Strengthening the triangle CSOs-National Governments-European Commission

During the period 19 – 20 October 2009, Mr. Ilir Qorri, Program Director and Ms. Baisa Sefa Policy Researcher at European Movement Albania (EMA) took part in the conference “Strengthening the triangle CSOs-National Governments-European Commission. Reinforcing the Europe-wide civil society and building partnerships”, which was held in Zadar, Croatia.

The conference brought together more than 100 civil society representatives from EU and the SEE countries, donors active in the region as well as officials from national governments and European Institutions.

The conference was focused on the sustainable development of civil society organisations (CSOs) in South Eastern Europe. One of the main directions of conference was strengthening the triangle among the civil society – national governments – European Commission that will directly improve the situation in the Balkan region. This event was part of a process that launched a debate about how to create sustainable partnership relations between civil society actors, EU and national authorities, initiated by Ljubljana Declaration, which aimed in advocating for the establishment of sustainable tripartite civil dialogue and the development of CSOs in the region.

Each country participant in the conference held a “country report” presenting the situation of civil society sector in relation with the national governments and in the same time with the European Commission. Mr. Ilir Qorri presented the country report of Albania, which reflected the latest developments of this sector and pointed out the most crucial moments of the process of sustaining a healthy NGO environment, such as the legal framework and the funding of civil society in Albania. During his presentation, a special attention was paid to the future challenges that Albanian civil society will be faced with and how a smooth development of this sector can be ensured.

The conference offered an opportunity for representatives of civil society, national governments and the European Commission to discuss on strategies for establishing a regular dialogue, transparent funding and inclusion of CSOs into policy-making in each national context.

During the afternoon session of the first working day, Mr. Ilir Qorri was one of the panellists and held a speech on the topic “Visa Liberalisation with EU”, where the actual situation of Western Balkan countries, including Albania, were explained. Mr. Qorri demanded for a better information towards all layers of society, because sometimes visa liberalisation perception is confused with the possibility to work or to study.