News and updates from BCSDN and the region
On 29th May, the European Commission published its annual enlargement package – a set of documents explaining its policy on EU enlargement. This year the package includes a Communication on enlargement which sets out the way forward – 2019 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy and country reports that present detailed assessment of the state of play and the progress made
Read more →The European Commission published the reports and analysis of the progress made in April 2019 by Facebook, Google and Twitter to fight disinformation. The three online platforms are signatories to the Code of Practice against disinformation and have committed to report monthly on measures taken ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2019. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market
Read more →The Open Government Partnership (OGP) published a thoughtprovoking collection of essays to breathe new life into the debate on the future of Europe. The essays are written by a diversity of European voices from all Member States, including leading decisionmakers, civil society activists, journalists, academics, and youth leaders, among others. The publication focuses on three main ideas: Better quality dialogue and participation on issues people care about, Smarter use of technology, combined with ‘European-style’ regulation and More collaboration and leadership inside the EU and across the globe. Read more here Source: OGP
Read more →Continuing the efforts of the Balkan Civic Practices edition on Promoting Civic Space, BCSDN invites contributions from its members and partners in the form of op-eds, articles, case studies and creative reflections for the second edition, themed “Resilience through Togetherness”, to be published in June 2019, with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy. Contributors should submit abstracts
Read more →On the occasion of the informal summit discussing the vision of the future of the EU after Brexit, civil society from all parts of the Union sent European leaders an open letter with an appeal to Europe what its residents need. The summit in Romania’s Sibiu will bring together the leaders of the EU countries
Read more →The Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia and Minister of Defense Radmila Sekerinska made a statement to the media in which she affirmed the end of the “Desorosoization process” – the intuitional attack on thousands of Macedonian citizens and 22 CSOs in the country. The process of targeted financial inspections started in 2016, led by
Read more →Nearly two decades after the cessation of violent conflict in the Western Balkans and efforts by the international community to support democratic reform, analysis suggests that most countries in the region are losing ground on the rule of law, media freedoms, and democratic accountability more generally. Meanwhile, authoritarian powers such as Russia, Turkey, China, and
Read more →After years of taking the Western Balkan region for granted, there were great expectations that the European Commission’s strategy paper published in February 2018 would herald a new and more determined EU engagement. Unfortunately, this has not been the case, raising serious concerns as to whether some member states fully grasp what is at stake
Read more →The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held its seventh Western Balkans Civil Society Forum with the support of the European Commission and the Regional Cooperation Council. The forum brought together representatives of Western Balkans trade unions, employers and civil society organisations, EESC members, representatives of the governments of the Western Balkans, and EU and
Read more →Under the auspices of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, International Conference on Agenda 2030: Partnerships for Sustainable Development took place on the 16th of April, at the Palace of Parliament, in Bucharest. The Conference was organised by the Department of Sustainable Development within the Romanian Government and aimed at strengthening the coordination for
Read more →The 2019 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders published on April 18th noted significant declines over the past year in levels of press freedom in Serbia, Albania and Moldova while the situation was improving in North Macedonia, Croatia and Kosovo. Serbia was ranked in 90th place in the media watchdog’s world rankings, down
Read more →On April 5th, Partners Albania launched the National Resource Centre for Civil Society in Albania, a platform for civil society at the national level to…
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