Civil Society Organisations challenge Public Authorities Congress in

16-17-18 April 2009

- EU Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries -

With the support of:

European Commission City of Ljubljana

Knowledge partners:

European Movement International European Movement 25, Square de Meeûs B-1000 Brussels Cankarjeva ulica 1, SI-1000 Ljubljana Tel : +32/2.508.30.88 Tel: +386 1 241 02 92 Fax : +32/2.508.30.89 Fax: +386 1 241 02 93 http://www.europeanmovement.eu www.evropskogibanje.si

Congress web site: www.ljubljanacongress.eu/

INTRODUCTION

The European Movement International and the European Movement Slovenia , in collaboration with the European Commission and the City of Ljubljana, and with the support of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovenian Government, are organising a Congress in Slovenia from 16-18 April 2009 on the role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the integration process of EU candidate and potential candidate countries, entitled “ CSOs challenge Public Authorities”.

The objective of the Congress is to develop a “CSO’s Political Challenge Chart ” with recommendations addressed to public authorities in EU accession countries on how to support civil society in their region. Workshops will refer to three conferences on civil society that took place in 2008 in Brussels, Ljubljana and Zadar , all described below.

The Congress will bring together around 200 representatives of Civil Society Organisations and EU, national and local authorities. It will receive considerable media coverage through the European Broadcasting Union, RTV Slovenia and Europe by Satellite.

Who we are

The European Movement is an international organisation open to all political, economic, social and cultural trends in civil society.

Its objective is to contribute to the establishment of a united Europe founded on the respect for basic human rights, principles of peace and democracy, liberty and solidarity, as well as the active participation of citizens.

Its 41 national councils and 24 international member associations work towards bringing together representatives from national and European associations, political parties, the industry and trade unions.

The European Movement has been chaired by many illustrious European political figures throughout its history including Winston Churchill, Paul-Henri Spaak, Walter Hallstein, Jean Rey, Gaston Thorn, Mario Soares, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and José-Maria Gil Robles.

Congress web site

A special web site has been set up for the Congress - www.ljubljanacongress.eu/ - where you will find more detailed information about venues (maps) and accommodation, an on-line forum, contact details and touristic information on Ljubljana. After the Congress, pictures and footage will also be available.

AGENDA

Thursday 16 April 2009 - Opening Session Venue: Ljubljana Castle, Grajska planota 1, Ljubljana

16h00 – 19h00 : REGISTRATIONS 19h00 – 19h30: OPENING SPEECHES - Zoran Jankovi ć, Mayor of Ljubljana - Pat Cox , President of the European Movement - Pavel Gantar , President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia - An Krumberger , President of the European Movement Slovenia 19h30: COCKTAIL - RECEPTION

Friday 17 April 2009 - CSO’s Political Challenge Chart Venue: Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, Dunajska cesta, Ljubljana

09h00 – 09h30: PLENARY SESSION - Welcome speech: Pat Cox , President of the European Movement

09h30 – 12h30: PARALLEL WORKSHOPS - CSO coordination: Coalition building and networking President : Joze Gornik, Director, CNVOS Rapporteur : Tony Venables, Director ECAS

- Strategy for a sustainable civil society President : Igor Vidacak, Croatian Government office for Cooperation with NGOs Rapporteur: Tanja Hafner Ademi, BCSDN coordinator

- Donor coordination President: Jan Pakulski, Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank/DECIM Rapporteur: Dragan Golubovic, Expert, ECNL, Hungary

12h30 – 14h00 : FREE TIME FOR LUNCH 14h00 – 16h30: PARALLEL WORKSHOPS - Putting the partnership principle into practice President : Miljenko Dereta, Civic Initiatives, Serbia Rapporteur : Jutta Gützkow, Expert, Council of Europe

- Ensuring equal access to funds and reaching out to small organisations at the local level President : Jerry Salole, Chief Executive, European Foundation Centre Rapporteur : Zoran Puljic, Executive Director, Fondacija Mozaik

16h30 – 17h00: COFFEE BREAK 17h00 – 18h00: PARALLEL WORKSHOPS - EU Programme DG Enlargement: Civil Society Facility President: Yvonne Kapella, DG Enlargement, Rapporteur : Nicolas Jammes, EMI

- Multiplier effect of the Ljubljana Congress President : Cveto Stanti č, member of the EESC, Rapporteur : Henrik H. Kröner, Secretary General, EMI

17h00 – 18h00: MEETING OF WORKSHOP PRESIDENTS and RAPPORTEURS - Drafting of the “CSO’s Political Challenge Chart”

18h00 – 19h30 : “CSO’s Political Challenge Chart” Presentation by Tony Venables, Director, ECAS

Saturday 18 April 2009 – Debate on CSO’s Political Challenge Chart with EU & National Leaders Venue: National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, Šubi čeva ulica 4, Ljubljana

08h00 – 08h30: REGISTRATIONS 08h40 – 09h20: PROTOCOL - arrival of Political leaders 09h45 – 10h00: WELCOME WORDS - Pat Cox , President, European Movement - Pavel Gantar , President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia - Zoran Jankovi ć, Mayor of Ljubljana

10h00 – 11h30: CSO’s POLITICAL CHALLENGE CHART - Political statement: Pavel Gantar , President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia - Debate with Representatives of National Assemblies of EU Candidate and Potential Candidate countries Moderated by Oana Lungescu , European Affairs Correspondent - BBC World Service Broadcast by the Slovenian National TV and European Broadcasting Union

11h30 – 12h15: Press conference with Representatives of National Assemblies 12h15 – 14h00: FREE TIME FOR LUNCH

14h30 – 16h00: CSO’s POLITICAL CHALLENGE CHART - Political statement: , Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia - Debate with Representatives Representatives of the governments of EU Candidate and Potential Candidate countries Moderated by Oana Lungescu , European Affairs Correspondent - BBC World Service Broadcast by the Slovenian National TV and European Broadcasting Union

16h00 – 16h15: CLOSING SPEECHES - Borut Pahor , Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia - Pat Cox , President of the European Movement

16h15 – 16h45: Press conference with Representatives of the Governments of EU Candidate and Potential Candidate countries

Ι.Ι.Ι. BACKGROUND CONTENTS

The workshops taking place on the second day of the Congress will base their activities on the results of three conferences held in 2008 and described below in order to develop a list of recommendations addressed to authorities in Candidate and potential Candidate countries on ways to support civil society. The resulting “CSO’s Political Challenge Chart” will be presented to the Presidents of National Assemblies and Prime Ministers of participating countries on the third day of the Congress.

Conference on “Civil Society Development in South East Europe” Brussels 17-18 April 2008

The Conference organised in Brussels on 17-18 April 2008 by DG Enlargement of the European Commission brought about the following conclusions:

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) can play a more important role in the transformation of the candidate and potential candidate countries into European participatory democracies, with the rule of law more firmly rooted in the practice of democracy and governance at all levels.

Civil society organizations in the enlargement countries face common problems: • Insufficient cooperation from public authorities at central, regional and local level. • Need to increase the professionalism of NGOs, their technical knowledge / expertise, in order to get better involved in the law and decision-making processes. • Legal and financial framework in several countries still unfavourable to CSOs. • Problems of communication with the people and low membership, preventing them from voicing the interests of societal sectors. • Dependence on donors or lack of funding, in particular from domestic sources.

Responsibility for strengthening the role and influence of civil society in the enlargement countries lies primarily within the countries themselves. Among the actions to be undertaken: • Increase CSO professionalism and capacity through active exchange of knowledge and better training. • Actively seek technical expertise and information about EU policies, funding possibilities, and project management. • Increase transparency and communication with their own immediate social environment, thus gaining support for their actions from citizens and reaching increased membership and legitimacy. • Become part of the solution and contribute to achieving reforms in their own societies.

• Increase their funding, and secure more permanent and diverse sources of funding, while maintaining their independence as the "third sector". • Work on sustainability of their actions and projects.

Regional networking is an important success factor for the development of civil society. Some of the benefits that may be achieved:

• Faster adoption of European standards in various sectors, and more effective implementation; • Trans-national projects with a regional dimension contribute to good governance , since basic substantive issues are the same; • By sharing data, expertise and common positions , CSOs may exert more pressure on governments to carry out reforms in key sectors; • By identifying specific issues of common interest and drafting concrete work programmes, network partners may ensure the best use of EU programmes available in the context of the accession process.

The Commission considers CSOs as key partners. Their action is vital both as multipliers in disseminating information about EU policies and in terms of advocacy for reforms. In particular in their role of "watchdog", CSOs contribute to ensuring government accountability.

A permanent forum of dialogue between the Commission and CSOs from the "enlargement countries" should be established, through regular meetings (format and periodicity to be decided).

A virtual platform for CSOs from the "enlargement countries" and the EU should be created, to increase dialogue, exchange of good practices, search for partners and eventually concrete project development. This website could be run/maintained by CSOs and supported by the Commission. Examples of successful existing forums could show the way (not reinvent the wheel).

Details of the conference are available on http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/civil-society- development/index_en.htm

"Development of civil dialogue and partnership relations between civil society, national governments and EU institutions" Ljubljana, 2 April 2008 & "Civil Society connecting the EU and neighbouring countries: 3 collaboration spaces for civil society development beyond EU borders” Zadar, 29-30 September 2008

The results of the Ljubljana Declaration "Development of civil dialogue and partnership relations between civil society, national governments and EU institutions" of April 2008 and to the Guidelines of the Zadar Conference "Civil Society connecting the EU and neighbouring countries:

3 collaboration spaces for civil society development beyond EU borders” of September 2008, emphasising on the necessity to establish a sustainable triangle between civil society, the European Union and National governments, CSOs from the region asked:

a) to be considered as actors with a greater say in the policy-making process through more structured and transparent consultation mechanisms at EU and National level; b) that financing and implementation of mainly short-term projects be avoided; c) to develop legal, fiscal and institutional frameworks; d) that mechanisms for sectoral and cross-sectoral cooperation, public participation and improved access to documents be set up.

Ljubjlana Declaration: http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/76/173/1/4/ Zadar Conference: http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/76/173/1/5/ More contents elements of those conferences are considered in the workshops sessions, please refer below.

Ljubljana Declarations on

"The role of capital cities in intercultural dialogue and the creation of active coexistence” and "Relations between the capital city and the State”

In the framework of the Congress in Ljublana “local authorities ” should be associated into the process and will be by the presence of mayors from different capitals of the region.

This occasion is an unique one for the CSO’s to not only express their views and recommendations to National Authorities but also to see how local authorities can help them .

For this reason and to help us to implicate them, we recommend you to take into consideration as a basis of our discussions in Ljubljana two documents :

1/ Ljubljana Declaration on the role of capital cities in intercultural dialogue and the creation of active coexistence 1 http://meetingofeuropeancapitalsmayors.ljubljana.si/sites/LIGHTHOUSE_EN/doc/dokumenti/Declar ation_on_the_role_of_the_capital_city_in_intercultural_dialogue_final.pdf

2/ Ljubljana declaration on Relations between the capital city and the State 2 http://meetingofeuropeancapitalsmayors.ljubljana.si/sites/LIGHTHOUSE_EN/doc/dokumenti/Declar ation_on_relationships_between_capital_cities_final.pdf

1 http://meetingofeuropeancapitalsmayors.ljubljana.si/sites/LIGHTHOUSE_EN/doc/dokumenti/Declaration_on_ the_role_of_the_capital_city_in_intercultural_dialogue_final.pdf 2 http://meetingofeuropeancapitalsmayors.ljubljana.si/sites/LIGHTHOUSE_EN/doc/dokumenti/Declaration_on_ relationships_between_capital_cities_final.pdf

ΙΙ.ΙΙ.ΙΙ. WORKSHOPS CONTENTS

Workshop 1: CSO coordination: Coalition building and networking President: Joze Gornik, Director, CNVOS Rapporteur : Tony Venables, Director ECAS

The obstacles to coalition building have to be overcome: lack of resources and the tendency for CSOs to be in competition because of short-term funding considerations, rather then to see their medium-term common interest and that unless they come together they will have insufficient weight with national and EU authorities. Coalitions need capacity building if they are to achieve the combination of being effective and inclusive, a point which deserves more attention from donors. Coalitions need to collect evidence from the participants, gather data from other sources, articulate well grounded positions and work at different geographical levels. It is again for CSOs in each country to define their own needs and explore different ways to form coalitions: • Advocacy coalitions, which are usually targeted on a specific policy or draft law, but which can be more general purpose. • Service delivery coalitions, which are partnerships organised at different geographical levels, among the same or different actors depending on the requirements of the particular project. • Cross-sectoral partnerships, which are cooperative ventures often involving both CSOs and public or private bodies.

It is important to develop instruments to facilitate CSO’s networking by: • Organising study visits and scholarships to the EU Institutions and European Associations in the member states (such as the ones already organised by TAIEX of DG Enlargement). • Opening up membership of European associations developed round the EU Institutions to CSOs from the region. • Voicing national civil society interests at EU level, to complete the triangle • Including consistently representatives of the national ministries from the region in conferences, seminars and training both in the region and in the EU. • Giving free access to civil society representatives and multiplying entry visas until visa liberalization is achieved. • Enabling easier access to information.

Workshop 2: Strategy for a sustainable civil society President: Igor Vidacak, Croatian Government office for Cooperation with NGOs Rapporteur: Tanja Hafner Ademi, BCSDN coordinator

Governments should consider what structures should be put in place centrally and across different departments for relations with civil society. This should be accompanied by longer term identification of activities relevant to CSO participation across government. Each country should be encouraged to examine what longer-term objectives are achievable from the dynamics of the civil society, EU and national government triangle. Such a strategy should consider: • External factors which present new challenges, threats or opportunities, such as economic and demographic trends, migration, social inequalities and the challenge of European integration. • Internal factors including the desirable spread of local, national and international sources of funding to ensure a sustainable civil society over the longer-term.

• Structures for dialogue and for taking civil society concerns into account across government, as well as the various implementations and monitoring mechanisms.

A supportive environment goes beyond creating the right legal and fiscal environment. This is not enough to reach the European standards for civil society. There is no single European model but a wide range of different governance standards and institutional references are available: • European Commission minimum standards of consultation, but also the broader OECD guidelines to governments on information, consultation and participation, addressing both civil society and direct citizen participation. • Structures required within government and in each ministry to support civil society as well as intermediary and re-granting mechanisms should be discussed with CSOs, so that they are there for them, not just the administration.

Workshop 3: Donor coordination President: Jan Pakulski, Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank/DECIM Rapporteur: Dragan Golubovic, Expert, ECNL, Hungary

DECIM (Donor Exchange, Coordination and Information Mechanism) is the nearest response to many of the CSO concerns for a strategic long-term approach to civil society. Donor coordination has the advantages of pooling different approaches, none of which can alone develop a viable civil society, and creating in DECIM an interlocutor of specialised public and private donors, covering the range of legal, fiscal, institutional and cross-border issues.

DECIM should be utilized as a mechanism to facilitate this process and also concentrate on civil society capacity building in the region. This coordination mechanism needs to be better known and move from a conceptual to an operational phase: • There should be a programme and timetable for extending co-ordination on the ground which has begun in Croatia to potential candidate’s countries. • DECIM should become a presence on the ground through supporting help desks and linking this in turn with other coordinating mechanisms such as donor forums. • Partnership between the European Commission and other donors in running the civil society facility for the potential candidates is desirable whilst extending this instrument to other countries in the region.

Workshop 4: Putting the partnership principle into practice President: Miljenko Dereta, Civic Initiatives, Serbia Rappor teur: Jutta Gützkow , Expert, Council of Europe

Several EU legal texts put an empahisis on partnership, namelly in the regulations establishing IPA and ENPI 3. These place legal obligations on the European Commission and participating governments to make sure that the principle of partnership including civil society is implemented at all stages. The fact that the texts provide latitude as to how this should be done does not make them less binding and does not justify the current situation where they are hardly applied. To achieve genuine partnership is more than an issue of legal obligations: all partners need the capacity building, training and evidence to demonstrate its added value: • The Commission should remind the partner governments of their obligation to report on the partnership and lay down guidelines on how to apply consultation and partnership at all stages in the conception, implementation and evaluation of strategies and programmes.

3 Working paper: Involvement of CSOs from EU neighbouring countries in shaping, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of EU external policies and assistance. Cf Regulation 1085/2006 establish an Instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA) and Regulation 1638/2006 on a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI)

• The obligation that these programmes “shall contain an overview of the consultation of the relevant socio-economic partners and, where relevant, civil society representatives” 4 requires that the process should be monitored and accountable. • Inclusion of provisions for dialogue with civil society on all levels in the bilateral legally binding documents (e.g. Partnership and Cooperation Agreements or Stability and Association Agreements) • Inclusion of civil society representatives in the monitoring committees for regional operations for IPA. • For cross-border programmes involving EU member states, implementation of the partnership principle in the EU structural funds (article 11 of the basic regulation). • Framework agreements or compacts are the most modern instrument available for organising relation between the civil society and the national governments and they exists in some 10 EU member states or regions. They are an open, flexible instrument adaptable to different settings and geographical level. They are useful to clarify shared values and the respective roles of the governmental and non-governmental spheres. Such agreements take a holistic approach to information, consultation, and funding. They are not legally binding but have the support of government and parliament and provide for complaints handling and review.

Workshop 5: Ensuring equal access to funds and reaching out to small organisations at the local level President: Jerry Salole, Chief Executive, European Foundation Centre Rapporteur: Zoran Puljic, Executive Director, Fondacija Mozaik

Achieving more equal access requires several measures: • There has to be support for the basic need for education, capacity building and core funding to allow CSO structures to develop. This means taking some risks by backing people and structures on a longer term basis and not just one-off projects. • The Ljubljana declaration recognises that management of EU funds requires capacity building and training as much in the national and regional administration as among CSOs. There are real benefits to encouraging partnership by training people from the two sectors together. • Equality of access to EU funds can only be achieved to a certain extent. The active involvement of other donors as co-funders is a precondition for small CSOs lacking the capacity for management of European grants or projects on their own. Their needs should be covered by national more flexible funding sources or by becoming part of a wider grouping. • The most creative CSOs can lose out on the opportunities for training and access to funds. Each country should have a pro-active help-desk which should be well-advertised through the NGO portals. Such a help-desk should support initiatives to put funds together from different sources.

Local level is largely outside the circle of information about EU and other donors, yet local CSOs represents 90% in the region and any viable civil society which should respect a certain balance between urban and rural areas. For practical reasons, it is easier to involve both citizens and associations at a local level to stimulate a debate on the needs civil society should address. Techniques such as participatory budgeting, citizens’ juries and town hall meetings do exist. A variety of approaches is recommended:

4 Ibidem

• Start-up funds from venture philanthropists and foundations should be invested in organisations capable of incubating new local projects and helping the social entrepreneurs to succeed in creating viable organisations. • Supporting a hub organisation which can redistribute small grants at a local level to develop volunteering and social capital is another solution. Such a hub organisation may be a civil society development foundation or NGO support structure with regional branches. • Encouraging local resources and donors can be done by creating community foundations. This may involve reviewing laws on foundations and introducing tax benefits to enhance individual and corporate philanthropy. • There is a tendency of CSOs in capital cities to focus only national governments and parliaments and miss out on the importance of community development in remote areas and relations with the local governments • Charters or “compacts” between CSOs and local or city government can encourage partnership and transparency.

Workshop 6: Workshop on EU Programme DG Enlargement: Civil Society Facility President: Yvonne Kapella, DG Enlargement Rapporteur: Nicolas Jammes, European Movement International

The Commission Communication of 6 November 2007 5 stated that in order to encourage social transformation in the Western Balkans, a new financing facility under IPA would be established to develop Western Balkan civil society organisations.

The Commission Communication of 5 March 2008 6 described the overall strategy, to be known as the “Civil Society Facility”. The Civil Society Facility consists of three areas of activity: (i) support for local civic initiatives and capacity-building, (ii) a “People 2 People” Programme, and (iii) ‘partnership actions’ to develop networks between civil society organisations and to promote transfers of knowledge and experience.

The Civil Society Facility, which is considered as a single Facility for the whole Western Balkan region and Turkey, is financed from both the IPA multi-beneficiary and IPA national programmes. The assistance to civil society organisations has doubled compared with previous years, and the overall amount allocated to civil society organisations in the national and multi-beneficiary IPA 2007-2009 programmes is about €58 million.

Workshop 7: Workshop on Multipliers effect of the Ljubljana Congress President: Cveto Stanti č, member of the EES Rapporteur: Henrik H. Kröner, Secretary General, European Movement International

Will be debated during that workshop the follow up to be given to the Congress and more specifically what actions the European Movement should do at regional and national levels.

As an example, regional conferences, which would be organised by the national councils of the European Movement, can follow the Ljubljana Congress. There the representatives of the national authorities and civil society organisations could debate further on the topics from the Congress and try to come up with concrete solutions for their countries.

5 COM(2007) 663 “Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2007-2008” 6 COM(2008) 127 “Western Balkans: Enhancing the European Perspective”

KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS

European Citizen Action Service Rue du Prince Royal 83, 1050 Brussels Brussels, Belgium www.ecas.org

CNVOS Povšetova 37 1000 Ljubljana www.cnvos.si

OTHER INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

Economic and Social Committee 99 Rue Belliard B-1040 Brussels http://eesc.europa.eu/index_en.asp

EUROPEAN MOVEMENT NATIONAL COUNCILS

European Movement Albania Phone:+ 389 2 246 2257 Rr. Brigada VIII, Godina 1/3, Ap.8 www.europeanmovement.org.mk Tirane, Albania Tel/Fax : +355 4 2253184 European Movement in Montenegro www.em-al.org Ul. Slobode 37/2 , 81000 Podgorica Tel.: ++ 381 81 664 793, 667 605 European Movement Bosnia Herzegovina www.emim.org Zlatnih Ljiljana bb, Ba-72 220 Zavidovici Tel: +387 61 451 386 European Movement Serbia Kralja Milana 31, 11000 Belgrade European Movement Croatia Phone:+ 381 11 3640 174 Europe House Zagreb www.emins.org Jurisiceva1/I, 10000 Zagreb Phone: +385 1 48 13 414 European Movement Turkey www.europe.hr Mahatma Gandhi Cad. 90/4 06700 Gaziosmanpasa, Ankara European Movement in the Former Yugoslavian Phone:+ 90 312 447 50 49 Republic of Macedonia www.turabder.org.tr Kuzman Josifovski Pitu 17/51 1000 Skopje

MEDIA PARTNERS

National Slovenian TV European Commission EBS