The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum promises to empower the societal actors in the post-soviet countries
The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum promises to empower the societal actors in the post-soviet countries
More than 200 civil society organizations from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, as well as from the EU Member States, international organizations, networks and third countries gathered for two days on 16-17 November in Brussels to launch one of the innovative platforms of the Swedish-Polish initiative destined to approach the EU’s uneasy post-soviet vicinity to the European values and standards.
The Civil Society Forum is a novel dimension in the EU’s mechanisms of interaction with its troubled post-soviet neighbourhood. The new initiative, according to the EC, aims to promote contacts among civil society organizations and facilitate their dialogue with public authorities in the six partner countries.
The EU has been trying for several years to reshape its weak democracy promotion instruments in its Eastern vicinity with little success of influencing the national authorities in the six partner countries. The initiation of the Civil Society Forum displays the EU’s acknowledgement for the need to shift and speed up the long-protracted reforms in the Eastern dimension from the bottom-up approach rather than only from a top-down agenda. The Civil Society Forum comes also to commence the multilateral framework of the Eastern Partnership and to bring the six countries closer together instead of only working on an EU bilateral facet with each of them.
Anticipating the event, the Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner emphasized the crucial role that the civil society has to play in holding governments to their reform programmes as well as in becoming an invaluable platform to exchange experience and generate fresh ideas to address the existing challenges of the Eastern partners.
Altogether 141 organizations from Eastern Partnership countries and 79 from EU Member States and other countries have been invited to engage in discussions within the four thematic platforms working on: Democracy, good governance and stability; Economic integration and convergence with EU policies; Environment, climate change and energy security; Contacts between people.
The EU, however, has chosen not to make public the list of the participants attending the event, thus giving some grounds to the voices in Russia that affirm that the EU’s efforts to democratize the Eastern neighbourhood are not entirely selfless. Kremlin has claimed numerous times that the Union is pushing to acquire new spheres’ of interest belonging “legitimately” to the Russian Federation. It has already been proven than in the dilemma between democracy promotion and security; the EU would always give higher priority to security, which is also a result of the EU “compromise culture” when there are differing voices between the Member States.
Security reasons appear also to be at the heart of the matters raised by the civil society organizations from the Eastern Partnership countries. Prior to the event, interested NGO’s had the opportunity to submit their proposals to be discussed within the framework of the Forum. The proposals ranged greatly, but initiatives addressing visa issues and energy were in focus. Nonetheless, the initial challenges also had in the spotlight the need to start off this unprecedented official cooperation and establish an information network across the partner countries and to institutionalize an international non-governmental organisation grouping NGO’s from the EU and the partner countries. In addition, increased regional cooperation (greater role for civil societies in Turkey-Armenia rapprochement) and country-specific proposals (setting a leader role for Ukraine in the Eastern Partnership) were as well presented to the EU.
Before closing up the two days of the reunion, the foreign minister of Sweden Carl Bildt, reminded the participants that the “Eastern Partnership is one of the most important strategic initiatives of the EU for a long time”. He went on and highlighted that the Eastern Partnership will be work in progress for quite some time and the initiative can not realize its full potential without the active participation of the civil society. The Swedish foreign minister, the country that also holds the EU Presidency at the moment and one of the initiator of the program, has pledged a threefold role for the representatives of the civil society: monitoring, implementing, and developing.
The Forum’s recommendations will be passed on to the Eastern Partnership ministers who will be holding their first working reunion on 8th December.
On her side, the EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has welcomed the fact that, after 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, civil societies in Europe are developing and becoming active partners in domains previously dominated only by governments. The Commissioner as well promised that the voice of the civil societies in the Eastern vicinity of the EU will be heard, taken into account and will influence the decision making. “Your job is to be bold and innovative”, she added. The Eastern Partnership cooperation can not be achieved without the grassroots of the diverse actors of civil society, but the results delivered should be lasting and visible for the citizens, the ENP Commissioner stressed.
Mario Sepi, the president of the European Economic and Social Committee, emphasized the importance of the civil society organizations for the economic development of the Eastern countries. The EESC official especially stressed the contribution that the social capital can bring in diminishing the negative consequences of the economic crisis in these countries.
However, the case of Belarus has made it clear that the civil society in the post-soviet region is not yet empowered with enough capacities to actually make changes in the post-soviet countries, due to the lack of financial resources, insufficient legislative leverages and constant political pressures. The challenges arising in working with the civil society organizations in the Eastern Partnership countries therefore are first and foremost related to the need to strengthen the capacities of the local non-governmental organizations themselves.
The first gathering has once again pointed to many problems still existing in the post-soviet space neighboring the EU. The question in focus still remains if there is enough commitment on both sides to take this cooperation and develop it into a European example of success?
More than 200 civil society organizations from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, as well as from the EU Member States, international organizations, networks and third countries gathered for two days on 16-17 November in Brussels to launch one of the innovative platforms of the Swedish-Polish initiative destined to approach the EU’s uneasy post-soviet vicinity to the European values and standards.
The Civil Society Forum is a novel dimension in the EU’s mechanisms of interaction with its troubled post-soviet neighbourhood. The new initiative, according to the EC, aims to promote contacts among civil society organizations and facilitate their dialogue with public authorities in the six partner countries.
The EU has been trying for several years to reshape its weak democracy promotion instruments in its Eastern vicinity with little success of influencing the national authorities in the six partner countries. The initiation of the Civil Society Forum displays the EU’s acknowledgement for the need to shift and speed up the long-protracted reforms in the Eastern dimension from the bottom-up approach rather than only from a top-down agenda. The Civil Society Forum comes also to commence the multilateral framework of the Eastern Partnership and to bring the six countries closer together instead of only working on an EU bilateral facet with each of them.
Anticipating the event, the Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner emphasized the crucial role that the civil society has to play in holding governments to their reform programmes as well as in becoming an invaluable platform to exchange experience and generate fresh ideas to address the existing challenges of the Eastern partners.
Altogether 141 organizations from Eastern Partnership countries and 79 from EU Member States and other countries have been invited to engage in discussions within the four thematic platforms working on: Democracy, good governance and stability; Economic integration and convergence with EU policies; Environment, climate change and energy security; Contacts between people.
The EU, however, has chosen not to make public the list of the participants attending the event, thus giving some grounds to the voices in Russia that affirm that the EU’s efforts to democratize the Eastern neighbourhood are not entirely selfless. Kremlin has claimed numerous times that the Union is pushing to acquire new spheres’ of interest belonging “legitimately” to the Russian Federation. It has already been proven than in the dilemma between democracy promotion and security; the EU would always give higher priority to security, which is also a result of the EU “compromise culture” when there are differing voices between the Member States.
Security reasons appear also to be at the heart of the matters raised by the civil society organizations from the Eastern Partnership countries. Prior to the event, interested NGO’s had the opportunity to submit their proposals to be discussed within the framework of the Forum. The proposals ranged greatly, but initiatives addressing visa issues and energy were in focus. Nonetheless, the initial challenges also had in the spotlight the need to start off this unprecedented official cooperation and establish an information network across the partner countries and to institutionalize an international non-governmental organisation grouping NGO’s from the EU and the partner countries. In addition, increased regional cooperation (greater role for civil societies in Turkey-Armenia rapprochement) and country-specific proposals (setting a leader role for Ukraine in the Eastern Partnership) were as well presented to the EU.
Before closing up the two days of the reunion, the foreign minister of Sweden Carl Bildt, reminded the participants that the “Eastern Partnership is one of the most important strategic initiatives of the EU for a long time”. He went on and highlighted that the Eastern Partnership will be work in progress for quite some time and the initiative can not realize its full potential without the active participation of the civil society. The Swedish foreign minister, the country that also holds the EU Presidency at the moment and one of the initiator of the program, has pledged a threefold role for the representatives of the civil society: monitoring, implementing, and developing.
The Forum’s recommendations will be passed on to the Eastern Partnership ministers who will be holding their first working reunion on 8th December.
On her side, the EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has welcomed the fact that, after 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, civil societies in Europe are developing and becoming active partners in domains previously dominated only by governments. The Commissioner as well promised that the voice of the civil societies in the Eastern vicinity of the EU will be heard, taken into account and will influence the decision making. “Your job is to be bold and innovative”, she added. The Eastern Partnership cooperation can not be achieved without the grassroots of the diverse actors of civil society, but the results delivered should be lasting and visible for the citizens, the ENP Commissioner stressed.
Mario Sepi, the president of the European Economic and Social Committee, emphasized the importance of the civil society organizations for the economic development of the Eastern countries. The EESC official especially stressed the contribution that the social capital can bring in diminishing the negative consequences of the economic crisis in these countries.
However, the case of Belarus has made it clear that the civil society in the post-soviet region is not yet empowered with enough capacities to actually make changes in the post-soviet countries, due to the lack of financial resources, insufficient legislative leverages and constant political pressures. The challenges arising in working with the civil society organizations in the Eastern Partnership countries therefore are first and foremost related to the need to strengthen the capacities of the local non-governmental organizations themselves.
The first gathering has once again pointed to many problems still existing in the post-soviet space neighboring the EU. The question in focus still remains if there is enough commitment on both sides to take this cooperation and develop it into a European example of success?
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© 2012 Created by Arne Grauls.
