Skip to main content

Author: WeBalkans

EIDHR launches a series of documentaries, “Do We Resemble the EU”

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

How have EU Member States been dealing or dealt with the challenges that North Macedonia’s citizens are facing in exercising their rights: as workers, as consumers, as people with disabilities, as members of the LGTBI community…, or simply as individuals entitled to full legal and health protection, including clean air?

 

Documentaries produced with help from the EU are trying to find answers on the spot and to inspire action at home – bearing in mind that respecting human rights is fundamental.

 

This series of ten documentaries “Do We Resemble the EU” is taking a closer look at what living in the EU is like, and how EU countries have overcome or are dealing with some of the same challenges facing the citizens of North Macedonia.

 

Produced by NGO Konfidens from Skopje and its production Balkon3, with the help of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), the series attempts to detect those pieces of the puzzle that the country is missing, in order to narrow the gap with the EU when it comes to the respect of human rights. The documentaries are being broadcast as of 1 June, on Alsat-M TV in North Macedonia every Tuesday and Friday.

Street performance against corruption in Podgorica

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI) organised a street performance in the Montenegrin capital on 2 June to raise awareness about the damage caused by corruption. The event, ‘Whistle or the end!’ is part of an educational and information campaign under an EU-funded regional project –  ‘Breaking the Silence: Enhancing the Whistleblowing Policies and Culture in the Western Balkans and Moldova’.  
The project aims to help the government and non-governmental sector of the beneficiary jurisdictions to improve the disclosure channels and protection mechanisms for whistleblowers; strengthen the capacity of civil society to support whistleblowing; and, enhance public awareness about the importance of whistleblowing in the fight against corruption.

EU funded research shows polarised public trust in the media in BiH

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The EU-funded regional project ‘Resilience: Civil Society for Media Free of Hate and Disinformation,’ recently published results of an opinion poll analysing media trust and media gender issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Conducted by IPSOS, the report reveals a strong polarisation amongst the public in BiH in relation to trust in the media – half of the respondents claimed to not trust the media, while nearly as many claimed the opposite.

 

Results also demonstrate that trust in specific media outlets and public service broadcasters is polarised along ethno-national and political party lines. Results also point to the lack of media and information literacy skills among the respondents, underpinning the need to find systematic solutions for the introduction of media literacy into formal education.

 

The Resilience project is carried out in the Western Balkans and Turkey by a consortium of media development organisations led by South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM). The report is part of a series of publications on media trust and gender issues based on research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey (all available on the SEENPM website).

Political agreement on €14.2 billion Pre-Accession Assistance Instrument

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The European Commission welcomes the political agreement on 2 June between the European Parliament and the Council on the new Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III), with a total budget of over €14 billion for the 2021-2027 budgetary period. This instrument supports EU candidate countries and potential candidates on their path towards fulfilling the EU accession criteria through deep and comprehensive reforms. The agreement will now be translated into legal texts, which will need to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council.

 

IPA III presents a solid policy-driven approach, with the strategic and dynamic deployment of assistance, putting the ‘fundamentals’ at its core: the rule of law and respect of fundamental values; strengthening democratic institutions and public administration reform; promoting economic governance and reforms towards competitiveness. The new instrument will also increase steer from the Union, with programming based on thematic priorities rather than country envelopes. This allows for rewarding performance and progress towards key priorities and an increased flexibility to respond to the evolving needs of the partners in their path towards accession.

EU Green Week 2021 in Serbia

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

EU Green Week 2021 (31 May to 5 June) in Serbia is being marked by a series of events in various cities. These include a conference on green industrial policy, Natura 2000 photo exhibition, Mikser festival with music, workshops and other activities, cleaning of Petrovaradin fortress and more. The activities will culminate on 5 June with the WorldEnvironment Day educational bicycle tour in Novi Sad.

 

The EU provides substantial support to Serbia towards achieving its environmental goals and raising them to EU standards. In the past 12 years, Serbia has received over €8 billion from the EU budget alone, including over €4 billion in grants, making the EU by far the largest donor in Serbia. To date, the EU has invested over €400 million in the environment sector in Serbia.

 

EU Green Week 2021 is being marked this week right across the EU and in other countries, with a centered around the theme of ‘Zero Pollution’. Through a host of activities and debates, participants can take a close up look at the European Green Deal – and its related initiatives on climate, energy, industry, mobility, agriculture, health, and biodiversity. Over the past decade, Green Week has established itself as an unmissable event for anyone involved in protecting the environment.

EU disburses a further €460 million to mitigate economic fallout of COVID-19

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, has made further disbursements under its COVID-19 Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) package to Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, as well as Tunisia. The allocations of €50 million to Kosovo, €30 million to Montenegro and €80 million to North Macedonia are part of the €3 billion MFA package agreed in May 2020 to help ten enlargement and neighbourhood partners mitigate the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.  
All partners receiving disbursements continue to satisfy the pre-conditions for granting MFA regarding the respect of human rights and effective democratic mechanisms, including a multi-party parliamentary system and the rule of law.  
With this disbursement, the EU has successfully completed three out of the 10 Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) programmes in the €3 billion COVID-19 MFA package and disbursed the first tranches of assistance to all partners but one. The last partner, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is set to receive its first instalment, a €125 million loan, once it ratifies its Memorandum of Understanding.  
The Commission continues to work closely with all its Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) partners to timely implement the agreed policy programmes.

The RCC presents winners of the BALKATHON 2.0 competition

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) announced six winning ideas for the Balkathon 2.0 competition on the best digital solutions, at the final ceremony of the competition. The winners include:

 

-Rogerta Leka and ‘HEST’ team from Albania

-Nenad Jovanovski and ‘Bifrost’ team from Serbia

-Sanela Pajazitović and ‘Pokupi’ team from Montenegro

-Aleksandar Kovač and ‘E-klinika’ team from Bosnia and Herzegovina

-Ilir Asllani and ‘Kosovo Digital Association’ team from Kosovo and

-Katerina Klimovska and ‘ISLAA’ team from North Macedonia

 

The winners will get an opportunity to present their implemented ideas at the 4th Western Balkans Digital Summit 2021 in Montenegro. Balkathon 2.0 competition opened on 5 May 2021, with an open call to all interested Western Balkan citizens, start-ups, entrepreneurs, students, digital innovation hubs, scientific parks, universities and SMEs.

 

Out of 90 applicants, 37 teams with over 120 team members were shortlisted, and they got an opportunity to work with assigned mentors. Later on, 12 finalist teams got a chance to present their ideas to the expert jury, which decided on six winners. Balkathon is a regional competition financed by the European Union and implemented by the Regional Cooperation Council.

Young designer from Albania wins Berlin Process logo competition

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The winner of the “Open Call for Young Designers: 2021 Western Balkans Berlin Summit Logo Competition” is a young designer from Albania, Dei Hasko. Mr Hasko, expressed his gratitude to the organisers and highlighted the importance of a connected Western Balkans where young people thrive with their creative ideas.

 

The logo competition was opened from 24 March to 7 April 2021 and invited young people (from 18 to 30 years old) from the Western Balkans to design the logo of this year’s Western Balkans Berlin Process Summit, which will be hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel this summer.

 

Around 170 young designers submitted more than 300 entries to the competition, and the selection committee had to choose the three best entries. The awarding ceremonies for the second and the third prize winners will occur at the premises of the German embassies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia in the upcoming days. The ceremonies will be attended by the awarded young designers, representatives of the German Government and RYCO.

 

The Berlin Process was initiated by the German government to promote regional cooperation of the Western Balkans and support the EU’s enlargement policy. The first summit was organised on 28 August 2014 in Berlin. It was followed by summits in Vienna (2015), Paris (2016), Trieste (2017), London (2018), Poznan (2019) and Sofia (2020).

“How do I see you?” – brings together youth from Kosovo and Serbia

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The organisers of DokuFest international film festival from Kosovo, in cooperation with the Foundation Fund B92 and Free Zone film festival from Serbia, launched a cultural exchange programme, “How do I see you?”. The programme is funded by the EU, with the purpose is to engage young people from both countries in a meaningful interpersonal exchange and cultural cooperation.

 

They undertake joint activities such as video production, visits to cultural heritage sites, workshops and similar. The programme was launched with an online gathering where participants introduced each other, presented their initial video projects and discussed the upcoming activities.

 

The second meeting will be organised in June as a one week camp in Serbia, where participants will have the opportunity to get together again and work on planning and implementation of joint projects and activities. Participants’ collaborative video production work will be screened at the jubilee edition of the DokuFest film festival in Prizren, and the Free Zone festival in Belgrade later this year.

BIRN and IPI launch a call for training Kosovo journalists

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN – and the International Press Institute (IPI) have opened a call for applications for a third two-day training course on fact-checking and tackling disinformation as part of the EU-funded project ‘Solidifying the Resilience of Kosovo’s Current and Future Journalists’.

 

The first edition organised back in December 2020, gathered 36 participants, including 24 journalists and six students of journalism. The training sessions were led by representatives from two independent fact-checking organisations – Maldita.es (Spain) and Teyit.org (Turkey). The second, which took place in March 2021, included trainers from Africa Check – the first independent fact-checking organisation in Africa.

 

This time round, the programme will include experienced trainers such Claus Hesseling, a German journalist and author, Kostas Zafeiropoulos, a co-founder of the non-profit Mediterranean Institute for Investigative Reporting (MIIR), UK-based investigative journalist, Darren Loucaides, and Sarah Hurtes whose work has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Vice and Thomson Reuters.