Speak Up! Meeting in Sarajevo

From 3 to 5 April 2025, the Speak Up! Meeting took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, implemented by Idemo!, IDM, the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Erste Foundation and the US Embassy. For the fifth time, the workshop brought together young political leaders from various political parties in BiH to discuss key issues and identify priority areas for the country’s future.  

During a reception at the Austrian Embassy in Sarajevo on 3 April, hosted by Austrian Ambassador Georg Diwald, the group had the opportunity to meet with Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, who emphasized Austria’s continued support for the EU accession of the Western Balkan countries.  

On 4 April, participants engaged with a range of experts and activists from BiH as well as Austria. Sebastian Schäffer moderated a discussion with Austria’s Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Ambassador Ulrike Hartmann about the Austrian View on the Status quo in BiH. The following session with Katarina Tadić (Programme Manager at the European Fund for the Balkans) on how to build a compelling narrative for funding applications, was moderated by Sophia Beiter. Kambis Kohansal Vajargah (Head of Startup-Services and Deputy Head of Founder-Services at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber) shared insights about economic cooperation on start up level, Stefan Sengl (Skills Group) introduced the participants to the fundamentals of political campaigning and activists from the movement Karton Revolucija presented their work.  

We would like to thank everyone for their dedication to this project and especially Teresa Reiter for her continuous support!