11-14 June 2024, Caserta and Rome, Italy

Continuation of the second cycle of the capacity-building and mobility programme titled "Cultivating Excellence towards a Shared European Administrative Space: Connecting the Western Balkans and Italian Administration through the Public Servants Capacity Building and Mobility Programme" convened 35+ practitioners from the Western Balkans’ public administrations dealing with the EU accession negotiation and digital transformation.

Over the first two days of the programme, the Scuola Nazionale dell'Amministrazione (SNA) hosted the training for both modules in parallel sections, while the third and fourth days were devoted to peer learning among counterparts from various Italian public administration institutions.

Ambassador Massimo GAIANI, Head of the International and European Affairs Department, SNA addressed participants at the opening, expressing his satisfaction with the regional approach in this programme and emphasized the importance of continuous skill and competency development. "We live in a world where knowledge quickly becomes obsolete, so we should focus more on building competence and skills. Public administration needs managers who are equipped with fresh knowledge, skills and competencies to handle the challenges.”

EUROPEAN INTEGRATION MODULE

Participants learned the nuances between different EU funding mechanisms through practical exercises and lectures from experts with years of experience working for and with the European Commission. Led by Bernard BRUNET, Head of Unit, DG NEAR, European Commission, they delved into the economic criteria as part of the fundamentals of the Accession Process, explored EU support for reforms and investments and the EU Cohesion Policy & the Western Balkans Reform and Growth Facility.

Marko MRDAK, First Secretary, Mission of Montenegro in EU, through the “Walking the talk” exercise, discussed the geopolitical “window of opportunity” and the renewed Enlargement momentum with participants.

During the visit to the Department of European Affairs of Italy, Aurelio LA TORRE, from the Office for Coordination of European Policies, Coordinator COREPER II, and his team to discuss European Policies and the correlations between national and European Interests.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, participants were warmly hosted by the Director for the Adriatic and Balkans Andrea CASCONE who highlighted the new enlargement momentum and the necessity to strengthen the administrative capacities for implementing EU policies and reforms. Simona DE MARTINO, Head of the Unit for Institutional and Legal Affairs of the European Union discussed the EU institutional architecture and reforms, while also analysing the implications of the EU Parliament elections with the participants. Matters related to the Area of freedom, security and justice, free movement, and migratory flows towards the EU were presented by Raffaella DI FABIO, Head of Office, while EU Financial instruments and economic integration were discussed with Luca TRIFONE, Head of Office.

At Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale (CeSPI) (Center for International Politics Studies), Dario D'URSO, a senior researcher on the Western Balkans, analysed the region's challenges towards EU Membership, highlighting the new geopolitical context in Europe.

The meeting at the Albanian Embassy in Rome provided a great, first-hand opportunity for participants to discuss with the diplomatic team there the interlinks between EU affairs and diplomacy.

ReSPA Programme Coordinator Genti XHAXHIU underlined that besides in-class programmes, ReSPA is diversifying its typology of capacity building by introducing peer-to-peer meetings with officials from EU Member States.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION MODULE

The first two days of the Module were devoted to the different aspects of using Artificial intelligence (AI) in public administration, where prominent experts Gianluca MISURACA, Executive Director AI4Gov, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Politecnico di Milano, Maurizio MENSI, (SNA and LUISS University) Caterina FLICK (Agency for Digital Italy (AgID), Valentina CASOLA (University of Naples)

During the visit to Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale (National Cybersecurity Agency - ACN), participants had a unique opportunity to learn from the most prominent experts prof Paolo ATZENI and Bernardo PALAZZI about Italian cybersecurity architecture, the role of ACN, its internal organisation, and selected technical aspects related to the cyber security.