TRIESTE – A two-day Civil Society Forum meeting, an integral part of the Berlin Process, will bring together in Trieste today more than 200 Western Balkans’ and European civil society organisations and state representatives. The purpose of this meeting is to present policy recommendations of the regional civil society on the topics of the intergovernmental Summit’s agenda, and to initiate debate on other important regional issues.
The civil society representatives will meet tomorrow Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Angelino Alfano, European Commissioner of European Neighbourd Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, as well as Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro, Ditmir Bushati, Nikola Dimitrov and Srđan Darmanović to discuss the Civil Society Forum policy recommendations on the regional cooperation and bilateral relations, on the rule of law and the fight against corruption, on the youth cooperation and a better business climate for developing innovative enterprises, as well as recommendations related to the environment and climate change, as well as more efficient communications of the Berlin Process.
Additionally, the series of panels and workshops will be organised in order for the civil society to elaborate the issues such as the backsliding of democracy in the Balkans, potentials of creative industries, migrations, media freedoms, and the relevance of Brexit to the European perspective of the region.
The Civil Society Forum of the Western Balkans Summit Series was launched in Vienna 2015. It is organised through periodic regional and annual meetings, as well as through advocacy process. The European Fund for the Balkans is responsible for design and coordination of annual and regional Civil Society Forum meetings. The Civil Society Forum Trieste is a joint initiative of the European Fund for the Balkans, ERSTE Stiftung and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, organised in partnership with Heinrich Boell Stiftung in cooperation with Central European Initiative, Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale, Istituto Affari Internazionali with support of Intesa Sanpaolo and Generali.