The working groups whose work is coordinated by CEP are:

• Working group for Negotiation Chapter 1 (Free movement of goods)
• Working group for Negotiation Chapter 3 (Right of establishment and freedom to provide services)
• Working group for Negotiation chapters 4 and 9 (Free Movement of Capital and Financial services)
• Working group for Negotiating Chapter 8 (Competition)
• Working group for Negotiation Chapter 28 (Consumer protection and health protection)

Članak Coordination of Working groups within the National Convention se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

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.

Članak Prepare to Participate – P2P se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

The overall goal of this project was to support judicial reform and increase judicial efficiency in Serbia through improving the accountability and transparency of public enforcement officers. CEP was the implementing party, while People’s Parliament from Leskovac was a project partner involved in the delivery of activities at the local level.

Although the functioning of public enforcement institute is relatively new in Serbia, and its benefits are yet to be evaluated, several issues have already been identified in their daily operation, especially in terms of their relations with citizens, i.e. parties in the enforcement procedures. Citizens are not adequately informed on the rights and obligations they have in the enforcement process, while the public enforcement officers sometimes act without transparency and disproportionately.

The results of the implementation of this project are:

• Identification of problems and obstacles to the effective involvement of consumer protection and other civil society organizations in monitoring the work of public enforcement officers.
• Developing and piloting a model for involvement of civil society organisations as an independent mechanism for monitoring the work of public enforcement officers.
• Rising awareness of the main stakeholders and the general public about the importance of civil society organisations involvement in monitoring the work of public enforcement officers.

Publications produced:

Study: Problems and obstacles in access to justice in enforcement procedure from the perspective of consumer protection

Policy brief: Problemi i prepreke za pristup pravdi u izvršnom postupku iz perspektive zaštite potrošača (in Serbian)

Vodič za zaštitu prava potrošača (in Serbian)

Infographic: Izvršni postupak i komunalne usluge (in Serbian)

Infographic: Položaj dužnika u izvršenju (in Serbian)

Infographic: Glavne specifičnosti izvršnog postupka u komunalnim predmetima (in Serbian)

The project was financially supported through the grant provided by USAID technical assistance project “Rule of Law” which promote the strategic advancement of Serbia’s judicial reform process, increase judicial efficiency, promote access to justice through non-judicial services (public enforcement officers), and build capacity of institutions in the judiciary outside of the court system.

Contact person: Dušan Protić, Programme Manager for Internal Market and Competetiveness (dusan.protic@cep.org.rs)

Članak Access to justice in enforcement proceedings – building a model through consumer protection lens se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

Purpose:

• to achieve successful horizontal public administration reform process in order to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of public administration at central and local level;
• to strengthen administrative capacity of Moldovan public administration to meet the requirements of the Association Agenda – especially in the context of further support to the development of the strategic framework for public    administration reform, better policymaking, policy coordination, restructuring, and modernization of the administrative system.

The Project had a wide scope of intervention and had seven components with specific results:

• Component 1 results refer to the drafting, revision and costing of the legal framework and planning documents related to fields included under the PAR strategy 2016-2020.
• Component 2: revision of the structure of the Government of Moldova and its supervised bodies, rules and procedures, composition, mandates, responsibilities, and its functions.
• Component 3: establishment of harmonized PAR monitoring and reporting system for implementation in a sustainable manner.
• Under Component 4 the State Chancellery and its Public Administration Department, Reform Implementation Centre, as well as National Committee for PAR received technical assistance and capacity development that allows steering and implementation of the PAR strategic framework.
• Under Component 5 promotion of an increased transparency and accountability of public administration among core Government services with special focus on accountability towards Parliament and Civil Society Organizations.
• The territorial reform had been designed, costed, budgeted, agreed and ready for country-wide implementation under Component 6.
• Finally, Component 7 will support the Government of the Republic of Moldova in effectively communicating the PAR-related reforms with focus on tangible benefits for the citizens.

Članak Technical Assistance Support to the Public Administration Reform process in Moldova se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

Other strategic goals of the Intersectoral Working Group for Political Criteria are:

• Mapping the connections between topics that belong to political criteria and individual chapters -the activities of other groups and how they are expressed through working groups – defining the so-called “meta-issues” that belong to political criteria and go beyond individual working groups.
• Mapping of existing horizontal processes monitored through political criteria cannot be classified in any single chapter, e.g., public administration reform or civil society.
• Arrangement of borderline thematic units related to existing chapters, e.g. electoral system and rules.
• Defining criteria for reactions to deteriorations in the field of political criteria and establishing a system for rapid response of the group.

The coordinator of this Working Group is Srđan Majstorović, Chairman of the Governing Board of CEP.

Članak Coordination of Working group for political criteria within the National Convention on the EU se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

Building on the analysis and proposals elaborated in previous phases, in 2016-2017 the New Pact for Europe project will explore how the EU can better serve the interests of its member states and citizens, through a series of national and transnational debates on key policy challenges (the migration/refugee crisis, internal and external security, as well as economic and social challenges). This was done through discussions in National Reflection.

The aim of this new phase of the NPE project was to elaborate – with the help of a European Reflection Group – the details of a wider ‘package deal’ to equip the EU with the tools it needs to meet the internal and external challenges it faces, while also taking into account the diverse interests of its member states and citizens. This package deal will contain solutions generated by connecting the discussions on the key policy challenges and propose changes in the way the EU and its policies are defined to avoid similar fundamental crises in future. 

Članak New Pact for Europe – Exploiting the Window of Opportunity se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

Within this grant, knowledge and ability of civil society to advocate for the best solutions have been improved on the basis of a fundamental research on environmental financing at the local level and by improving public participation. The survey was conducted on the basis of data obtained from state and provincial authorities and 145 local self-governments. Results of the research and recommendations for improvement of the situation are given in the Study Local Finances and the Environment: What are the key issues and possible solutions (in Serbian), and three Policy Briefs: Financing of the Environmental Protection at the Local Level: Relationship between Revenues and Expenditures, Financing of the Environmental Protection at the Local Level: Planning Budget Funds and Local Finances and the Environment: What are the key issues and possible solutions?  written by the Researcher of Environmental Center Stanište Dejan Maksimović and CEP Researcher Stefan Šipka.

The knowledge and skills of civil society representatives on communication methods, the EU accession process, policymaking and environmental protection have been improved by 12 training sessions for representatives of environmental CSOs, and awareness of the importance of the environment was lifted for the general public through media appearances, short animation and 17 lectures for elementary and secondary school students.

The dialogue between representatives of civil society, the public and the civil sector is strengthened through eight public events for representatives of the public, civil and private sectors on the key issues related to environmental protection. The Final conference organised under this grant was attended by the highest representatives of state institutions and the EU representatives in Serbia, with a total of about 60 participants.

Institutional grant is financed with the funds provided via the CSOnnect Institutional Grant which is implemented by the Regional Environmental Centre (REC). Programme is financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Članak Institutional Grant of the CSOnnect Programme for Support to the Civil Society in the Area of Environmental Protection se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.

This assignment was commissioned by the sector network working group on Reform Processes. The guiding questions for the working group’s focus were:

• How can a positive and sustainable impact on complex reform processes be supported through GIZ interventions?
• What role does civil society play in reform processes and how can the GIZ support and facilitate the cooperation between CS and the State?
• Have the EU standard formats for civil society coordination and civil society engagement strengthened civil society in EU association countries? Or has the engagement been strengthened through endogenous influences?
• What can different civil society platforms from the countries in the region learn from each other?
• How can the GIZ projects support these learning processes?

The guiding questions reflected the issues in other countries where the prospect of EU membership could offer incentives but also pressure for reforms. In order to maintain the social consensus for reforms it was essential to ensure that the benefits of the reforms are extensively communicated and stronger cooperation with CS can be a conduit for improving communication.

The assignment had two major objectives:

1. Developed case studies of the engagement of civil society players in reform processes within GIZ projects in the governance sector in the SENECA sector network region;
2. Based on the case studies, developed lessons learned for other GIZ governance projects on how to involve civil society stakeholders more effectively in the on-going or future interventions.

Članak Accompanying and shaping reform processes with the involvement of civil society se pojavljuje prvo na European Policy Centre.