EU–Western Balkans Media Literacy Conference 2025 (Introduction)

The Conference is an annual flagship event of the European External Action Service in the Western Balkans taking place since 2020. It is dedicated to strengthening media literacy, fostering resilience to disinformation and foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), and building trustworthy information environments in the Western Balkans.

Organised jointly by Delegation of the European Union to North Macedonia and European External Action Service, this year’s edition brings together media and civil society professionals, educators, policymakers, digital and AI experts from across the region and the EU.
The Conference is an opening event of the Media Literacy Days 2025 in North Macedonia which are taking place from 17-24 November.

The evolving information environment — where social media, artificial intelligence, and FIMI are reshaping how citizens access and interpret information requires focus, engagement and action.

Through high-level panels, interactive breakout sessions, and practical workshops, this year we are exploring pressing issues such as:
• Accountability and engagement with online platforms and institutional responses to FIMI;
• Gendered and science-related disinformation, and hostility as a consequence of information manipulation operations;
• AI-driven information manipulation and resilience;
• Media realities and challenges for next generations.

The conference programme reflects the European External Action Service’s commitment to strengthening the integrity of the information environment in the Western Balkans. It also integrates a cross- regional learning between the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership. Further, the event is echoing the overarching theme of the UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week 2025, “Minds Over AI - MIL in Digital Spaces.”

www.euwbmilconference2025.mk