26.02.2016 All News
Photo: Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans, Hedvig Morvai (left), on behalf of the EFB, receives RCC's Champion of Regional Cooperation award for 2015 from RCC Secretary General, Goran Svilanovic, in Sarajevo, BiH on 25 February 2016. (Photo: RCC/Amer Kapetanovic)
The European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) was presented with the Champion of Regional Cooperation award for 2015, an annual award granted by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat in recognition of an individual’s or an institution’s outstanding contribution to the development of regional cooperation in South East Europe (SEE). The award was presented to Ms. Hedvig Morvai, Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans by Mr. Goran Svilanovic, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) at a ceremony held in Sarajevo on 25 February 2016. - This recognition by the RCC means that we are now in the position to communicate our concerns and recommendations related to regional cooperation from a “Champion of Regional Cooperation” perspective. The EFB “lives” regional cooperation on a daily basis and we receive feedback from a wide range of stakeholders from all over the Balkans. We believe in the need for a growing culture of regional cooperation, which translates to the fact that there is a broad societal sense that regional cooperation is the way to advancement and development in SEE. The fact that the EFB has been awarded this title by the RCC shows that civil society initiatives have been recognised as drivers of regional cooperation. These efforts often extend beyond the mandates of acting governments and tackle politically contested issues. In that process, added Ms Morvai, civil society organisations are valuable partners to their governments in many fields – a modern and EU oriented state needs a democratic leadership which nurtures a respectful dialogue between all actors in politics and society. As noted by Mr. Goran Svilanovic, the European Fund for the Balkans has been and is significantly contributing to regional cooperation in SEE, through a variety of its programmes like the Think and Link –Regional Policy Programme, The Fellowship Programme for Government Officials, the regional TV talk-show “Vicinities” (Okruzenje) and the TV Debates “Balkans in Europe”. In recent years, the EFB’s Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) gained a prominent role, distinguishing itself with an extremely valuable set of policy papers, especially its policy brief “Removing obstacles to EU accession: Bilateral disputes in the Western Balkans”. In the frame of the Vienna Western Balkans Summit held in august 2015, the Western Balkans Foreign Ministers adopted the “Declaration on Bilateral Issues”, drafted by the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) as an integral part of its policy brief ”Removing Obstacles to EU Accession: Bilateral Disputes in the Western Balkans”, prepared in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs. By adopting the Declaration, the Western Balkan states pledged not to block, or otherwise impede their neighbours’ progress towards the European Union and committed themselves to resolve all open issues in the spirit of good neighbourliness and European integration. The General Secretary of RCC, Mr. Goran Svilanovic singled out the importance of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) which “has brought together the best brains in the region and has so far come up with an outstanding study on the EU accession route for the Western Balkans and most recently about bilateral disputes in South East Europe”. “This example and other programme activities prove that the European Fund for the Balkans has established itself as an exemplary model of professional excellence, effective cooperation, and a successful regional cooperation organisation”, said Mr. Goran Svilanovic, RCC Secretary General. This annual award of the RCC Secretariat for best achievement in cooperation in South East Europe was inaugurated on the 5th Anniversary of the RCC in 2013, and its winners in the previous three years were CEFTA - Central European Free Trade Agreement, Energy Community Secretariat (ECS), and South East European Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (SEECEL).
