News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The new DG NEAR Guidelines for EU Support to Civil Society in the Enlargement Region 2021- 2027 are a vital document for promoting an enabling environment and supporting CSOs’ capacities and role in the development of the Western Balkans and Turkey and in the EU enlargement process. The revised Guidelines, published in May 2022, have solid
Read more →Partners Albania for Change and Development, the National Resource Centre for the Development of Civil Society of PA, and the Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) are pleased to present the ninth edition of the Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development covering developments in Albania for 2021. The report shows new activities
Read more →The latest report from the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) shows that Civil society in Europe is still under pressure. Besides the EU Member States analysis of the legal environment and space of CSOs in supporting fundamental rights 2022, the report also includes a section on some of the candidate countries. The report that focuses
Read more →Serbian CSOs gathered around the “Three Freedoms” Platform urgently requested the Ministry of the Interior to protect citizens who were exposed to attacks from private security in Novi Sad, as well as to stop the application of repressive measures and excessive force by Ministry of Interior members. The Serbian CSOs demand activists to be provided
Read more →The newest edition of the European Commission Rule of Law Report overviews the positive and the negative key rule of law developments in the EU, with 27 country chapters in every member state. The report follows up on challenges identified in previous reports and observes issues such as public service media, the use of spyware,
Read more →In the latest Op-ed for European Western Balkans, the BiEPAG group members reflect that тhe French proposal for resolving bilateral issues between Bulgaria and North Macedonia will bury the enlargement process and seriously hurt the already tattered image of the EU in the region. Nikola Dimitrov (ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia) and Florian
Read more →Several Civica Mobilitas grantees have initiated a joint response to recent developments in which violence threatens to take the place of peaceful protest and debate, noting how the current events put us in front of serious challenges, not only as people from CSOs but also individually, as citizens. Read the whole reaction (in the local
Read more →The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the representatives of the Government of Montenegro and the Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement of the European Union, Olivér Várhelyi, welcomed the progress made regarding European integration of Montenegro and have tackled the upcoming challenges. The EU called on
Read more →On the 28th and 29th of June, BCSDN conducted the regional workshop “Advancing Communication, Advocacy, and Networking Skills” in Struga, realized with the support of Sida. The workshop gathered our members – implementing partners of our Regional CSDev Hub, and representatives from the regional grantees supported through the Hub, as well as our CPDE partners.
Read more →CIVICUS has published the 11th in their annually published series, taking a new, condensed, and more accessible format. In January 2022, CIVICUS launched CIVICUS LENS – a rolling commentary and analysis initiative that covers the key current stories involving and affecting civil society. This report draws from and summarises that analysis, directly informed by the
Read more →Civil society organizations’ rapid mobilizations and recommendations have been and are essential in the context of the multifaceted crises affecting our societies which each time exacerbate the many vulnerabilities people are confronted with, such as the financial crisis in the early 2010s, the COVID-19 pandemic, the humanitarian crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine or
Read more →The Institute for Democracy (IDSCS) and the Institute for European Policy (EPI), two eminent members of the think-tank community in North Macedonia, today in the Public Room presented the document The Bulgarian veto of Macedonia’s European integration: what kind of apple can bite Macedonia? The panel discussion was addressed by Katerina Kolozova, Director of the
Read more →