Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

The ambitious event under the name of Ljubljana Congress “The Civil Society Challenges the Public Authorities” was held in Ljubljana from April 16 to 18, 2009 organized by the European Movement and supported by the Parliament and the Government of Slovenia, the European Commission and the City of Ljubljana.

The Congress was aimed at developing recommendations for the national authorities in the West Balkan countries and Turkey on how to support the civil society in their respective countries. Prior to this Congress, three other conferences were held in Brussels, Ljubljana and Zadar on the role of the civil society organizations (CSOs) in the SEE countries.

The Congress brought together 200 representatives of the CSOs, parliaments and governments in the region. Macedonia’s delegation included representatives from MCIC (Sašo Klekovski) and three other organizations, as well as Jani Makraduli, Vice President of the Parliament and Ivica Bocevski, Vice Premier. Key events of the Congress were the TV debates in the Slovenian Parliament with the MPs and governmental members.

Mr. Jani Makraduli gave examples of the participation of CSOs in the work of the assembly and expressed the willingness for increased participation of CSOs in the adoption of laws. Mr. Ivica Bocevski drew the attention with the freedom of movement (visa liberalization) as a basis for civil society development.

The “Croatian model” attracted the highest interest. According to Neven Mimica, Chair of the EU Integration Board in the Croatian Parliament, 102 CSOs from Croatia participate in the work of 22 out of 34 parliamentary boards, whereas over EUR 80 million are allocated from the budget for the CSO's programs.

The Congress ended with a statement “ Civil Society and Policy: Transformation of the Challenge in Opportunity”.

Despite of the involvement of Pavel Gantar, Speaker of the Slovenian Assembly, Borut Pahor, Slovenian Prime Minister and Zoran Jankovič, Mayor of Ljubljana, the Congress had only partial success. The participation was reduced due to the Easter holidays, but also due to the lack of support for the topic. Most of the parliamentary and governmental representatives from the countries in the region only took part in the TV debate, so the critical dialogue between the CSOs and the authorities was missing.