Green � Colour of the Future: Prospects for Development of Green Politics in SEE

09 October 2007

The Heinrich Boll Foundation, in cooperation with the Green East-West Dialogue and the Green European Foundation, organized, on October 6-7, the International Conference �Green � Colour of the future: Potentials for Reform Policies in SEE�.

The Conference was officially opened by Ralf Fucks, the President of Heinrich Boll Foundation. The official work of the conference started with presentations of development of Green politics in SEE, i.e. in Serbia, B&H and Croatia, given by Zoran Gavrilović, sociologist from Belgrade; Adnan Rodnić, Sarajevo based journalist; and Srđan Dvornik from Zelena lista � Zagreb (Green List-Zagreb).

Although each of the said countries has its own specific aspects, they also share many common elements, i.e. the relations of green politics with existential issues. Green politics in the region first appeared through the development of the civil sector and NGO activities, which was later followed by the creation of first �green� political parties and theri participation in elections.

The participants were also able to hear the presentations of two Members of the European Parliament, Gisele Kallenbach from Germani, and Ulrike Lunacek from Austria. They talked about the experiences and development of green movements, but also civil, peace and women movements in their own countries, as well as the importance of existence of green parties.

Joost Lagendijk, Member of European Parliament for the Netherlands, Gordan Bosanac from the Centre for Peace Studies (Zagreb) and Srdjan Gligorijevic from the ISAC Fund, Centre for International and Security Relations (Belgrade), gave presentations under the auspices of the �New/Old Green Europe � Green Security Perspectives in the Region�.

Srdjan Gligorijevic talked about the possibilities for protection from natural disasters as one segment of green security policies, as well as the lack of coordination on issues of security policies in the region and the potentials of the �green idea� to build the security culture in the Balkans.

Gordan Bosanac gave a particularly interesting presentation, resulting in intensive and interesting debate, on the coming entry of Croatia into NATO. In his view, that process is accompanied with lack of public debate and NATO being presented as the only option, in spite of the opposition of the majority of Croatian citizens.

He used his experience as peace activist to present possible alternatives to NATO and the politics of peace-building as a Croatian trade-mark, of the sorts. His presentation was followed by a debate on NATO as a phenomenon of global security and its raison d�etre in this day and age.

On the second day of the conference, participants discussed the topic of Energy � Challenges of Development, with keynote speeches given by Mirza Kusljagic from School of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla, Ralf Fucks, and Aleksandar Kovacevic, Energy expert from Belgrade. The debate focused on the restructuring of energy sector in the region and the creation of unified energy market in SEE.