Seminar: Preparing Locally for EU Accession

Impact Assessments, Reform Agendas and Local Readiness in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia and Ukraine

Local and regional governments play a crucial yet often under‑recognised role in preparing countries for EU accession, delivering key services and implementing much of the EU acquis. Despite this, their involvement in shaping reforms has remained limited. This seminar brings these actors into focus by sharing new insights from across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia and Ukraine, placing them within broader EU enlargement debates, and exploring how EU funding can better support local engagement in the accession process now and beyond 2027.

Date: Monday, 29 June 2026
Location: Committee of the Regions, rue Van Maerlant 2, 1040 Brussels (room VMA 21)
Time: 09:00–15:30
Format: In‑person seminar (registry required) and online stream

Introduction

Local and regional governments are a vital part of the ‘whole of society’ effort to prepare for EU accession, with key roles in service delivery, strategic and spatial planning, environmental management, social cohesion and, in many cases, post‑crisis recovery and reconstruction efforts. Yet, despite responsibility for implementing large parts of the EU acquis, their involvement in the accession process and the design of reform agendas has been limited so far.

Against this backdrop, the seminar has three main aims:

• Share key insights from recent and ongoing assessments of the impact of EU accession on local governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia and Ukraine.
• Situate these findings within current discussions on EU enlargement, including proposals for gradual integration, geopolitical aspects and the role of local representatives in combating misinformation.
• Examine how EU financing instruments can support local engagement in the accession process and in the delivery of key reforms, both now and with an eye towards the post-2027 period.

The seminar aims to promote dialogue between local, regional and national representatives.

Registration

If you are interested in joining the event in person, please contact wilmer.berg@skr.se.

Please note that submitting a registration does not guarantee participation in the event. All registrations will be reviewed, and confirmation of attendance will be sent separately. The final date to register is the 19th June.

Agenda

The agenda will be updated on an ongoing basis, and speakers are yet to be confirmed.

09.00-09.20 Registration and Coffee

09.20-09.30 Welcome words from:

• Gudrun Niedorf, Deputy Head of Unit, Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs (CIVEX), European Committee of the Regions
• Marcus Holmberg, Director of international affairs and Head of Brussels office, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR)

09.30-11.00 Session 1: Impact of EU accession on local authorities

Moderated by Denisa Sarajlić, SALAR International

9.30–9.40 Impact assessments: a brief introduction by Denisa Sarajlić, SALAR International

9.40–10.00 Case study from Ukrainian mayors working on concrete EU-related questions:

• Marta Suprun, Advocacy Expert, Cities4cities within the Polaris Programme
• Mykhaylo Tenenev, Mayor of Teofipol, Khmelnytslyi region
• Mykola Baksheev, Mayor of Zlatopil, Kharkiv region
• Mykola Riznyk, Mayor of Opishnia, Poltava region
• Oksana Suprun, Mayor of Savyntsi, Kharkiv region

10.00–10.45 Panel discussion

• Csaba Borboly, Vice-president of Harghita County Council, Romania, and Chair of the Working Group on Bosnia and Herzegovina, European Committee of the Regions
  
• Ankica Todorović, Head of Local Economic Development and European Integration, City of Bijeljina, BiH and President of the Committee for EU Integration, Association of Municipalities and Cities of Republika Srpska
• Leonid Boaghi, Mayor of Sireți, Moldova and member of the Network of Local Ambassadors for EU Integration
  
• Srđan Cvijetić, Head of Section for Trade and Internal Market, Directorate for European Integration (BiH)
  
• Mihaela Sticea, Head of Fundamental Values and Political Criteria Coordination Department, Bureau for European Integration, Moldova

10.45-11.00 Q&A

11.00-11.30 Coffee break

11.30-13.00 Session 2: The evolving EU enlargement process

Moderated by Shane Quinn, SALAR International

11.30 -11.50 - Advancing/delivering the enlargement process – what role can local governments play? Berta López Domènech, Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre, Brussels

11.50-12.40 Panel discussion, in addition to Ms. López Domènech:

• Gillian Coughlan, Member of Cork City Council, Chair of the Working Group on relations with Kosovo and rapporteur on the Enlargement package 2025 – Western Balkans and Turkey, European Committee of the Regions
  
• Daniela Morari, Ambassador of Moldova to the EU
• Dragan Tilev, External Advisor to the President on EU Integration and former State Councillor for EU Affairs, Secretariat/Ministry of EU Affairs, North Macedonia
• Mathieu Bousquet, Director, Enlargement Coordination, Strategy & Investments, DG Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood, European Commission
• Durmish Guri, Director, Projects and Programmes, Council of European Municipalities and Regions

12.40-13.00 Q&A

13.00-14.00 Lunch

14.00-15.30 Session 3: Pre-accession assistance and reform agendas

Moderated by David Young, SALAR International

14.00-14.20 The local and regional dimension of pre-accession funding. Agnieszka Kulesa, Lead Social Sciences Researcher, Center for Social and Economic Research, Warsaw

14.20-15.10 Panel discussion, in addition to Ms. Kulesa:

• Patrick Molinoz, Vice-President of the Region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Member of the Working Group on Ukraine and rapporteur on Enlargement package 2025 - Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, European Committee of the Regions
  
• Dan Barna, Member of the European Parliament (Renew Europe, Romania) and rapporteur for the recent Opinion from the Foreign Affairs Committee to the Budget Committee on the proposed Multiannual Financial Framework 2028–34
  
• Anna Kotļara, Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood, Ukraine service
  
• Jozef Michálek, European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy.
• Nina Tsiklaouri, Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe, LORAI project
  
• Vitalii Protsenko, Director, Department for Regional Policy and Territorial Reintegration, Ministry for Development of Territories and Communities, Ukraine

15.10-15.30 Q&A

15.30 End of seminar

Watch the seminar recording

Watch the seminar recording via the link below: Watch the seminar

Background resources

Documents:

Local Europe in North Macedonia: The impact of EU accession on municipalities with a focus on environment pdf, 1 MB.

Local Europe in Ukraine: Overview of the impact of EU integration on local authorities pdf, 45 MB.

Policy brief by Berta López Domènech: Unlocking Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU accession path

Policy brief by Agniezska Kulesa: The Territorial Dimension of the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans pdf, 3 MB.

Article by Agniezska Kulesa: Capacity building for local and regional authorities in the light of the Ukraine Facility pdf, 3 MB.

Projects in the participating countries:

Polaris - Supporting Multilevel Governance in Ukraine

Public Administration, Citizen Engagement (PACE Local)

Sustainable municipal waste management in North Macedonia

Advancing functional decentralisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Event organisers

The event is organised by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions and SALAR International, through projects financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is hosting the event but is not responsible for its content".