CIVIL – Center for Freedom is organizing the panel discussion “NATO membership of Republic of Macedonia: Tasks, challenges and opportunities” on February 8, 2018, at Hotel City Park, beginning at 13h. The panel discussion will be addressed by the Minister of Defense, Ms. Radmila Shekerinska, the Ambassador of Republic of Croatia to the Republic of Macedonia, H.E. Danijela Barisic, the National Coordinator for NATO, Mr. Stevo Pendarovski and the political analyst Dr. Sasho Ordanoski.

Information and debates are quite frequent in the public discourse in terms of NATO membership of Republic of Macedonia from political, security and social aspects. Even though the practice of informing related to this process is regular and extensive, there has to be constant upgrading of the level of informing and of involving of the public in this process.

Are the citizens of Republic of Macedonia sufficiently familiar with what NATO means, other than a military alliance, that is, what membership in the Alliance actually means? What are the tasks that need to be concluded in the process of NATO membership, while at the same time not violating the laws, the Constitution and the international standards? Does the implementation of the activities within the framework of the process guarantee transparency of the institutions and respect for human rights and freedoms? What challenges does the process face, and what opportunities does it open for the country? What challenges will the country face after it joins the NATO Alliance? Will the risk of terrorism increase or decrease? How much will membership in NATO contribute towards political stability and democracy, and will it speed up the integration processes in society and in the communities that live in Republic of Macedonia?

These are some of the questions that CIVIL – Center for Freedom, as a human rights organization, will also cover in the future, and it is one of the reasons for organizing this panel discussion, with participation of relevant speakers on this topic.

Media, representatives of civil society, institutions and all interested citizens are invited to the panel discussion. You may immediately start sending questions, views and observations to this link. Part of the messages will be immediately published on CIVIL’s media platform, whereas all of them together will be presented at the panel discussion, following the discussions of those present.

The event is organized as part of the project “Free Media for a Free Society”, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany.