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Occasion - The NGO Parliament

At the end of January, the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia got its specific partner in the creation of this country's future - the First Macedonian NGO Parliament. The news for its constitution is followed with a certain amount of respect, which can be explained as an expression of the already established notion of the civic sector's presence in the country.

On the other hand, the media were attracted by the presence and the support that the Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski gave to the civic sector. He was quoted regarding his attitude towards the establishment of the NGO Parliament: "I see it as a step forward towards the democratisation and a European perspective of Macedonia". So, this time, the information was not presented at the end of the news, in the space that is usually given to the small and seemingly unimportant news, but it received an equal treatment with the other national and world news, as one of the breaking news in electronic media and on the front pages of the printed ones.

This attitude in the beginning of the year promises a lot. However, we have certain amount of reserve when it comes to the question whether in future the media show such respect to the announced continuous work of the NGO Parliament.

Last year, I was a witness of an extremely massive presence of the media at the expert forum "Cultural Decontamination", which followed the Prime Ministers expose and the beginning of the Forum with great attention, an event where some extremely important scientific notions regarding part of our reality were presented. But, when the Prime Minister Crvenkovski left, 99% of them left, too. They were not here to listen to the civic association's notions, they run out to get statements about the current political events. Speaking about the information, I did not want to have any doubts whether the members of the Macedonian Parliament read the "Civic World" at all, a magazine that offers a number of information on what is going on in the civic sector. However, on several occasions, especially in January, I saw that a lot of free copies were standing unpacked. The establishment of the NGO Parliament might stimulate part its members and arouse their interest about what and how the civic associations work here and in the world.