The Head of EULEX Mission Bernd Borchardt, together with Chief EULEX Prosecutors Jaroslava Novotna and Marjana Papa, EULEX Senior Anticorruption Officer, held their first coordination meeting with the Kosovo civil society organizations, which took place on 16 April 2013, in EULEX Headquarters.

This meeting aims at starting a permanent dialogue between EULEX and the civil society organizations that work in the areas of transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption that will lead to better knowledge of the problems and opportunities for cooperation.

Bernd Borchardt welcomed the representatives of the Kosovo Civil Society organizations and presented the work of EULEX in the field of anti-corruption and also highlighted the importance of the cooperation with the public and civil society organization in the fight against corruption.

"The watchdog function has to be shared with others, we need to coordinate our visions, approaches and to learn from each other and see what can be done better to strengthen the fight against corruption" said Bernd Borchardt.

Head of Mission informed the representatives of the civil society that EULEX aims to meet with the Civil Society Organizations on the more regular bases in order to find out and coordinate what can be done more to help strengthen the fight against corruption and help in the establishment of accountable institutions in Kosovo.

The representatives of the Kosovo Democratic Institute, chapter of Transparency International in Kosovo, KIPRED, FOL Movement, IKS (Kosovar Initiative for Stability) and GAP (Institute for Advanced Studies) briefly presented the work of their organization emphasizing their previous and current activities in the fight against corruptions and also made suggestions on what can be done in order to fight corruption more efficiently.

Jaroslava Novotna, the Chief EULEX Prosecutors presented the work of the EULEX prosecutors and also briefly informed those present on the possibilities and the limits of EULEX prosecutors in regard to the future cooperation in fight against corruption.

"One of the measures that have to be used to fight corruption is good laws" said Jaroslava during her presentation.

Mr. Bernd Borchardt thanked the present representatives of civil society for meeting EULEX and showing the willingness in establishing the cooperation for strengthening the fight against corruption.

"Thank you very much for meeting with us, you are here to remind us on what needs to be tackled and dealt with" said Bernd Borchardt

Next meeting between EULEX and Civil Society Organizations will be hosted by one of the Civil Society Organizations.