The high-level conference “BLAKANS & BLACK SEA PERSPERCTIVE 2026: Democratic Resilience, AI, and Cognitive Security” was held on May 26 at the Starhotels Metropole in Rome, organized by the NATO Defence College Foundation in collaboration with other bodies and institutions. Prominent figures and experts in the area or on specific issues related to the conference topic took turns in two panels: the first, “NATO and the EU: Evolving Strategies in the Western Balkans,” including Christian Schmidt, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH); the second, “Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Security: Emerging Risks and Implications,” including Solomon Passy, Founding President, Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, who gave a mention of new Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical on IA “Magnifica Humanitas”.
The Western Balkans and the wider Black Sea region form a critical strategic interface for the Euro-Atlantic community, shaped by EU enlargement and NATO’s Open Door Policy. As the region approaches a decisive phase towards 2030, the interaction between security, governance and social resilience will be central to regional stability, already compromised also by the great-power competition. Within this context, the region remains highly vulnerable to both domestic and foreign information manipulation and interference. Structural weaknesses – including fragile media ecosystems, low media literacy, weak regulatory enforcement and limited institutions trust – are systematically exploited by external actors’ broad strategies to polarise societies, erode democratic legitimacy, weaken support for Euro-Atlantic integration and confuse the cognitive domain. The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence is accelerating these trends. AI is amplifying the scale, speed and sophistication of cognitive warfare, enabling low -cost, high-impact manipulation while complicating attribution and response. The policy response has evolved towards a framework centred on information integrity and cognitive security.
The conference was introduced by Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo, President of the NATO Defence College Foundation. He stated that these are critical periods in the Balkans and the negotiations are seriously underway. He also added the Foundation looks and speaks and follows an approach from a security point of view. Another welcome remark was made by Catherine Bourdès, a Director in NATO Defence College. She said that NATO presence in Balkans there has been for 20 years, mentioning KFOR in Kosovo and the constant political dialogue. She affirmed that cognitive security is a central issue for democracy and we have to resist manipulation, strengthening democratic resilience. The speaker concluded by saying that NATO contribute to safe environment, develop partnership in the regions. Then the floor was given also to Divya Gupta, member of ICEED -International Council on Environmental Economics and Development-, that observed how the countries remain highly vulnerable to hybrid threats. Before opening the first session Bojana Zoric, Policy Analyst at EU Institute for Security Studies, spoke about the Balkans and Black Sea that are strategic interconnected. Moreover, she noted that disinformation works below the critical level of threshold, so needs to intervene in depth, just fact checking is not enough; disinformation operates/acts to identity, culture and other vehicle.
Without taking anything away from the others, but the most anticipated guest was Christian Schmidt, connected from the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo. Schmidt, who resigned last week due to unspecified pressure, said he was witnessing lots of international engagement in west Balkans. Going into the merits of BiH, he underlined how the absence of war does not mean health institutions. One entity of BiH, Republika Srpska (RS), challenges integrity of BiH, especially he focused on media control in RS. Speaking about the relation with the Eu, Schmidt noticed that no talks are open with EU for the negotiation process in BiH even though the candidate status was obtained in 2022 and in 2024 the European Council approved the formal opening of accession negotiations. This happens because of the relationships between the institutions and the powers in the country, the check and balances, considering also the three ethnic groups that coexist in BiH: the Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats.
Marco Criscuolo, who works for NATO HQ, uttered that threats are transnational and cognitive security is inside the NATO doctrine. We must learn how to resist, which means resilience. In addition, he stated about full civil-military approach, also in consideration of logistic stuffs. So, no isolation for the Balkan but rather interconnected and a much more integrated approach is needed for new technologies and human capital. He eventually raises the level of awareness by preparing population for the risks they can meet or find. Another notable guest, Zoran Jolevski, Former Minister of Defence and former Ambassador of North Macedonia, stressed the importance of corridor for stability and security; south-east Europe integration became even more important now. He thanks Italy for supporting a lot in western Balkan integration. He highlighted the need of coordinate policy of EU and NATO priorities such as corridor VIII, which is really important for one but for another is no in the maps. Jolevski also pointed out that EU should look for what W.B. can contribute or how. Elene Kintsurashvili, from German Marshall Fund, shared with the audience the view that the Black Sea region moved from marginal to central position after Russia invasion of Ukraine. Democratic resilience should be treated as a pillar for EU in Bruxelles, she added.
The last panelist who took the floor was Harun Karcic, from Sarajevo Security Conference. Karcic said that last year we saw a shut down of lots of independent media not only in the Balkans. About the latter, Russia propaganda every day from Banja Luka, capital of RS in BiH, and spread throughout Balkans, so it is like a parallel reality according to him. Media outlets produce effects in population in BiH, where there is a huge pro-EU sentiment between Croats and Bosniaks in BiH, challenged nowadays, especially we will see on young population, Karcic stated. There is the need of an institutional center for fighting disinformation today, just ONG financed also by Embassies invest now in resilience. Building resilience enhance military mobility in W.B. Form his point of view, nothing is protected in infrastructure in Western Balkans. Afterwards he is convinced that the Chinese approach is through the Belt and Road Initiative, but at the same time doesn’t think/believe Russia and China coordinate policies and influences, they have their own path. Russia has political proxies in the region and Karcic is worried about leaks especially in Montenegro that is a NATO member, towards Belgrade and even Moscow.
Keynote speech was reserved for Valentina Superti, Director, Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood, at the European Commission. She gave an overview of the stunning progress in EU negotiation made by some Western Balkans nations: Montenegro this year and Albania next year to close them. Changing topic, she focused also on cybersecurity addressing that the EU cooperate with W.B. and integrated Balkans in cybersecurity frameworks.
Paolo Romano
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