Two-day conference "Regional Cooperation for EU Integration" begins in Parliament
Two-day conference in Parliament on the role of parliamentary oversight in the EU accession process
A two-day conference on "Regional Cooperation for EU Integration" will be held in Parliament, which today and tomorrow will address issues related to the role of effective parliamentary oversight in advancing the accession process to the European Union.
Opening and participants
The conference will be welcomed by the General Secretary of Parliament Marina Dimovska, Vice-President of Parliament Antonijo Milososki, Minister for European Affairs Bekim Sali and the acting Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Jan‑Axel Fos.
During today, the first session is devoted to the role of Western Balkan parliaments in the EU accession process: innovations and developments at the European and regional level. This session will feature Giulio Veneri, Deputy Head of the Unit for Strategy and Coordination of Enlargement, DG ENEST, Unit A1, European Commission, together with representatives of delegations from Western Balkan countries.
The second session, "Parliaments as drivers of cooperation: the importance of the parliamentary contribution to strengthening regional cooperation", will include Maja Ribar‑Sarkinovic, Political Adviser at the Regional Cooperation Council, and Ana Krstinovska, Executive Director of Estima, followed by a joint discussion.
This will be followed by a review of the state of implementation of the principles of effective parliamentary oversight in the European integration process: Legislative function and oversight function, where Aleksandar Andrija Pejovic, an expert at GIZ, will speak. A session on Parliamentary diplomacy, administrative capacities, communication and visibility will follow, with a presentation by Demush Shasha, an expert at GIZ, and at the end of today there will be the session "In Focus: successful parliamentary practices" with speakers from the delegations of Western Balkan countries.
Two sessions are planned for tomorrow: the first, "Guardians of the reform processes: How to strengthen parliamentary oversight over the reform agenda?", will be led by Simonida Katsarska, Director of the Institute for European Policy, and the second, "From public policy documents to reality: possible scenarios for the new course of the enlargement process", will provide a review of current policies and possible novelties in the accession methodology by examining the proposed scenarios, with a presentation by Aleksandar Andrija Pejovic. After both sessions there will be closing remarks and the conference will be closed.
Photo: press material from the event
