Report
CIVICUS in Europe Seminar
Zagreb, Croatia, 23 February, 2002

by Stuart Etherington
Chair, CIVICUS European Board
Member, CIVICUS (Global) Board

On 23 February the CIVICUS European Regional Office organised a successful international event which brought together over fifty delegates in a one-day seminar held in the Croatian capital. The event was an opportunity for European CIVICUS members to meet and exchange ideas, experiences and concerns with organisations from Central and Eastern Europe. Organisations were present among others from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Yugoslavia. Zagreb provided the ideal setting for civil society representatives to learn about CIVICUS and its European activities, and to discuss issues around the evolving relationship between government and civil society, as well as to debate the role, scope and diversity of civil society in Europe.

Croatia, as our host, provided an example from the region of the process of development of a Compact which now governs relations between government and civil society in the country. Representing the Croatian government, Ms Cvjetana Plavsa-Matic, Head of Office for Co-operation with NGOs, outlined the process of consultation and co-operation between the Croatian government and civil society organisations, a process which also involved local authorities and businesses. She cited the English and the Estonian Compacts as examples used in the development of the Croatian framework for partnership between government bodies and civil society organisations.

The presentation of a draft document aimed at exploring the notion of a European civil society, indeed whether there is such a thing, and the ensuing discussion, highlighted the cultural, linguistic, political, economic and geographical diversity of Europe as a region, and the inherent challenges in defining the nature of civil society in Europe. The initial discussions held in Zagreb will form the basis for a further elaboration of this theme, and will provide CIVICUS with an opportunity to explore both the similarities and the differences in civil society engagement across the region, thereby contributing to CIVICUS' role in increasing the understanding of citizen participation in Europe. This initiative will also be a topic for discussion at a satellite CIVICUS event to be held in Brussels on 3 June, 2002, during the Annual General Assembly and Conference of the European Foundation Centre.

In Zagreb, participants were invited to the next meeting of the Building Bridges of Democracy programme which aims to foster the exchange of experience of citizen action through a series of mobile conferences held on board a boat, in key locations along the Danube. This follows the first meeting on this theme which took place in Vienna (Austria) and Bratislava (Slovakia) in 2000 and 2001. The next meeting will be held in Budapest (Hungary) on 28-30 June, 2002.

The meeting in Zagreb highlighted the great challenges and opportunities faced by civil society actors in an expanding Europe. With 10 new countries from Central and Eastern Europe expected to join the European Union in the coming years, and the ongoing development and reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe, the continent is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. This has huge implications for civil society organisations across the region striving for participatory democracy, solidarity, civil dialogue and co-operation. In this context, CIVICUS has an important role to play in promoting an enabling environment for civil society organisations across Europe, and in supporting and fostering their richness and diversity.

We would like to thank Ms Cvjetana Plavsa-Matic, Head of Office for Co-operation with NGOs and the CIVICUS member organisations in Croatia for their kind hospitality thereby contributing significantly to the success of the meeting.

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