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Author: WeBalkans

Montenegro and the Western Balkans Investment Framework

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Publications.

This factsheet highlights the results of the support provided by the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) in Montenegro. The WBIF is a cooperation facility that contributes to the Western Balkans’ European perspective by supporting investment projects that improve competitiveness and growth, while reinforcing regional cooperation and connectivity.

Serbia and the Western Balkans Investment Framework

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Publications.

This factsheet highlights the results of the support provided by the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) in Serbia. The WBIF is a cooperation facility that contributes to the Western Balkans’ European perspective by supporting investment projects that improve competitiveness and growth, while reinforcing regional cooperation and connectivity.

WBIF at a glance

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Publications.

This factsheet highlights results on the support provided by the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) for the past ten years. The WBIF is a unique and successful blending platform uniting beneficiaries, donors, and lenders to enhance harmonisation and cooperation in investments for the socio-economic development of the Western Balkans.

WBIF Annual Report 2019

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Publications.

This report highlights fact and figures on the Western Balkans Investment Framework’s (WBIF) support over the past ten years. The WBIF is a cooperation facility that contributes to the Western Balkans’ European perspective by supporting investment projects that improve competitiveness and growth while reinforcing regional cooperation and connectivity.

Authors from Albania and Serbia among winners of the EU Literature Prize

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

Albanian author, Enkel Demi, for his novel “Flama” (Calamity) and Serbian author, Dejan Tiago Stanković, for “Zamalek” are among the winners of this year’s EU Literature Prizes.

 

The European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) recognises emerging fiction writers from the European Union and beyond. Engaging the 41 participating members in the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, the Prize celebrates 41 outstanding new literary talents across a cycle of three years.

 

Spotlighting the creativity and the immense and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature in the field of fiction, EUPL aims to promote the circulation of literature within Europe and encourage greater interest in non-national literary works. The 2021 edition awards thirteen laureates from the countries participating in this cycle, including authors from Albania and Serbia.

 

The 2021 laureate for each country was selected by a national jury of experts in literature, publishing and bookselling.

 

Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, congratulated the winning laureates.  Commissioner Gabriel said: “The EU Prize for Literature celebrates and promotes the incredible creativity and diversity that can be found in Europe’s contemporary literature scene. The immense value of literature is more apparent now than ever before. Having lived under the shadow of Covid for more than a year, books have become “essential”. Congratulations to the laureates!”

Out and online

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

With EU support, a pioneer LGBTI organisation marches in defence of the community in Kosovo
How would you characterise members of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and intersex) community? The average Kosovar’s answer to this question includes extravaganza, the rainbow flag, and the Pride Parade. Such stereotypes are mainly a result of the limited information provided by mass media, combined with the traditional constraints that slow down society’s process of opening up. But there is much more to be said about Kosovo’s LGBTI community than just the Pride Parade, and not everything is as colourful as it appears in pictures.
“We organise the Pride Parade to raise awareness about the rights of the LGBTI community, but mainly to voice our concerns about the violation of those rights. Basically, it is a protest walk,” says Arber Nuhiu from CSGD, the Center for Social Group Development. The organisation is one of the most important civil society bodies working to improve the position of the community and is the key organiser of all the events that take place around the Pride Parade. In recent years, the event’s headline was same-sex marriage, a legal right that is denied by Kosovo’s institutions although guaranteed by the Constitution. CSGD and other LGBTI and human rights organisations have lobbied for years for this provision to be included in the new Civil Code, but their calls so far have been ignored.

“We organise the Pride Parade to raise awareness about the rights of the LGBTI community, but mainly to voice our concerns about the violation of those rights. Basically, it is a protest walk.”

“Our approach has been systematic in pursuit of our objective. We know what we want, and we know how to do it,” Nuhiu says, referring to the advocacy work for the community. He gives credit to the European Union for being there for them when it was most needed. CSGD received an operational grant from the EU to strengthen the organisation’s capacities, enabling it to better serve the community. The LGTBI community in Kosovo recently celebrated their first achievement when they managed to include provisions that broaden the legal protection for LGBTI people in the new Criminal Code. This was a direct success of strategic advocacy. However, there is a continuing struggle for the implementation of the legal framework. Cases of hate crime against LGBTI individuals are usually not properly investigated or brought to court. The community believes that the next improvement needs to take place amongst the state bodies that prosecute, investigate and execute pass judgments. That is why LGBTI organisations are also active in training police, prosecutors and judges on best practices. Bringing the service to where the problems are CSGD’s experience spans almost two decades of interacting and supporting the community. Its experience shows that there are two LGBTI realities in Kosovo: one is life in the capital Prishtina/ Pristina, and the other in the rest of the country where the situation is grim. The capital is the place where LGBTI people gain some freedom, but the coronavirus pandemic has, for reasons that range from interrupted education to losing a job, forced them to go back home.

“ LGBTI people’s biggest fear is not being accepted, primarily by their family. We cannot imagine the pressure they have in their homes. Every day. Second, comes the fear of not being accepted by society.”

About the programme The European Union funded the organisation Center for Social Group Development and its core activities within the national Civil Society Facility 2015. The objective of the operational grant was to enhance its advocacy activities, profilisation, networking and coalition-building. The global objective was to enable and stimulate a participatory democracy in Kosovo by creating an environment which promotes partnership and dialogue between civil society and public institutions, and by building the capacity of CSOs to be effective and accountable independent actors. “LGBTI people’s biggest fear is not being accepted, primarily by their family. We cannot imagine the pressure they have in their homes. Every day. Second, comes the fear of not being accepted by society,” says Nuhiu. As a result, since the start of the pandemic there has been a spike in the number of people seeking counselling support and in the number of cases of violence. CSGD’s response was already being developed: an online platform providing professional and free counselling and legal support to everyone. The platform is the latest achievement of CSGD’s mission that leads to further empowerment of the community. Now the organisation is there in digital form for every LGBTI Kosovar in need, wherever they live.

Western Balkan Youth Talks: how can the EU connect better with youth?

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

On Europe Day, 9 May, for the first time ever, young people from the region, Young European Ambassadors (YEAs) and the EU Ambassadors in the Western Balkans region came together in an online event. Participants discussed possibilities to enhance connections between young people from the region and the European Union.

 

The debate heard how young people from the Western Balkans should be able to make decisions about their own future, and how for this it is crucial to have greater opportunities to travel and exchange with their peers across Europe. Discussions also touched on the importance of the EU in strengthening education systems and increasing research capacity.

 

Initiated by the EU Delegation to North Macedonia, the participants pointed out that there is a need to involve more young people, especially from rural areas and marginalised groups. Young people are aware that change cannot happen instantly and that their involvement is necessary to make a real difference.

 

The Ambassadors welcomed the energy and determination of the participants encouraging them to be even more demanding: among their peers, in their own countries and towards the EU.

EU Cohesion policy: EUSAIR kicks-off its 6th Annual Forum

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

The 6th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) started today focusing on a green and smart recovery. Prior to the official opening, Ministers of the nine participating countries adopted the ‘Izola Declaration’, laying the foundations for a more resilient and sustainable Adriatic-Ionian Region.

 

“The adoption of the Izola Declaration will lead the way towards a green and digital recovery and will further facilitate the enlargement process of our close neighbours in the Western Balkans,” said EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira. Ferreira added that EUSAIR plays an important role in increasing multi-level regional cooperation, resolving bilateral issues, bringing stability and fostering EU integration.

 

The EUSAIR, launched in October 2014, covers a macro-region of more than 70 million people in four EU Member States (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Slovenia) and five countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) cooperating to overcome common challenges in four pillars: Blue Growth, Connecting the Region (Transport and Energy), Environmental Quality and Sustainable Tourism. See the programme for more details of the 6th Annual Forum that takes place over two days.

#EuropeDay – the EU throws open its virtual doors!

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

For Europe Day (9 May) this year, the EU institutions are throwing open their ‘virtual’ doors so that people across Europe and beyond can find out more about the European Union. A special section in the ‘Green Lanes from Europe to the World’ Virtual Tour is dedicated to the Western Balkans. Interested visitors can discover masses of interactive materials, videos and special messages from the EU Ambassadors in the region to find out all about EU-Western Balkan relations.   Visitors can also visit and interact with the EU institutions, such as the European Parliament, Council, the Commission and other EU institutions in the virtual, immersive space. Users have the opportunity to explore content, play games online, watch engaging videos and test their knowledge on the EU in general, as well as on themes related to a green and digital Europe. With a click, users can take part in online debates on EU topics and explore other online events.   Come and join us in this digital celebration. Happy Europe Day!  

Journalists get more time to tell the truth

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

Investigative journalism is a precious commodity that the EU considers worth investing in
In Kosovo, digital news consumption experienced a boom a few years ago.  With the pandemic forcing people to spend more time indoors, the power of digital platforms has only increased, and these platforms are the most common sources of false or misleading information.
The number of online news portals in Kosovo surged around the general elections in 2017, according to Arta Berisha, a prominent journalist who has covered the phenomenon of fake news. At that time, she had just started teaching journalism “As a journalist, I was concerned about the lack of standards on these portals,” she says.

“We wanted to provide a platform for journalists who are unable to produce content independently; for them to do their job without being influenced by advertisers or the daily pressure of producing content in their newsrooms.”

Compared to the US market, where fake news content was developed for financial gain, in Kosovo misleading information is intended mainly for political gains. “Content packaged with catchy headlines and biased and unverified content is abundant and is produced for purely political interests by media representatives affiliated across the political spectrum in Kosovo,” says Berisha who has written extensively on the topic since 2017. The situation is confirmed in a European Parliament study which references Berisha’s work and concludes that disinformation in the Western Balkans is produced and disseminated by domestic actors for domestic purposes. This study on disinformation, conducted in the period from 2018 through 2020 reveals three key disinformation challenges: external challenges to EU credibility; disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the impact of disinformation on elections and referenda.  
A series of 12 articles by Berisha shed light on this widespread phenomenon among digital media covering a range of topics, from elections to fact-checking and unjustified government financing of selected media with the potential to influence on their editorial policies. In her articles she puts the spotlight on news portals who are members of the Press Council and have repeatedly published stories that contained fake information potentially damaging a person’s or an entity’s reputation. The public broadcaster, RTK, was not exempt.

“Content packaged with catchy headlines and biased and unverified content is abundant and is produced for purely political interests by media representatives affiliated across the political spectrum in Kosovo.”

About the programme BIRN and the Association of Journalists in Kosovo implemented the project “Contributing to Strengthening Independent, Investigative and Publicly Beneficial Journalism and Freedom of Expression in Kosovo” funded by an EU grant. A Fellowship helped finance 20 individual journalists, while the sub-granting scheme provided support to 48 grantees, including 26 individual journalists (12 of whom were women) and 22 media organisations, 16 of which were based in non-majority communities. Meanwhile, an internship programme gave opportunities to 57 interns, 41 of whom were women. 440 pieces of journalism were produced under the project, with much of the work republished in media across Kosovo and the region.  
Berisha was one of 46 journalists who have published their own findings on a range of topics of public interest as part of an EU-funded programme to strengthen investigative journalism and freedom of expression in Kosovo. The scheme, implemented through fellowships and grants, allowed journalists to conduct in-depth investigations over a period of up to six months. “We wanted to provide a platform for journalists who are unable to produce content independently; to allow them to do their job without being influenced by advertisers or the daily pressure of producing content in their newsrooms,” says Albulena Sadiku from the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN. Investigative pieces have caused public and media debate, and even parliamentary discussions on issues of high public interest. In addition, journalists have received awards for their work, such is the case with a story on children’s rights awarded by the coalition of NGOs active in the field. Arta Berisha’s articles were also widely published by local media and beyond. All these contribute to building credibility in journalism, she says. “Fake news makes people lose their trust in journalism.” Berisha adds that it distorts our ability to identify credible sources of information. She organised an exhibition showcasing printed samples from her research in order to raise awareness about the issue among the media community. “No media representative that was part of my research showed up.”