The conference in Ohrid organised by the Marshall Centre Republic of Macedonia, NATO Public Diplomacy Division, NATO Defence-College, European Centre for Security Srudies "George C. Marshall" was taking place for the 4th time. It was intended to provide a platform for decision-makers and experts- mostly from the Western Balkans - to discuss actuall developments in the region and its possibilities of alliances with the West, especially with NATO. The opening speech was held by the actual Minister of Defence of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Zoran Jolevski. The IIP was represented via its president Hannes Swoboda, who's remarks you can read above and Ms. Stephanie Fenkart.

The following text is a background paper for a speech given at the 15th International Summer School organized by the Atlantic Council of Croatia and the International Institute for Peace on the Croatian island of Sipan, July 2016. The International Institute for Peace was also sponsoring four young professionals who have been able to attend the summer school, to experience intercultural exchange and ideas but who could also learn about regional issues which often might not be in the centre of middle European discussions.

The conference was held under the Chatham House Rules which allows speakers from different backgrounds, nationalities, religions, ideologies and political affiliations to discuss in a free environment. The speakers have been professors, journalists, analysts, policy advisors, researchers and people from the Civil Society.

In public discussions the question of national security is very often dealt with in a very unclear way. It is often mixed with the question of internal security and different threats are intermingled. Especially in connection with real or possible refugee inflows, security threats are automatically mentioned.

This project is based on the original project which was started in 1992 and which was run predominantly by three institutions: The Austrian Academy of Sciences, the International Institute for Peace amd Labour Market and Employment Research Unit of the Science Centre for Social Research (WZB) and resulted in the publication of a book called "The Market Shock. An AGENDA for the Economic and Social Reconstruction of Central and Eastern Europe". It was edited by the AGENDA-Group (Jan Kregel, Egon Matzner and Gernot Grabher). It was first presented in press conferences in Prague, Vienna and Budapest followed by presentation in other eight countries and has also been translated into fifteen languages.