The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) is a cooperation initiative of the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) and Centre for the Southeast European Studies of the University of Graz (CSEES) with the aim to promote the European integration of the Western Balkans and the consolidation of democratic, open countries in the region.
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In order to support the countries of the Western Balkans on their way to the European Union, the Austrian Parliament, along with the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) and with generous support of the ERSTE Foundation, launched the fellowship program for civil servants of the WB6 parliaments in March 2019. The Western Balkans Fellowship at the Austrian Parliament is a practice-oriented educational programme for civil servants working at the national parliaments of Western Balkan countries. The purpose of the programme is to give impetus to the EU integration-driven reforms of the Western Balkan parliaments’ administrations, by means of building the capacities of individual agents of change.
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The European Fund for the Balkans has joined ASB Serbia and Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung for Southeast Europe in support of the ongoing “Social Dimension Initiative” (SDI) campaign, which was launched by ASB in August 2018, aiming to stress the necessity of better social and employment policies in the enlargement process of the Western Balkan countries beyond the framework of the EU social acquis.
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In 2017, the European Fund for the Balkans launched The Berlin Process Resource and Information Center designed as a one-stop info point for all information pertaining to the Berlin Process.
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The Civil Society Forum is a platform enabling dialogue between Balkan citizens and regional and European decision-makers, within the Berlin Process. Its goal is to ensure civil society participation in the deliberation and creation of policies tailored to bring the countries of the region closer to each other and to anchor them in the European Union.
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The Joint History Books were the central programm of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe (CDRSEE), a regional and impact-oriented NGO based in Thessaloniki that sought to foster democratic, pluralist, and peaceful societies in Southeast Europe. Despite of producing one of the most successful projects ever, in 2019 the CDRSEE has been forced to shut down due to the lack of funds.
On the initiative of the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB), through the support for the creation and maintenance of this website, these books are again available to the public. The EFB understands that these books are an important tool not only for history teaching, but also for opening a culture of dialogue and different ways of thinking. The Joint History Books can be a way out of a largely one-dimensional education system in the region of Southeast Europe and they have the potential to encourage exchange about different perspectives and experiences.
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The Vicinities platform is a creative space for both talented young individuals as well as established professionals coming from our vicinities – from Belgrade, to Sarajevo, Pristina, Skopje, Podgorica, and Tirana.
The platform has had the great success of launching the first regional television talk show with the same name Vicinities (Okruzenje), a brand by itself, which ran for 6 seasons on 12 television channels in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Serbia.
The European Fund for the Balkans and the European Movement in Serbia continued their mission through a similar format, in their desire to help the societies in our corner of the world to prepare not only for EU membership, but for true acceptance of the European values.
Trees of Friendship
The Western Balkans countries share a major environmental problem, namely the dangerous levels of air pollution. The topic of air pollution is central especially during winter months, and therefore our „Trees of Friendship“regional planting initiative was launched as an example of regional cooperation and joint efforts to raise the awareness about this common burning issue for all the countries of the region – air pollution as a direct cause for many diseases, health problems and a reason for thousands of premature deaths.
Hence, the goal of “Trees of Friendship” is to send a strong joint message that regional cooperation and solidarity can also contribute to solving that issue and creating better conditions for clean air.
In 2020, together with our local partners we implemented the first edition of the "Trees of Friendship" initiative where more than 400 trees were planted in several cities of the region. In the first year, the planted trees were symbolic compensation for the damage made by the CO2 emissions which occurred due to EFB’s business travels in 2019.
In the second year of “Trees of friendship” EFB organised the planting to additionally accentuate the importance of each tree for the quality of the air we breathe. Since the whole region is the most polluted part of the continent, the second edition regional planting was also an announcement for the joint campaign "Balkans United for Clean Air".
In the third edition of this regional initiative in 2022, a total of 400 trees were planted simultaneously in several cities in the region on December 1st.
20 November 2023 was reserved for the fourth edition and the planting action of 450 in 9 cities in the region, thanks to the cooperation with our local partners in all the countries of the region.
The aim of the action stays constant - to repeatedly demonstrate that by taking individual responsibility and alerting the public about the seriousness of the air pollution issue, it is possible to make a difference at local and regional level.