Ljubljana congress on the role of civil society in the EU integration process

From April 16-18 2009, European Movement International, in collaboration with European Movement Slovenia, organised a congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the integration process of EU candidate and potential candidate countries, entitled “CSOs challenge Public Authorities”. The event was a follow-up to three conferences on civil society that took place in 2008 in Brussels, Ljubljana and Zadar.

In the first part of the conference, around 200 representatives of CSOs from the Western Balkans and Turkey gathered and worked together to draft a strategic document aimed at improving collaboration between civil society organisations and local and national leaders. On the third day, the CSO representatives presented their ideas in a final declaration entitled “Civil Society and Politics: Turning the Challenge into Opportunity” to political leaders and demanded further cooperation between all executive levels and CSOs from the region. This document insists on the establishment of sustainable and coordinated relations with civil society actors in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

The conference declaration is available from the following link: http://www.ljubljanacongress.eu/images/stories/dokumenti/political_challenge_chart.pdf
Further information on the Congress is available at: http://www.ljubljanacongress.eu/

Source: Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) Weekly e-mail alerts No.182