Central and Eastern Europe Program Highlights (2008)

2008 was a challenging year for the Western Balkans. Kosovo’s declaration of independence on February 17 increased radical nationalist sentiment in Serbia, culminating in an attack on the U.S. Embassy and a series of anti-western and anti-EU statements by government officials. These events forced early parliamentary elections in May. The new government has shown greater signs of stability and willingness to cooperate with the international community, as demonstrated by the delivery of Radovan Karadzic, a leading war criminal, to The Hague.

Newly independent Kosovo continued to face serious challenges, including a tense relationship with Serbia and the Serb-populated north, and the disputed nature of international supervision. In neighboring Macedonia, tensions grew after the country’s NATO membership was blocked at the Bucharest Summit in April. Violent clashes around the subsequent parliamentary elections and a continuing lack of political dialogue among governing and opposition parties threatened to reverse progress made toward Euro-Atlantic integration.

Of serious concern were developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where efforts to consolidate its democratic transition, build interethnic harmony, and integrate two entities into a unified state have stagnated. Despite signing a Stabilization and Association Agreement in June, the country has been unable to make significant progress toward EU integration. Although some gains were made by multiethnic parties, the results of the October local elections demonstrated how deep the country’s ethnic divisions remain.

In Moldova, the ruling Communist Party responded to recent election losses and falling popularity by increasing its attacks on independent media and efforts to stifle civil society. While the issue of the country’s breakaway region of Transnistria became more prominent in the wake of the Russia-Georgia clash, no progress was made in resolving this “frozen conflict.” Nevertheless, the region did witness some positive steps toward the consolidation of democratic transitions. Albania and Croatia received offers of NATO membership, and Montenegro was invited to apply for EU candidate status.

To address the region’s growing challenges, the Endowment continued to increase its support for indigenous NGOs and core grantees, awarding a record 84 grants in 2008. NED continued to concentrate the majority of its resources on Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina-countries which remain deeply divided along ethnic, political, and social lines. Recognizing the importance of developing new generations of civic and political leaders, NED continued to devote special attention to youth-oriented programs, including those fostering interethnic reconciliation and activism, especially youth participation in elections

In Serbia, radical forces have proved adept at winning over youth, and young people are often the perpetrators of hate crime and hate speech. In the absence of political will by state institutions to address events of the recent past, oppose hate crime, and defend human and minority rights, this work is being conducted by NGOs.

The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) strove to build public support for legislation and other institutional procedures to address hate crime and hate speech. Organizations such as the Center for Civil Resources Development in Nis and the New Media Center kuda.org in Novi Sad organized creative activities targeting youth in these two regional centers to promote freedom of expression and oppose extreme nationalism and xenophobia. The EXIT Association used the most popular music festival in Europe as a platform for its youth activism campaign and a forum for discussions and performances on key social and political topics facing the region.

Society continues to be deeply divided along ethnic lines in Kosovo, as a legacy of conflict, violence, and hatred feeds negative stereotypes and contributes to the lack of contact between ethnic Serbs and Albanians. Programs providing resources to regional organizations through small grants initiatives, such as that of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, made notable advances in fostering communication and cooperation among organizations on both sides of this ethnic divide.

In addition, several innovative programs offered alternatives to traditional educational practices, which continue to provide students with biased and ethnocentric information. The Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeastern Europe provided Kosovar teachers with materials and training to introduce multi-perspective and comparative approaches in history classes. Dokufest, a major regional documentary film festival, expanded its program to offer weekly screenings of politically and socially themed documentaries as civic education tools for high school students in the southern city of Prizren.

Ahead of the October 2008 local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, NED programs crossed entity and ethnic divides to encourage the participation of youth in political processes. The Youth Resource Center from Tuzla organized creative country-wide campaigns to promote activism free of ethnic connotations. The Association of Election Officials conducted a civic education program for students in 20 high schools around the country on their role as citizens in a democracy and the importance of participating in elections. After training student activists to advocate for youth-related issues in Republika Srpska, the Youth Communication Center from Banja Luka connected them with counterparts in the Federation entity; the two high school council networks are now working together to address problems facing youth throughout the country.

Youth participation in elections was also a dominant theme of programs in Albania. Ahead of the June 2009 parliamentary contests, the European Movement in Albania conducted a nonpartisan voter education and mobilization program for students in seven university centers. The Vlora-based Change Center educated high school students in southern Albania about their role as citizens in a democracy and the importance of taking part in political processes.

In Macedonia, the Coalition of Youth NGOs SEGA organized a nonpartisan voter education and mobilization program for high school students in 13 cities prior to the country’s spring 2009 presidential elections. After contributing to an improved electoral process in Montenegro’s spring 2008 presidential contest, the youth organization Center for Democratic Transition continued to provide future leaders with internship opportunities in the country’s government institutions.

Moldova‘s democratic transition continued to be hindered by the country’s ruling Communist Party, which is trying to hold onto power despite a decline in popularity. In 2008, NED provided support to members of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, which is organizing nonpartisan citizen education, voter mobilization and poll watching programs for the country’s April 2009 parliamentary elections. NED also continued to help Moldovan organizations like the Promo-Lex Association and Eco-TIRAS to break the isolation and foster the long-term development of civil society in the breakaway region of Transnistria.

Recognizing the importance of promoting activism and addressing key issues in a regional context, the Endowment continued to provide substantial support for crossborder programs. NED supported two programs – one in Albania and one in Bulgaria – that brought together groups of young politicians, NGO activists, and media practitioners from the region to develop their leadership skills and provide opportunities for future cooperation. A crucial but sensitive issue was addressed by the Humanitarian Law Center and its partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, which are seeking to advance the process of ethnic and historical reconciliation by building public support for the establishment of a regional truth-telling commission on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

The Endowment continued to assist its long-term partners in Europe’s new EU member states to share useful experiences, skills, program models, and lessons learned with their counterparts in Southeastern Europe. These included the regional programs of the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), which provided training and assistance to political, civic and private sector activists throughout the region to improve the performance of political parties, parliaments and business associations.

The crossborder program of the Prague-based Transitions Online provided training for a group of journalists and judges in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia to improve reporting on judicial issues, foster judicial reform, and enhance public access to information about judicial systems.