European Forum

Conference in Skopje on the financial crisis in the Balkans: consequences and answers

On Friday 16 October the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) office in Skopje and the Macedonian Progres Institute for Social Democracy organized a conference in Skopje on the consequences of the financial crisis for the countries of Western Balkans and social democratic answers to the crisis. Representatives from social democratic parties from Macedonia, the region and the EU, as well as distinguished experts on the topic participated at the conference.

After a warm welcome by the organizers, the leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDUM) Branko Crvenkovski delivered the opening speech to the fifty participants, in which he stressed the importance of the topic of the conference and cooperation and exchange of ideas between the social democrats in the region and the EU. In addition, after shortly setting out which consequences the crisis has on Macedonia ―among others an increase in the unemployment rate and poverty ― Crvenkovski criticized the measures current conservative government has taken in order to tackle these consequences. Finally, he presented some possible social democratic answers to the crisis, such as sustainable employment policy, investments in renewable energy sources and improved regional economic cooperation.

The first panel discussion, 'from transition into a crisis: the effects of the global financial crisis on the Balkan states, kicked off with the presentations of Moises Venancio (expert on economy and development in the Balkans and connected to UNDP) and Zeljka Antunović (vice-president of the Croatian parliament). Whilst Venancio mainly focused on numbers which show the deep and worrying effects of the crisis in the region and importance of unbiased statistics in measuring the consequences of the crisis, Antunović gave a insight in the economic situation in Croatia and looked at the crisis from the gender perspective. Before the general discussion on the topic of the first panel started, representatives from social democratic parties from the region reacted to the presentations and shortly presented the situation in their own countries

In the second panel the (absence) of a common European approach towards the crisis was discussed. The position of the Party of European Socialist (PES), responses in the EU and Central and Eastern Europe and the possible effects of the crisis for the EU enlargement process were reviewed. Furthermore, the roots of the crisis were set out by Professor Jože Mencinger from the University of Ljubljana as well as overall confusion among political leaders as a first reaction to the crisis and the difficult search for a common approach to tackle the effects of the crisis. According to Mencinger, the initiatives to improve the regulation, control and monitoring of the financial sector are not sufficient as a change of the system and the whole society is needed.

In the final panel, ways out of the crisis for the Balkan states, the role the EU could and should play in the region and possible answers were explored. In addition, the effectiveness of strategies of national governments, specific social-democratic solutions and possibility for regional cooperation were discussed. The importance of trade and open economy for the small economies of the countries in Southeast Europe was emphasized. Concerning social democratic answers to the crisis, transformation of the socio-economic life, sustainability, employment and underlining of the core values of social democracy ― in a time when poverty has increased and the level of social security decreased in the region― were the key words.

A full report on the conference will be published on our website on short notice.