Balkans occidentaux

The 10th Western Balkans Civil Society Forum took place in Montenegro on 13-14 May 2024. The forum was hold in Montenegro to encourage the country to fulfil its ambition of becoming the next EU member state by 2028 and to serve as a positive example for the rest of the region. This event will represent a significant contribution from organised civil society to the European Commission's 2025 Enlargement Package.

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), the European Training Foundation (ETF) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) are jointly organising an event on social dialogue in the Western Balkans. This initiative, led by the EESC President and the directors of the two agencies, will focus on the quality of life and work, youth, and the exchange of experiences on social dialogue between the EU and the Western Balkans.

The EU-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) held its 19th meeting on 7 April 2025 at the EESC in Brussels. This platform, established within the institutional framework of the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), will enable representatives from both the EU and Serbian civil society to monitor the country's accession negotiations, discuss issues of common interest, and highlight concerns to be addressed on Serbia's path towards the European Union.

On 20 March 2025, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Montenegro convened the 20th Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) in Podgorica. This platform, established between the EESC and Montenegrin civil society, provides a civil society perspective within the EU institutional framework related to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the EU and Montenegro. The JCC enables civil society organisations from both sides to monitor Montenegro's accession negotiations, discuss common interests, and inform the public about the challenges during the accession period.

The EU-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) held its 18th meeting on 29 November 2024 at the EESC in Belgrade, Serbia. It is a platform established within the institutional framework of the EU‑Serbia Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), enabling representatives of both the EU and the Serbian civil society to monitor the country's accession negotiations, discuss issues of common interest and point out concerns to be tackled on the Serbian path towards the European Union.

For the 19th time, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Montenegro held  the Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) in at the EESC in Brussels on 27 November 2024. The JCC is a civil society platform established between the EESC and Montenegrin civil society. It complements with a civil society point of view the EU institutional framework related to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the EU and Montenegro. This joint institution allows civil society organisations on both sides to monitor the country's accession negotiations. It is also a platform to discuss issues of common interest and to inform the public at large on the challenges ahead during the accession period.

Main topics of the 19th meeting of the EU-Montenegro JCC were:

• Current state of play in EU-Montenegro relations: 2024 Enlargement Package and Montenegro Report, overview of the developments within the Berlin process
• Reform Agenda (RA) for Montenegro and the implementation of the New growth plan for the Western Balkans
• Montenegrin roadmap for fulfillment of the negotiation chapters’ closing benchmarks after the IBAR

• Overview of the civil society situation in Montenegro, including social dialogue

   

  Joint declaration was adopted by consensus. 

   

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This years' meeting of the EESC's Western Balkans Follow-up Committee outside of Brussels took place on 15 October 2024 in the Europe House in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and will include a hearing with the social partners and civil society organisations (CSOs).

The goal of the hearing was to listen to the views on the role of civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as to hear their concerns, and to convey these messages to the political authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the EU.

The Western Balkans Civil Society High-Level Conference will bring together EESC members, organised civil society representatives from the Western Balkan countries, and members of organised civil society and officials from Slovenia. It will mark 20 years of the biggest EU enlargement thus far, and 20 years since Slovenia joined the Union. The conference will be organised in close cooperation with and support from our partners and will complement the EESC’s work, such as the Western Balkans Civil Society Forum, which the EESC has organised every two years since 2006. The event will provide an opportunity for participants to exchange views on the needed reforms in the Western Balkans and in the EU to maintain enlargement policy as one of the most important EU success stories. It will also be an opportunity to discuss the current situation of civil society in the region and the need for its better inclusion in the accession process. The participants will adopt conclusions addressed to national authorities and European institutions.