In the crowded amphitheater in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia, on November 9, 2017, the National Convention on the European Union in the Republic of Macedonia (NCEE-RM) held its first plenary session, organized by the European Movement of the Republic of Macedonia (EDRM).
NCEE-RM is a project that, in cooperation with USAID, Slovak Aid and the Association for Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic, is implementing the European Movement in the Republic of Macedonia.
At the conference, chaired by the President of EDRM, Prof. Mileva Gurovska, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, the President of the Commission for European Affairs in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Artan Grubi, the ambassador the US Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia, Jess Bailey, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Slovak Republic Ivan Korchok, and Lukash Holub, Head of Political, Legal and Interior Affairs of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Macedonia. Project leader Tomaz Strajaj, of the Slovak Association for Foreign Policy, spoke about the project itself.
The National Convention on the European Union was developed and successfully applied in the Slovak Republic as a model for motivating social actors to participate in the process of negotiations with the EU. Through the project, the Slovak experts will transfer their experiences to the Macedonian partners. The Convention in Macedonia will be organized as a permanent forum for open dialogue between representatives of the Government, Parliament, relevant state institutions, political parties, as well as representatives of universities, businessmen, trade unions, civil society and other important stakeholders of the EU integration process in the Republic Macedonia.
This dialogue should lead to analyzes and recommendations for the advancement and approximation of the Republic of Macedonia to the standards for membership in the EU.
In the first phase, the project will work in four working groups: Agriculture and Rural Development, Social Policies and Employment, Legislation and Human Rights and Justice, Freedom and Security.
In the second, working part of the conference chaired by Trpe Stojanovski from the European Movement in the Republic of Macedonia addressed the director of the Slovak Association for Foreign Policy, Alexander Duleba, the representative of the European Movement in Serbia, Ivan Knezevic and the representative of the European Movement in Montenegro, Momcilo Radulovic who translated their experiences from the implementation of the National Convention in their own countries and region. Also in this session were presented the experts from the four working groups: Aleksandra Martinovska from the Faculty of Agriculture and Food, Nano Ruzin from FON University, Simonida Kacarska from the Institute for European Policies, Blerim Reka from the South East European University, and Andrei Lepavtsov of the Pan-European Union in the Republic of Macedonia.