Building strong and effective networks during the accession process is a prerequisite for effective integration and democratic consolidation. Civil society organisations (CSOs) play a crucial role in putting pressure on governments to continue implementing often painful and inconvenient administrative reforms. In the Balkans, regional cooperation between CSOs on public administration reform (PAR) is facilitated by the Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform (WeBER), financed by the European Commission and the Dutch government.
This Policy Dialogue assessed the importance of civil society involvement in the reform of public administration in the Balkans and present WeBER’s key achievements so far. A panel of stakeholders analysed civil society’s relationship with national governments, and talked about the European Commission’s position on public administration reform in the enlargement agenda and civil society involvement specifically, the contribution of  civil society to date, and how to strengthen dialogue between CSOs, governments, regional organisations, and EU institutions.

Speakers included: Fabien Zuleeg, Chief Executive and Chief Economist at the European Policy Centre (EPC), Corina Stratulat, Senior Policy Analyst at the EPC, Bernard Brunet, Head of Unit ‘Thematic Support, Monitoring and Evaluation’ at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Damjan Mancevski, Minister of Information Society and Administration for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Milena Lazarevic, Programme Director of CEP Belgrade and WeBER Project Manager, Fisnik Korenica, Executive Director of the Group for Legal and Political Studies in Pristina.