NGO Fair 2004

Closing Plenary Session

The role of the civic society into the process of approaching to the European Union

·       The approaching to the EU means approaching to the principles of “European governing”: openness, participation, democratic approach, coherency, institutional forms of dialogue, Committee of regions, Economic-social committee.
·       Macedonia should take advantage of all the available resources, in the process of approaching to the EU, including the people (personnel) from the civil society sector.
·       The civil society, including the media, should show visionary and courage and change the public consciousness and behavior in direction towards joining the EU.
·       Seven from the eight presented questions regarded the issue what can the government do for the European integration and what can it do for the civic organizations.

The Membership of Slovenia into The European Union as a factor of strengthening of the civic organizations; The role of the sector for European integration into the process of the European integration – a look on the flowing responds answered on the questionnaire;

·       Involvement of the civic organizations into the process of the European integrations is of mutual interest, and doesn’t represent a formal request by the European Union (EU).
·       The government and the civic organizations should work on building their trust as equal partners.
·       The priorities that should be accented in order Macedonia to gain a status of a country candidate for membership into the European Union in 2006 are the following: Ohrid agreement/decentralization, reforms into the judiciary system and the police, and the structural reforms and the macro-economical stability.
·       The process of entry into the EU is complex, long and expensive; therefore we need strong institutions that will cooperate with the citizens.

Decentralization/de-parti pris, as a formula for a successful local democracy

·       The decentralization should lead to increased participation. In Macedonia it is a medium-term priority and one of the essential criteria for gaining a status of a country-candidate for the EU.
·       The parti pris in the local self-government units (LSU) is one of the key flaws that obstructs the process of decentralization and blocks the process of decision making of the LSU.
·       The contacts on relation LSU - civic organizations are based on mistrust: on one side the civic organizations declare non-transparency, nepotism and corruption on party-basis within the LSU, on the other side LSU points out an increased interest for the decentralization because of the increased allocation of financing means within the civic organizations.

Reduction of the unemployment through improving of the approach to financial services

·       In Republic of Macedonia there is a lack of financial services, particularly when we talk about business novice. 75% of the unemployed are interested in starting a small business, but at the same time they have the least chance for  obtaining a credit.
·       In Republic of Macedonia there are numerous institutions that allow micro-credits, and some of the commercial banks have departments for micro crediting.
·       We need institutional support of the private sector and stronger coordination between the actors for development support (Government, development agencies, guaranty-funds)

Models for preparing national strategies

·       The National program for development of education and also the Strategy for development of an informational society are in process of creating, while the National strategy for the young is in its final phase.
·       The cooperation with the civic organization and the expert’s teams is of essential importance in all three national strategies, and especially in the National strategy for the young, which is secured with a significant involvement of the youth organizations.
·       The representatives of the political parties are included in the process of creating of the national strategies, which enables conduct of these long-term documents.

Higher education, corruption and the students’ rights

·       Some students, who find it easier paying for exam instead of learning, encourage the corruption in the higher education.
·       The students’ attorney, in his two and a half work experience on this post, has received 160 complaints, out of which none concern corruption.
·       Not one case of corruption in the higher education has ended with a judicial verdict.

10 years of Civil society in Southeast Europe: What we got right and what went wrong?

·       The development of the civic organizations in Southeast Europe, as well as in other post-communistic states, depended greatly from the foreign aid donated by Western Europe and USA, and it is addressed to the civic organizations that work in the field of democracy. Based on such a context, a significant number of civic organizations are still in an anti-governmental mood.
·       The civic organization and the government should both decide about their mutual correlations, which have to be based on the notion what sort of society they want to build.
·       The greatest challenge is the corruption of trust of the people in the Government

Strategies for sustainability of the civil society sector in Macedonia- Can the civil society sector sustain without the foreign financing?

·       74% of the financial means are financed from grants, 10% come from proper sources, 8% come from the central or the local authorities, only 4% from the business sector and the same percentage- 4% come from donations by individuals.
·       The civic organizations are not involved enough into the mobilization of means on local level and at the same time they are not promoted enough into the public.
·       We need amendments in the Associations and foundations law (the economical activities of the civic organizations, a status of the public interest organizations, beneficiaries to the tax for individual and corporative donors, volunteerism).
·       The Government of Republic of Macedonia has formed an office for cooperation between the civic organizations based in the General secretariat.