16/06/2026
Last week in Dubrovnik, we launched the first seminar of "Women Shaping Energy Security: Policy, Leadership and Regional Cooperation in Central and Southeast Europe".
The initiative designed by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the Robert Schuman Institute, the Croatian Statehood Foundation and the Eduardo Frei Foundation aims to invest in a new generation of women engaged in or entering public policy and political processes, strengthening both leadership capacity and cooperation in a strategically important field.
The seminar combined strategic, technical, and policy perspectives.
✒️Gerrit-Jan Valk introduced the “4 A’s” framework of energy security and led discussions on national vulnerabilities across the region, highlighting that energy security is not only about supply, but also about governance, resilience, and public trust.
✒️In his input on the geopolitics of energy, Zlatko Galešić reflected on key dynamics shaping energy security and regional vulnerabilities, emphasizing that energy is now a strategic instrument of geopolitical influence, not just an economic commodity. He further underlined that technological leadership, combined with access to resources, will increasingly define global power in the energy landscape.
✒️Silvia Vlăsceanu guided an engaging discussion on the personal dimension of energy security, exploring how energy shapes daily life, economic opportunity, and broader societal implications. Participants then worked to identify key national and regional challenges, linking them to policy implications and defining priorities, bridging analysis with actionable policy thinking.
✒️The program concluded with a focus on translating analysis into action, led by Besmira Manaj, where participants developed concrete policy recommendations while aligning national and regional perspectives and moving from challenges toward practical solutions.
We are grateful to our partners, our excellent speakers, and all participants for their engagement and contributions. We hope to help shape future leaders in one of the most important policy areas of our time.
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