The second Forum Belgrade was organized on October 3^rd-4^th 2008, in the Palace Serbia, one of the most representative buildings in Belgrade. Organized by several organizations (Kulturni front, Belgrade; The Felix Meritas foundation, Amsterdam; A »Soul for Europe« Initiative, Berlin; Auropolis, Belgrade)the Forum continued on the success and the supra-regional influence of the first Forum Belgrade held in March 2007. The idea of the Forum was to bring together representatives of civil society, culture, business and policy makers from local, regional and EU level, including members of the European Parliament and European Commission, to discuss the role of civil society in building democratic institutions and in fostering economic and social upswing in Europe.

The main objectives were to develop a dialogue between policy-makers and political authorities and civil society on concrete local, regional and European topics and to integrate civil society in the decision making process. The topics were divided into several sessions, among which were The culture of Democracy, Concrete benefits of integrating civil society and culture into business strategy, The role of civil society in the European integration process etc… The panel discussions on each session were interesting, raising some concrete questions, showing interesting and real-life positive and negative examples from different European countries, and most important, shaping some ideas for the way ahead and for things that need to be done for full integration of Balkan’s region into European Union. During social events of the forum, many contacts were made between civil society activists and NGO representatives, promising some new projects and joint efforts.

The event has increased the interest of young people for European issues, and in turn, as organizers are hoping, it will enable the potential of young people to be mobilized and used for Europe.