CIVIL SOCIETY AND POLICY DIALOGUE FOR EU REFORM AGENDA

The regional consultations with civil society organizations from the region “Civil Society and Policy Dialogue for EU Reform Agenda” was held on 13 December 2021 as part of the project “CSO Dialogue – Platform for Structural Participation in EU Integrations”.

At the event, virtually attended by more than 90 representatives from civil society organizations and other stakeholders, introductory addressed were given by Steffen Hudolin, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation in North Macedonia, and Fani Karanfilova Panovska, Executive Director of the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia. In his speech, Hudolin stated that functional and regular consultations with the civil society are among the principles enlisted in the EU founding documents, such as the Lisbon Treaty. CSOs from the Western Balkans have proved to be an important, but also very knowledgeable partner in ensuring quality of the enlargement process, and are engaged in political, social and economic reforms both in their respective countries and in the region. “A lot needs to be done and there is great space for improvement in order to create truly functional and adequate mechanisms for civil society participation in policy creation and programs relevant for the enlargement process. It is of crucial importance for the civil society to benefit from an enabling environment that allows it to work freely and to be involved in policy creation and regular dialogue, but also to benefit from financial and institutional support that ensures its operation free from political or any other influence. It is important to strengthen regional and national inter-sectoral cooperation among CSOs and to coordinate sectoral initiatives across the Balkan”, said Hudolin.

Executive Director of the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia, Fani Karanfilova Panovska, shared disappointment with the fact that the enlargement process is still blocked, as it undermines trust in the enlargement and its transformative power. “Civil society urges the European Union to act as credible partner and deliver on its promises for opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, and to eliminate obstacles that prevent the start of talks as soon as possible. Governments in the region should remain committed and practical to implementation of democracy, the rule of law, good governance, fundamental rights and reconciliation. The civil society in North Macedonia regularly engages in dialogue with public institutions and bodies such as the Council for Cooperation between Government and Civil Society, etc. Continuous efforts are needed to further strengthen the existing structural dialogue”, assessed Karanfilova Panovska. She stressed that the project “CSO Dialogue – Platform for Structural Participation in EU Integrations” is focused on civil society organizations and their effective engagement in policy creation within 12 sector working groups, with repeated calls to promote their role within these sector groups also in respect to advancing political dialogue, which has a potential for accelerated reforms under the EU accession process.

Speakers at the panel discussion were Steven Blockmans, Director of Research at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, Gjergji Vurmo, Programme Director at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation from Albanian, and Andreja Stojkovski, Executive Director of the Prespa Institute from North Macedonia.

In his address, Blockmans stressed that the “Template for Gradual Accession in the EU” is a recent publication that offers ideas for generation of much stronger political urge that will bring necessary funding to enlargement countries. It is a proposal where, in the first stage, funding is up to 50% of all structural funds and increases in the next three stages. In his opinion, the template for gradual accession will allow a process of introduction to the EU, but also involvement of the civil society in EU consultations with official institutions, such as the Conference for the Future of Europe. Blockmans made a critical remark about announcement of 30 billion euros under the Economic and Investment Plan, indicating that while these might sound like very large amount of funds, they are mainly combination of existing commitments, loan guarantees and assumptions about the EU’s ability to “direct” private investments in the Western Balkan, as a replacement for the enormous funds needed.

Gjergji Vurmo from the Institute for Democracy and Mediation in Albanian assessed that EC’s country progress reports have the right findings, but infer erroneous conclusions. “Corruption is widespread and raises concerns, but the country manages the situation well. Journalists and the civil society are incarcerated for Facebook posts, but freedom of expression is not that bad. Citizens are staging protests, but the government deserves praise because it has not killed anybody. For many years, this is the approach taken by the Commission, and it is not funny anymore. It is dangerous for us, as civil society, for the citizens, and finally, for our democracy”, said Vurmo. In his opinion, governments in the Western Balkans pretend to make reforms, political leaders pretend to be nice and take photos with EU leaders, the Commission pretends that it conducts proper monitoring, member states pretend to make enlargement decisions, and ultimately, people from the Western Balkans are the bad guys, because they do not look French enough and want to leave their countries. “EC and EU are not alone in bearing the guilt, we also have a part in that, with our cooperative approach to governments which, at this moment, I do not fully support. Maybe we have forgotten to maintain strong connection with the citizens. I hope we have understood the power of people and how much we need them. We should not be held hostage in the blame game, but we must be honest with ourselves and about our goals”, concluded Vurmo and said that the EU should be honest whether it truly wants to enlarge and should face enlargement opponents at home.

Referring to findings from the research “Image Observatory”, Andreja Stojkovski, Executive Director of the Prespa Institute, indicated that one third of citizens in North Macedonia believe the EU is the country’s best friend, and the same share of them believe that the EU is the biggest contributor to economic and democratic development in the country, which is a result of EU’s great donor support. At the same time, he criticized that the citizens’ dream for EU membership is still wishful thinking and that after 16 years of candidate country status North Macedonia has not started accession negotiations, which gives rise to scepticism that membership would not be possible even in 20 years. As regards the role of civil society organizations in EU accession, Stojkovski underlines three segments where he sees a need for greater role of CSOs. “First, we need greater monitoring by CSOs in respect to projects the country plans to implement as part of the EU Economic and Investment Plan, but also, more generally, monitoring of the accession process, especially in respect to budgeting, as well as corruption risks and effects from project implementation. Second, international and national support for CSOs needs to be enhanced, including work of the Government’s Department for Cooperation with NGOs. Third, even if EU  accession negotiations are not opened, nothing prevents the government to implement reforms, and civil society organizations should be timely involved in that process” said Stojkovski.

The panel was followed by open floor discussion, moderated by Vasko Popetreski, editor in chief of the programme “360 Degrees”, and featured contributions from Irena Ivanova from the EU Delegation, who underlined the importance of open discussions about the EU accession process and said that, even at difficult times, civil society organizations should lead the process and restore the EU spirit in their countries, using mechanisms at their disposal to the maximum. ‘”It is a matter of different approaches and instruments in which CSOs have an important role, and the regional aspect is also very important”, said Ivanova. In her opinion, enlargement countries have more or less similar bottlenecks in respect to their reforms, and are faced with similar political challenges with their neighbours. She assessed that CSOs can take the lead in addressing these problems and could be the “voice of the civil society of the region”. In the past, significant changes have been noted when CSOs have united regionally, whereby governments have become proactive, interactions among the countries have been intensified and changes have become more open and visible.

Integral footage of the conference is available on this LINK.