SANECA – Workshop on National Plan for European Integration and other key negotiating documents and involvement of non-state actors, 16 February 2022

On February 16, 2022, a training workshop was held on the National Plan for European Integration and other key negotiating documents and the involvement of non-state actors, in the framework of the project “Support for Accession Negotiations in the Economic Chapters of the Acquis (SANECA)” which is being implemented by GIZ, where the civil society support component is being implemented in cooperation with the European Movement in Albania (EMA).

The approval of the National Plan for European Integration (NPEI) for the period 2022-2024 was finalized after the organization of consultative meetings with non-state actors. The workshop was organized in hybrid format, with physical participation in the premises of the Grand Hotel and online participation through the ZOOM platform, in which members of the four tables of the Platform of Partnership and European Integration of chapters 1, 3, 20 and 28 coordinated by the Ministry of Finance and Economy, took part.

This activity was the opening event in the series of workshops that will be organized  within the SANECA project during the period February – June 2022.

The event opened with the introductory speech of Laureta Spahiu, project adviser from GIZ in Albania. In her speech, Spahiu made a brief presentation of the entire project, also stressed that the workshop follows a series of activities, until June, that are focused on addressing and discussing thematic issues related with these four targeted chapters. According to her, the main objective remains the strengthening of the dialogue between the actors of the civil society that have an interest in the chapters and the Ministry of Finance and Economy, in the role of the institution responsible for the coordination of the work.. Spahiu further underlined that in this series of trainings, in addition to national experts, regional experts are also engaged, as their expertise will be an added value for this process.

Then the floor was given to Gledis Gjipali, Executive Director of EMA, who made a clear introduction of the National Plan for European Integration focusing on the fundamental legislation, main objectives, preparatory work, gap analysis, planning, consultation, approval and as the final stages of it the monitoring and evaluation process. Gjipali further highlighted that during the roundtables it is important that a good part of the issues to be raised by non-state actors, because the main reason for this series of trainings is precisely the preparation for practical issues or actual concerns that interest groups and civil society might have and shall discuss during these roundtables. By carrying out a good preparation, the issues that are intended to be addressed during the platform will be much effective and fruitful.

In the second part of the workshop, Nataša Dragojlović, Coordinator of the European Convention for the European Union in Serbia drew attention to the Serbian experience in drafting documents within the negotiation process. More specifically, she explained the National Convention for the European Union in Serbia (NCEU), which was adopted in 2014. According to Dragojlović, this Convention is a comprehensive platform and monitors Serbia’s EU negotiation process. The organizational structure of the Convention has been set up in such a way as to support the implementation of the objectives set out in the NCEU Strategic Plan in the medium and long term. The Program Council has also been established, which consists of representatives of civil society organizations, who coordinate working groups divided according to the chapters of the Acquis that are being negotiated. In the working groups, there are also representatives from civil society organizations and who are selected based on their expertise and representation, who monitor, analyze and evaluate the progress of the negotiation process with the EU. Dragojlović underlined the close cooperation between state and non-state actors in the negotiation process in Serbia, as the most productive way to accelerate this process.

In the last session of the activity, Nirvana Deliu from EMA, presented the activities planned within the SANECA project for the period February-June 2022. Deliu mentioned that it is planned to carry out 8 activities in total, to be organized in a hybrid format.. These activities aim to involve experts from the region (Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia) to share their experiences and success stories. Participants in these activities will be members of the four PPIE roundtables (1,3, 20 and 28) as well as other interested actors. The aim is to conduct trainings and workshops for those areas of chapters that are considered important and that have tangible developments.