One of Serbia's most important foreign policy goals is to become member of the European Union. Apart from the fact that this process involves harmonization of Serbian legislation with the acquis communautaire, it also involves number of reforms that are suposed to take place in all spheres of society.

On its path towards EU membership, Serbia opened four negotiation chapters in 2018, namely those relating to fisheries issues (13), budgetary provisions (33), statistics (18), economic and monetary union (17). The total number of chapters open is 16, two of which are provisionally closed.

Last February, the European Commission presented the Western Balkans Enlargement Strategy, entitled "A credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced EU engagement with the Western Balkans". The document states that Serbia was seen, besides Montenegro, as a leading EU country in Western Balkans, considering that with strong political will for implementing reforms and finding solutions to resolving disputes, these countries could be ready for EU membership by 2025.

The document represents a more comprehensive EU approach to the Western Balkans region. The Western Balkan countries have a lot to do along the way - apart from further economic development, consistent application of European regulations and standards, regional co-operation and reconciliation, the Strategy also involves social reforms, increased employment, but also the importance of improving public dialogue and communication with citizens. The governments of the Western Balkan countries have to help strengthen the capacity of civil society, and actively involve it in the reform process and policy-making.

Other major events that improved European perspective of the region followed the publication of the Strategy.

The first EU-Western Balkans leaders’ summit was held in Sofia during the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council.  The Sofia Declaration was adopted, and emphasized the Western Balkan countries' commitment to European values ​​and principles, primarily democracy, the rule of law and reforms implementation.

In July, Summit within the Berlin Process was held in London and produced the Declaration on Regional Co-operation and Good Neighborhood Relations, and the Summit's conclusions further reaffirmed measures and activities concerning economic, security and political co-operation between the Western Balkan countries.

In November 2018, MEPs adopted a resolution on Serbia, which concluded that Serbia had made some progress in economic reforms. But it is crucial that tangible results are to be achieved in judicial reforms, combating corruption and media freedom.

Situation in Serbia

The European Union recognizes civil society as an indispensable actor in policy making and implementation. Each document adopted within the EU accession process emphasizes the importance of the involvement of civil society organizations, as they represent one of the main stakeholders of citizen’s interest.

The results of the latest, December 2018, survey on citizens' support for Serbia's European integration process show that 55% of citizens are in favor of Serbia's EU accession, which is the same percentage as in the July 2018 survey, and 3% more than a year ago (December 2017). This survey was conducted by the Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia and it showed that the majority of the population still do not have a positive opinion on the EU (56% had either negative or neutral opinions).

Such results are related to media reporting - which in the first case is positive when talking about EU funds and open negotiation chapters, and in the second one, negatively when reporting on reform processes, daily political issues and dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Active participation of civil society in the accession process is one of the key preconditions for a transparent and credible accession process.

Although the negotiation process itself is led by government-based institutions, and civil society organizations are not directly involved in the negotiating structures, their role is very important for a sustainable and efficient process.

CSOs contribution is based on the expert support they can provide in the diversity of fields they work in. Also, in the process of reforming and harmonizing national legislation, and in educating, informing and involving the public and citizens in decision-making processes.

The European Commission's 2018 Report states that no progress has been made in establishing a favorable environment for civil society development and funding. This is supported by the fact that the National Strategy for the Creation of an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development and its Action Plan have not been adopted. Also, media coverage and representation of civil society in the media generally has a negative connotation. The cooperation of state bodies and civil society organizations is fragmented and selective, while the adoption of emergency laws restricts democratic debate and the effective involvement of civil society.

The Sustainability Index of Civil Society Organizations for 2017, developed as part of the USAID methodology, with participation of the National Coalition for Decentralization from Nis (one of the partners in the project Civil Society as a Force for a Change in the Serbia’s EU Accession process - CS4EU), shows that the legal and practical environment for citizen participation in the decision-making process in Serbia is deteriorating.

This is caused by various factors that can be divided into three groups:

1) legal acts waiting to be adopted or properly implemented (National Strategy for the Creation of an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development in the Republic of Serbia; Law on Planning System in the Republic of Serbia and amendments to the Law on Civil Service adopted in summer 2018, etc.);

2) a package of proposed laws that could endanger citizens' participation and protection of human rights (access to public information and freedom of information, protection of personal data, free legal aid́, etc.);

3) Adoption of the laws by emergency procedures without any public debate (out of 82 laws adopted in 2018, 1/3 were adopted by emergency procedure).

Belgrade Open School - European Integration and Civil Society

For the second year Belgrade Open School has been implementing the project Civil Society as a Force for a Change in the Serbia’s EU Accession Process (CS4EU). This project is supported by the Kingdom of Sweden and aims to support civil society and media organizations in capacity building and to help them get involved in the process of Serbia's accession to the European Union. The implementation of the project involves 17 civil society and media organizations, which, at the level of the three-year program cycle, carry out their projects locally or nationally.

The partners were also provided with expert support, through various workshops, trainings, study visits and exchanges of experiences, through which approximately 230 participants were trained.

What did organizations within the CS4EU Program do during 2018?

Bearing in mind all the abovementioned, the contribution of the CS4EU Program partners is very important and is measured by the number of attempts and successesa of public policy and advocacy initiatives. Also, important part of the project is the level and quality of published information that contributes to understanding Serbia's EU accession process.

During the second year of the Program, 12 of the 17 partners monitored the implementation of public policies and developed policy proposals related to the implementation of EU acquis at local and national level, which directly or indirectly contributed to monitoring the implementation of EU legislation in the various policy areas to date adopted nationally.

In addition, CS4EU partners contributed to establishing and enhancing contacts between civil society organizations, enhancing solidarity between them and continuing the fight for the uptake of democratic values ​​in the European integration process, with particular attention to citizen participation and the contribution of local communities to the EU accession process.

Seven partner organizations have also contributed to the European Commission's Report on freedom of the media, energy policy, the environment and human rights.

Thanks to the active contribution of civil society organizations in Serbia to the preparation of the Annual Report, including CS4EU Program partners, the European Commission, as mentioned earlier, emphasized the importance of CSOs and media involvement in any reform of the democratic system that should be recognized and treated as such by state institutions.

The European Commission report emphasizes the lack of progress in establishing a favorable environment for civil society development and funding. This is due to the lack of systematic cooperation between decision-makers and civil society, negative statements by public officials and negative media publicity about some CSO activists, journalists and human rights defenders. Also, the Report states that there has been no progress in the area of ​​the protection of freedom of expression and in the area of ​​transparent and continuous involvement of CSOs in legislative procedures.

In order to address these issues and continue to monitor independently the progress and effectiveness of Serbia's EU accession process, CS4EU partners have developed 4 shadow reports and analysis on the state of democracy, human rights, youth policy and child safety. In addition, 5 proposals for amendments to the law were submitted by the program partners to the competent institutions (Consumer Protection - Consumer Advisor, MDRI-S, CINS).

At the end of the second year of the programme implementation, some of the partners’ advocacy initiatives were approved and supported by local governments - for example, local authorities supported the CS4EU partner initiative to create a sustainable climate and energy action plan for 2030 for the Zlatibor region.

Also, a successful advocacy campaign resultied in the establishment of a Local Human Rights Office in Kragujevac. As a result of institutional dialogue at local and national level initiated by the project partners, progress has also been made in the preparation for the implementation of the Natura 2000 strategy for nature and biodiversity conservation.

Active contribution of CS4EU partners in the project activities led to some changes in the legal and political framework regarding child safety (based on an advocacy campaign for the introduction of early warning and public alert systems in cases of missing children); empowering people with mental disabilities; local anti-corruption plans and activities and consumer protection.

Advocacy campaigns are also being pursued by program partners in the field of adopting a set of media laws and freedom of expression issues, with the aim of stopping the adoption of a media strategy without the contribution of professional media associations and journalists. This initiative resulted in the establishing of the new working group which is supposed to develop the media strategy, and this campaign continued until the end of the second year of the project. During the second year of the Program, the partners participated in about 29 platforms for enhancing dialogue with decision-makers and other stakeholders in order to enhance institutional dialogue and make the accession process closer to the different target groups.

The Program's media partners have also been active in developing research and analytical media stories in order to improve the frequency and quality of media reporting and public discussions on EU issues in Serbia. During the second year, 5 research stories and more than 240 analytical media articles were published and aimed to bring the European integration process closer to citizens. Also, they have shown innovation in data visualization through the creation of new channels of communication with citizens - through video games, video production and live broadcasts.

Sustainability and institutional development of organizations through the Program is supported through a number of other activities that foster their institutional development and sustainability, such as developing strategic plans for 6 partners, communication strategies and anti-corruption regulations at the organization level, as well as through mutual support, cooperation and exchange of experiences at regional and local level. The project partners are actively participating in the existing civil society platforms for monitoring Serbia's EU accession process at the national level in a particular policy areas.

Finally, the Program pays attention to gender equality of participants in project activities, so during the Second Year of the Program, 53.4% ​​of women and 46.6% of men participated in the activities carried out at the level of partnership projects. The partners recognize the need for equal participation of women and men in public discussions on the EU accession process. In the wake of this, it is argued that women's participation in the decision-making process must be improved, both through the internal structure of organizations and through advocacy to improve the position of women in policy development and participation in the executive in society.