The European Fund for the Balkans in cooperation with the Association of Local Democracy Agencies, Subotica and the European House, Budapest organized a conference “Civil Bridge-Building - The Hungarian 2011 EU-Presidency and the Western Balkans”, 18-19 June 2010, Novi Sad, Serbia.

The Conference was supported by the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, The City Hall of Novi Sad and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. The event gathered 60 representatives of 28 civil society organisations from Hungary and 30 from the Western Balkan countries.  

The aim of the conference was to contribute to better cooperation and communication between participants and to set a foundation for the future fruitful cooperation during the Hungarian Presidency to the EU in the first half of 2011. The conference was opened by Mr. Mr Imre KERN, Deputy Director, Capital Investment Fund of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and Ms. Hedvig Morvai Horvat, Executive Director, European Fund for the Balkans.

The participants were introduced to the situation of civil society and the EU integrations in the WB countries. The debate was inspired by introductory speeches of Mr Srdjan MAJSTOROVIC, Deputy Director, the EU Integration Office, Belgrade, Mr Jovan TEOKAREVIC, Director, Belgrade Centre for European Integration (BeCEI), Belgrade, Mr Vehid SEHIC, President, Forum of Tuzla Citizens, Tuzla, Mr Miljenko DERETA, Executive Director, Civic Initiatives, Belgrade and Mr Aurélien JULIARD, External Relations, European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels.

The panelists presented the main challenges and opportunities of Civil Society Organizations in Hungary and in the Western Balkan countries as well as identified possible areas of cooperation amongst them.

Mr István SEBESTÉNY, President, Civitalis Association from Budapest presented the state of civil society in Hungary. Participants had also a chance to hear about the Hungarian perspective of the EU Enlargement and the Western Balkans (Mr Imre SZILÁGYI, Hungarian Institute of International Affairs) and about Hungarian CSOs in preparation for the Hungarian EU Presidency 2011 (Mr Miklós BARABÁS, coordinator of the Hungarian EU2011 Civil Working Group).

This panel discussion provided useful inputs for the upcoming Hungarian presidency. As a result of a two day discussion participants draw recommendations for the future Hungarian EU presidency which will be presented to the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Detailed recommendations please see here.