DEC Consults with Civil Society on Preparation of 2008 Progress Report

On Tuesday, May 27, the Delegation of the European Commission in BiH (DEC) held the first consulting meeting with representatives of civil society on the preparation 2008 Progress Report for Bosnia and Herzegovina. A great number of CSO representatives participated in the meeting and demonstrated great interest in the preparation of the Report. (Photo: Sanjin Buzo) This is the first time that DEC has invited civil society to participate in the preparation of the progress report. The Report shall cover the period between October 2007 and September 2008. The preparation process involves all levels of government in the country, the Office of the High Representative, NGOs and EU member states’ representative offices. After the presentation of the idea to involve the civil society in the preparation of the report and the presentation of its structure, the floor opened for a constructive debate. Having in mind the fact that this is the first time CSOs participate in the process, the great number of question posted to Ambassador Dimitrisa Kourkoulasa referred to technical details of the process and the criteria for participation. The participants learned that there are no official criteria to credit an organization or individual for his or her contributions to the report per activity area. In fact, the Report is prepared in such a way that DEC checks the validity and relevance of the information received from all participants in the process. The actual method of testing will depend on the type of information and the body that submitted it. The participants were directed to the 2007 Report for an example of the types of information included in the Report, as well as the information on DEC’s website www.europa.ba. They also got promise that the criteria will be sent to all interested organisations and individuals that write to delegation-bih@ec.europa.eu, with a subject line progress report 2008. DEC proposed that all civil society representatives interested to take part in the preparation join working groups set up to cover individual fields, depending on their scope of activities. Ambassador Kourkoulas said, asked about possible DEC support for the working groups, that the Delegation can`t really organize the work and activities, but can provide assistance in terms of providing meeting space and presence in the meetings as consulting party. Naturally, emphasis was put on serious approach to the work of the working groups and that without such an approach, no serious support by the DEC should be expected. The Progress Reports are divided into two parts, Political Criteria and European Standards, of several chapters each. The first part, Political Criteria (up to nine pages long), has three subsections: Democracy and Rule of Law; Human Rights and Minority Protection; Regional issues and international obligations. The second part (up to 34 pages long) covers issues of regulation of internal markets, individual editorial policies per sector, and the part on Justice, safety and freedom. DEC also emphasized that the preparation of the progress report is closely tied to the programming of 2009 IPA funds, with another consultation with civil society on the IPA 2009 programming planned to take place later this year. The next meeting on Progress Report preparation process is scheduled for June 6, 2008.