Mrs. Natasa Kovacevic as representative from the ENV.net Montenegro, has participated on Civil Society Forum Belgrade on May 12 – 13, 2016 at Belgrade, Serbia.

The Civil Society Forum Belgrade is organized under the umbrella of the “Civil Society Forum of the Western Balkans Summit Series”, as a joint initiative of the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) and ERSTE Foundation, supported by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), and in close cooperation with the European Movement in Serbia – Local Council in Novi Sad and the Center for Regionalism.

The Forum intends to contribute to the greater role, visibility and impact of the civil society in the so-called “Berlin process” and the broader EU integration process of the Western Balkan aspirants. The civil society organizations gathered around this initiative with the desire to develop a common position when it comes to following the footsteps of the Berlin and Vienna summits and to construct a more permanent Forum for civil society to cooperate and develop a dialogue with political leaders and governments.

Heading towards the Western Balkans Paris Summit in July 2016, the Civil Society Forum aims to establish a sustainable and relevant second-track process as a common WB-EU platform dedicated to the challenges in the Western Balkans, but first and foremost to European cohesion, which has to be co-shaped by the civil society, policy community, media and other relevant stakeholders.

Civil Society Forum Belgrade Conclusions:

• Involve more relevant CSO networks to generate a representative platform in the areas of environment and climate change in WB6.
• Organize a specific regional workshop on environment and climate change before the Paris Summit in July, having in mind a high interest and commitment shown for these topics by WB6 CSOs.
• CSO Forum participants thank the French Government for addressing environment and climate change, as crucial topics for development of WB6 countries, as demonstrated by the Podgorica Ministerial Meeting held on April 2, 2016.
• CSOs stress that addressing environment and climate change issues provides a powerfull leverage for sustainable development and democracy in WB6.
• CSO Forum participants expect that environment and climate change will remain at the agenda of the Berlin-Vienna-Paris process and acquire support from the national governments in WB6, as well as EU countries, European Commission and IFIs.