European Standards

European Movement in Serbia (EMinS) in co-operation with KIPRED (Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development) and Freedom House Europe (FH-Eu) continue and expand their successful research-based advocacy series on European Standards to further encourage populations in Serbia and Kosovo to advocate for reform based on their practical common interests and the shared objectives of closer European integration and future EU accession.

The European standards series is a two-track program based on:

1. domestically-driven research to produce relevant data and specific recommendations for local, regional, and EU policy- and decision makers
2. policy and public outreach and advocacy campaigns intended to increase awareness and widen support for the respective reform processes

The project framework provides a comprehensive and tested mechanism to bring actors together around common reform issues during the sensitive status and post-status talk period, enabling dialogue and reform to be grounded in the common interest of European integration. It will promote quality reform in key areas in a manner that both enhances the capacity of civil society actors to partake in the policy process and builds crucial public support for reform with an eye to achieving European standards in both Serbia and Kosovo.

The reform processes in both Serbia and Kosovo have been hampered by concerns over the status of Kosovo. However, the goal of closer European integration and, eventually, EU membership will likely remain common to administrations both in Kosovo and Serbia, irrespective of final status. Consequently, the two sides share both the eventual goal of and the present-day hurdles to closer integration with the EU and therefore can benefit greatly from joint and coordinated reform initiatives to move closer to EU-standards in key policy areas.

The partners already had successful co-operation within a joint initiative during 2005 which engaged domestic experts in a common research project on current visa and trade regimes. This pioneering research employed local capacities to explore the problems of immediate interest to residents of both Kosovo and Serbia and the issues fundamentally important for the future European perspective of the region. EMinS in Belgrade and KIPRED in Pristina developed quantitative and qualitative assessments and analyses of visa and trade regimes in Kosovo and Serbia.

The research is available here >>

Project objectives

Specific objectives:

• To build public support in Serbia and Kosovo for reforms aiming at the achievement European standards in the policy areas covered by the project
• To encourage and facilitate joint research by Kosovar and Serbian think tanks on issues of importance to both countries, focusing on their shared strategic goal of closer European integration
• To produce focused and applicable research on an area – such as improving trade relations on the SME-level; opportunities for closer regional cooperation in infrastructure development, energy and transport – that will encourage and inform key reform processes in Serbia and Kosovo and expand the opportunity for civil society actors to be more closely and effectively engaged with the policy processes in their respective communities as well as on the wider European scene
• To facilitate and support the wide dissemination and promotion of reports and recommendations generated by the joint research project among key decision makers and stakeholders both in Kosovo and in Serbia, as well as with regional governments and with EU decision makers

Long-term objectives:

• Enhanced capacity of NGOs and think tanks in Kosovo and Serbia to develop and promote targeted policy recommendations
• Increased cooperation between Kosovar and Serbian civil society representatives
• Increased public awareness of and engagement with some of the key EU-oriented reform processes
• Strengthening of a common regional identity through the realization of common strategic interests in the context of closer European integration

The first three policy briefs will deal with specific aspects of the energy reform especially concerning approximation to the EU standards in this field.