Lens at the Western Balkans Summit in Vienna

Western Balkans Civil Society part of a common dialogue with decision-makers from the region and the EU.

Civil Society Forum of the Western Balkans was held in the framework of the Vienna summit on the future of the Western Balkans, which brought together the highest representatives of the EU and the region. The Forum was a unique opportunity for representatives of civil society from the countries of Southeast Europe to express their opinion on the current social and economic challenges, and the situation in the field of civil society and to formulate specific requirements directed at high representatives of EU member states and governments of the countries of the Western Balkans.

Civil society representatives, including Lens, had worked in formulating recommendations that were presented to leaders at the Forum. The recommendations address three main issues for all countries: Regional Cooperation, Media Freedom and Successful Creation of Jobs. The full content of these recommendations can be found here.

The forum is organized by the Foundation “Erste”, the Foundation “Friedrich Ebert” Renner Institute, supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. In addition to representatives of NGOs from the Western Balkans Forum participants were prime ministers of Albania and Serbia, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, and many other senior officials from the Balkan region.

Our participation in the event was supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, as part of the working group for the Civil Society Recommendations to the Vienna Summit.