Civil society actors from the European neighbourhood gathered in Slovenia on 2 April 2008, for an ECAS/CNVOS conference on giving a stronger voice to civil society in the European neighbourhood, hosted by the Slovenian Presidency of the EU.
An NGO roundtable the day before allowed civil society representatives from countries to the east of the EU’s border and the Western Balkans to share findings from a questionnaire that had been disseminated around NGOs in each country. Presentations generally showed that civil society has rarely been consulted during negotiations on EU agreements. There were however also reports of promising developments in several countries, such as Croatia, where the government is actively engaged in improving relations with civil society.
The main conference programme included speakers from EU institutions, national authorities and civil society organisations from all over the region. Topics ranged from the role of the EU in promoting civil society development in its neighbourhood, including the Western Balkans, to involving civil society in the “aid effectiveness” agenda. Working group sessions split participants into groups discussing the Western Balkans and Turkey, and eastern European ENP (European Neighbourhood Policy) partner countries and Russia.
The conference produced the “Ljubljana Declaration”, a text based on findings from the ECAS country reports and fine-tuned during the conference. The declaration calls on EU institutions and national governments to listen to civil society, develop a long-term strategy for its sustainability and put the partnership principle into practice – treating civil society actors as partners rather than beneficiaries. The declaration also asks for the capacity of small organisations to be strengthened and a supportive environment for NGO sustainability to be created.
More information about the conference is available on the ECAS website: http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/ The ECAS country reports will be online soon.
CNVOS: http://www.cnvos.si/
Download the Ljubljana declaration from:
http://www.trialog.or.at/images/doku/ljubljana_declaration.pdf
Information provided by Rebecca Steel, TRIALOG Policy Officer
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