The Civil Society Forum is a platform enabling dialogue between Balkan citizens and regional and European decision-makers, within the Berlin Process. Its goal is to ensure civil society participation in the deliberation and creation of policies tailored to bring the countries of the region closer to each other and to anchor them in the European Union.
In a series of annual and interim regional meetings and online discussions, think tanks and activist organisations from the WB countries aspiring to join the European Union gather to debate issues brought up through the annual agendas of the Berlin Process. On the basis of their research and field knowledge, they articulate recommendations on a wide range of topics issued to regional and European decision-makers.
The series was launched in 2015 with the Civil Society Forum of the Western Balkans Summit Vienna 2015. It is a joint initiative by the ERSTE Foundation, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and the Karl Renner Institute, in close cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs. Since 2017, the European Fund for the Balkans is responsible for the format design and coordination of annual and interim regional Civil Society Forum meetings.
More info at: wb-csf.eu