The international conference: "Giving a stronger voice to civil society in the EU neighbourhood: Development of civil dialogue and partnership relations between civil society, national governments and EU institutions"

The Conference on the role of civil society in the European neighbourhood - particularly the Eastern European partners of the European Neighbourhood Policy and countries which are part of the accession process - is well placed into the context of the Slovenian Presidency and its priorities: Western Balkans, European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement policy.

Both the European Neighbourhood Policy and enlargement policy underline the role of civil society in the process of democratization and further integration into the EU. Organised under the auspices of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency, this conference provides an excellent opportunity for civil society to send a political message to the EU regarding the need to develop a coherent and coordinated strategy for the sustainable civil society development beyond EU borders.

This event is part of a process (ITS Advocacy Campaign) to launch a debate at EU and national levels on creating sustainable partnership relations between civil society actors, the EU and national authorities. Three international conferences will be held within this framework: the Brussels conference, which was already held in October 2007, the Brdo conference on "Giving stronger voice to civil society in the EU neighbourhood" scheduled for April 2008 and the concluding conference to be held in Zadar in September 2008.

This Conference is expected to result in Declaration in the form of policy recommendations on building civil dialogue and partnership relations between civil society, national governments and EU institutions as well as on enhancing the role of civil society organizations as development actors by engaging them into the dialogue on aid effectiveness.

The Conference is organized by CNVOS - Centre for Information Service, Co-operation and Development of NGOs and ECAS - European Citizen Action Service under the auspices of the Slovenian Presidency and in cooperation with the Government Communication Office and the Representation of the European Commission in Slovenia in the framework of the Management Partnership.

The registration is open until 15 March 2008.  In the event of disproportionate number and/or regional distribution of applications, the organisers will make the final selection of participants in cooperation with regional partner organisations. Selection criteria will be based on regional considerations and involvement of participants in policy dialogue at the national and EU levels. 

Detailed information and background documentation is available on the website of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency (www.eu2008.si ), Slovenian NGO portal for the period of the EU Council Presidency (www.predsedovanje.si ) and the ECAS website (www.ecas.org).