After the four Visegrád countries entered the EU in 2004, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia cooperate to supplement each other in supporting both the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership countries in order to bring them closer to the EU and to the European values. This is also what the Central European think-tanks have been calling on for years. We believe that in order to facilitate the transition period, a close cooperation between NGOs, CSOs and think-tanks with the public administration is essential on the road to the EU. The Visegrád Fund has opened the window of opportunity to strengthen such cooperation using the experiences of the V4 countries.

The idea of the project is to share with a broad spectrum of NGOs, CSOs and think-tanks from the Western Balkans the V4 counterparts’ experience in their cooperation with the public administration in the EU integration process, particularly membership negotiations, and its continuation after the accession. The project aims to bring together the representatives of NGOs, CSOs and think-tanks from all Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia and to present them the best practices of such cooperation in the Visegrád countries. While the Western Balkan countries are in different stages of the integration process, it is vital to prepare all structures for the eventual accession negotiations, where the non-governmental input can be particularly valuable and may contribute to sustained public support to the process. These activities would emphasize this key aspect of integration, with a particular focus on Chapters 23 and 24 – the first to be opened in all new negotiations.

The first step of the project was an international seminar organized by PISM (with partners) in Warsaw on 29 October 2013. The representatives of local NGOs and public administration representatives were invited for the seminar. The seminar was divided into three panels, which were held in the form of discussions among the participants and invited guests. There were also 3 participants from every Western Balkan country (excluding Croatia), 18 in total.

For more information about the Warsaw agenda, please see the attachment below.