First meeting in Brussels 16-17 November 2009

Civil society and non-governmental organisations play a crucial role, within their societies, in providing policy input, following new initiatives and in holding governments accountable. They can be active actors in promoting democratic and market-oriented reforms based on shared values, i.e. respect for democracy and human rights, the rule of law, good governance, principles of market economy and sustainable development. These are also the values and objectives of the European Neighbourhood Policy, including the newly created Eastern Partnership.

In its Communication of December 2008 the Commission proposed “to support the further development of Civil Society Organisations” (CSOs) and, in particular, “to establish an Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (CSF) to promote contacts among CSOs and facilitate their dialogue with public authorities”.

To ensure transparency of the process leading to the establishment of the Forum, all interested parties were invited to provide their opinion. The consultation process ended in April 2008. Some 40 contributions were received, mainly from civil society organisations based in the Eastern Partner countries but also from several EU-based organisations. A reasoned analysis of the contributions received can be found under Results of the consultations with CSOs and NGOs  .

In the Eastern Partnership joint declaration, the Prague Declaration, from 7 May 2009, “the participants of the Prague Summit invited the European Commission to develop and propose modalities for the establishment of a Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership”. The Commission proposed the following Concept-paper .

On June 29 the Commission invited all interested parties, i.e. grass roots organisations, trade unions, employers' organisations, professional associations, NGOs, think-tanks, non-profit foundations, national and international CSOs/networks and other relevant Civil Society actors, to submit their Expressions of interest to participate in the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum  .

Results

Altogether 439 expressions of interests were received before the deadline extended to 3 September. This demonstrates considerable interest of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership initiative. A short analysis of the results, description of the selection process and of the next steps leading to the first gathering of the Civil Society Forum on 16-17 November in Brussels can be found here  .

Source