Against this background, and taking into account CEP’s organisational strategy 2021-2030, CEP’s
Strategic plan for Good Governance sets out as its overall goal to further strengthen involvement of civil society in implementation and monitoring of and advocacy for good governance policies in the area of PAR and economic governance, in line with EU policies. This overall objective is supported by two specific objectives (SOs): 1. To support civil society’s analyses, implementation and monitoring of policies aimed at enhancing PAR and economic governance in Serbia; and 2. To foster civil society’s engagement and evidence-based advocacy among the key stakeholders for PAR and economic governance in Serbia. This will accordingly further boost CS capacities to provide evidence-based policy inputs and recommendations and participate in policy dialogue with authorities at national and local level.

CEP’s Annual Work Programme for 2023 (operating grant), in the framework of CEP’s Strategic plan for Good Governance, is funded by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia, within the Civil Society Facility Programme 2021 – 2023.

Publications published within the Operating grant:

Public consultations VS Consultations (SRB)

Portal eConsultations: New instrument, Unused Opportunities (SRB)

Economic Reform Programme (ERP) 2024 – 2026: Old reforms in a new vesture (SRB)

Events held within the Operating grant:

Consultations of Public Administration and Civil Society on Proposals for Structural Reforms for the new ERP cycle 2024-26 (SRB)

Discussion on Transparency and Inclusiveness of Policy and Regulation Creation and WeBER 3.0 National Working Group meeting (SRB)

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The project directly supported 40 local CSOs and had the aim to strengthen their capacities and to provide mentoring support in the field of application of a comprehensive methodology and tools for monitoring the fact-based public administration reform, which the project had developed. PAR monitoring itself was conducted in 17 local governments (12 from central Serbia, 4 from Vojvodina and the City of Belgrade).

Project activities were grouped into four work packages:

1) WP 1 was included in the activities related to the development of a methodology for monitoring public administration reform at the local level and tools needed for its implementation, involving all relevant actors from the civil sector at the local level, as well as representatives of MDULS and SCTM.

2) WP2 have included capacity building of local CSOs for the application of the developed methodology, as well as monitoring of public administration reform in 17 local governments, which included preparation and publication of 17 individual monitoring reports and one comparative PAR monitoring report in all 17 LGUs.

3) WP3 was focused on regular CSO consultation sessions and advocacy plans and their implementation through public events and closed-door meetings.

4) WP 4 was included in a campaign (street actions and online) which was intended for all citizens in Serbia, was focused on issues of public administration reform at the local level, as well as an open call for citizens ‘contribution to the campaign and the development of the “Book of Citizens’ Experiences”.

The project was funded by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia within the Civil Society and Media Support Program, which aimed to strengthen participatory democracies and the EU integration process by empowering civil society to actively participate in decision-making. The project was co-financed by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue.

Here you can find the information about publications and events produced during the project (in Serbian).

Contact: Branko Birač, Project Manager – branko.birac@cep.org.rs

Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay

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The aim of this project is to answer a wide range of questions regarding European integration process and make them more accessible to citizens through discussions with competent experts in specific areas and those whose interests are the most at stake in that particular area. All events will be open to the media and the public (with a focus on youth) who will have the opportunity to participate in the discussions. The events make sure to enable different opinions in panels if it is a panel discussion, or among the discussants, if it is a form of Café Europe, in order to hear all parties and have a good quality discussion.

More about the events held so far within the project can be found at the following links:

Panel Discussion: Steps towards the EU = steps towards an administration at citizens’ service

Café Europe: Consumer protection in Serbia: will EU standards benefit everyone? (in Serbian)

* Café Europe is designed based on the principles of the World Café method. This method provides an effective format for holding discussions with potentially large groups of participants and can be modified to meet specific needs. Café Europe discussions last approximately two to three hours.

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The general objective of the project was to enable diverse segments of the civil society to actively take part in the EU accession process so as to fully open the process to citizens. In addition to increasing the civil society organisations (CSOs) involvement in the EU negotiation process, the project goal is to strengthen their capacities to protect citizens’ interests in their own projects and initiatives. Therefore, the project activities facilitated the effective involvement of civil society, in the EU negotiations on selected economic acquis chapters through the National Convention for EU (NCEU) Working Groups (WGs). With enhancing knowledge and skills in this area, civil society in Serbia is more enabled to continually protect and advocate the interests of citizens to policy makers.

Being active coordinators and members of NCEU WGs, the two applicants (CEP, NALED) had an opportunity to consult with other CSOs at national and local level about the need for civil society’s more active and substantiated role in the EU accession process, particularly economic acquis chapters, and, in relation to these, their involvement in activities related to the accession process, such as Economic Reform Programme (ERP) preparation. The consensus is that civil society does not possess sufficient capacities to take active engagement and contribute to the EU negotiations on economic topics with the acknowledgement that it is of high importance to have them included in the process through NCEU WGs.

In this regard, the main results of the implementation of this project were related to:

• Facilitation of effective involvement of civil society in the EU negotiations on selected economic acquis chapters through NCEU.
• Raising awareness and improve understanding of the CSOs and policy makers about the needs and ways of involving the civil society in the EU negotiations on the selected economic acquis
• Strengthening the capacities of the civil society to actively partake in the EU negotiations on selected economic acquis chapters and to engage in evidence-based advocacy towards policymakers.
• Empowerment the local CSOs to actively participate in and contribute to the EU negotiations on selected economic chapters.

The project is financed by Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia as a part of Civil Society Facility and Media Programme which aim is to strengthen participatory democracies and the EU integration process by empowering civil society to actively take part in decision making.

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Europe Café represents a series of discussions taking place in a relaxed, dynamic and informal environment of a café setting. Europe Café revolves around the goal to discuss and exchange thoughts, questions and ideas on various topics in relation to Serbia’s EU integration process with stakeholders, decision makers, partner organisations, civil society organisations and the public.

The aim of Europe Café is to provide a platform for an open and prolific discussion which will yield new ideas for common efforts in advancing Serbia’s EU integration, inform the public about the particular aspects of the Serbia EU accession process and involve the relevant stakeholders into the debate.

Where does the idea come from?

Europe Café is designed according to the principles of the World Café method. This method ensures an effective and flexible format for hosting a series of discussions with a potentially large group of participants and can be modified to correspond to specific needs.

The basic model consists of five components:

1. Setting – café environment, small tables with up to four chairs, paper blocks and coloured pens and other optional items.
2. Welcome and Introduction – The host of the event is giving a warm welcome introductory note and introduces the participants to the context and setting
3. Small Group Rounds – On the roundtable three rounds of discussions take place in the average duration of 20 minutes. Once a round of discussion is over, the participants are free to move to other tables. Each table usually chooses one person as the “table host” who welcomes the next group and provides a brief update of the previous rounds.
4. Questions – The purpose of the each round is defined by the question placed to the table at the beginning of the round.  Questions may remain the same in different rounds or they can build upon each other and as the discussion progresses.
5. Harvest – Discussions at the small tables are wrapped up and insights presented to all participants in plenary, often using different tools or methods – flip charts, visual presentation etc.

What is the concept of Europe Café?

Europe Café takes place once every two to three months. Topics for each edition are consulted and agreed upon in coordination with numerous partners and stakeholders, in accordance with the relevance of the topic and participants’ expertise and interest. Even though Europe Café editions have so far been relatively limited in terms of size and audience (around 20 participants, invitation based), the concept allows for much larger participation: it could be also organised for the general public or other specific target groups (e.g. students, retirees, various stakeholders affected by the EU integration process in a particular manner, etc.). In the future, Europe Café is therefore expected to grow into an innovative and mobilising discussion forum for a wider public participation.

Europe Café discussions last approximately 2-3 hours. The EU Information Centre (EUIC) in Belgrade supports CEP’s Europe Café initiative, as its mission is to raise the general awareness and encourage a public debate on EU related issues.

Discussions in the previous editions

The first Europe Café was held on the 28th of March under the topic of human resources in EU integration, while the specific discussions of the four discussion tables revolved around sub-topics of EU negotiations and human resources, private sector and EU human resources, scholarships and diploma recognition and professional skills and education. The honorary guest was Mr Paul Demaret, the rector of the College of Europe at the time, a renowned post-graduate institution in European affairs. Other participants comprised of the officials from Serbian European Integration Office, other state institutions and agencies, Delegation of the European Union in Serbia and civil society organisations’ representatives.

The second Europe Café held on 19th June 2013 marked ten years of the European Council in Thessaloniki, where the grounds were laid for the contemporary relations between the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans. The participants examined four subtopics: the messages and meaning of the Thessaloniki Summit, lobbying the EU accession agenda, the real role of regional cooperation in the EU accession process, and the problems pertaining to the free visa regime and the opportunities of lobbying for it on a regional level. This edition gathered representatives from the civil sector, diplomatic corps and high level civil servants.

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