On 6 and 7 November, 2018 the international conference “European integration trough the perspective of cooperation between civil society and local authorities” took place at the Council Hall of the City of Skopje. The conference is organized by the European Movement of the Republic of Macedonia and the European Association for Local Democracy- ALDA Skopje within the project “CSOs for making local democracy work”.

More than 60 participants had the opportunity to attend four panel discussions where the speakers expressed their views and opinions as well as to shared positive examples and practices. A number of topics related to open government partnership were covered, creating preconditions for efficient cooperation between civil society associations and local authorities, as well as recognizing European values in local communities.

Recognizing this international conference as an excellent opportunity for bringing together the concepts of mutual support between the authorities and the civil society, two researches were presented on the topic of cooperation and financial and non-financial support of local authorities towards civil society organizations.

The conference offered a safe space for sharing experiences between the local stakeholders, central government and civil society organizations, as well as representatives of international institutions and academic environment from the Central European Initiative countries and other countries.

Within this conference, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the City of Skopje and the association European Movement in the Republic of Macedonia, which is a positive direction for improving the cooperation between the local authorities and the civil associations in Macedonia.

This conference is financially supported by the European Union by the IPA Civil Society Facility and Media Programme 2015 as well as the Central European Initiative (CEI).