Osmani: Government, NGO sector need synergy to implement EC strategy:

No strategy, including the one by the European Commission aimed at transforming societies for the purpose of adopting EU values, will not be sustainable unless there is synergy between the Government, the academic community and the NGOs, said Vice Premier for European Affairs Bujar Osmani prior to Thursday’s national trilateral conference titled “Macedonia’s Euro-Integration and European Union’s Future”.

He said that the EC Strategy focuses on the rule of law, good governance, fundamental rights, but also health, education and socio-economic development.

“EU has earmarked additional EUR 500 million for the strategy’s implementation in the region, or an estimated EUR 15 million annually for the support of reforms. However, the Government cannot do this alone. NGOs must be involved in the dialogue, when establishing the country’s positions,” said Osmani.

According to him, the experiences of Serbia and Montenegro regarding the involvement of the NGO sector can be used, since no parliament decision can pass without its opinion, along with its veto right.

“Instead of having individual NGOs presenting their stance, they gather in an umbrella organization, building a common position and afterwards communicating with the Government. This is important for the accession talks but also for the pre-screening process. This event is the beginning of that serious debate between the Government and the NGO sector regarding the country’s positions,” added Osmani.

Andreja Stojkovski of Eurothink-Center for European Strategies said the Western Balkans strategy is a document where the EC acknowledges that the region is its political, economic and security interest.

“The strategy encompasses 32 activities for the Commission and the same number of reform priorities for the Western Balkans states. It uses some of the lessons learned regarding the timelines over the steps to be undertaken by countries in the area, as well as lessons learned from the process of solving the political crisis in Macedonia,” said Stojkovski.

Namely, the mission and reports drafted by the Priebe group would be used as a model to manage situations related to the rule of law in all Western Balkans states, but also the Special Prosecutor’s Office as one of the instruments to be used across the Western Balkans.

The conference is organized by the Secretariat for European Affairs and the Eurothink-Center for European Strategies, part of EU-funded project “IPA 2 Civil Society Organizations Mechanism”.

The IPA 2 mechanism was established by CSOs active in various policy sectors in Macedonia to enhance the partnership between CSOs, the European Union Delegation and Government institutions around the processes of programming, implementation and monitoring of the Instrument for Pre-accession assistance 2014-2020 framework.