Forum Skopje
The Forum explores how to foster innovative forms of cross-border cooperation and sustainable structures between civil society and policy-makers.. The Forum Skopje participants will discuss the European responsibility and challenges of cities and regions, and the role of culture and civic initiatives in building democratic structures and fostering the economic and social upswing in Europe.
Panellists include members of the European Parliament, among them Doris Pack, Jelko Kacin, and Catherine Trautmann, the Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Erhard Busek, Minister of Foreign Affairs Macedonia Antonio Milososki, President of the Macedonian Parliament Ljubisa Georgievski, President of the Bulgarian Parliament Georgi Pirinski, State Secretary at Ministry of Culture Elizabeta Kancevska Milevska as well as representatives of civil society from all over Europe.
4th April 2008, 15:00 – 21:00
5th April 2008, 09:00 – 17:00
6th April 2008, 10:00 – 15:00
Working language: English.
There are no fees related to the attendance. Registration is obligatory.
Please fill in the registration form and send it back to registration@forumskopje.org.
FORUM SKOPJE - Background
Culture plays a very important role in every day life in all the South Eastern European countries. However, the independent civil society sector is still confronted with difficulties in finding the right way of involving policy makers and business sector in the working agenda and vice versa.
The basic idea is that Europe is a cultural project, which means that it needs the continuous dialogue in partnership between policy-makers and civil society in order to make a united and open Europe of the Europeans emerge. And this, in turn, means that those involved in the cultural sector must assume the responsibility they share for Europe, and that those who are responsible for Europe at the local, regional, national and European level must recognize the cultural dimension of their work and implement this in practical terms.
Culture must become effective in areas other than the cultural sector, from foreign to regional policy, from the business to the social sector. And this process must be initiated by civil society, which is more flexible than the political sector but must, for its part, develop new forms of committed cooperation with policy-makers to this end.
We believe that policy makers will understand culture as an integral part of their respective areas outside the cultural sector. National policy-makers and the business and administrative sectors will gain better access to civil-society initiatives, and vice versa. Within a well-developed transparent strategic approach policy-makers will appreciate the initiatives coming from the civil sector and will adopt the benefits for the sake of regional development. The social sector will gain a role of a consultant in the decision-making process.
Organizers: Public Room Macedonia, European Alliance Macedonia, “A Soul for Europe” Initiative, Berlin and Felix Meritis Foundation, Amsterdam.
Supported by:
Ministry of Culture of Macedonia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia, Macedonian Parliament, Mission of the European Union to the Republic of Macedonia, City of Skopje, Royal Dutch Embassy in Macedonia, Italian Embassy in Macedonia, Makedonska Posta, On.net
