The steering group of the working group on Enlargement, Pre-Accession and Neighbourhood (EPAN) met at the beginning of July to update one another on the work that has progressed since the working group met as a whole in Vienna in March, and to plan the next few months before the next meeting in Brussels in October.
Things have been progressing in each of the working group’s three subgroups – on eastern neighbourhood, southern neighbourhood and pre-accession. The group exchanged information about events that have been held and discussed the pressing issues in each case. These include the lack of progress in the Union for the Mediterranean, how to engage most effectively in the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, which will meet again in November and moving forward the building of links with grassroots organisations in the Western Balkans and Turkey.
There was also discussion on the importance of linking EPAN work more closely with CONCORD priorities and processes, including southern engagement, where the Mediterranean has been identified as a priority for 2011.
The group finalised a date for the next meeting – 5/6 October 2010 and drafted a framework agenda. The agenda will include sessions on various topics: how to engage in the southern neighbourhood given the fact that the political process of the Union for the Mediterranean has stalled, with a guest speaker from another sector – an environmental NGO; how to link the MDGs with the neighbourhood following the MDG summit in September, with a guest speaker from the UNDP; a follow-up session on the European Transition Compendium with a guest speaker from DG external Relations of the European Commission and the usual sessions of information sharing, presidency updates and CONCORD priorities.
More information about the next EPAN working group meeting will be made available on the CONCORD extranet.
Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska, TRIALOG
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