On the occasion of its Spring 2026 session, the Conference of INGOs has released two reports on civil participation that followed the country visits in Serbia (8-11 September 2025) and in Greece (11-15 novembre 2025).

As regards Serbia, the report points in its conclusions to “a concerning stagnation and, in several areas, regression in Serbia’s democratic development” since the previous assessment in 2017. It notes also that “despite the formal alignment with key international standards and the existence of institutional frameworks for civil society participation, the actual political will to implement and uphold these frameworks remains insufficient.” The report contains a series of recommendations to the Serbian authorities, including the need to immediately cease all forms of harassment, intimidation, and use of excessive force against peaceful protestors, civil society actors, and journalists; to restore all genuine mechanisms for public consultation and civil society participation in policy and law-making processes; to revise various laws; to re-establish an independent Office for Cooperation with Civil Society. It also calls civil society, inter alia, to unify advocacy efforts and develop cooperations with independent media, professional associations and vulnerable communities on issues of common concern such as access to information, accountability, equality and protection of public interest.

The report on Greece concluded that there is “a regrettable lack of public trust in NGOs, stemming from insufficient appreciation of the many contributions that they make, both for the well-being of the population in general but also in fulfilling many of the responsibilities which ministries are required to discharge.” Moreover, the formal timeframe for consultation with NGOs is excessively short and it is not always respected. In several respects the legal framework for the operation of NGOs is not consistent with European standards and the operation of registration arrangements for those NGOs providing services on behalf of certain ministries are often over-complex. The report contains a series of recommendations to the authorities to address the identified legal and other shortcomings and to take steps to promote better public understanding of the contributions made by NGOs (also something that NGOs themselves should support) and ensure that politicians desist from using hostile rhetoric or making unsubstantiated accusations regarding them.

  Country report on Serbia and comments by the Serbian authorities in Serbian /  in English 

  Country report on Greece