The involvement of civil society and parliaments in the enlargement process

PROGRAMME

12:30 Lunch buffet 13.00
Word of welcome
by Marije Cornelissen, MEP, green spokesperson on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Albania 13.05
Short introduction
by Ulrike Lunacek, MEP, green spokesperson on Kosovo and Montenegro, standing rapporteur on Kosovo 13.10
Marina Skrabalo, platform 112/GONG, Croatia
Presentation discussion paper on barriers for access to information and involvement of NGOs access in the accession process of Croatia. 13.25
Arni Thor Sigurdsson, Member of Parliament, co-chair of JPC, Iceland
Reaction to discussion paper and share experience how Iceland differs from Croatia, or not. 13.40
Vanya Calovic, NGO "MANS", Montenegro
Outlook for NGO involvement and access to information in Montenegro. 13.50
Wolfgang Rusch, formerly SIGMA/OECD
How NGO and parliamentary involvement is organised in this area in different countries. 14.00
Joost Korte, Deputy Director-General DG Enlargement, European Commission
Reaction to the former speakers and the discussion paper. 14.15
Debate

Debate with speakers and other invitees with the key questions:

• What role should parliaments and civil society play in the accession process and how can their involvement be strengthened?
• What kind of processes, consultation procedures and acess-to-information rules are useful to facilitate involvement of civil society and parliaments in the enlargement process?
• How has access to this information been organised in the accession countries and in Brussels so far, who has the information and decides on making it public or not, and how?
• Where are possible bottlenecks in public and parliamentary access to information, could those be resolved?

14:50
Concluding remarks
by Franziska Brantner, green spokesperson on Serbia and Croatia ----------------------------- This expert meeting is organised by Green MEPs Marije Cornelissen, Ulrike Lunacek and Franziska Brantner