The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Agenda

Summary: The evolvement and development of the Eastern Partnership Initiative was the result of delicate balance of political forces that set the frameworks of this initiative: the openness and flexibility of the cooperation mechanisms and balance between pragmatism and values while constructing these mechanisms. The following political period for the programme will be determined by three issues: by the decision on the EU visa ban against Belarusian officials, by a complex of projects, to be implemented within the platforms set up within the Eastern Partnership Programme, by shaping the mechanism for civil society participation in the EU relations with Belarus, which will be identified at the Civil Society Forum on 16-17 November. The current situation and the position of the major players make actions of the Belarusian civil society one of the most important factors of the configuration of the political space of European cooperation. It requires consolidation of forces for shaping and promoting the agenda and proposals for the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership, which will be held 16-17 November 2009. Framework task for identifying items for agenda is that the first Civil Society Forum should provide the procedural and organizational framework for the inclusion of the civil society into cooperation between the partner countries and the EU.

Key words: Eastern Partnership, civil society, Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership, agenda.

 

Contents:

Introduction

Eastern Partnership Initiative: chronology and main features

Current state of affairs: factors and players

Proposals for the agenda of the Civil Society Forum

 

Introduction

 

The Eastern Partnership Initiative is a rapidly growing program that has the potential and the chance to become a watershed step in building relations between Belarus and the EU, and also in the international strategies of the European politics. Today the actions of the civil society in Belarus, voluntarily or involuntarily become a factor in the implementation of such potential. In order for it to be consistent and deliberate, the following questions should be answered:

What is Eastern Partnership today?

What is the current state of affairs and challenges?

What, when and how should be done?

 

Eastern Partnership Initiative: chronology and main features

 

A formal proposal for a new structure of multilateral relations, titled "Eastern Partnership" was initiated by the European Commission on Dec. 3, 2008. This statement of intent was a response to the difficult political situation in the EU relations with the neighboring countries. The situation was created by overlay and interplay of a number of issues: common strategic issues of EU enlargement, its relations with our closest neighbors, growing economic crisis, as well as events requiring immediate response and appropriate policy responses - the Georgia-Russia crisis and energy crisis. This proposal set up the most general framework for future programs. The main forms of cooperation have been approved: frameworks for multilateral relations (4 thematic platforms, ministerial meetings, summits), the possibilities of developing bilateral relations and the Civil Society Forum as a place for "the development of contacts between the civil society organizations and support of their dialogue with the government authorities."

 

On 20 March 2009 the European Council adopted the Declaration of the Eastern Partnership, which "will engage a wide range of actors, including government ministries and agencies, parliaments, civil society, international organisations, financial institutions and the private sector." Since that time, a number of consultations with civil society organizations were taking place regarding organization of the Civil Society Forum.

 

On 7 May 2009 during the Eastern Partnership Prague Summit "The Heads of State or Government and representatives of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, the representatives of the European Union and the Heads of State or Government and representatives of its Member States have met in Prague to bring their relationship to a new level by establishing the Eastern Partnership and have adopted a Joint Declaration”. The declaration identifies the overall conditions and principles for lining up new mechanisms for cooperation, especially at national and international level.

 

Since mid-June 2009, work started on the declared thematic platforms, which does not have clear reflection in open sources.

 

On November 16-17, the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership is planned to take place and the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee are responsible for its organization.

 

The evolvement and development of the Eastern Partnership initiative in order to organize special relations with six countries was a result of a delicate balance of political forces, primarily in Europe itself. This leads to some characteristic features of the programme which are important for understanding the present state of affairs:

 

1) Principal content openness and flexibility of the programme. Politicians and analysts have repeatedly stressed that the announced program represents only "room and opportunity" that must be filled with real content and mechanisms. It is difficult to say whether this flexibility and openness was a conscious and deliberate step, or whether it was an inevitable result of rapid political decisions. However it is obvious that this feature was cultivated in the course of the unfolding action. Now it represents grounds for appeal and justification of certain actions of all parties included in the interaction within the programme. The structures of the EC responsible for the implementation of the programme, refer to this openness while elaborating specific mechanisms for the entire programme and in particular regarding the participation of the civil society, pointing out to the lack of stringent conditions and final decisions. The civil society organizations appeal to this openness, in order to justify their right to contribute and integrate into the process of formation of mechanisms of the programme. Belarusian authorities hiding behind this feature steps they make. The formula "nothing has been finally decided" for various reasons, satisfies all stakeholders.

 

Nevertheless, the implementation mechanisms of the programme and its perspectives following the needs acquire certainty and more precise features. These features and certainty, at least for the next policy period for Belarus, are linked with a number of decisions and actions:

 

- Decision on the EU visa ban against Belarusian officials, which should be adopted by the Ministers of the EU in November 2009. This decision will demonstrate the political will and intentions of the EU and the Republic of Belarus, and will form the general background of the development of relations.

 

- A set of projects launched into action on the proposed platforms, established by the Eastern Partnership, content and nature of which will show the real interest and readiness to make compromises and concessions.

 

- Elaboration of the mechanism of participation of the civil society in the relations between the EU and Belarus, which will be determined during the Civil Society Forum on 16-17 November.

 

Decisions on each of these issues will make their substantial contribution to the image of the programme and its prospects. "The openness and flexibility" as a characteristic of the programme will inevitably be changed: it either will go down in history as initial stage, or there will be set up special mechanisms and tools that will make it a permanent feature. These tools lie in the area of formats and methods of forming agendas of all forms of cooperation envisaged within the programme.

 

2) The dilemma of pragmatism and values. While announcing its willingness to 'new' relations with Belarus (as well as with other countries, where political power is not oriented neither on Europe, nor on the implementation of the European values, and follows its own path), the EU had to deal with the issue of establishing "new" relationships with the civil society in the political in these countries. This issue seemed to be the most critical and debated during the launch of the Eastern Partnership Initiative. Once the EU institutions establish formal and civilized relations with the Belarusian government, they can not, according to international standards, have separate relationship with the political opposition and civil society. Forms for such relations do not exist. Partnerships and cooperation imply recognition of the ability of the Belarusian authorities to organize a dialogue with their own civil society. And all, including European politicians, realized that instead of a dialogue the best case scenario there would be an imitation of it. The contradiction between the pragmatic side of the situation and values required solutions, which resulted in a Civil Society Forum as a place and a potential way to include civil society as a partner in multilateral relations.

 

There has been allocated a formal place for the participation of civil society however the detailed decisions about its inclusion in the overall structure of relations were not made. This potentially makes the Civil Society Forum a place for the emergence of a new practice in the international relations. However only as a potential. The final shape of the Forum will be formed when it takes place for the first time and will largely depend on the actions of participants. Either the Forum will become a significant element of the decision-making in the Eastern Partnership, or end up as another simulation of civic participation.

 

The dilemma between pragmatism and values as a sword of Damocles hangs over the Eastern Partnership. If the participation of the civil society becomes formal and simulative, it will casts doubts on its conformity with the European values and attitudes, which will be used by the opponents of the intensified Eastern policy in the EU. If the civil society becomes a full partner in the relationship between the countries, it opens up a whole new layer of problems in political practice, which has no prepared solutions.

 

Thus, scheduled for November 16-17, the Civil Society Forum is the nearest point, which will decide not only on civil society itself, but on the whole Eastern Partnership initiative. One should remember and understand that those decisions and actions would define the character of the East Partnership for the foreseeable future the organization of the Civil Society Forum can have an independent significance for the development of our country.

 

At the first glance, the negative decision on the visa sanctions and launching of the “thematic projects” can deprive of sense the decisions on the mechanisms of organization of the Forum, effectively suspending implementation of the initiative. No co-operation - no power relationships - there is no sense in the formation mechanisms of influence. However this is only true in the strict pursuance of a specific political initiative.

 

As discussed above, the Eastern Partnership Initiative created the conditions for finding new forms of relations between the civil society and public (quasi-) structures, to review the location and capacity of the civil society in order to influence political decisions. The Civil Society Forum formally provides a place and opportunity for such review and for the active measures to implement this feature. In fact, it provides scope for the manifestation of ambition, the potential and the jump in the growth and development of the civil society. This is especially important for Belarus, where the population is marginalized and has very limited space for its development. This is an invaluable experience and opportunity of self-organization, for which there is a special place, time and legitimate opportunities.

 

Current state of affairs: factors and players

 

What about the situation on the eve of the Forum? Let’s look at the major players and their actions in the current circumstances.

 

EU institutions engaged in formatting and organization of the Eastern Partnership and in particular of the Civil Society Forum (European Commission and the EESC). The position of these institutions in the anticipation of the Forum is characterized by a number of issues:

 

- promotion of the principle of self-organization of civil society. The words of self-organization as a refrain repeated in the statements of representatives of these institutions as a response to all questions about the extent of participation and favored EC actions to the civil society. The principle of self-organization, formulated as an intent, allows the European institutions to act as an outsider and not take responsibility for the results to the Forum. They occupy the position of an observer, at the mercy of civil society initiative, and are not making special efforts to facilitate or to facilitate self-organization.

 

- Lack of transparency and openness regarding the results of the selection process of the participants of the Forum and in general, very little information about the actions of the Eastern Partnership shows the others a lack of interest or favorable treatment for self-organization.

 

- Formalization and standard of the approach to the proposal of the provisional agenda of the Forum. This agenda reflects the basic views and perceptions of the organizers of the role and place of civil society in the overall structure of the Eastern Partnership. This place is designated as make recommendations for the four thematic platforms, the interstate relations will follow. The format proposed reserves outside of the event almost all procedural matters relating to the organization of the Forum, defining the agenda and objectives of the event. The format of these issues remains outstanding. The proposed format of the Forum is fully consistent with the standard norms of organization of events, constructed as a place for expressions of opinion, but not for the decision-making and work.

 

In general, the position and actions of the structures of the EC in advance of the Forum are based on the traditions and standards of operation in the ambiguity of decisions and the overall uncertainty, which weakly promotes dialogue between the civil society and the Belarusian State. At the same time it can be perceived as a "provocative" to self-organization and political will on the part of the civil society.

 

Belarusian civil society. It has been repeatedly pointed out that despite its weaknesses and problems the Belarusian civil society has been a leader in the Eastern Partnership. On the one hand, this is the paradoxical result of suppression of civil activity in Belarus. Even a ghost chance, which is provided by the Eastern Partnership, seems to be relevant to the repressed civil society in the country. On the other hand, this effect is pro-European mood of the majority of active players of the third sector. Also it is a  meaningful indication of potential activity within the civil society.

 

In the course of major preparations and the unfolding initiatives there have been proactive actions on the consolidation and self-organization of the civil society around the Eastern Partnership.

 

A conference "Enhancing the participation of the Belarusian civil society and local authorities in the European Union: Challenges and Prospects" was held on December 2, 2008. There for the first time the subject of the Eastern Partnership was introduced in public, broad discussion to the representatives of the Belarusian civil society.

 

A conference "Civil society participation in the Eastern Partnership Initiative" (April 22, 2009) was initiated by an international consortium "Eurobelarus" and supported by several non-governmental organizations. The conference adopted a resolution, as well, an initiative group was formed from a number of representatives of major NGOs and experts to conduct regular consultations to coordinate their own actions.

 

Public Hearings “Civil Society and State: mechanisms of interaction", which took place July 20 in Minsk, were aimed at creating a mechanism to prevent imitation of participation of citizens in the Eastern Partnership.

 

In anticipation of the Forum a conference is being prepared "The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum: agenda for Belarus" (November 2, 2009), which is tasked to coordinate the Belarusian delegation at the Forum.

 

Such minimal consolidation of the civil society on the eve of the CS Forum has become possible thanks to the high pace of development of the Eastern Partnership Initiative. In less than a year CSOs managed to go all the way from the debate over the participation of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership to the formation of partnership working structures of the initiative. Against the background of previous years, a sluggish pace was transcendent for the majority of civil society organizations. In order to remain in the context of events and to respond adequately there was a need to make decisions quickly. There simply was no time for the traditional internal "showdown". Many of the unresolved conflicts were just put aside in order to keep pace with those who in a given moment became leaders of the process.

 

The Belarusian civil society has time to respond to rapidly changing situation, organize themselves in time, offer their own versions of the working mechanisms of the Eastern Partnership. However the burden of leadership is heavy. There is always a danger of losing momentum. We need to resolve political issues of expanding the influence of the Civil Society Forum on the EU-Belarus relations and the Eastern Partnership, as such, identify and consolidate the procedural arrangements for the Forum. This requires revision of traditional behavior, established for over 15 years of existence of the civil society in Belarus, and of the practices of relations with European colleagues. These practices are:

 

- Focus on a very important of the Belarusian civil society issues related to the state of democracy and human rights in Belarus. Prior to the Eastern Partnership Initiative the update on these themes directly fed into the European policy towards Belarus, providing "factual basis". After the course of the European politics has changed, these vexed issues should be temporarily set aside. Until they have identified working mechanisms of their procedural resolution.

 

- Thematic and substantive certainty of issues and even narrowness of the issues in which civil society representatives are competent and can contribute to a dialogue. The temptation to themselves only by their well-understood, developed and deeply felt issues and themes is very strong. Moreover, the format of the organization of the forum offered by the European institutions, just "distributes" the participants within the thematic platforms. Questions of procedure and organization - are questions in which most of the representatives have little competence and are willing to give them at the mercy of their European colleagues. This setting should also be overcame and discussed within topical issues, i.e. procedures of work with them.

 

State institutions. The actions of the Belarusian State in the Eastern Partnership are characterized as follows:

 

- In the public rhetoric the officials are seeking to create an impression of the normal course of cooperation, in which there are some drawbacks and obstacles, however they do not bear fundamental nature. They note the positive nature of the Eastern Partnership, but additionally emphasize that the principle of equality of relations does not allow Europe to set special conditions and requirements for Belarus.

 

- The State (via state agencies and institutions) has formed by a number of project proposals under the thematic platforms of the Eastern Partnership. However, such actions do not receive public coverage. The desire to work in closed mode is supported by the fact that the Eastern Partnership affects only the interaction between the states and do not require (according to the official authorities) broad public awareness.

 

- The warming of relations with the EU is used to search for additional opportunities, inclusion in other initiatives, additional benefits (increased diplomatic contacts with individual countries, talks about connecting to the initiative of the Northern Dimension, etc.)

 

- The situation of "rhetorical liberalization" is used to attract additional resources to combat the economic crisis (for loans from the EBRD, IMF, World Bank, etc.)

 

- The civil society as an individual player in the Eastern Partnership continues to be ignored by the state.

 

In fact, there are two separate lines developing in Belarus: the EU-state authorities, and the EU-civil society.

 

Apart from the described above players there are tendencies affecting the situation with should be described as objective, at least on the grounds that they are rhythmic and periodic by nature.

 

Firstly, it relates to swapping of "bureaucratic" and "political" periods, which is inherent by all programmes and initiatives. At any given time, either the political will and political decisions that meet the challenges and create new conditions and new situations come up at the stage, or the implementation of decisions by bureaucracy to tune instruments, mechanisms, etc. Often in the course of such implementation innovativeness and principled of the policy decisions suffers significant loss. Routine implementation of debugged bureaucracy negates the subtleties of political games and, in some sense, tests the strength of the solution. The ‘era’ of political decisions in the Eastern Partnership ended after the Prague Summit. Then followed the ‘era’ for the bureaucratic implementation, during which the standard moves and ways of solving tasks were used. November 2009 can bring the political component to the forefront. However in contrast to the phase of implementation, policy actions and decisions require appropriate determination and the will of the actors.

 

Secondly, we must not forget that the Belarusian foreign policy is traditionally moving in the mode of a pendulum. After warming and improving the EU-Belarus relations one should expect their "cooling" and the abrupt change. These traditions in the implemented policy create external conditions for the actions of the civil society. At any time, these conditions can become very poor as opposite to being complex, but with a perspective.

 

Proposals for the agenda of the Civil Society Forum

 

Framework task for the Forum agenda can be formulated as follows: "The first Forum of civil society should provide the procedural and organizational framework for the inclusion of civil society into cooperation between partner countries and the EU."

 

To achieve this objective the following should be undertaken:

 

1. Introduction to the Forum agenda room and form for discussion of the organization of future work of the Forum, identifying agenda issues and decision-making of these issues. The opportunity to formulate the agenda of the Forum alone makes civil society an independent partner in the Eastern Partnership.

 

2. Draft Agenda of the Civil Society Forum, which will be held on 16-17 November 2009. The agenda should be focused on decisions to a large extent, of the organization of the Forum, while the thematic work can not constitute the bulk of the working time. As agenda items the following proposal can be made:

- Decision about the status and format of work of the Civil Society Forum: principles of selecting delegates to future Forums, structure and work frames of continuing bodies, mechanisms of interaction and influence of the Civil Society Forum to intergovernmental (bilateral and multilateral) structures of the Eastern Partnership – thematic platforms etc.

- Forming permanent bodies and structures of the Civil Society Forum.

- Development of proposals for agendas of EP thematic platforms ob behalf of the Civil Society Forum.

3. Consolidation and self-organization of the civil society representatives of partner countries and EU member-states around the idea of active and full participation of civil society in the Eastern Partnership Initiative. Regardless of how successful will be the proposed agenda, the Forum will become a platform, which will be able to find like-minded people and to establish forms of collaboration and coordination for future work.

 

Among the issues that should be included in the agenda of the forum may be made the following proposals:

 

1. The selection process of the participants of the next CS Forums should be through the holding of national conferences or forums. The failure of civil society, individual countries, which is an objective obstacle to the introduction of the procedure this year, should not become an obstacle to development and self-organization of civil society in partner countries. The use for the selection of national representatives of the special commission established by the EC should be considered as palliative option, rather than normal practice. One of the functions of the created standing bodies of the Forum should be coordination and assistance in organizing national sites for the nomination of representatives.

 

Since all six countries are in different situations, with none of them characterized by political stability, the selection procedure can and should be specified in each country.

 

2.  Necessary to establish bilateral sites (EU-Belarus, EU - Ukraine, etc.) to organize a tripartite dialogue between the Governments and civil society and the mediation of the EU on the unfolding of specific thematic projects or other forms of cooperation. These sites allow civil society to become effectively and legitimately involved in the implementation of the Eastern Partnership.

 

3. Work of the Forum between annual meetings shall be ensured by a permanent structure. Principles of organization of this structure should be consistent with the preservation of the forum as a separate and identifiable entity in the multilateral and bilateral relations between the EU and the six partner countries. This structure will have a political character, acting as representative of the Forum of civil society in the Eastern Partnership.

 

The work of the permanent body should be built as the work of committees or working groups. Committees or working groups formed to develop proposals and representations of thematic platforms, bilateral areas and other forms of the Eastern Partnership.

 

Elections to the permanent body should be built taking into account the national proportional representation (partner countries and EU countries), and taking into account the challenges that lie ahead of this structure.

 

Tasks of the permanent body of the Civil Society Forum should include:

 

- Development of proposals, recommendations and resolutions on behalf of the Civil Society Forum in all available forms of the Eastern Partnership;

- Representation of civil society in multilateral thematic platforms;

- Coordination and organization of civil society representation on the bilateral sites;

- Monitoring and evaluation of civil society, promote the Eastern Partnership Program;

- Organization of annual Civil Society Forums and the initiation of necessary working meetings to address topical issues of civil society.

 

These proposals should constitute the triggering mechanism for formatting and organization of the Civil Society Forum. Undoubtedly, concrete output of the dialogue and coordination of positions on these issues is important. However it is more important for the civil society not to miss the chance to become a full partner in the developing relationships, and this is possible only through autonomy with respect to the organization and mechanisms of interaction.

 

Tatiana Vodolazhskaya, Andrei Yahorau,

Agency of Humanitarian Technologies,

[email protected]