Consultative workshop, titled “The role of local communities in the EU accession process of Serbia – the case of Sjenica“, was held on Monday, May 7. in the premises of the Center for agricultural and rural development in Sjenica. The workshop was jointly organized by Forum for local and regional initiatives – FLORES from Sjenica and Belgrade Open School. The workshop was attended by representatives of various institutions and organizations from Sjenica Municipality – Local administration, Tourist organization, public utility companies, veterinary stations and CSOs dedicated to nature protection.
What does the European integration process mean for local communities? What is the way for local communities to actively take part in the decision making processes at national level? These were some of the questions addressed by workhop participants, who were divided into two groups – one focused on accession negotiation chapter 11 – agriculture, and the other focused on chapter 27 – environment and climate change.
Ognjan Pantić from Beograde Open School opened the discussion on the topic of the role of local communities in development of climate and energy polity at the national level. In addition, another topic of this session was the importance of Chapter 27 for Sjenica and priorities within that chapter. Mr Sabahudin Abdagić, representative of Sjenica Tourist organization, through his presentation underlined tourist potential of Sjenica, as a sustainable development alternative for the region, in addition to already developed agriculture. Participants all agreed on the importance of accountable natural resources management and highlighted waste management as a very serious challenge, especially since improper waste management imposes a threat to the environment and natural resources.
Vanja Dolapčev from BOŠ presented the progress of Serbia to date, related to chapter 11 – agriculture, especially when it comes to meeting the opening benchmarks for this chapter. He also presented the key findings regarding this Chapter, outlined in the EU Commission’s Country Report, issued in April this year. Ms Aida Ugljanin from Municipality of Sjenica presented the overview of the agriculture sector, the backbone of the local economy. Mr Sedat Vrcić vrom FLORES delivered a presentation on the center part of the workshop – access of local farmers to IPARD funds, as well as the support which could be provided by civil society, together with other instutitions, towards local farmers in applying for EU funds.
The consultative workshop resulted from cooperation of BOS and FLORES through “Let’s speak about negotiations” and “Community Power” projects. The “Community Power” project is aimed at improving public participation in environmental decision making and it is implemented by BOS in cooperation with “Rzav – God save Rzav”, FLORES and Kolovrat, with the support form the EU.
Author of the photo: Belgrade Open School