Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain – The Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) has called on the Open Government Partnership (OGP) to urgently address the subtle, systemic tactics eroding democracy in the Western Balkans. Speaking at the OGP Global Summit in Vitoria-Gasteiz, BCSDN Executive Director Biljana Spasovska warned that threats to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) now include new, problematic legislation alongside covert, non-legal attacks.
Spasovska highlighted that the crisis is moving beyond overt legal restrictions to include insidious methods that effectively silence independent voices. These tactics involve targeted smear campaigns and arbitrary inspections that drain the resources and energy of CSOs. Because these actions operate in a legal grey zone, they often evade international scrutiny, yet their impact is profoundly chilling on civic space.
The BCSDN Director stressed the danger of “performative participation,” arguing that when CSOs are constantly under pressure and discredited, their presence in co-creation processes becomes a mere formality. Spasovska warned: “When participation becomes performative, reforms lose meaning,” leading to a hollowed-out democracy and a severe decline in public trust.
The network urged the OGP to officially recognize these systemic, non-legal tactics as violations of civic space. BCSDN called for the OGP to take concrete action, actively support CSOs facing these attacks, and prioritize the rebuilding of eroded social trust as an essential foundation for genuine democratic resilience in the region.