Representatives from 21 civil society organizations and media attended a training in Vrnjačka Banja from 21-23 February 2018, within the project “Civil Society as a Force for a Change in the Serbia’s EU Accession Process (CS4EU)”. The training “Strengthening Programme Partners to participate in the European Integration process” presented the latest developments, advantages as well as problems that arise in the process of Serbia's accession to the European Union.

The participants of the training had the opportunity to hear experts working in the field of European integration which came from civil society organizations, as well as from government institutions directly in charge of negotiating with the European Union.

Tanja Miščević, Head of the Negotiating Team for Accession of the Republic of Serbia to the EU, spoke about the EU Enlargement Strategy, which was published in early February 2018. Participants learned that the EU's economic, political and security interests are that the Western Balkans countries become member states, and that the Strategy is based on four key points: rule of law, strengthening of the economy, application of EU rules and standards and reconciliation and good neighborly relations. In this sense, the EU will launch six initiatives within the aforementioned areas. While discussing with the participants, Tanja Miščević noted that the most difficult situation is in the rule of law area and encouraged representatives of civil society organizations and the media to continue to actively engage in this topic.

Vladimir Ateljević, member of the Core Negotiating Team in charge of Chapters 30 and 31, explained in practical terms how Serbia negotiates and compared tactics used for closing the Chapters on the example of the Republic of Croatia. He clarified that negotiations are taking place both with member states and with the European Commission, and he spoke in more detail about the exact responsibility of the Negotiating Team and what documents are being used in its work. This information helped the participants to gain insight into the work of the Negotiating Team, as well as to comprehensively understand what we are negotiating about.

Vladimir Medjak, Vice President of the European Movement in Serbia, spoke more closely about how civil society and the media can use the annual European Commission’s Report on Serbia, which measures the progress of our country on the road to the EU. He explained and presented the EU Enlargement Strategy, the EC Report on Serbia, and introduced training participants with another important document - the annual European Parliament Resolution on Serbia. The participants learned that their written contributions to the European Commission's Report must be summarized, concise and wel structured. He reminded that civil society organizations and media should monitor the fulfillment of Serbia's negotiating positions as well as the national program for the adoption of EU acquis. He recalled that giving recommendations provides better results if civil society organizations and the media are joined in bigger coalitions or platforms, but also that it is necessary to monitor every day developments.

Ivana Djurić, from the Ministry of European Integration, presented the Public opinion survey conducted by the ministry in December 2017. In the case of a referendum in which citizens could choose for or against Serbia's EU accession, around 52% of citizens would vote for, and 24% would oppose it, which is a slight increase compared to the previous year and a half. The most important events in the process of European integration are the opening of new Chapters and the EU’s policy of permanent conditioning is the main reason why citizens consider the progress is slow. She underlined that as many as 81% of citizens do not know how much money Serbia annually receives from EU funds, and that only a third of them heard about some of the projects financed by the EU.

Jelena Babić, from the Belgrade Open School, held a workshop in which she presented the Matrix for Monitoring Accession Negotiations with the European Union and analyzed the important documents that arise in the process of Serbia's accession to the EU. She also pointed out how and which documents partner organizations should closely monitor in order to be able to more successfully engage in the process of Serbia's accession to the EU.

The project “Civil Society as a Force for a Change in the Serbia’s EU Accession Process” aims to support the active participation of civil society organizations and the media in the process of Serbia's EU accession through project and institutional support. Belgrade Open School, within the second year of the CS4EU project, has 17 partners coming from Subotica, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Niš, Prijepolje, Prokuplje, Užice, Kruševac, Loznica, Valjevo, Pirot, Kragujevac and Arilje. Through this network of organizations and media from all over Serbia, BOS strives to improve the quality of European integration process and contribute to democratic development in Serbia by strengthening the role of civil society and bringing European integration closer to the needs of citizens. The realization of the three-year project is supported by Kingdom of Sweden.