CIVIL SECTOR PARTICIPATING IN THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS AND THE PRACTICE OF NATIONAL CONVENTIONS ON THE EU

Abstract

From the mid 1990ies, the relations between the EU and the civil sector have become one of the key issues in the debate of the democratic deficit of the European Union. The EU has since made additional efforts to establish a productive dialogue with the civil sector and include it the policy and regulation planning and adoption process on the EU level. EU accession experience has shown that is necessary, in all countries, particularly those that were under autocratic rule, to strengthen democratic institutions and put democratic practices in place, and thus strengthen not only the key democratic principles but also the common values of the European Union. This why the European Union consistently repeats the need for establishing an active dialogue with the civil sector in the accession process in its strategic documents. Some countries have also tried to integrate their own approaches to this issues in the accession process, basing it on the needs and programmes of the local civil society organizations. One such model is the National Convention on the European Union, which was set up in Slovakia and then replicated in Western Balkan countries, Moldova and Ukraine. The paper outlines the work of the Convention in Slovakia, and analyzes the impact of the National Convention on the EU in Serbia on the strenghtening of the public-private dialogue in Serbia.