Comment

The civil sector as the Prime Minister sees it
 

In the pre-election period, even before it had officially started, a lot of citizens were wondering what position the civil sector has in the pompously announced and promoted political parties’ programmes. The third column, as some politicians used to call it has disappeared. Oh, I am sorry, the Prime Minister mentioned it once in his expose, in the part that referred to the fight against corruption in which “all available potentials will be exploited, including the Government, the state institutions, the civil sector, the media, etc. “The new government does not recognize the civil organizations as a potential partner; according to the Prime Minister, that would be “the private sector, the small and the idle sized businesses, the chambers and the trade unions.

“But, why? Are we going to face the exhausted qualifications of the civil sector again? Money launderettes, fifth columnists, participants in some international conspiracy…Isn’t it easier to accept the attitude that the civil society organizations can only have humanitarian issues on their agendas?

Fortunately, the civil society organizations in this country represent attitudes and interests. Those are the attitudes and the interests of their target groups, the same ones that the Prime Minister mentioned at the end of his expose: “the displaced, people with special needs, the defenders of the country and their families…the farmers, the pensioners, the orphans…” Representing their attitudes and interests is a policy and the civil society organizations have the right to it. They have the right to criticize, lobby, debate on public policy issues. It isn’t just parties’ business and it should not be left to the political parties only. For too long they held the exclusive right to it.

The civil society organizations know what the future processes bring in Macedonia. The euro integration process requires greater participation of the citizens when it comes to creating policies and making decisions. The civil society organizations have no intention to leave that space to the political parties and their narrow interests.

And finally, not mentioning the civil sector in the politicians’ speeches when presenting their political programmes is less important then not cooperating with the civil sector in the months and years to follow. Therefore, we hope that the cooperation between the two sectors will become a reality.

 

Gonce Jakovlseka