The Kosovo PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed in 2021/2022 by the Group for Legal and Political Studies, and it represents findings from Kosovo in the six areas of PAR defined by the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA principles). As the third systematic PAR monitoring done in Kosovo by GLPS, this report offers comparisons with the baseline PAR Monitor findings of the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 monitoring cycles.
PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team that combines quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence. With the SIGMA principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports are complementary to similar work by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission, differing in that they offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on a total of 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.
The Kosovo PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is available for download here: English.
The Montenegro PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed in 2021/2022 by the Institut Alternativa, and it represents findings from Kosovo in the six areas of PAR defined by the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA principles). As the third systematic PAR monitoring done in Montenegro by IA, this report offers comparisons with the baseline PAR Monitor findings of the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 monitoring cycles.
PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team that combines quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence. With the SIGMA principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports are complementary to similar work by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission, differing in that they offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on a total of 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.
The Montenegro PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is available for download here: Montenegrin and English.
The Serbian PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed in 2021/2022 by the European Policy Centre – CEP, and it represents a report of key findings from across the Western Balkans in the six areas of PAR defined by the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA principles). As the third systematic PAR monitoring done in North Macedonia by EPI, this report offers comparisons with the baseline PAR Monitor findings of the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 monitoring cycles.
PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team that combines quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence. With the SIGMA principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports are complementary to similar work by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission, differing in that they offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on a total of 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.
The Serbia PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is available for download here: Serbian and English
The Albania PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed in 2021/2022 by the Insitute for Democracy and Mediation – IDM Albania, and it represents a report of key findings from across the Western Balkans in the six areas of PAR defined by the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA principles). As the third systematic PAR monitoring done in North Macedonia by EPI, this report offers comparisons with the baseline PAR Monitor findings of the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 monitoring cycles.
PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team that combines quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence. With the SIGMA principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports are complementary to similar work by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission, differing in that they offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on a total of 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.
The Albania PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is available for download here: English
The North Macedonia PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed in 2021/2022 by the European Policy Institute – EPI, and it represents a report of key findings from across the Western Balkans in the six areas of PAR defined by the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA principles). As the third systematic PAR monitoring done in North Macedonia by EPI, this report offers comparisons with the baseline PAR Monitor findings of the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 monitoring cycles.
PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team that combines quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence. With the SIGMA principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports are complementary to similar work by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission, differing in that they offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on a total of 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.
The North Macedonia PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is available for download here: English and Macedonian
The PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed during 2022 by the Think for Europe Network, and it represents a compilation report of all the key findings for the entire Western Balkan region in six areas of PAR defined by the SIGMA Principles of Public Administration. Furthermore, as the third systematic PAR monitoring in the region by civil society, this report offers benchmarking between WB administrations and comparison with the baseline 2017/2018, and 2019/2020 monitoring cycles.
PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team, combining quantitative and qualitative evidence sources. With the EU-SIGMA Principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports complement the same type of work of the SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission and offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these Principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on the 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.In
line with the WeBER mission, these monitoring exercises are driven by the necessity to strengthen domestic, bottom-up pressure for PAR from the civil society in the region, especially from the view of keeping demand for this reform ongoing in the event of loosening of the EU’s conditionality in PAR domain eventually. All findings from this report, PAR Monitor 2019/2020, and the baseline PAR Monitor 2017/2018 can be accessed and compared via the Regional PAR Scoreboard.
The Western Balkan PAR Monitor is available for download here: English
The Bosnia and Herzegovina PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed in 2021/2022 by the Foreign Policy Initiative – FPI BH, and it represents a report of key findings from across the Western Balkans in the six areas of PAR defined by the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA principles). As the third systematic PAR monitoring done in North Macedonia by EPI, this report offers comparisons with the baseline PAR Monitor findings of the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 monitoring cycles.
PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team that combines quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence. With the SIGMA principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports are complementary to similar work by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission, differing in that they offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on a total of 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is available for download here: English
Milena Lazarevic, Team Leader of the WeBER 3.0 initiative, opened the kick-off meeting by greeting participants and reflecting back on the experience gathered during previous projects. Jovana Knezevic, Project Manager, then presented project roles and responsibilities & project timeline to the partners, as well as the process of monitoring project implementation and reporting. Lead Researcher, Milos Djindjic, presented research and analytical activities, and Anesa Omeragic, Communication Coordinator, talked about the visibility and communication activities of the project. Participants discussed key priorities for the project and how it will strengthen the role of civil society in monitoring and evaluating public services, promoting citizen participation in decision-making, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government institutions.
The implementation of the third phase of the WeBER initiative is, as has been the case with the previous two (WeBER 2015 – 2018 & WeBER 2.0 2019 – 2023), principally financed by the European Commission.
This time, the participants at the event were Maciej Popowski, European Commission’s acting Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), who presented the Report and was followed by reactions from TEN member organisations – Srđan Majstorović, Chairman of the Governing Board, European Policy Centre – CEP, Belgrade, Marko Sošić, a researcher at the Institute Alternative, Podgorica, Arber Fetahu, a research fellow at the Group for Legal and Political Studies, Pristina, Ardita Abazi Imeri, programme coordinator at the European Policy Institute – EPI, Skopje, and Alban Dafa, a researcher at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation – IDM, Tirana. The panel was moderated by Corina Stratulat from European Policy Centre – EPC, Brussels.
Maciej Popowski, European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations
“The Russian aggression has fundamentally changed the security structure of Europe”, highlighted Popowski. Regarding the Western Balkan countries, he said that the most commented decision from the Enlargement Package 2022 is the Commission’s recommendation to grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Popowski added that in this Enlargement Package, the focus on fundamentals was “as strong as ever” and stated that the revised Enlargement methodology works well but that, in some aspects, can be developed more, for instance, with gradual integration.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Bosnia and Herzegovina is the winner of this Enlargement package, but, truth to be told, we do not deserve it”, said Ćutahija. He added that, due to ethnic division, the functionality of BiH is undermined. He also mentioned that the problem is that there are no sanctions for BiH’s politicians, who all proclaimed membership in the EU as a goal when they do not fulfil the required criteria.
North Macedonia: The European Commission held its first Intergovernmental Conference with North Macedonia in July 2022, and this is an important step that showed dedication to the Enlargement. But, a large part of this year’s Report’s content is the same as last year’s and repeats the same recommendations, which shows that we did not advance on our road to the EU membership, said Abazi Imeri.
Albania: EU is currently trying to do as much as it can in order to prevent Russia and China from establishing a foothold in Western Balkans, but it does not have a strategic approach. EU gets a lot from the region, and it needs to invest a lot as well, said Alban Dafa.
Serbia: Serbia hasn’t moved since 2016, and there’s a lack of transformative effects of the enlargement. The assessment of political criteria is critical, and it needs to be put in focus, said Majstorovic. Majstorovic highlighted that the moment for fundamental changes is now and that both sides must show dedication to the common future. “If we fail to recognise that this is the moment to think outside of the box, the moment will fade. We need to work together in 2023 to create new political architecture for Europe in the future”, said Majstorovic.
Kosovo: Regarding Kosovo, Fetahu said that Kosovo remained where it was in the 2022 EC Report. “This Report does not show opinion on Kosovo getting candidate status, and we do not know when this will be possible”, said Fetahu.
Montenegro: “We are not doing much work, so we cannot say that we are ‘tired of enlargement’. And there is no dilemma about the Western Balkan’s future – there is no other path except the one of EU membership. But, we need a timely EU reaction to problems in our countries”, assessed Sošić.
The aim of these discussions is to present to the public the key findings of the Commission’s annual reports while highlighting to what extent these converge with the regional think tanks’ assessment of the situation on the ground.
Admirim Aliti, Minister of Information Society and Administration, North Macedonia
Belgrade, 8-9 November 2022 – “As WeBER, we have matured as of 2015 in the sense that we realised that as CSOs, we cannot speak without the voice of citizens. We drew a precious lesson from citizens’ consultations. We could be much more persuasive, and a bottom-up pressure could be created in a more effective way only if we manage to empower citizens.” With these words, Milena Lazarevic summed up the aim of the Third Regional WeBER Conference Citizens First: Better administrations through citizen consultations.The Conference held in Belgrade on 8-9 November, the same as the first one in 2018 and the second in 2021, was organised by the European Policy Centre – CEP Belgrade, WeBER Project Coordinator. In two days, the WeBER Conference brought together 51 regional and EU experts and officials and hosted more than 180 guests.
The Conference was launched by the keynote speeches of Milena Lazarevic, WeBER2.0 Team Leader and Programme Director of the European Policy Centre – CEP, Admirim Aliti, Minister of Information Society and Administration of North Macedonia, Maciej Popowski, Acting Director-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), and Gregor Virant, Head of SIGMA/OECD.
As the conference title implies, the central topic was how to bring public administration closer to the citizens based on their own experience shared within the citizen consultations conducted at the local level across the region while using the EU’s good practice of implementing European Citizen Consultations. Gaetane Ricard-Nihoul, Deputy Head of the Unit of Citizens’ Dialogues in the European Commission, Maike Brakhan, Project Manager at the Missions Publiques, Kalypso Nicolaidis, Professor at the European University Institute and Milena Lazarevic, discussed the outcomesin a panel moderated by Corina Stratulat from European Policy Centre – EPC Brussels.
“We need to develop a vision of a pan-European system of deliberative and participatory democracy. The role of CSOs is to bring the citizens into a more inclusive, common space”, commented Nicolaidis upon Lazarevic’s presentation on experience with citizen consultations. Altogether 25 of them were conducted with the assistance of the WeBER2.0 local grantees.
Later on, Jesper Johnson, Senior Policy Analyst at SIGMA/OECD, presented the SIGMA data portal and policy simulator launched in September 2022. It involves interactive graphs and tools that allow national administrations, civil society and those supporting public governance reforms to simulate which reforms are necessary to improve the performance of public governance in the future.
The first day of the Conference was closed with breakout sessions on each area of public administration reform, where WeBER2.0 researchers presented their findings of the new PAR Monitor by the PAR area. Presentations were followed by a discussion of experts and representatives of public administration from the region.
The second day of the Conference began with two parallel sessions on public administration reform at the local level. In one of these sessions, WeBER2.0 grantees presented reports summarising the outcomes of citizen consultations. The other one, titled Cities and municipalities in Serbia in focus / Public administration reform at the local government level, involved the presentation of the findings of the research conducted by the CEP and its project’s partners in 17 cities and municipalities in Serbia as part of the Public Administration Monitoring for Better Local Governance project. Results were later discussed by representatives of municipalities and project partners, as well as Jana Belcheva Andreevska, Smart City and Digitalization Officer at the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS). This panel was moderated by independent journalist and CSO expert Nenad Sebek.
Tiina Randma Liiv, Maja Handjiska-Trendafilova, Nenad Sebek
Two following sessions held on the second day of the Conference were dedicated to the citizens’ personal experiences and individual stories related to public administration. In the beginning, the video recorded by local grantees (soon available online) introduced the personal stories of the citizens via short interviews. It was later reflected by panellists Tiina Randma Liiv, Professor at the Tallinn University of Technology and Maja Handjiska-Trendafilova, Director at the Regional School of Public Administration – ReSPA later.
“We should distinguish between the role of citizens versus customers. Citizens have a much broader role. They are not only customers but also service owners; that’s why they are both policy takers and policymakers”, highlighted Liiv. Handjiska-Trendafilova agreed, “Citizens should self-identify with the role of the co-creator of policies, not only with the service-user role!”
The debate was followed by introducing the study, which analysed more than 6,000 citizens’ experiences across the Western Balkans gathered through the platform citizens.par-monitor.org, as well as street actions. After Sava Mitrović, Junior Researcher (CEP) and Dragana Jaćimović, Project Associate, Institute Alternative in Podgorica, presented the analysis outcome, Florian Hauser from DG NEAR and Simonida Kacarska, Director of the European Policy Institute – EPI discussed the citizens’ (dis)satisfaction with service delivery and recommendations. Nenad Sebek also moderated these panels.
Kacarska pointed out the problem with the hierarchy structure of public administration in which the citizens are only viewed as consumers. According to her words, it creates a very unpleasant environment when utilising public services. Hauser also highlighted the problem with “crazy legislation” concerning several aspects of public services across the Western Balkans. “People in Western Balkans complain about the humiliation they feel when dealing with public service. It shouldn’t work this way; public administration is here to help them solve the problem together”, said Hauser.
Nicola Bertolini, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation in Belgrade, and Milena Lazarevic delivered the Conference’s closing remarks. “After 15 years in the region, I have learned that we need somebody to pick up on citizens who seem not to be mobilized, shaken or involved enough. Citizens first is a very appealing title since we must put citizens at the forefront and channel their voices and desires better. You will have our support in the process,” highlighted Bertolini during his closing speech.
The second day of the conference began with parallel sessions in which public administration reform at the local level was discussed. In one of the sessions, WeBER2.0 grantees presented the results and reports of citizen consultations. In the second parallel session, Cities and municipalities in Serbia in focus / Public administration reform at the local government level, the findings of the research conducted by the CEP in 17 cities and municipalities in Serbia as part of the Public Administration Monitoring for Better Local Governance project were presented and then discussed by representatives of municipalities, project partners, as well as Jana Belcheva Andreevska, Smart City and Digitalization Officer at the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS). This panel was moderated by independent journalist and CSO expert Nenad Sebek.
Nicola Bertolini
In two subsequent sessions on the second day, the Conference focused on the personal experiences and stories of the citizens themselves – firstly in the presentations of regional video with stories recorded by local grantees (which will soon be available online), discussed by Tiina Randma Liiv, Professor at the Tallinn University of Technology and Maja Handjiska-Trendafilova, Director at the Regional School of Public Administration – ReSPA. After that, the analysis of more than 5,000 experiences of citizens from the entire Western Balkans collected through the platforms citizens.par-monitor.org, as well as street actions, was presented by Sava Mitrović, Researcher (CEP) and Dragana Jaćimović, Project Associate, Alternative Institute, Montenegro. Citizens’ (dis)satisfaction with service delivery and recommendations were discussed by Florian Hauser from DG NEAR and
Simonida Kacarska, Director of the European Policy Institute – EPI. Nenad Sebek also moderated these panels.
“We should distinguish between the role of citizens versus customers. Citizens have a much broader role. They are not only customers but also the owners of the services; that’s why they are policy takers and policymakers. We should distinguish between the role of citizens versus customers. Citizens have a much broader role. They are not only customers but also owners of the services; that’s why they are not only policy takers but also policymakers.”, highlighted Liiv. Handjiska-Trendafilova agrees: “Citizens should self-identify with the role of the co-creator of policies, not only with the service-user role!”
Kacarska pointed out that the problem is that “there is a hierarchy structure of public administration in which the citizens are only viewed as consumers, and that creates an unpleasant environment for them actually to use the public services”, while Hauser talked about the problem with “crazy legislations” in many aspects of public services across the Western Balkans. “People in Western Balkans complain about the humiliation they feel when dealing with public service. It shouldn’t work this way; public administration is here to help them solve their problem together”, said Hauser.
Nicola Bertolini, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation in Belgrade and Milena Lazarevic gave the conference’s closing remarks. Bertolini said that “democracies in the Western Balkans are still developing”, and there are still a lot of challenges. “Citizens need to be first, and we need to channel their voices better. Civil society should be very responsible – it needs to fulfil its role of representativeness. You will have our support in the process,” said Bertolini.
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