? Speakers: Students from Belgrade and Skopje on zoom (audience can attend in person too, in the plenary space).

13:00-14:00 Lunch Break

14:00-14:40 Keynote: Jelisaveta Blagojevic

Cycling to Brussels: Democratic Subjectivity Between Situationship and Political Form