EU Ambassador Wigemark and CoE Ambassador Štefánek launched joint initiative for youth in political parties
‘Youth in Political Parties’ is a joint initiative of the European Union Special Representative to BiH (EUSR) and Council of Europe (CoE), which aims to open dialogue with young members of political parties from entire Bosnia and Herzegovina and enable them to constructively participate in the consultations on the EU issues.
The initiative was launched today with a roundtable discussion on the New Western Balkans Strategy and BiH perspective with the Alumni network of the CoE’s School of Political Studies.
Head of Delegation of EU to BiH and EU Special Representative Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark stated: “I am happy to launch this initiative today together with our colleagues from the Council of Europe, which gives an opportunity to young representatives of the political parties in BiH to take a more active role in the EU integration process. BiH needs new generation of young leaders to take the country forward in the process of reforms which are necessary for becoming a member of the EU”.
Each year the School of Political Studies in Sarajevo welcomes around 35 young political and civil society leaders at seminars addressing a wide range of themes, including the culture of dialogue, democratic institutions and governance, freedom of expression and the media, mechanisms for the protection of human rights, participation of civil society in decision-making and European integration.
Head of CoE’s Office in Sarajevo Ambassador Drahoslav Štefánek stressed that many of the Alumni of the School of Political Studies attain high-level positions at the state and entity level and can act as multipliers of the values that School represents and thanked the EU for recognizing the School as partner that can contribute to the EU path of BiH .
On this occasion, Deputy Director-General of DG NEAR, Maciej Popowski also spoke on the implications of the Western Balkans Strategy on BiH.
Other participants include DG NEAR and GRECO experts, Member of the Senate of State Audit Institution from Montenegro, CoE’s School of Political Studies Alumni as well as economic and financial analysts.
The initiative will continue with round table discussion with the new generation of the CoE’s School of Political Studies that will be organised in May and June 2018.
