2021-02-24

Final Conference of the Year: ‘Is there Socioeconomic Development Without Rule of Law?’

„Connecting the Dots“

On 24 February 2021, the Center for Democracy Foundation organised a final conference of the year entitled ‘Is there Socioeconomic Development Without Rule of Law?’, through the Connecting the Dots project, with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy (GMF/BTD) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade.

For the most part, our public discusses rule of law within the context of EU political criteria. We wanted to emphasise the impact rule of law has on economic and social development with this conference.

We talked about the impact of rule of law on commercial markets, the position of various economic market actors and the possibilities for institutional protection of rights, on the actions of the institutions, particularly, on ensuring rule of law, and on transparency in the use of public resources. Also, we talked about rule of law within the context of the requirements of social justice, and reducing inequality and the inclusion of vulnerable groups in development processes.

The conference was organised under new conditions, with over 80 registered participates, where some of the speakers spoke in person from one of the conference rooms at the Metropol Hotel in Belgrade, and the remaining participants actively participated via ZOOM.

Nataša Vučković, Executive Director at the Center for Democracy Foundation, opened the conference by thanking all participants, associates, representatives of government and independent institutions, embassy representatives, civil society associates from political and economic spheres, for expressing an interest and desire to discuss this important topic.

The conference was the final activity under the Connecting the Dots project.

With this conference title i.e., ‘Is There Socioeconomic Development Without Rule of Law?’, we wanted to convey our stance that there is no economic or social development without rule of law, a democratic parliament, and functional institutions that protect us from corruption and abuse. Without good laws, there cannot be economic and social development that is sustainable, sound, of good quality and useful for the citizenry. Rule of law, a part of the political field, may be of greater importance within the domain of economic and social development.

The following persons opened the conference:

Gordana Čomić (Minister of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, RS Govt.)
Françoise Jacob (UN Resident Coordinator in Serbia)
Geir Håkon Johansen (Deputy Head of Mission, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade)
Yngve Engstroem (Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation to Serbia)
Gordana Delić (Director, Balkan Trust for Democracy)

Presentation of the Connecting the Dots project: Research, reports, debates, blogs, analyses, training, good practices - Vesna Marjanović (Center for Democracy Foundation)

Panel I: Rule of Law - A Condition of Economic Development

Prof. Pavle Petrović, PhD. (President of the Fiscal Council)
Prof. Dejan Šoškić, PhD. (Faculty of Economic in Belgrade)
Vladimir Međak (European Movement in Serbia)
Biljana Stepanović (Director, Business Info Group)
Omer Hadžiomerović (Judge, Appellate Court)
Brankica Janković (Equality Commissioner)

Panel II: Transparency and the Impact of the Citizenry on Developmental Policy

Danijel Dašić (National Coalition for Decentralisation)
Nebojša Zelenović (former Mayor of Šabac)
Ivan Sekulović (Public Policy Advisor, Center for Democracy Foundation)
Dragan Dobrašinović (Toplica Center for Democracy and Human Rights)

Panel III: Rule of Law and Social Justice

Prof. Zoran Stojiljković, PhD. (President of the United Branch Trade Union Independence)
Prof. Mario Reljanović, PhD. (Director, Centre for Decent Work)
Sarita Bradaš (Center for Democracy Foundation)
Simo Vuković (Public Health Consultant)

Nataša Vučković closes the Is There Socioeconomic Development Without Rule of Law? conference by thanking everyone for their participation and support, and recommends that the Center for Democracy Foundation continues to deal with these topics in future.

The Connecting the Dots project is implemented through financial assistance provided by the Balkan Trust for Democracy of the German Marshal Fund of the U.S.- (Balkan Trust for Democracy of the German Marshal Fund of the U.S. - BTD) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade.