Norms over Forms: Civil Society Development in the Enlargement Process

On 4th June, 2015, the Balkan Civil Society Development Network BCSDN organized a debate at the European Parliament to present the state in which civil society operates in Western Balkans and Turkey, and how the accession process can promote a more enabling environment for its development.

The debate “Norms over Forms: Empowering Civil Society in the Western Balkans and Turkey” was hosted by Ms. Ulrike Lunacek, Vice-President of the European Parliament (The Greens/EFA) and co-chaired by Ms. Venera Hajrullahu BCSDN’s Board Chair both speaking about the value and importance of the civil society for the reform and accession processes in the Enlargement countries. Following the presentation of the regional state of play, as presented in the Monitoring Matrix Regional Report for 2014, representatives of BCSDN member organizations discussed the specific challenges faced in each country.
The debate finished with a strong message delivered by Ms. Lunacek, who stated that governments should not see civil society as opponent, but rather as ally, whose criticism can improve their work, strengthen the democracy and support the accession process.

More information here.

Source: Balkan Civil Society Development Network, Email Alerts No. 319

Civil Society in the Balkans Calls for More Inclusion in the Accession Process

At the 5th Civil Society Western Balkans Forum of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 2nd and 3rd June, 2015, in Belgrade, participants acknowledged that despite some challenges, the perspective of EU accession will have significant impact on the Western Balkans.

This was underlined during four thematic sessions of discussions with representatives of CSOs from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia. Social partners and CSOs are essential partners in improving transparency and inclusiveness in the EU accession process. Participants therefore called on governments and EU institutions to strengthen the dialogue with CSOs and to improve access to information.
The Forum ended with the adoption of a final declaration which will be forwarded to the national authorities in the region, the European Parliament, the European Council and other institutions.

More information is available here.

Source: Balkan Civil Society Development Network, Email Alerts No 319

European Parliament Development Committee discussing financing for development: Watch live

European Parliament Development Committee discussing financing for development, budget support, migration, EU-Africa relations, tax.

The agenda of the discussion will include:

• Financing for Development -EU Budget support 
• Presentation by Fernando Frutuoso de Melo, Director General, European Commission DG DEVCO 
• The nexus between development and migration -EU-Africa relations - Exchange of views with Nick Westcott, Director for Africa, EEAS -Tax avoidance and tax evasion as challenges for governance, social protection and development in developing countries. 

The event, taking place on 31 March and 1 April 2015, can be watched live or as a recording after the event here.

Source: European Centre for Development Policy Management newsletter

EU13 initiate lobby on European Union DEAR funding criteria for small organisations

The platforms of the EU13 recently joined forces to draft a letter to development Commissioner Mimica about their concerns related to development education and awareness raising (DEAR) funding from the European Commission (EC). Concerns raised by the group relate to the trend for fewer larger projects being funded and the impact this has on smaller organisations that are unable to access funds for the vital work they are doing. The letter gathered great support from colleagues in the EU15 - 12 of them signed on to the letter, as well as the co-chairs of the two relevant CONCORD working groups: FDR (funding for development and relief) and the DARE Forum (Development Awareness Raising and Education Forum). As well as smaller organisations becoming less able to access the funding, larger organisations are also facing problems under the new funding structure - having to take on additional responsibility and workload for larger projects with a greater number of partners. Gordan Bosanac from Croatian platform CROSOL presented the letter to the Commissioner during a meeting on Friday 13 February 2015 and all who signed are committed to continuing their advocacy work to bring about change in the funding situation.

Read the letter here

Photo courtesy of CROSOL:Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica and president of CROSOL Gordan Bosanac.


Information provided by TRIALOG

Commission unveils its Position on Global Development after 2015

The European Commission published priorities for a sustainable development agenda on the 5th of February, ahead of negotiations for the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). According to the Commission, the key components that need to be in place include a conducive policy environment, capacity development, effective use of domestic and international public finance, making the most of trade and technology, and harnessing the positive effects of migration.

You can read the full article here.

Source: Euractiv

The Council of the European Union conclusions on a transformative post-2015 agenda

In December 2014, the Council of the European Union adopted its conclusions on a transformative post-2015 agenda. “The Council reaffirms the vision and priorities of the EU and its Member States as set out in its Conclusions of June 2013 and emphasises that poverty eradication and sustainable development are mutually reinforcing and intrinsically linked.”
Among others, the document also highlights the fact that “strengthening civil society and ensuring an enabling environment for civil society actors is essential.”

The document is available here.

Source: Council of the European Union

Eurobarometer: The European Year for Development – Citizens’ views on development, cooperation and aid

Helping people in developing countries is considered important by 85% of Europeans according to this Eurobarometer survey. It shows that, overall, attitudes towards development and cooperation are positive. In spite of continuing economic uncertainty across the EU, there is strong support for increasing development aid in almost all Member States.

In addition, most respondents agree not only that helping developing countries should be one of the EU’s main priorities, but also that doing so would benefit Europeans and that providing aid is in the EU’s own interest. 2015, the European Year for Development, will be an important opportunity for the EU to build on this and inform citizens of the development challenges lying ahead, engaging in a debate with them.

Some interesting findings from the survey that highlight the opinions of citizens from EU13 countries – the countries that have joined the EU since 2004, TRIALOG partner countries – are the following:
• Awareness about the 2015 as the European Year for Development is the highest in Hungary (24%), Lithuania (22%), Italy, Malta and Latvia (21%), but lowest in Czech Republic (7%).
• Tackling poverty in developing countries as one of the main priorities of the EU and national governments: Respondents in Croatia, Cyprus, Sweden and Malta are among the most likely to agree, at the same time, they are the ones most likely to say it is important to help people in developing countries. Estonia and Slovakia are the only Member States where fewer than 50% agree that tackling poverty in developing countries should be one of the main priorities of the EU.
• A majority of respondents in every Member State, except in Bulgaria, agree that aid should be increased.
• Tackling poverty in developing countries is seen as a moral obligation with the highest numbers in Cyprus (91%) and Croatia (89%), meanwhile the lowest figures are shown amongst respondents in Estonia (57%), the Czech Republic (60%) and Slovakia (63%).
• On volunteering in organisations one in five respondents in the EU agree that it helps developing countries, most strikingly in Cyprus (40%). Respondents in Hungary are the least likely to say volunteering is effective, but even so, at 58% they still represent the majority.
• Personal commitment to and involvement in development: On the role of individuals in tackling poverty there is a wide diversity of opinions across Member States. In Bulgaria (72%) and Estonia (71%) respondents disagree with the statement that as individuals they can play a role in tackling poverty. Within EU13 respondents, in Cyprus, Malta and Romania they are more likely to agree with the statement.

Find more insights from the full servey here.
Read your country factsheet, available here.



Information provided by TRIALOG, based on ECDPM - European Centre for Development Policy Management

More of the same or radical change? Options for the successor to the EU’s Gender Action Plan 2010-2015

The arrival of the new European Union (EU) leadership team in late 2014 provides an important opportunity to accelerate support for gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights. The EU’s Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development 2010 to 2015 (GAP) runs to December 2015 and discussions are underway on what its successor should comprise.

In a recent publication, the ODI (Overseas Development Institute) proposes three options for a successor to the current Plan. However, the success of all three options will depend on certain preconditions being in place: resolute leadership; enhanced gender analytical, including sector-specific, capacity; an informed, sensitive and courageous approach to political dialogue; full use of the menu of development instruments and modalities; meaningful engagement with civil society; and coherent policy-making. What are the three options and what kind of shift is needed in the EU approach you can read here.

Source: Overseas Development Institute

CONCORD Guide to European Funding Instruments 2014-2020

This report aims to provide the reader with a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the instruments and programmes (both thematic and geographic) used by the European Union (EU) in its development cooperation. It highlights the roles played by civil society in policy dialogue on these instruments and programmes, and in their implementation.

CONCORD has been actively engaged with both the EU's institutions and its member states, monitoring and influencing the negotiations on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 with a particular focus on the development-related instruments and programmes. The report also includes CONCORD's comments on the 2014-2020 programming process.

Click here to download the report.



Source: CONCORD

New EU Leadership – Newer Member State Leaders and Development Cooperation

New European Commission leadership – the president of the Commission and its college – will take up their duties next week on 1 November 2015. Two immensely important portfolios for international development will be held by Commissioners from the newer EU member states for the next five years.

Naven Mimica from Croatia – the newest EU member state – will take up the job of the Development Commissioner. He previously held the post of Commissioner for Consumer Protection in the last Commission and was at the heart of Croatia’s EU accession negotiations. He did not face a tough hearing in front of the European Parliament where MEPs determined he is fit for the new post. Some NGOs have, however, already criticised Mimica for not having visions for development .

Another important portfolio for development in the new Commission – Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management – will be held by Christos Stylianides from Cyprus. He is a previous spokesperson of the Republic of Cyprus and politician in the Cypriot parliament. He was elected as an MEP in the European elections in May 2014.

As a result of the European elections in May the new European Parliament has also started its work; MEPs have been assigned to different committees and new roles have been agreed upon. In the Development Committee – the group of MEPs directly addressing development cooperation issues – there are seven members from the newer EU member states out of 27 MEPs in total. Namely, Doru-Claudian Frunzulică and Cristian Dan Preda from Romania, Karol Karski and Bogdan Brunon Wenta from Poland, György Schöpflin from Hungary, Davor Ivo Stier from Croatia and Anna Záborská from Slovakia. The Romanian MEP Christian Predra has also been tasked with the important role of being the European Parliament rapporteur for Policy Coherence for Development. The Croatian MEP Ivo Stier has become the Political Coordinator for his political group – the European People’s Party – on issues related to the development committee.

Civil society organisations will keep a close eye on these and other new EU leaders in the area of international development.


Information provided by Mirjam Sutrop, TRIALOG

Is Civil Society Development in the Enlargement Countries becoming increasingly important to the European Commission?

With the Enlargement Strategy 2014-2015 and the country Progress Reports recently being published, Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN) has for the 6th time analysed how the European Commission has treated the issue of civil society development and assessed the progress made in the Enlargement countries.

In short, the European Commission is starting to use more clear, strong and focused language in highlighting the importance of a developed civil society in enlargement countries. Also for the first time EC has unified its approach towards the issue: there is now a separate civil society section within the political criteria in each country report. Considering this, and what are the key messages to the Governments and how they are delivered, it seems civil society development is becoming a necessary component for achieving sufficient fulfillment of the Political criteria - thus, a possible benchmark for negotiations.

The full analysis by BCSDN can be found here.


For further inquiries please feel free to contact Ms. Biljana Stojanoska of BCSDN.


Information provided by BCSDN

Aid Programmes hit hard by EU Budget woes

Europe's unpaid bills are accumulating, and with them fears for development aid and humanitarian aid. Jacek Dominik, the European Commissioner in charge of the budget, has also raised the alarm. In a speech on 24 September, the Polish Commissioner said that the debts of the Financing Instrument for Development Cooperation (DCI) had accumulated to a value of "14 million euro since July". The strain on the 2014 budget is in danger of becoming even worse in 2015, as member states have proposed significant cuts to the European Commission budget. NGOs have responded to the cuts with disbelief, particularly as the External Action Service does not account for a very large proportion of the total EU budget.

Read the full article here.

Source: Euractiv

The EU Commission’s Private Sector Communication

European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) discusses the recent EC Communication on working with the private sector for development. The analysis looks at the different actors targeted by this communication and what roles are foreseen for these actors. Among other things, the Communication is clearly also for Non-Governmental Organisations NGOs, Civil Society Organisations CSOs and other development actors who see themselves as representing different beneficiaries of EU development policies. This includes organisations working with firms in multi-stakeholder partnerships as well as cooperatives, both in some ways ahead of the EC in thinking about working with the private sector, as well as those CSOs more inclined to be suspicious of the private sector as a ‘development actor’.

Click here to read the full article.

Source: ECDPM

New EU Development Commissioner: Neven Mimica

Croatian Commissioner-designate Neven Mimica would replace Andris Piebalgs from 1 November 2014. The European Commission for 2014-2019 is set to have Neven Mimica as Commissioner for 'International Cooperation and Development', pending approval from the European Parliament. He will be joined by new Commissioners for Humanitarian aid as well as a new Foreign Policy chief.

CONCORD talked to the media saying that the future development Commissioner must make sure development does not become "second best" to foreign policy interests in the new institutional setup.

Find more information here.

Source: CONCORD

EC Study on the Uptake of Strategic Evaluations in EU Development Cooperation

Every year, EuropeAid produces 10 to 12 ‘strategic evaluations’ dealing with countries, regions, themes or aid modalities. As their name suggests, they adopt a broader perspective than project and programme evaluations, which are of a more operational nature. Strategic evaluations are interested in the overall relevance and coherence of EU interventions. They have a dual objective to provide accountability and promote learning. Most importantly, they seek to generate knowledge to help decision-makers to improve development policy, programming and practice.
In order to address these questions, EuropeAid commissioned an ‘uptake study’ with two very clear objectives: (i) to collect evidence of the translation of knowledge from strategic evaluations into EU development policy and practice, and on that basis (ii) to make recommendations for strengthening uptake in EuropeAid and the wider EU external action system.

The study can be read here.

Source: European Commission

Report on the European Union’s Development and External Assistance Policies

The European Commission launches the 2014 annual report on the European Union’s development and external assistance policies and their implementation in 2013. The report outlines the actions of the European Union in 2013 designed to contribute to poverty eradication and sustainable development worldwide. Apart from looking back at EU’s successes and its contribution to global development in 2013, the report also looks ahead.
Referring to the European Year for Development 2015, the authors of the report state: “This would be an ideal opportunity for the European Union to inform its citizens about the added value of EU development cooperation and to demonstrate the results that the EU has already achieved. It can also highlight the unique ability of the EU to draw on the combined strengths of its Member States, in terms of fighting poverty and championing development, peace and prosperity all across the world and achieving even more in the future.”

The full report is available here.

Source: EU Neighbourhood Info Centre

EPAN finds out more about the European Neighbourhood in the South

On 11 July 2014 the CONCORD Working Group on Enlargement, Pre-accession and Neighbourhood (EPAN) held an information session in Brussels on the ENP Civil Society Facility for the Southern Neighbourhood and on the ENP South Civil Society Forum. Participants included representatives of the European Commission’s DG DEVCO, the European Economic and Social Committee and various European civil society organisations and platforms active in the fields of development cooperation, good governance, human rights and environment in the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood.

ENP South Civil Society Facility: The Civil Society Facility South is an EU-funded regional programme that supports CSOs as actors of democratisation and aims to strengthen the links between the EU and its Southern Mediterranean partners. The facility was established as a response to the Arab Spring as a tool to provide CSOs with the necessary skills and capacities to become relevant interlocutors vis-à-vis their national governments and other stakeholders. Since 2011, 11 million euro has been available under this facility for Southern Mediterranean CSOs supporting 11 regional projects covering different topics such as gender equality, youth, water management and rural development.

Participants suggested improvements for the future operations of the Civil Society Facility, including stronger coordination from Brussels to mainstream the facility and achieve its aims rather than EU delegations using the facility to top up other calls; an underlining of the flexibility of the facility as its added value; the need to build links between EU African processes (ACP) and Neighbourhood processes; a focus on CSOs not only as a target group but as stakeholders that can be involved through consultations; and the need for risk analyses to be undertaken when designing the calls, particularly for the NGOs who operate on the ground.

Civil Society Forum South: The EEAS, EC and EESC launched the initiative to create a structured regional dialogue between civil society from the Southern Neighbourhood, national authorities and the EU. Over the last 12 months an advisory group has been established and consultation meetings organised, to develop advice on how to build this forum and to ensure the participation of various stakeholders. In the beginning of July, the European Institutions developed a joint proposal.

Six main challenges still remain as to how to organise the structured regional dialogue: 1. Bringing EU delegations to a regional way of thinking; 2. Deciding on which elements the forum should discuss (bottom-up approach where discussions focus on democracy, human rights and gender OR structured regional dialogue on information, trade, migration, investment and energy flows); 3. Making links between this initiative and all the dialogues already taking place in the region (in-country dialogue, EU and African Union CSO dialogue, the Policy Forum for Development, the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), EIDHR mechanisms and tools, and the European Info Centre based in Malta); 4. Ensuring participation of new actors, such the media, local authorities and social movements, including non-registered CSOs; 5. Recognising the need for and promoting a structure that improves coordination; and 6. Avoiding a heavy structure such as the Civil Society Forum East, and ensuring it is facilitated by someone with a strong CSO background.

It has been agreed that a consultation process with the Commission/EEAS will be organised in autumn 2014 with a possibility to use CONCORD webinars to reach out to CSOs outside Brussels. The topics of discussion will be the design of the New Civil Society Facility, articulation of the Policy Forum for Development and the set-up of the Civil Society Forum South.


Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska, TRIALOG

EESC Urges for Enhanced Transparency and Inclusiveness of the EU Accession Process

The External Relations Section of the EESC (European Economic and Social Committee) adopted an own-initiative Opinion on Enhancing the transparency and inclusiveness of the EU accession process on 12th June 2014, tabled by Marina Skrabalo - an EESC member from Croatia. The Opinion outlines some of the key features and lessons learned from the EU's enlargement policy over the past five years. The role of EESC in facilitating civil society engagement in the accession process and its challenges is also reflected in the document. Many of the recommendations urge for more significant participation of the civil society and the other social partners in the negotiation process and concrete recommendations are given for improvement in this area to the European Commission, the national governments of negotiating countries as well as to the EESC itself.

The current version of the document can be downloaded here.


Source: Balkan Civil Society Development Network

Moldovan Civil Society Organisations Support the European Path of Moldova and Launch „Pro Europe” Civil Society Platform

In a statement fifty representatives of the Moldovan civil society organisations, including CSF Moldovan National Platform, hailed opportunities offered by the Association Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Moldova and called the civil society to unite around preparing Moldova for accession to the EU through taking part in a newly-launched Civil Society Platform “Pro Europe".

According to the statement, the “Pro Europe” Platform was created to consolidate the European integration choice and to boost the democratic development of the Moldovan society. The platform will contribute to the promotion of European values, to the understanding of economic, social, democratic and political benefits that brings the European integration, the statement said.

The full statement can be downloaded here.


Source: Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum 

EU Council Conclusions on a Rights-based Approach to Development Cooperation, Encompassing All Human Rights

Last month, in Brussels, the Council of the European Union adopted a series of conclusions on a rights based approach to development cooperation. Among the conclusions, the Council “acknowledges the fundamental role of civil society in promoting human rights, notably through their contribution to the empowerment of rights-holders, awareness-raising and fostering accountability and transparency.

The Council stresses the need for continued EU support for human rights defenders, capacity-building of local civil society organisations and promoting a safe and enabling environment in both law and practice that maximises their contribution to development. Being closer to citizens and interacting with civil society, local authorities also play a crucial role in the effective implementation of a rights-based approach.”

It is worth noting that the conclusions also refer to the Toolbox developed by the European Commission for the implementation of the Rights Based Approach (RBA), describing how to systematically apply a RBA into EU development cooperation, including in the EU project cycle management, and is, therefore, a useful tool for CSOs as well. The Toolbox can be found here, while the full Council Conclusions on RBA are available here.


Source: CIDSE EU News – Issue 2 – June 2014