The fifth National Deliberative Poll, which the European Policy Institute (EPI) organises in cooperation with the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University in the United States, brought together more than 140 citizens who, over the course of two days, informed themselves and debated the role of the Assembly in the EU accession process, while putting their questions to panels composed of social stakeholders and experts in the Assembly itself.
From the initial survey conducted on a representative sample of 1,200 respondents from across the country, more than 140 citizens came to Skopje to represent the country in one room. Divided into 11 groups, the citizens spent two days informing themselves and debating the topic among themselves, after which they went to the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, where the questions that emerged from their debates were answered by key social stakeholders.
On the first day, discussions focused on the model for the involvement of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia in the EU accession process, and the citizens’ questions were answered by the President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, Afrim Gashi, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Zoran Dimitrovski, the Deputy President of SDSM, Fani Karanfilova-Panovska, the Executive Director of the Centre for Research and Policy Making, Marija Risteska, and former Member of Parliament and President of the Forum for Reasonable Policies, Gordan Georgiev.
The topic for discussion on the second day was dedicated to the working bodies of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia and the EU accession process, where answers to the questions were provided by the Member of Parliament and President of the National Council for European Integration, Venko Filipche, Member of Parliament and member of the Committee on European Affairs, Eli Panova, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujar Osmani, and former Secretary General of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, Cvetanka Ivanova.
The Deliberative Poll is a unique form of political consultation that combines the techniques of public opinion polling and public debate. Its aim is to present what public opinion on a particular topic would look like if citizens had the opportunity to become more familiar with the issue. The Deliberative Poll presents the preferences and opinions of citizens both before and after they become thoroughly acquainted with the topic.
The Deliberative Poll measures the results, but also the changes in the attitudes of citizens before and after the deliberative event.
The event was organised within the framework of the project “Fostering Public Participation in Constructive Political Dialogue”, implemented by EPI and funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) from the United States.
