News

The joint ENoP- SOLIDAR event ‘Making the system work: Ensuring decent work and quality jobs in the Western Balkans’ took place on 22.02.2012 in the EP, Brussels and was hosted by MEP Marije Cornelissen. Katya Koleva provided the introductory notes of the meeting on behalf of ENoP. She is the chair of the ISI (Institute for Social Integration), Bulgaria and member of the ENoP Steering Committee.  

The roundtable gathered representatives form the five Western Balkan countries (Serbia, FYROM, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina), coming form trade unions, think-tanks and NGOs together with representatives from DG Enlargement/EC and European employer platforms.

The meeting started with brief reports, focusing on the current economic situation in the Western Balkan countries and its reflection on labour market and employment. The extracts from the reports showed that the average unemployment rate for the region is between 20-30% and has both age and gender dimensions. Due to the high unemployment rate, the rapporteurs identified the appearance of a new phenomenon called ‘voluntarily slavery’ which forces qualified employees to accept poor job opportunities, while employers speculate with remunerations.  

Among the vital problems identified as preconditions for unemployment and scarcity of decent job opportunities, were the financial turmoil, lack of harmonisation with EU standards, lack of labour inspection. All these shortcomings were determined as consequences by the poor implementation of the rule of law and existing legislation.

Within the fruitful discussions the participants managed to identify several measures needed to overcome some outstanding problems in striving for decent work and quality jobs. They stressed the necessity to have more capacity building for providing a sound administrative potential; encourage social dialogue, amend labour legislation within the trade unions, have a common EU approach. Last, but not least the participants outlined the crucial role and voice of civil society by quoting the liberal Roger Baldwin: ''Silence never won rights. They are not handed down from above; they are forced by the pressures from below.''

ENoP in a joint event with SOLIDAR will address the problems of ensuring decent work & quality jobs in the countries of the Western Balkan region. The discussion, focusing on the challenges and obstacles Western Balkan countries face in providing appropriate job opportunities, will take place on 22^nd February 2012, 12:00 – 14:00 at the European Parliament, ASP 5 G 315.

The opening remarks will be provided by Ms Katya Koleva, chair of the Institute for Social Integration, one of ENoP’s Bulgarian member-organizations. The event will examine the economic and social conditions in the Western Balkans leading to a precarious position of workers vis-à-vis employers across different sectors in the region, also in relation to the financial turmoil. The participants, representing viewpoints and positions of the European Commission, EU officials, actors in the field and civil society organizations, will discuss the current economic and situation in the Western Balkans in attempt to identify the weaknesses in the enforcement-monitoring mechanisms that need to be addressed. The roundtable will be open to attendees, registered for the event. Please, refer to the draft agenda in the attachment.

E-learning activities in communication platforms and simulation games will be part of the second PRINCE project, implemented by ENoP members. Representatives from the seven involved ENoP member organisations attended the inception workshop from 1-3 February in Brussels. The organisations who will implement the project come from Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia and the Netherlands. They are affiliated to 4 party families. The title of the project is: “Get on board! Mobilizing young leaders to support the EU enlargement process towards the Western Balkans.” Its concept will build upon the results of the first ENoP PRINCE project “The EU-Enlargement process: Open your mind and get involved!”, which was implemented in 2011.

The PRINCE programme is a financial aid instrument designed to provide assistance to implement the information and communication strategy for the European Union. The focus is on enlargement issues, targeting mainly the general public in EU member states.

Related to the Declaration on the Establishment of a European Endowment for Democracy (EED) from 20 December 2011 ENoP organized an exchange meeting in the premises of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. 36 representatives from the EEAS, EP, EC, member states, CSOs in the field and Political Foundations from Europe met on 24 January for a 2-hour exchange. The session was chaired by Mr Anne de Boer, the ENoP network coordinator. The speakers and participants focussed on questions related to the concept of the future fund: its structure, operational potential and complementarity in the context to the existing instruments.

"Moving beyond electoral Democracies - Enhancing thecapacities of political actors before, during and after the electoral process " is the title of the panel on 16 December, 14:15 - 16:00 which is organised by ENoP.

The debate will focus on the work of political foundations from Europe which are engaged incomprehensive efforts to support democracy worldwide since decades. Although politicalactors are their core target group, they also work closely with academia, civil society and governmentalinstitutions, facilitating the necessary but often absent dialogue fordemocratic progress and development.

The panel speakers are:

• Gilbert Kiakwama, Vice-President of the CDC (Convention des Démocrates Chrétiens), Member of the Assemblee Nationale, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Manana Kochladze, Laureate of the Goldman Environmental Prize, founder and chairwoman of Green Alternative, Georgia
• Alexei Krivolap, European Humanities University Vilnius, Lithuania
• Prof. Mohammed Ouzzine, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Morocco
• Jean-Louis Ville, Head of Unit for Governance, Democracy, Gender & Human Rights, Directorate General for Development and Cooperation, European Commission
• Malgorzata Wasilewska, Head of Unit Democracy and Election Observation, European External Action Service

 Moderation:  Jelmen Haaze, Journalist

Amanda Lövkist, representative of ENoP, was elected one of three EU co-ordinators to the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum. Ms Lökvist, coming from ENoP’s Swedish Liberal member-organization (SILC), will remain member of the Committee for the term of one year.

The 2011 edition of the EaP CSO Forum was held on 28-30 November in Poznan, Poland.The newly-elected Steering Committee will strive to enhance the efforts of organizations involved in supporting democracy east of the EU.

The initiative after the final session in Budapest in May was to create an ongoing exchange possibility between the European Institutions and CSOs on EU development policy and programmes, a multi-level Space of Dialogue. Two representatives from ENoP member organisations and one representative from a partner organisation participated in the the first follow up session, a two days meeting on 9 and 10 November in Brussels. The meeting should ensure the follow up of the decisions taken at the end of the process.

On the occasion of the AfricaDay 2011 ENoP member foundation Evert Vermeer Stichting, the Netherlands, is organizing an event on October 29^th at the Hague University.

The AfricaDay 2011 will have a new character this year, and apart from the regular debates and workshops, it is envisaged to have a flexible programme with short activities like interviews, speed dates and inspirational speeches. Among the discussed topics during the workshops are the consequences of the Revolution in North Africa and its impact, elections in Africa, African cultural aspects. The different subjects will be addressed in over 40 workshops, organized by various organizations. Among the participants in the event will be Ben Knapen, Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation, Kasha Nabagesera, LGTB activist-Uganda, other agents of change.

The second day of ENoP Orientation Seminar went under the flag of the Structured Dialogue. The seminar on October25^th was meant as a follow-up of the final conference in May 2011 and preparation for the next meeting in November in Brussels. It briefed the participating ENoP members on the tasks, results and perspectives discussed during the meetings.   

Guest speaker at the event was Virginia Manzitti from EUropeAid, DG Development Cooperation. Ms Manzitti spoke about the outcomes of the Structured dialogue meetings. She stressed the necessity to tighter the cooperation between the civil society actors, and make it more programme oriented rather than contract based. Ms Manzitti encouraged long-term and non-strategic partnerships. She also highlighted the necessity to have more local partnerships in order to enhance the understanding of the local area with regard to project effectiveness. Another viewpoint on the issue has been presented by Ms Elise Vanormelingen, representative of CONCORD. Ms Vanormelingen gave an insight on the role and achievements of the European CSOs and their role in the Structured dialogue and internal decision-making processes. Ms Julie Cantalou and Ms Alba Cako, representatives from ENoP member foundations HSS and FNF briefed the audience on ENoP involvement in the Structured Dialogue.