SLOGA Platform organized an online discussion on the role of civil society during the presidency of the EU Council at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences. VENRO and CROSOL were invited to share their experience. The debate took place on 18 November 2020 and serves as a starting point for greater engagement of young people in the EU Presidency Project.
The debate was organized upon the invitation of the mentors of the course Diplomacy of the European Union, Associate Professor Dr. Boštjan Udovič and Assistant Dr. Jana Arbeiter from the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences. In the introductory part, Adriana Aralica from the SLOGA Platform outlined the importance of participation of civil society during the presidency of the Council of the EU. Ian Mengel from the German platform of development NGOs VENRO and Kristijan Kovačić from the Croatian platform of development NGOs CROSOL took part in the discussion, sharing their experiences and lessons learned during the Croatian and German presidency of the EU Council. In the discussion, they outlined the key messages of VENRO and CROSOL and the organization of joint advocacy and awareness-raising activities, cooperation with other stakeholders. and the involvement of young people in the presidency project.
As young people are an important stakeholder to be engaged during the Presidency project, this collaboration will contribute to strengthening the engagement of young people and with academia.