This year ALDA celebrates the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the first Local Democracy Agency in the Balkans, LDA Subotica. This special occasion has been at the core of ALDA Festival and General Assembly 2023, within which the event “30 Years Local Democracy Agencies in the Balkans” took place on 9 June, 2023. 

Key speakers had the chance to connect the recent past with the present and future work of ALDA in the region, linking the past struggles with the current realities while envisioning a European future. The panelists addressed pressing topics for the Western Balkans, offering unique perspectives on democracy work and the challenges that lie ahead. Moderated by Ms. Katica Janeva, Director of Skopje Office and Head of the ALDA Western Balkans Unit, the audience had the pleasure to listen to the contributions of some of the most relevant local and institutional stakeholders in the Balkans. Among them, Ms. Dusica Davidovic, Deputy Mayor of Nis and Member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Council of Europe, who underlined the absolute relevance, especially in the Balkans, of transparent institutions and availability of information in order to build a strong local democracy; “Local democracy is key to building a secure and stable society” – stated Ms. Davidovic.

Afterwards, Ms. Viola Von Cramon-Taubadel, Member of the European Parliament took the floor remarking that local deliberative democracy is essential to create a community in which everyone feels integrated and no one is left behind. As Ms. Von Cramon-Taubadel stated; “I would like to emphasise the importance of local democracy, which is the foundation on which our democratic systems are built. The Local Democracy Agencies act at the local level, and over the last three decades they have worked to create a more inclusive and cohesive society”. 

Later on, Ms. Dragica Martinovic, Vice-president of the EESC‘s Western Balkans Follow-up Committee, contributed by stressing the importance of an effective advocacy action in order to enhance civil dialogue together with social and economic cohesion among the Balkans, which is meaningful in the entire process of EU integration. Furthermore, she dwelt on the importance of young people in the Balkans as key actors of cohesion, so that the EU institutions pay more attention to the needs of civic and local CSOs.

Local democracy as the key to European integration in the Balkans

Lately, the newly elected vice president of ALDA and Director of the Center for Democracy Foundation Ms. Natasa Vuckovic took the floor and stated: “It’s vital to keep reinvigorating the values contained in the EU-Western Balkans Summit Thessaloniki everyday. (…)Taking care of minorities and vulnerable groups, such as LGBTQ+ needs, should become a priority in every Balkan’ Government Agenda in order to make everyone feel part of their own community”. – Ms. Vuckovic concluded. 

The Minister of Local Government Administration of the Republic of Kosovo*, Mr. Elbert Krasniqi, gave then his own valuable contribution as he is trying to be “a minister from another perspective, the one of local government” – Mr. Krasniqi stated. He emphasised the work that the Government of Kosovo* is doing in investing in digital transformation, as a push for the spread of participatory democratic processes among the Kosovar population to improve citizens’ civic engagement.

To conclude, ALDA Governing Board Member and representative of the Municipality of Centar, Mr. Emir Coric underlined the significance of citizens’ decision-making and the increasing need along the Balkan area to strengthen participatory processes such as civic forums; “If we don’t encourage these kind of democratic participatory procedures, the Balkans risk losing the transformative power that every government should have: it’s a threat to future EU integration, and ALDA knows it very well. LDAs in this sense have a key role in gathering communities to encourage participation” – stated Mr. Coric. 

The event represented a valuable occasion to look back together on the road built so far and discuss tomorrow’s commitments and next steps. “There still is an open path that needs to be developed” – stated Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Secretary General – “ALDA is looking forward to working everyday more to join forces in promoting democracy at all levels, especially the local one” – stated Mrs. Valmorbida.

“Democracy faces many challenges and the EU is not new to these challenges.
We cannot take democracy for granted. We must close all the gaps, block authoritarianism, and all the threats. That is why we are working on the defence of the democracy package.
We need to build democratic resilience.”

This is how Dubravka Šuica, Vice President of the European Commission, addressed members and partners of ALDA, during the opening ceremony of the Association’s General Assembly, on Thursday June 8th, 2023.

With her words, she endorsed ALDA’s Festival and Assembly’s main theme “Local Democracy will Save Democracy”, this being probably the biggest challenge European institutions and civil society will have to work for in the upcoming period. A mission that needs to be pursued through the strengthening of participation, democratic values and dialogue.

“We cannot take democracy for granted. We must close all the gap. […] We need to build democratic resilience”

In her inspiring speech, the Vice President went back on her career path, recalling that she herself began her political career as mayor of her hometown and that “once a mayor always a mayor, ‘cause all politics is local in the end”.

Then, the discussion was extended to the hall, where the audience had the chance to interact and ask questions to the Vice President. For instance, a point was raised on the follow-up of the Conference on the Future and on how citizens’ input was taken into account. Here, Šuica, reaffirmed how 80% of European Commission’s initiaitves are directly drawn from recommendations gathered during the CoFoE.

Šuica’s presence was a powerful signal of the stronger and stronger links connecting ALDA and the EC, as well as of how the Commission considers ALDA’s action important for the democratic advancement and the empowerment of local communities, in Europe and in the Neighbourhood.

On May 25, 2023, the Council of Europe Centre of Expertise in cooperation with the Latvian think-tank organisation Providus held a Roundtable discussion on national European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) practices in Riga (Latvia), where Latvian practitioners were joined by peers from Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, North Macedonia, Estonia, and Norway.

ALDA participated in the event represented by Ms. Katica Janeva, Director of the Skopje office and ELoGE expert. Ms. Janeva exchanged experience and lessons learned while implementing ELoGE in Croatia, North Macedonia and Kosovo* and commented on possibilities to improve this self-assessment tool.

Good Democratic Governance at the local level is essential for the development of a strong and sustainable society

Good Democratic Governance at the local level is essential for the development of a strong and sustainable society. The Council of Europe Centre of Expertise for Good Governance promotes such good governance through an innovative and stimulative approach, by implementing its tool European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE).

Ever since its beginning in 2011, ELoGE has been implemented in more than 15 countries and regions across Europe.

The Roundtable held in Latvia was followed by an International Conference on Good Governance at the Local Level, that took place on 26 May 2023. The conference was organised under the auspices of the Latvian Presidency and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. One of the thematic priorities of the Latvian Presidency is good governance at the local level, which represented a central theme of the conference. The event included discussions on various aspects of good governance: rule of law, good financial management and public participation.

Discover more about ALDA’s ELoGE activities here and know more about the implementation of ELoGE in Croatia, North Macedonia and Kosovo* here.

The ALDA Festival and General Assembly 2023 will not only be characterised by relevant topics, stimulating discussions and experienced speakers. This year, ALDA will have the honour of hosting a very special guest: Ms. Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission, who will open the ALDA General Assembly on 8 June 2023 at the Municipal Hall in Etterbeek (Belgium).

Entitled “Local democracy will Save Democracy“, the 2023 event will focus mainly on the power of local democracy as a promoter of equality, freedom, peace, rule of law and human rights. Founding values of the European Union that ALDA and its network deeply believe in and pursue on a daily basis.

Given the importance of this topic, there is no more suitable person than Ms. Šuica to discuss the future of democracy and kick off the ALDA General Assembly.

Commissioner Dubravka Šuica opens the ALDA General Assembly 2023

Commissioner for Democracy and Demography, previously in charge of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Ms. Šuica’s work embodies the above-mentioned values and is constantly aimed at promoting and supporting democracy, stimulating the participation of those who represent the very pillars of the European project: us, the citizens.

As stated by Ms. Šuica during the closing statement of the Conference on the Future of Europe “We will hear your views, citizens’ views. The most important participants in this process, the citizens.” Highlighting the fundamental role of the population, that with a bottom-up approach contributes to building a strong local democracy, for a resilient and thriving global one.  

We therefore look forward to the start of this ALDA Festival and General Assembly to be held in Etterbeek from 6 to 9 June 2023, which will be characterised by important discussions, exchanges of ideas and valuable insights. Come and join us! 

Discover the full programme by clicking here.

Register here and join us!

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Local Democracy will Save Democracy – ALDA Festival and General Assembly 2023

Launched in March 2020 in spite of the difficult situation, the Kyrgyzstan-based Media Dialogue project is relentlessly proceeding with its implementation; July 3rd 2020 marked another crucial step towards the project goals, as an online event was organized to officially sign grant agreements with the four pre-selected grant winners, i.e.

1. The www.24.kg news agency
2. Radio Salam Kyrgyzstan (Daanazat)
3. Promedia Plus
4. The TV1KG TV channel.

Beating 23 other applications that ALDA had received as part of the call for proposals it launched in April, in fact, each of these four finalist organizations will now receive up to 30,000 euro, as stipulated with this official signing of the grant agreements.

“We are glad that we started to explore the region with Kyrgyzstan because, despite all the recent challenges, it remains one of the most democratic country in this part of the world”, stated ALDA Secretary General Antonella Valmorbida referring to the project being the first for ALDA in Central Asia. Indeed, in the past few years Kyrgyzstan experienced a good amount of political turmoil, going through revolutions in 2005 and 2010 that led to changes in the country’s leadership and to ethnic violence in the south, eventually culminating in a constitutional referendum in 2010 that reduced presidential powers and established a parliamentary system.

As expressed by Eastern Partnership & Central Asia Coordinator Alexandru Coica, “It is truly inspiring for us to see such interest [the 27 applications for the grants] because we know how challenging the current situation is for media institutions. Apart from the global pandemic situation, the local media are also affected by recent legislative initiatives that tend to negatively affect freedom of expression, access to information and media independence“.

Indeed, Media Dialogue effectively wants to provide conflict prevention and mitigation tools ahead of the 2020 elections to avoid the repetition of past crises, and aims to do so by strengthening the capacity and responsibility of media actors to operate as drivers of democracy. To reach this goal, on the one hand the project wants to improve the legal environment affecting the media sector in Kyrgyzstan, so that the environment abides by international freedom of expression standards; on the other hand, it will help media actors play a stabilisation role as reliable relays of information and democratic watchdogs during the 2020 electoral cycle.

Hopefully, Dr. Valmorbida added, this will be just the beginning of a fruitful cooperation with an increasing number of local partners: “ALDA is interested not only in establishing working relationships with its grantees, but also a truly constructive and long-term partnership”. Best of luck, Media Dialogue!

ALDA took part in the two-day Civil Society Organisation Governance Community of practice regional meeting, organised by EU TACSO 3 in Belgrade (Serbia) on 11 and 12 May 2023.

The objective of the meeting was to bring together key stakeholders from the Western Balkans region and Türkiye to share best regional and EU experiences on CSO governance and create a community of practice on governance.

The aim of the meeting was to create a community of practice on governance

At this working meeting, Milena Dimitrovska-Zurovska, ALDA Skopje project developer, shared the Association’s European and regional experiences with CSO governance, challenges and approaches to transformation. Ms. Dimitrovska-Zurovska spoke about the development of the network, the activities and different approaches adopted by ALDA during its work in the region and how these have helped the network to grow outside its original borders in the Western Balkans.

ALDA will continue to work with professionals in the region and build partnerships to ensure the development of the Western Balkans and Türkiye on its path towards the EU.

On 15 May 2023, ALDA and the Central European Initiative (CEI) met in Trieste (🇮🇹) to identify further possibilities for cooperation on the basis of the MoU – Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2022 in order to formalise the framework of the partnership that combines the work in the Western Balkans. The signature of the MoU represented an official and crucial moment of institutional bond between ALDA and CEI as it has been the outcome of a longstanding fil rouge that combines the ongoing commitment of the two organisations in the area. 

ALDA Governing Board Member and Representative of the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, Mr. Alessandro Perelli, ALDA Secretary General, Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida together with the Director of Programmes and Corporate Strategy, Mr. Marco Boaria, met with CEI Secretary General, Mr. Roberto Antonione, and CEI Senior Officer, Mr. Ugo Poli, to discuss the next steps to undertake and strengthen the cooperation. 

Increasing citizen participation and the democratic level in different local Western Balkans realities is the key point at the basis of the partnership between ALDA and CEI, that are currently cooperating and joining forces to give concrete support to the building of a strong local good governance expertise. 

Increasing citizen participation and the democratic level in different Western Balkans realities is the key point at the basis of the partnership between ALDA and CEI

The plan foresees a key event in Skopje (North Macedonia) together with ALDA Skopje in 2023 and the presentation of the flagship initiative in Ukraine: the aim is to continue to expand LDAs range of action and strengthen their work. ALDA represents CEI’s key partner for its work in the Western Balkans: CEI Moldova representatives will also take part in ALDA Festival and General Assembly 2023 as an opportunity to further enhance this collaboration. 

hese events will be marked by a festive atmosphere as 2023 is the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of the first Local Democracy Agency Subotica in the Balkans: we look forward to celebrating the everyday activity of the LDAs and their delegates, the achievements of ALDA and the LDAs through the years, with the collaboration of our closest partners.

The choice of Trieste, regional capital of the “Friuli Venezia Giulia” Autonomous Region (🇮🇹) as the host of the meeting is symbolic as it remarks the formalisation of this long-lasting collaboration between the Region, ALDA and CEI.