Forum Belgrade / A Soul for Europe2008,
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Forum Belgrade 2008 will bring together representatives of civil society, culture, business and policy-making at the local, regional and European level, including members of the European Parliament and the European Commission to discuss the role of civil society in building democratic structures and in fostering the economic and social upswing in Europe. The aim is to develop a “culture of democracy” and to strengthen the dialogue between civil society and the political level. The Forum Belgrade is the second Forum in the Serbian capital and is a continuation of the process that started with the first Forum Belgrade “A Soul for Europe” held in March 2007 and attended by over 250 participants from 18 different countries. Other Forums were held in Tbilisi (October 2007), and Pécs, the European Capital of Culture 2010 (November 2007), and Skopje (April 2008). In other European cities, too – Porto, Prague, Kiev, Lyon, Istanbul – civil-society initiatives are seeking to establish a Forum along the same lines. Invited speakers include European Parliament members Jelko Kacin and Sepp Kusstatscher, European Commisson’s Deputy Director General for Enlargement Jan Truszczynski, Special Coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) Erhard Busek, Head of European Integration and Economic Section, Delegation of the European Commission to Serbia Alberto Cammarata, Head of Division for International Cultural Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Slovenia Helena Drnovšek-Zorko, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s regional office in Serbia Dragoslav Dedović, Editor in Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza Adam Michnik, who will give the honorary speech, as well as Parliamentarians from Serbia, region and representatives of civil society from all over Europe.
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