A Formez Project for Public Administration Training in the Balkans in the sector of Civil Protection

On June 7th in Skopje, Macedonia, a training seminar on Civil Protection took place. This initiative comes under an Italian project financed by Law84/2001.
The integrated project "The Development and Strengthening of Central and Local Public Administrations in Balkan Countries" aims at transferring Italian know-how and experiences to Central and Local Public Administrations in the Balkans.

The activities regarding the training for Civil Protection are organized as follows:
- a basic training course of 24 teaching days for 20 participants.
- a trans-national seminar on “The defence of protected areas and cultural heritage from natural and anthropic risks - The role of civil protection”
- An internship in Italy uniting Civil Protection top management from Balkan countries together with their counterparts in the Italian Civil Protection, in order to exchange experiences and best practices. This internship would provide a further occasion to meet representatives from the wealthier Italian regions who are not yet involved in the Balkans, thus stimulating relationships and opportunities for further collaboration.

Formez director, Mr. Antonio Triglia who is responsible for the sector “Protection and Safety of the Territory” was present to establish the first phase of the basic training course. During the seminar, the following topics were covered: Civil Protection Regulations in Macedonia; the national Civil Protection Service; personnel in the system – their roles, tasks and obligations; national laws of reference; the Protection and Rescue Agency; the Centre for Crisis Management; the role and competencies of Civil Protection in local Macedonian entities.

Various topics were illustrated by important personages from the Macedonian Civil Protection Agency: Kiro Atanasov (State Advisor in the Ministry of Defence), Todor Grkov (Head of the Sector for planning and development in the Agency for Protection and Rescue), Stevko Stefanovski (Deputy Head of the Sector for analysis, evaluation and strategic planning in the Centre for Crises Management), Ljupco Mirakovski (Head of sector for operational and general matters and training in the Agency for Protection and Rescue).

On June 8th, Ms. Olympia Imperiale, attachè for Civil Protection and the permanent Italian delegate to the European Union, gave a presentation which briefly described European Civil Protection and the intervention activities undertaken by the Department of Civil Protection. She analyzed the existing European regulations and illustrated the policies of various European countries outlining both their similarities and differences