News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The latest results of the survey published by the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) paint a negative picture of the European Union’s standing in the public perception of Western Balkans. While most of the citizens of the region still support the EU accession, they are increasingly sceptical that this will happen and the
Read more →A worrying trend of endangering the right to assembly and excessive use of force by the coercive apparatus has been observed in the past few weeks in Serbia. In mid-November, civil society concerns focused on the ban on rallies in protest of the arrest of civil activists who expressed their revolt against Ratko Mladic’s mural
Read more →In a letter signed by 53 CSOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, civil society has raised concerns about the difficult political situation the country has been faced with in recent months, the rising tensions, and even threats to the peace in the country. Noting that many uncertainties mar the negotiations on the future of BiH, the
Read more →The annual EU-Western Balkans Summit organized by Friends for Europe will take place virtually on Dec 7th. This year’s summit is moving from a problem-solving dynamic to asset-based approach focused on fresh policy perspective on how to strengthen and develop the Balkan region and close the gap to the EU. Titled “Shifting the narrative –
Read more →The world is becoming more authoritarian as non-democratic regimes become even more brazen in their repression and many democratic governments suffer from backsliding by adopting their tactics of restricting free speech and weakening the rule of law, exacerbated by what threatens to become a “new normal” of Covid-19 restrictions. For the fifth consecutive year, the
Read more →The GLOBSEC Vulnerability Index, measures vulnerability towards foreign influence in eight countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans region: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. The Vulnerability Index explores and displays the external authoritarian influence in countries, ranking it according to its own methodology. The Index assesses
Read more →The Gap Analysis of Whistleblower Protection Laws in the Western Balkans and Moldova, recently published by the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI), shows that overall, two whistleblower protection laws reflected substantial compliance with consensus standards – the laws of Kosovo and Serbia, and three had inadequate compliance – the state law of BiH, the law of
Read more →The 8th issue of the Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development Country Report has been published by Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation and Balkan Network for Civil Society Development, within the framework of a series of MM country reports covering six countries in the Western Balkans. Report`s findings suggest negative effect on
Read more →Closely following the development of the IPA III Civil Society Facility 2021-2023 Multi-Beneficiary (Regional), BCSDN in cooperation with several CSOs and networks from the region prepared comments on the Action Document, presenting the views and positions of these organizations regarding the support to civil society in the IPA beneficiary countries. The comments highlight the lack
Read more →BiEPAG has published results of the Public opinion poll in the Western Balkans on EU Integration. The publication provides insight into the mood of citizens of North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo regarding the naive country’s accession to the EU, the degree of recognition of the benefits of membership, and their
Read more →Within his opening remarks at the event hosted by EESC Diversity group in partnership with Civil Society Europe on the 5th of November, Jean-Marc Roirant, president of Civil Society Europe emphasised that consultation with civil society shall be complementary to representative democracy processes and also to other forms of direct participation. He warned about the
Read more →BCSDN has prepared an analysis of the annual European Commission Enlargement Package for the 12th consecutive time. The analysis, set against the Monitoring Matrix, reflects on EC’ assessment of the progress made in the area of civil society development and dialogue with public institutions in Enlargement countries. This year, the Enlargement package comes at times
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