Better Regulation WG meeting focused on quality of public consultations in the Western Balkans
ReSPA organized the Working Group meeting on Better Regulation back-to-back with the NISPACee Annual conference, which gathered senior and middle managers of Better Regulation oversight units of the relevant institutions of the ReSPA Members and civil servants dealing with Better Regulation in Line Ministries.
The meeting focused on citizens' and civil society empowerment and engagement in the policy and legislative development by identifying and presenting inspirational models from European Union in public consultation and engagement with civil society. In addition, five representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from the region presented their assessment on the quality of public consultations in their respective countries and future perspectives. Through fruitful dialogue, CSOs representatives and members of the Working Group enhanced the exchange of practices and identified good examples from the Region by raising challenges, difficulties, and plans for the future.
Mr Bagrat Tunyan from OECD/SIGMA praised the meeting and emphasised that public and civil society consultation remains in the heart of evidence-based policy making and goes in parallel with the implementation of a proper impact assessment.
ReSPA Programme Manager, Mr Gentian Xhaxhiu draw the main conclusions of the meeting stating that introduction of early consultations (when the law is still an idea and not yet drafted) is crucial for improving legislative making process in the Western Balkans. In addition, he urged the Working Group members to further dedicate efforts within their home administrations to improve the online consultation portals and make them user friendly, interactive and a proper tool of discussion among citizens, civil society and Governments. ReSPA will constantly support its members in these directions during the coming weeks and months.
In the end, ReSPA Programme Managers presented ReSPA Activities during 2021 and those planned for the following months, as well as draw the attention on the new call for applications under the "In-country support mechanism".
The next Better Regulation Working Group meeting shall be organised in the first quarter of 2022.
