The final workshop for networking of program partners on the project "Civil Society for the European Union – CS4EU" was organized on Tuesday, September 19th 2017, as part of the regional conference "Move.Link.Engage. Rethinking Europe and Western Balkans".
The workshop was dedicated to participation of civil society in European integration of the Western Balkan countries. Over 40 representatives of civil society organizations from the country and region, representatives of state administration, institutions and foundations from the Western Balkans and the European Union, as well as representatives of the media, researchers and activists participated in workshop.
In a conversation with the Counsellor, Head of Development Cooperation Embassy of Sweden, Belgrade, Mr. Ola Andersson and civil society activist with longstanding experience and cooperation with CSOs from the Western Balkans, Ms. Jelena Pajovic Van Reenen, panel participants discussed current engagement of civil society in the European integration process and concluded that civil society is the bridge between the decision makers and citizens, and that it should not forget about this role. Euro-integration is important as a framework for the functioning of civil society, but it should not be expected that all organizations can and should deal with process issues requiring specific expertise. On the contrary, it is necessary to build alliances based on European values and to responsibly monitor the decisions taken by the authorities on behalf of citizens.
Mr Andersson pointed out that it is essential for the civil society in Serbia to be critical, but at the same time constructive, since it is the only way for participation of civil society in the process of European integration to become relevant. He highlighted the importance of constructive dialogue, as well as patience throughout process. Jelena Pajović Van Reenen emphasized that at this moment the role of civil society is to monitor the integration process, but also to participate in it. She added that we must critically approach this process and not lose sight of what we want from joining the European Union.
During the workshop, the program partners presented the results of their project activities to the participants and shared their experiences on the challenges they encountered in their implementation. Igor Juric, representative of Tijana Juric Fondacija and Boban Stojanovic, representative of National Youth Council of Serbia, pointed out that there is a high level of mistrust in the work of civil society organizations (CSOs) among the citizens. For this reason, RES Foundation organized local panel discussions in the framework of its project activities in order to familiarize the citizens with the Climate Strategy and the Good Energy Platform, within which all environmental information was codified, said Jasminka Oliverić Young. Dejan Dobrasinovic, representative of Toplica Center for Democracy and Human Rights pointed out that citizens and CSOs should act proactively and not wait to be invited to participate in decision-making processes, citing an example of a proposal to amend the Public Procurement Law they prepared before the preparation of the new Law, which is in progress. Slobodan Knezevic from the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia emphasized the importance of involving CSOs in the preparation for the opening Chapter 27s Environment, as it is the most technically complex chapter for our country to be dealing with.
All previous results and activities of the Belgrade Open School program partners can be viewed on the Transformator online platform, and the news about the conference "Move.Link.Engage." Rethinking Europe and Western Balkans", you can read HERE.
