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Author: WeBalkans

RCC: Nominations for Western Balkans women entrepreneurs of the year 2022 open

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The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) is happy to announce that the nomination process for the Western Balkans Women Entrepreneurs of the Year 2022 has begun! The RCC launched this initiative last year in the framework of the Common Regional Market Action Plan 2021-2024 and the Women Economic Empowerment Agenda to recognise women who have started and developed their own businesses and contributed to new and sustainable jobs for other women and men in our region.

 

With less than 22% of Western Balkans entrepreneurs being female, the importance of promoting stories of successful women entrepreneurs from the region stands high. Women’s economic empowerment is critical to building resilient recovery efforts and more significant economic growth, as the number of women in the labour market is deeply intertwined with the region’s development.

 

The RCC invites individuals, representatives of public and private institutions, organisations and everyone interested to nominate their woman entrepreneur of the year in one (or more) of the following six categories: Green Woman Entrepreneur, Creative Woman Entrepreneur, Travel and Hospitality Woman Entrepreneur; Roma Woman Entrepreneur; Start-up Woman Entrepreneur; Young Woman Entrepreneur.

 

The recognition process will be open until 28 February 2023, and eligible women entrepreneurs should have registered their businesses before February 2022.

EU signs €70 million Financing Agreement for Energy Support Package for Bosnia and Herzegovina

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The European Commission has signed and sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina the Financing Agreement for the Energy Support Package worth €70 million that will provide assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s most vulnerable households to cope with rising prices and support energy transition.  
The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina will now need to approve and countersign the Agreement to receive the first tranche of the allocated funds of around €63 million. Before the money is disbursed, BiH is expected to receive a positive assessment from the European Commission on progress in implementing the Action Plan approved by the BiH Council of Ministers on 22 December 2022. This Action Plan lists the measures that the BiH authorities will take to use the funds from the Energy Support Package and enable the country’s energy transition.  
The Energy Support Package for the Western Balkans was announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her visit to the region in October 2022. It allocates a total of €1 billion for the region –€500 million in immediate assistance and €500 million in medium to long-term support.

The Delegation of the European Union in Albania launches “Track the truth”, an initiative campaign to raise awareness about disinformation

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“Track the Truth” comes as a call from the European Union Delegation in Albania to fight together the distorted perceptions of reality. This awareness campaign dedicated to disinformation and misinformation has already started its journey on Tuesday, 31 January, with the inauguration of a unique installation in Skanderbeg Square near the National Historical Museum. It is a graphic tunnel, covered by disinformation and seemingly provocative messages, which invites you to track the truths hidden behind each of them.

 

Citizens, fact-checkers and media professionals are invited to reflect on the impact of disinformation by walking through this nine m-long tunnel, coated inside with true messages, graphically distorted to resemble some of the most common lies on Covid19, the war in Ukraine or climate change issues. The tunnel is equipped with a QR code that links you to a website where the messages are debunked, thanks to verified and objective information. The same platform also offers some tips on how to spot disinformative content.

EIB Global invests €76 million in upgrading education and waterway transportation in Serbia

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EIB Global, the European Investment Bank (EIB) arm devoted to activities outside the European Union, has unlocked €76 million to modernise further Serbia’s education and sustainable transport infrastructure. This includes a €40 million loan to build, renovate and equip educational facilities across the country. Most investments will be made in regional training centres offering upper secondary vocational training and education. These infrastructure improvements will provide modern learning conditions and improve the quality of education while also increasing productivity and employability in the country.  
In the education sector, the EIB and the Republic of Serbia also signed an additional €5 million for the Connected Schools Project on top of the €65 million loan signed in 2020 to help bring new digital skills and equipment to over 1 500 Serbian schools.  
Finally, following a €100 million loan signed in 2018, the Bank unlocked another €31 million to improve waterway navigation along the Sava and Danube rivers, to make river transport in Serbia and the region safer and more efficient.

EU Communication Workshop with YEAs in Skopje, North Macedonia

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Following the successful Communication Workshops organized in Tirana, Albania, in October 2022 and Belgrade, Serbia, in December 2022, the third communication workshop, titled “Communicating EU to Youth – Communicating Youth to Youth”, was organized on 4 February 2023, in the premises of Europe House Skopje, North Macedonia.

 

The workshop was divided into two sessions:

 

During the morning session, the YEAs were addressed by Ms Giada Trucco (Communication Officer, Strategic Communication for Western Balkans, DG NEAR), Mr Julian Vassallo (Deputy Head of Delegation, EU Delegation to North Macedonia), Ms Selena Tasic (Public Diplomacy Manager, WeBalkans) and by Ms Michela Di Stefano (Team Leader, WeBalkans). Also, three YEAs (Ivan Durgutov from North Macedonia, Agnesa Jashari from Kosovo, and Kristian Petro from Albania) shared inspirational stories about activism in their local communities.

 

The afternoon session started with the icebreaker “Draw and Lead” and was followed by the “Communication Workshop” with Gareth Harding. In the end, a Q&A session was organized, and the evaluation form was shared with the participants.

 

On 5 February (Sunday morning), the YEAs also had an organized visit to “Daut Pasha Hammam”, a historical monument built in the second half of the 15th century, today serving as the headquarter of the National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia.

Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Cultural Leadership and Media Programmes

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UNESCO, the British Council, and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) have joined forces to manage Culture and Creativity for the Western Balkans (CC4WBs). A programme funded by the European Union, aimed at fostering intercultural dialogue and enhancing the socio-economic impact of the cultural and creative sector in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia).

 

Through a broad participatory approach targeting public authorities, the private sector, civil society organizations in culture, as well as individual professionals in the sector, the CC4WBs programme aims to: improve the performance of the cultural and creative sector in the Western Balkans, strengthen the cultural cooperation within and with the region, and enhance inclusive cultural heritage for local development.

 

The ultimate beneficiaries of the CC4WBs programme are the citizens of the Western Balkans, who will have various opportunities to apply for professional development and capacity-building activities, as well as grant funding within specific thematic windows.

 

The CC4WBs programme has launched an Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Cultural Leadership and Media Programmes. This Open Call for Expressions of Interest is organized under Thematic Window 2 of the Culture and Creativity for the Western Balkans Programme’s portfolio of Open Calls. It is aimed at individual applicants willing to participate in the specified Programme Cycles contributing to the cultural sector and cross-sectoral challenges.

For more information, please visit the following link.

EU-North Macedonia: Commission proposes up to €100 million in assistance for North Macedonia

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The Commission proposed on 6 February to provide up to €100 million in Macro-financial Assistance (MFA) to North Macedonia. With this proposal, the Commission is standing by North Macedonia in challenging times, as, following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the country’s external balance has deteriorated rapidly because of its high dependency on imports of fuel and electricity. North Macedonia also faces large external debt repayment needs in 2023 in a context of challenging financing conditions.  
The proposed assistance would contribute to covering North Macedonia’s financing needs in 2023 and 2024, supporting both fiscal sustainability and structural reforms. Today’s proposal accompanies a 24-month support programme concluded with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), of up to €530 million.  
The assistance would come in the form of loans, to be paid in two tranches. These two payments would be conditional on the implementation of policy measures which need to be agreed between North Macedonia and the EU in a Memorandum of Understanding. The Memorandum of Understanding is likely to focus on policy reforms in the areas of fiscal governance, tax policy, the management of public investment, public-private partnerships, business environment, transparency in state aid, energy efficiency, judiciary reform, and the fight against corruption. The payments would also be conditional on a positive track record in implementing the IMF programme. These reforms will support North Macedonia on its path to EU membership.

EU supports the final section of the Trans-Balkan Electricity Corridor in Serbia

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On 23 January, the Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia, Dubravka Đedović, the Director of the German Development Bank (KfW) office in Belgrade, Rüdiger Hartmann, the Minister of European Integration Tanja Miščević and the Director of “Elektromreža Srbije” Jelena Matejić signed an €8.9 million investment for the implementation of the 84-km section of the Trans-Balkan Electricity Corridor in Serbia.  
The EU has contributed to the project with a WBIF grant of €11 million, complemented by a KfW loan of €30 million.  
The section involves the construction of a 400-kV interconnecting transmission line from the Bajina Bašta substation to the borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.  
The start of works is scheduled in early 2025 – after the construction on the third section connecting Obrenovac to Bajina Bašta has started, – and completion can be expected in 2027. One hundred twenty kilometres of the Trans-Balkan Corridor on Serbian territory have already been built, from Pančevo to the border with Romania and from Kragujevac to Kraljevo.  
The Trans-Balkan Electricity Corridor is part of the EU €1 billion Energy Support Package for the Western Balkans, launched by President von der Leyen on 6 December on the occasion of the EU-Western Balkans Summit.

Meet the 16 Awarded Superschools of North Macedonia

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The Regional Youth Cooperation Office, in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) organised the introductory event “Meet the Superschools of North Macedonia” in Skopje on 26 January in the framework of the Superschools Exchange Programme. The meeting gathered the 16 awarded high schools from North Macedonia represented by their principals and teachers in charge of coordinating the upcoming regional exchanges not only to get to meet with each other but also to be part of a significant momentum such as the signing of the Partnership Agreements.

 

The directors and professors who will coordinate and implement these youth exchanges presented their ideas that will be further developed with the support of RYCO. The meeting served as a space for the participating schools to present their exchange programs in front of several important local and international actors. Also, it helped them create a clear overview of the program’s next steps. Young people representing the 16 high schools will have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the unique experience that the Superschools program has to offer.

 

The implementation of the projects will be divided into two rounds: The first round of exchanges will happen from April to June 2023, and the second round will continue from August to October 2023. Each partner school will organise one exchange visit to the partnering one lasting up to 7 days with a group of up to 12 students and 1 to 2 teachers. Through the exchange scheme, students and teachers will have the chance to travel, present themselves, their schools, and customs to their hosts, and learn new things about local communities throughout the region.

YEA participate in a conference on challenges and opportunities of the EU and the Western Balkans relations in Denmark

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The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) and the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB), in cooperation with the Danish Foreign Policy Society and three key Danish political parties – the Social Democrats, the Liberal Party and Green Left, hosted the whole day conference at the Danish Parliament on 25 January 2023.  
The discussion, which has attracted significant interest and had a public of around 100 participants, was mainly focused on the recent developments and the present challenges in the relationship between the EU and the aspiring member states in the Western Balkan.  
In the centre of the debate were the opportunities and obstacles for the countries of the Western Balkan towards progress in the EU accession through a dialogue between policymakers, activists and analysts from Denmark, the EU and the Western Balkans and how to make the integration process of the Western Balkans more tangible, bringing the region closer to the EU and how Denmark can support the process.  
The conference was also attended by Young European Ambassador (YEA) Ivan Durgutov, who was part of the panel ‘Challenges of Trust and Transformation in the Western Balkans’. The panel included young people who addressed the challenges of youth engagement and involvement in Western Balkan-EU relations.