In the "Surprise guest" column we welcome distinguished personalities from science, journalism, culture and other spheres of public life. Our guest this month is Boško Savković, a Serbian writer, journalist and film/documentary producer. He is co-chair of the EU-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee, a body operating under the EESC's External Relations Section to promote closer ties between civil society in the EU and Serbia, and a member of the Presidency of Serbia's Employers' Union.

Mr Savković has worked and published in many newspapers of former Yugoslav and later Serbia. During the war in the ex-Yugoslavia, he was a war reporter for the Intervju newspaper and TV Politika. Revolted by media censorship, he left Serbian media in 1993 and established his marketing agency "Alternative", which is still successfully operating in TV production, publishing, and graphic and web design. In 1996 he founded the satirical newspaper "Our Sow", which became a symbol of resistance to the regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

He is the author of three books: "Fake fighters run a lap of honour" (1989), which was made into a documentary; "Rape of the Seventh Force" (1994) and "Mysteries that Changed Serbia" (1997).

He also worked on the promotion of Miroslav's Gospel, which is part of Serbia's rich medieval cultural heritage, and produced the film "In the Beginning was the Word". In 2008, he founded the Silafest film festival. He has been awarded numerous prizes in Serbia and at International Film Festivals, including the Gold Dolphin for Best Documentary at the 2011 Cannes film festival for "Winter Fruits", and the Cannes Silver Dolphin in 2013 for his film "After the Bombs".

During a visit to the EESC in June this year, Mr Savković personally thanked the Committee's Presidency for its support when he was accused of calling for a violent overthrow of the Serbian Constitution. A few days after the EESC's appeal he was released.

• Boško Savković will attend the EESC July plenary session, where he will take part in a debate on "The future role of civil society in the enlargement process" along with a number of other guest speakers from the candidate countries.