Civil society organisations, participants at the Civil Society and Think Tank Forum 2024, have called upon the participants of next week’s Berlin Process Summit to adopt conclusions of support to the rule of law and democracy in the Western Balkans. They also proposed a conclusion which would call upon Western Balkan governments to abstain from all types of direct and indirect oppressions towards civil society.

The 2024 Berlin Process Summit, which will mark the tenth anniversary of the initiative, is scheduled to take place on 14 October in the capital of Germany. Leaders of the Western Balkans 6, European Union institutions, the Federal Government of the Republic of Germany and the governments of the EU will participate in the Summit.

As was the case in previous years, the Summit is preceded by the Civil Society and Think Tank Forum 2024, which is taking place this week. Participants of the forum today invited the leaders to adopt the following conclusions at next week’s Summit:

In light of increasing concerns about the state of the rule of law and democracy in the region, call upon Western Balkans 6 governments to demonstrate a strong commitment to enforcing the rule of law standards as preconditions for the acceleration of the EU accession-related reforms, in line with the Fundamentals First EU enlargement principle;

Call upon Western Balkans 6 governments to abstain from all types of direct and indirect oppressions towards civil society, activists and media in the region, and to oppose the adoption of restrictive laws and regulations that shrink the space for civil society.

The initiative was supported by more than 20 CSOs from the Western Balkans, including the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia, Independent Journalists ASsociation of Vojvodina, Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI), Centre for Contemporary Politics, Transparency Serbia, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Centre for Investigative Reporting, UG “Zašto ne”, Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina and European Fund for the Balkans.

(Autonomija)