International Conference: Current Security Challenges for the Western Balkan Region Addressed by Means of Joint Responsibility and Cooperation CONCLUDING REMARKS The question discussed in Panel 3- to what extent fragile states delay the EU integration of states of the Western Balkans and represent a source for radicalisation movements- brought the hypothesis insinuated in the conference subject full circle. By separating religion and the national decision-making process while, at the same time, recognising all religious denominations, protecting believers from extremist developments in their own religion, and by achieving a democratic quality which is the prerequisite for EU integration, tendencies towards disintegration can be rolled back and radical movements robbed of their breeding grounds. A realistic threat perception and sufcient investments in cyber counterstrategies would contribute to the timetable for EU integration of states of the Western Balkans not being disturbed by radicalisation movements, which use the cyber medium to move their opposition to the international level. The conference and the thought-out, far­reaching approaches which were in evidence in the discussions of all three Panels, depended both on the exceptional quality of the lecturers as well as on the participants' ability to take criticism and on their visionary far-sightedness. This way the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung(which organised the event) and Professor Wulf Lapins, the inspirational spirit of the conference, again lived up to their reputation of being able to nd forward-looking diplomatic and strategic approaches which can make the Balkans, and with them all of Europe, safer. Strategic thinkers in EU bodies would certainly have been interested in the results of the conference. Madame de Stael is said to have stated that “There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind.” It was the latter which carried the conference and this can be seen as a hopeful sign for the future development of the region and of Europe as a 109