The panel discussion “Public administration reform and EU enlargement – The Balkan civil society perspective” was held on Tuesday, 3^rd October 2017 at European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels.

This event, organised as part of the WeBER project, gathered a distinguished panel of experts: Head of Unit at DG NEAR of the European Commission Mr. Bernard Brunet, Macedonian Minister of Information Society and Administration Mr. Damjan Manchevski, CEP Programme Director (and WeBER Project Manager) Milena Lazarevic and Director of the Group for Legal and Political Studies (WeBER partner in Kosovo) Mr. Fisnik Korenica. Corina Stratulat, Senior Policy Analyst from European Policy Centre (EPC) moderated the discussion.

The panel assessed the role of civil society in Public Administration Reform (PAR) in the Balkans, as well as the importance of openness and transparency of the policy dialogue on PAR at all levels. WeBER representatives at the event spoke about the key achievements of the Project, especially with regards to capacity building and cooperation among civil society organisations (CSOs) in the field of PAR across the region.

Highlights of the discussion

Bernard Brunet, Head of Unit Thematic Support, Monitoring and Evaluation (DG NEAR, European Commission), spoke about the importance of inclusive policymaking. He also emphasised the importance of a structured dialogue between external stakeholders and authorities, as well as of consulting CSO before taking decisions. “Consultations with civil society promote EU values, such as openness and inclusiveness”, Brunet highlighted.

The Macedonian Minister of Information Society and Administration Damjan Manchevski spoke about the commitment of the new Macedonian Government to the dialogue with civil society. He stressed: “We need the CSOs to criticise us, but also to follow us into the PAR process.”

He shared Macedonia’s experience in the development of the new PAR strategy and spoke about the recent and ongoing improvements in the openness of the policy process. He explained that fewer draft laws are now sent into the parliamentary deliberation procedure using the urgent proceedings, which limit the discussion and ordinarily result in little or no public consultation. Manchevski spoke of his new concept of government in Macedonia – Gov. 2.0, in which the government opens policy problems to wide discussions and contributions of the society.

In his words, the information technology is of great help in facilitating participation and transparency of the government. “It takes more time, but in the end, we have higher quality policies,” Manchevski said.

Milena Lazarević, CEP Programme Director and WeBER Project Manager, said that to establish themselves as credible interlocutors, CSOs need to rely on evidence and present proposals of substance to the governments.

She also spoke about European Commissions’ role in helping the administrations in the Balkan countries comply with the EU requirements in relation to public participation and civil society inclusion in PAR.

“We need the administrations in the Balkans to learn and to adapt during the pre-accession period, with the help of the Commission,” stated Lazarević, adding that “administrations need to develop transparency and good service delivery, in order to get closer to the citizens.”

Ms. Lazarevic presented the main achievements of the WeBER project related to civil society capacity building in the area of public administration reform. She also spoke about the regional consultative mechanisms established as part of the Project, emphasising that “the WeBER Platform now gathers 22 strong CSOs within the regional level platform, and over 100 local CSOs as members of the National Working Groups on PAR in the 6 Western Balkan countries. It is our task and a challenge to build the capacity of the civil society in this highly complex area,”  she added.

She concluded by highlighting the importance of proper information of the wider public, because the entire society needs to understand the value of public administration reform.

Referring further to the WeBER project, Mr. Fisnik Korenica, Director of GLPS from Prishtina, highlighted the importance of WeBER’s work, stating that “united under WeBER, civil society is stronger and has a voice in Brussels. Now DG NEAR knows us and we are better able to keep each other informed in this area,” Korenica concluded.

As part of the discussion, the participants made a number of suggestions and proposals for opening and increasing the transparency of the PAR policy dialogue between the European Commission and the Balkan governments.

In the aftermath of the panel, European Policy Centre (EPC – WeBER partner in Brussels) published a policy brief, co-authored by Milena Lazarevic and Corina Stratulat, making the case for a more forceful and more structured approach towards the involvement of civil society in the work of the PAR Special Groups in all countries aspiring to join the European Union. The policy brief can be accessed here.

Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform –WeBER – is a three-year project funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

For more information, please visit www.par-monitor.org

On June 26-30, representatives of each of the TEN member organisations, together with civil servants from each of the Western Balkan countries, participated in a study tour to Bratislava (Slovak Republic) and Prague (Czech Republic), as part of the project “Raising capacities and advocacy potential towards more substantive involvement of CSOs of V4 and WB6”. The project is implemented by TEN and supported by the Visegrad Fund.

Participants had the chance to visit both the civil society organisations and the state institutions in charge of horizontal policymaking in the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic. In Slovakia, the visit was hosted by the partner organisation Slovak Governance Institute, whose director and senior researcher Mr. Ctibor Košťál welcomed the participants and introduced them into the Slovak context and presented the successful work of the SGI in Slovakia. The government’s experience in cooperating with CSOs was presented by Ms. Jana Kviečinská from the Office of the Minister, Ministry of Justice; Ms. Viktória Mlynarčíková from the Head of Development Cooperation Unit, International Relations Section, Ministry of Finance and Mr. Milan Andrejkovič from the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government for the Development of Civil Society. The practice of the civil sector was presented by Mr. Ján Hargaš from Slovensko.digital, Mr. Martin Kollárik from the Slovak Governance Institute, Mr. Pavel Hrica from the Pontis Foundation and Mr. Matej Hruška from the Stop Corruption Foundation. The interactive discussions served for gaining insights and ideas for improving the quality of the policymaking systems both in WB6 countries and in the Slovak Republic.

In the Czech Republic, the participants were welcomed by Mr. Michal Vit from the partner organisation EUROPEUM, who provided the introduction into the Czech context and presented their previous initiatives, projects and cooperation with the Western Balkan think tanks. The focus of the visit was placed on a very successful case of the Reconstruction of the State initiative, which was presented by Mr. Vít Šimral and Mr. Lukáš Kraus. In addition, participants had the chance to learn about a local initiative for better urban planning from Mr. Michal Volf from the NGO Břevnov, whereas the government experience was shared by Ms. Radana Kubová, Office of Goverment, and Mr. Jan Outlý.

The study tour focused on learning from the V4 partners about their legal and institutional framework for CSO involvement in policymaking, its enforcement, practical problems and obstacles for CSOs to effectively participate in policymaking. Slovak and Czech NGOs and state institutions shared their best practices, whereas a special focus was dedicated to the effects of EU membership to the quality of policymaking in Slovakia and Czechia and CSOs’ contribution in this respect. The study tour represented a significant opportunity to exchange views and experiences both among the colleagues from the WB6 with the civil servants as well as among the TEN representatives. In particular, the participation of civil servants, representatives of respective policymaking institutions from the Western Balkans, was aimed to raise knowledge of these individuals on comparative policymaking systems and contribute to cooperation between the state and civil institutions.

A two-day regional training “CSO Participation in the Policymaking: Experiences from Poland and Hungary” was held in Budva, Montenegro, on 12-13 May 2017. The training, which was organised by CEP, gathered member organisations of the TEN network and partners from Poland and Hungary, as well as a representative of ReSPA (Regional School for Public Administration). Participants had the opportunity to gain knowledge and insight into the features of Poland and Hungary’s policymaking systems, practical considerations, experiences of CSO involvement in the policymaking, and other good practices regarding the participation of civil society in these countries. The training was interactive and provided the platform for discussion and sharing views among the participant organisations.

Mr Maciej Kolczyński, the expert at IDEA foundation from Poland, talked about the policymaking practices and CSO participation in Poland, presenting the “Citizens for Democracy” case. He explained that CSOs in Poland suffer from ad-hoc, project-based funding which threatens their sustainability and influence.

Mr Andrew Cartwright, Research Fellow at the Center for Policy Studies of the CEU, introduced participants into the Hungary’s policymaking systems and gave insight into the best practice examples of involvement of Hungarian CSOs in policymaking processes. Among other experiences, he shared that the NUTS transformation in Hungary was artificial and made a negative impact on the CSO cooperation and capacities to influence policymaking.

The training was part of the project Raising capacities and advocacy potential towards the more substantive involvement of CSOs of V4 and WB6, implemented by TEN network and supported by the Visegrad Fund.