TIRANA – The Civil Society Forum of the Western Balkans Summit Series takes place in Tirana. The event began on Wednesday with an opening reception and conference during which the welcome speech was delivered by the organizers and supporters of the forum. Among the speakers, the keynote speaker was Ditmir Bushati, Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who spoke about the Berlin Process and reflected on it through the dilemma: low-hanging fruit versus strategic engagement.
The first working day was dedicated to discussing and preparing recommendations for the Trieste Summit, which will take place in July as part of the fourth meeting of Western Balkan leaders under the Berlin process.
After the opening speech “The role of civil society in the Western Balkans process and the Trieste Summit”, in which Michele Giacomelli, Special Envoy of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Berlin Process, participated, the forum participants discussed four topics: youth cooperation in WB6, rule of law and fight against corruption, business environment and innovation potential in WB6: role of SMEs and bilateral issues.
Speaking about youth cooperation in the Western Balkans, participants discussed the structures and resources needed to enable stable and long-term youth cooperation in the region: is RYCO enough or is it is it simply a first step? Questions addressed include topics such as how the support provided by regional governments to youth and how to improve it, what more could be done to improve youth mobility within the region, how cooperation of the youth could help prevent the increase in the number of young people. nationalism and racialization and youth cooperation can improve the socio-economic situation in the region.
The roundtable on law and anti-corruption focused on issues such as the biggest challenges for the rule of law in the Western Balkans, how to overcome the pervasive principle of implementing technical and non-substantive reforms, how to improve the EU strategy towards the Western Balkans. and its approach to rule of law issues, what more could be done to improve regional cooperation in the fight against corruption and organized crime, how to ensure the impartial and impersonal application of law and prevent further politicization of the process, and what are the guidelines for ensuring the meaningful role of civil society in monitoring and evaluating rule of law reform.
The third panel on a theme was titled “Business environment and innovation potential in WB6: role of SMEs”. Forum participants discussed issues such as how CSOs can place greater emphasis on economic and trade relations among World Bank countries at high-level state meetings, structures and mechanisms for support that can stimulate the development of entrepreneurial initiatives, particularly in cross-border cooperation. culture and creative industries. What changes can we make to our regulatory and fiscal framework to enable innovation and entrepreneurial action, particularly among unemployed youth, how can CSOs improve access to finance for SMEs and social enterprises most successful in the region, and how to use common cultural heritage and similarities to drive innovation. and cross-border collaboration that could lead to substantial economic gains for all parties involved.
The last panel focused on bilateral issues and the questions discussed were: how to prevent further deterioration of bilateral issues and good neighborly relations in the region and reverse negative trends? Can the EU and its Member States do more to help resolve outstanding bilateral issues and improve regional cooperation and good neighborly relations, while recognizing that the primary responsibility lies with countries in the region. They also discussed the role that civil society should play in this process, the capacity of civil society to contribute to the creation of a more positive environment and a public opinion more favorable to the settlement of bilateral issues, and the need to prioritize particular types of disputes/issues within the Berlin government. process and what types of bilateral issues are best addressed using the Berlin Process as a platform.
After the discussions, participants were divided into four parallel working groups on each topic to identify recommendations for the Western Balkans Summit in Trieste. The recommendations will be presented tomorrow, during the second working day of the Civil Society Forum in Tirana.
For quotes from working panel participants, you can use the following hashtags on Twitter: #csftirana And #wbcsf. European Western Balkans will publish in the coming days the interviews with Ditmir Bushati, Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Michaele Giacomelli, special envoy of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Berlin process.
