Civil Society and the State: Partners in the Negotiations on EU Accession?

The National Foundation for Civil Society Development and the International Relations Institute, in cooperation with the UNDP Croatia, organized yesterday, November 24, a round table discussion in Zagreb, on the topic Civil Society and the State - Partners in the Negotiations on EU Accession? The goal was to promote the debate on the role of civil society organizations in the process of negotiations and the possibilities to establish efficient mechanism of communication and counselling with the citizens in the process. The first part of the gathering consisted of lectures on the experiences of cooperation of the state and the civil society in negotiations with the EU in the new member states and the acceding countries: The Czech Republic, Romania and Slovenia. David Stulik, Member of the EU Economic and Social Committee and the National Endowment for Civil Society Development in the Czech Republic, showed that, in his country, there was no formal involvement of CSOs in the process of EU negotiations (in the sense of formal representation in negotiation teams), although their informal impact in certain fields was significant. However, Stulik believes that, for a more effective influence of the civil society, it would be useful to establish wider platform for cooperation between the organizations and, if possible, a single body to represent the whole sector. Ionut Sibian from the Romanian Foundation for Civil Society Development, stressed several possible dangers arising from the too great reliance of the non-profit organizations on the omnipresent EU pre-accession funds. The amounts available from those funds are reduced as a given country approaches the membership, so that many smaller organizations that finance their activities exclusively from those funds could find their very existence endangered with the actual EU membership. Furthermore, Sabian thinks that the crucial requirement for CSO’s participation in the negotiations is for them to be able to attract and maintain their experts’ base, which is not the simplest thing to do, having in mind that the sector doesn’t offer very competitive wages. Metka Roksandic, ESC member from the Slovenian Free Trade Unions Association, provided a specific trade union perspective on the EU negotiations. We should not be to naive to think, in her view, that all unpopular measures implemented by the Government are actually based on the requirements and conditions presented by the EU. EU conditions are rather general in their scope, and their implementation is possible in several different ways. Therefore, the Governments usually have the leeway to select those measures that would prove less damaging to the overall position of the workers. The trade unions, on the other hand, in order to influence the outcomes of negotiations, need, above all, relevant information, which is possible through networking with the important trade unions in the European Union. The second part of the gathering involved the presentations of Croatian experts – representatives of the Government and the civil society, related to the current situation and perspectives of the state-civil society partnership in the negotiations. Mario Horvatic, Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and EU Integrations, provided a brief presentation of the strategy that the Ministry prepares for communication with the relevant actors and the public on the process of negotiations. The strategy views the civil society organizations primarily as “multiplicator of message”, i.e. means of information, said Horvatic. Neven Mimica, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for European Integrations and member of the National Committee on Monitoring of Negotiations, talked about the role of the Sabor (Croatian Parliament) and its committees in the process of negotiations, as well as the participation of the third sector representatives in the work of the Committees. The participation of the civil society is already in place, but at the moment without the fully defined criteria, emphasized Mimica. Djuro Popijac and Vladimir Ferdelji from the Croatian Employers Association presented the goals of their organizations in terms of the negotiations, but also pointed out to some defects of the current cooperation with the Government. So, although members of association are present in the working groups for preparation of negotiations, their representation is rather weak, compared to the representation of the state administration. Such insufficient representation results in weak impact on the decisions adopted by the working groups. Ana Milicevic Pezelj from the Independent Union of Trade Unions of Croatia stressed the lack of understanding of the term “social dialogue” by the representatives of the trade unions, the employers and the government. In Croatia, she said, the social dialogue is considered the goal in its own right, and not just means to achieve other goals. That makes the cooperation purely formal. Lidija Pavic Rogosic, the Director of ODRAZ Association from Zagreb, said that the cooperation between the state and civil society in Croatia has improved greatly over the past several years, thanks primarily to the process of instutionalization through the National Foundation and the Council for Development of Civil Society in Croatia. The cooperation, however, remains stuck at the declarative level, she said. Finally, can the civil society and the state work in partnership in the negotiations on EU accession? On the basis of the presentations heard in the discussion, it seems that the answer should be "yes, to some extent", or even better, "yes, but the partnership will not materialize without concerted effort on the behalf of the CSOs to develop expertise and mutual networking in order to increase their capacity to exert pressure on the Government”.