In the ceremonial hall of the Belgrade Rectorate, on June 3 and 4, the first international conference entitled: “Religion and Social Processes in Southeast Europe” was held, organized by the Faculty of Law for Economy and Justice, the Institute for European Studies IES from Belgrade and the European Institute for Strategic studies ERISS from Ljubljana.
The conference was attended by more than 20 authors from 9 countries: Malta, Turkey, USA, Romania, Slovenia, Germany, North Macedonia, Croatia and Serbia, who presented their works in three thematic panels:
- “RELIGION, SOCIETY, AND TOLERANCE” the moderator of the first panel was prof. Dr. Milan Počuča, Vice Dean for Science, Quality and Development at the Faculty of Law for Economy and Justice, Faculty of Law of Academy of Economy and Justice in Novi Sad, Serbia.
- “RELIGION AND POLITICS”, the moderator of the second panel was prof. Dr. Bogdan Vukosavljević, director of the European Research Institute for Strategic Studies – ERISS, Slovenia
- “LEGAL POSITION OF RELIGION IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE” the moderator of the third panel was prof. Dr. Metodi Hadži-Janev, North Macedonia.
Prof. Dr. Milan Počuča, vice dean for science, quality and development at the Faculty of Law for Economy and Justice, welcomed the attendees on behalf of the organizers, which was also done by Dr. Miša Đurković, director of the Institute for European Studies Belgrade and prof. Dr. Bogdan Vukosavljević, executive director of the European Research Institute for Strategic Studies ERISS from Ljubljana. On behalf of the Rector of the University of Belgrade, Prof. Dr. Vladan Đokić, the participants were addressed by Assoc. Dr. Vladimir Mikić, secretary of the University of Belgrade. The conference was opened by prof. Dr. Darko Tanasković.
The conference itself was attended by their Excellencies the Ambassadors of Hungary, Romania, Malta, Morocco, the head of the UN delegation in Serbia, the envoy of His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Mr. Porfirio and a large number of representatives of Churches and religious communities in the Republic of Serbia.
The conference was held bilingually in English and Serbian with simultaneous translation. Part of the participants addressed the attendees live via the Zoom application.
A whole series of current issues and topics related to the role of religion in social processes was opened. All three panels were very dynamic and the polemic was conducted at an exceptional scientific and intellectual level.
The conference ended with the adoption of the conclusions, which will be published together with the Proceedings of the conference, and the lecturer’s proposal to organize this conference every year.
