The role of the civil society in the process of getting closer to the European Union

A sector which should manage the euro integrations

The civic sector is a sector that should convey the necessary consensus -fifty plus one percent of the votes of the citizens that are going to vote in favor for the admission in the EU, as in fact has been done by the citizens of all the other countries that are already part of the Union- was stated by Radmila Shekerinska.

Where exactly Macedonia is, on its road towards the European Union and what can the civic sector do in order to approach Macedonia towards the EU – were the basic questions of the panel on the role of the civic society in the process of the euro integrations. A consensus was achieved on one thing on the panel, whose moderator was Vladimir Milchin, the executive director of the foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia.  The phase of only declarative supporting for the admission in the European Union is in the past for Republic of Macedonia, something which definitely should be left behind us. It is the right moment to leave the situation of standby and pleading for a course of reforming and actually begin the process of reforming. The panel was also marked with the participation of the vice-president of the government of Republic of Macedonia, Radmila Shekerinska; Gordana Duvnjak, the editor of the political rubrics in the daily newspaper “Utrinski Vesnik’ and Lidija Dimova from the Centre for European education.

“The non-governmental sector should not inquire what the government or the EU can do for the civic society, but on contrary, all the participants in the work of the non-governmental sector must be asked what they can do for the citizens” stated Milchin.

The vice-president Radmila Shekerinska stated that in terms of the meaning of the civic sector in the process of the euro integrations, the sector that has to supply the necessary consensus- fifty plus one percent of the votes of the citizens that are going to vote in favor for the admission in the EU, as in fact has been done by the citizens of all the other countries that are already part of the Union-is exactly the civic sector.

“Reforms are in the future”- stated Shekerinska, “but there will be a lot of reforms that are not going to be popular and everybody is going to ask what is the price of the entrance into the EU and who is going to pay it. These questions are not raised only in Macedonia. Moreover, there have been some disputes into some of the member-countries on the question of bringing certain laws which are imposed by Brussels, which seem to be unpopular for some countries or nations.

In the non-governmental sector I see someone that can manage the process of the euro integrations, someone that can explain to the citizens what exactly is the meaning of the process itself, a sector that will have the courage to ask questions of essential importance to the politicians in the period before and as well during the elections and at the same time, someone who will follow what has been promised by whom and also what has been accomplished.”

In a country of two million citizens, as the case of Macedonia, one can not avoid to ask the question of the human resources.

“Macedonia should seriously take into consideration the question of its human resources and their use”, Shekerinska explained and added  that the civic sector must perform the key-role also in this field since in the years of the independence of Macedonia  the working staff of the non-governmental sector had the access to continuous training and qualifications in different areas, which is the reason why they are so irreplaceable for the euro integrating process, in terms of knowledge and experience.

 Lidija Dimova, on the other hand, presented the white book for European governing.” The politicians from the countries in the European Union strive to bring the work of the institutions closer to the citizens” Dimovska explained.

Finally the inevitable question – what is the role of the media for the European process of the integration?

A considerable flux of ideas and information demands the escape of all the ideological matrixes and frames. The media in Macedonia so far have shown their courage and visionary to be a step in forward to politics. Still, we have to pay attention and avoid the cheap sensationalism and unprofessionalism” stated Gordana Duvnjak, an editor in “Utrinski Vesnik’.