European Forum

Third Promising Politicians Seminar 2011 in Skopje

Between 24 and 27 November of 2011 Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in cooperation with the Alfred Mozer Stichting and the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity organized a seminar for young and promising politicians and members of social democratic parties from the countries of former Yugoslavia and Albania.

The seminar, in which 26 participants participated, took place in the Macedonian capital Skopje and can be considered a great success. Especially the module on negotiations skills which consisted of a short theoretical part and two simulation games was considered very useful. The seminar also included a lecture by Dr. Michael Ehrke, director of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung bureau in Belgrade, on the causes and possible outcomes of the Eurozone crises. He concluded with an interesting, social-democratic solution to the crisis. Radmila Šekarinska (leader of the largest opposition party of Macedonia, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) also visited the group to talk about her experiences with EU enlargement an the road ahead for the western Balkan. She inter alia voiced her concern over the populist tactics employed by the current government of Macedonia, saying: "It reminds me very much of what Slobodan Milosovic did."

Since 2003 the seminar has been organized three times annually and the course includes seminars on ideology, media and communications skills and EU integration. The aim of the course is to introduce young politicians to the various aspects of political leadership, governance and the dynamics and structures of party policies. In addition, the organisers aim to create a network among young and politically active persons and to improve their knowledge on the political developments of countries in the region. It was concluded during the evaluation by the participants that a strong network has been created as young and promising people from the region have boosted their cooperation and have organised many exchange programmes.