The sixth annual regional conference Move.Link.Engage started today in Belgrade under the title Development for Real: Partnership, Solidarity, and Responsibility in the Post-COVID 19 era. The focus of this year's discussion is the European Union's response to the pandemic, presentation of the key features of the EU's recovery plan and exploring the impact of recent developments on the EU perspective of the Western Balkans. The aim of the conference is to provide additional support and concrete solutions to civil society in the context of regional partnership, solidarity and responsibility.
Move.Link.Engage opened a panel dedicated to the challenges facing civil society organizations and citizens in their local communities across the Western Balkans, but also dedicated to examples of good practice to provide answers and clear recommendations for decision-makers in the region, with special emphasis on lessons learned from the EU and Member States during the pandemic. "We need to build stronger connections in times of stability so that we can adequately respond to crises and really strategically approach to many problems that we have," concluded the local change-makers who deal with various topics - promoting cycling, air quality, employability of women 45+, investigative journalism, products of geographical origin as a development potential of local communities, involving young people in decision-making processes, developing local entrepreneurship or strengthening an independent public prosecutor's office.
The next panel addressed the topic of EU integration and development, which was discussed by H.E. Mr. Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade and Mr. André De Munter, Member of the European Parliament. The panel was moderated by Vladimir Pavlović, BOS Policy Adviser.
The necessity of partnership between civil society organizations, government, and citizens was emphasized. Just as CSOs are expected to be accountable to citizens, but also to be a partner with institutions, so institutions are expected to be accountable, inclusive, and transparent in their work. Although states should work independently to achieve this goal, given that the countries of the Western Balkans are weak democracies, the above actors should rely on the frameworks for cooperation and partnership developed in the EU. This can be achieved only if the different opinions of political elites are consolidated and consistency regarding implementation. What is inevitable to point out is that the EU's response to the crisis caused by the pandemic was not coordinated and timely, which resulted in the creation of a new investment plan. It is not only in line with the Berlin Process but also with the new enlargement methodology.
Partnership, solidarity, and responsibility are keywords when it comes to overcoming the consequences of a pandemic, but we should not focus only on the region. Examples of good practice should be looking for in the EU and globally, in order to have the most suitble response for overcoming consequences of crises.
The second sessions over the next two days, 22nd and 23rd September will open discussions on the role of the Western Balkans in implementing the new EU development policy, the impact of the pandemic on the European integration process, the EU's response to the current crisis, and the consequences of the expected economic recession in the future for young people. Some of the speakers will be the European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur for Serbia Vladimir Bilchik and Dušan Reljić, Head of Brussels Office, German Institute for Security and International Affairs
For the sixth year in a row, the Move.Link.Engage conference is a recognizable forum for discussion on important topics related to the participation of civil society and the media in the process of European integration of Serbia and the Western Balkans region. The conference is organized by the Belgrade Open School, from September 21st to 23rd, with the support of the Kingdom of Sweden through the Zoom platform. More information can be found here.
