WG EPAN

Working Group on Enlargement, Pre-Accession and Neighbourhood

Minutes

Venue:Institute for Cultural Affairs (ICA) Centre, Rue Amedee Lynen 8, 1210 Brussels

Participants:Alfredo Gracia (ES); Daniel Draxler (ADRA); Isabelle Ioannides (CY); Ivana Plechata (CZ); Jelena Josic (Croatia); Kelly Grossthal (EE); Louis Bourgois (FR); Mara Simane (LV); Milan Sagat (SK); Mirkka Mattila (FI); Petra Kreinecker (TRIALOG); Rebecca Steel (TRIALOG); Tanja Hafner-Ademi (Macedonia); Valerie Ceccherini (UK); Viktoria Villanyi (HU); Vince Caruana (MT); Wico Brunskoek (NL).

Observers/Speakers:Heather Grabbe (EC); Marie Skov (Eurostep); Pauline Denissel (WWF); Tony Venables (ECAS).

Apologies: Andreas Vogt (CONCORD); Marjan Huc (SI).

23 April 2008 - Preparatory meeting

The pre-meeting started with a quick roundtable for participants to introduce themselves to the group.Vince then introduced EPAN and his role in the group, as well as the reasons behind the pre-meeting (which is a result of feedback from the last meeting in support of such a pre-meeting to introduce EU policies to those less familiar with them, and to think about making use of experience on ground to influence policies)

European Instruments: The Presidency Fund Toolkit

Vince presented a Presidency Fund project that his organisation was involved in (annex 1).

Background: The Barcelona process was assessed in 2005. The process includes many different pillars that touch on human rights and social aspects, but the main focus is on trade. Two different assessments came out: the governmental – that the process was on track, with just a few extra efforts needed; and the non-governmental – that the process was off track, and not successful at all. The Presidency Fund Project aimed to find reasons for the discrepancy between the two evaluations. The issue isconfused further by the fact that there is the ENP, Barcelona process and now the proposed Union for the Mediterranean (UM).

There was a meeting in Italyto discuss what CS wants from the UM. It was agreed that the EU was created for the free movement of people as well as goods. CS is cautiously optimistic about the UM, as long as lessons are learned from the ENP and a union of equals is created.

The project tried to find a common language between CS and governments by identifying indicators. Women’s rights were highlighted as a consistent element. Strengthening fair trade also came out as more important than free trade (example of farmers’ incomes in NMS reducing since enlargement). There is an assumption that the Mediterranean region will follow the same path that Western Europe did generally – moving from small subsistence farming to industrialised communities. This is being taken as a given but the CS consultations implied they were more interested in seeking out niche markets.

The central issue is to look at what made the EU work and bring old enemies together, and how something similar couldwork in the Mediterranean region.

Problems include the process being seen as Brussels-led and top-down, and high hopes that were disappointed with a few people getting rich and others becoming ambivalent. With 2010 getting closer, many issues remain unresolved such as environmental and social issues.

From field work to effective policy work: examples and experiences

Mirkka introduced herself and outlined the focus of her work. She asked the group about who was involved in policy work and who focused on more practical aspects, and most members said both aspects were involved in their work.

Mirkka then gave a powerpoint presentation on how practical project work can be used to influence policy work (annex 2).

During the question and answer session, Mara explained about the spill-over effect of Finnish work in this area on Latvia – MPs are visiting different countries to see what has happened in other places and youth sections of political parties and young journalists are becoming active.

Vaestoliitto does not work with many volunteers but it is something that will be increased. The organisation is funded 80% by an infertility clinic; the rest comes from other sources including a slot machine association (which the EU doesnot like it as it is a monopoly, but it is a main source of funding for lots of organisations).

Evaluating the effectiveness of the policy work is difficult - despite indicators and evaluations, sometimes it is only possible to claim a contribution to work in a particular direction. The organisation can monitor funds within ODA, but this is quite restricted.

Study tours are organised for MPs to other European countries, but also to Ethiopia for example, where local partners are involved.

The information from the field is not always easy to get, because it has constraints of its own and can involve thinking outside the box.

There are people who think these issues are not important at all, but it’s a question of breaking down issues into manageable parts. There is also the importance of reminding countries of their commitments.

Maltawas given as an example of a society with two realities – what the law says and what is culturally acceptable.

23 April 2008 - EPAN meeting

The meeting started with a roundtable introduction of all the participants, followed by an overview of the agenda.

Nordic-Baltic conference: Mirkka spoke about the Nordic Baltic conference, which brought parliamentarians to Talinn in March/April to focus on HIV/AIDS, as the current situation in Estonia is not ideal. 60 parliamentarians attended from 6 countries, to prepare for the next UN meeting on the topic so that they can work together and speak with one voice.

ECAS/CNVOS conference: Tony presented the background and context of the ECAS conference that was held in Ljubljana at the beginning of April under the Slovenian presidency – with a follow up meeting in Croatia in September. This was the second ina series, which started in Brussels, and was followed by a questionnaire, which resulted in country reports. The Slovenian conference resulted in the Ljubljana Declaration (annex 3), which will now be used for lobbying work.

The discussion noted that the Pontis Foundation works closely with CS in Serbia, and although it’s time the EU recognized CS as a possible partner, there is a problem that CS has very little to say in Serbia. It is true that CS in Serbia may not be representative of the region however. Macedonian experiences are different. The event was important, and it was good for Slovenians to host the event; as it was given political power. The importance of coalitions was underlined and recognizing that to give someone a voice, they must have something to say.The Ljubljanadeclaration is being circulated among the relevant players, but the difficulty is in the implementation; and pushing it at different geographical levels.

EC DG Enlargement conference: There was a general discussion about the recent EC conference on CS in Southeastern Europe, which underlined the importance of CS althoughthe level of consultation on the facility itself is questionable. Certain attendees said the conference lived up to the low expectations, as it was oversubscribed and the EC was doing it for its own reasons. Others complained that the conference involved too many topics nd too many diverse organisations. It was a first step but they need more precise recommendations for them to be useful. Gradually the feedback got more positive and it was noted that for organisations from Albania and Kosovo for example, it is difficult to cooperate since they’re fighting for funding, but they were able to use the occasion to network.

SI presidency: Petragave a brief presentation on behalf of the SI presidency as TRIALOG has been supporting the SI presidency project for 18 months and she had just returned from Slovenia, where she had been monitoring the project. It was very positive because at the beginning there were isolated SI NGOs working in different areas but now they have come together to represent a more cohesive group, which has built up a good level of cooperation and sees the benefits of a platform.Last week Marjan received information that Bush will be in SI for a summit at the same time and in the same place as the main DE conference that is part of the SI presidency project. The venue has been changed but the timing will stay the same.

FR presidency: Louis spoke on behalf on FR presidency. There will be a focus on Europe’s role in the world and a debate on the future of Europe(annex 5). There are five main topics:Europe’s relations with Africa; agriculture and development;financing development; citizens of Europe and international solidarity; and climate change and development. One of the main events is a seminar in October on the future of Europe, which will bring in how the EU is perceived by NMS and non-EU states. This will involve one representative from each national platform. An event in Strasbourgwill look at EU strategy in Africa and the second main event showcases the FR priority of the Mediterranean partnership – a Euro-Med civil forum in the first week of October in Marseilles.

The other issue this will touch on is codevelopment and circular migration. The October conference will look at a European pact on migration as well as ODA. The FR Foreign minister is very involved in the Western Balkans so was identified as an advocacy target.

[Julie from the French Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD) also wanted to inform the group about 2 different topics they will focus on related to Eastern and Central Europe during the French Presidency : 1) a campaign for a European directive on Roma inclusion and 2) a regional seminar on relations between the Western Balkans and the EU, especially on the consequences of the readmission agreement.]

CZ Presidency: Ivana told the group about the CZpresidency plans, which will focus on aid effectiveness. A concept note for the presidency project has been submitted to Brussels, with a draft of actions. It was difficult to prepare as the deadline was very tight, but 270,000 Euros have been requested. The full project will be submitted in June. The project foresees an international conference on CSO aid effectiveness; a conference on DE; and seminars. The MFA and other institutions consulted NGOs to coordinate the programme.

EPAN Case studies

The next session involved brainstorming sources of information for the case studies. Vince presented the case studies concept note (annex 6) and explained the background to the case studies, which will contribute to the ENPI midterm review.

Eurostep project: Marie then gave a powerpoint presentation (annex 7) on the project that she is coordinating within Eurostep in 6 neighbouring countries (Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Morocco, Egypt and Palestine), also to feed into the mid-term review. The project started in March in Brussels, will continue with national workshops between June and September, and will finish with a conference in Brussels in October/November, so that the recommendations can be drafted in time for the review in 2009.

WWF project: Pauline followed by explaining WWF’s involvement in lobbying work around the ENPI regulation and current projects in the neighbourhood. One is called “Greening the Black Sea synergy” and the second is on ENP Action Plan (AP) implementation (the handbook has been developed with the Heinrich Boll Foundation and will be ready very soon for circulation). Implementation of the APs differs greatly from country to country, and so the project developed a list of questions with yes/no answers, which werethen scored. CS reps in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan will use the handbook to monitor the implementation of the APs in their countries. Pauline explained how small NGOs were being supported in this project, and the lack of traditional distinction between environment and development was noted.

A roundtable identified some partners in Egypt and Ukraine that could contribute to the information gathering. The discussion made a start at identifying a second issue, but the main work on this was saved for the working group session on the second day. Trade was discussed as a possible second issue, but then it was argued that it would be better to focus on something that is not mainstreamed as given as much attention as trade is. The other issue to take into consideration is the particular area of specialisation of the organisations we would like to use in collecting the data.

The most striking issue is the difference between the official goals that have been identified, which nobody would argue against; and the implementation, which is not living up to expectations.

EC budget review

Tanja gave some background information about the budget review consultation, and about the text that she and Mark drafted.CONCORD inputs included an overall submission and theEPAN text.

The message was critical of the model of CS supported through IPA. From the CARDS situation, the good news is that the partnership principle has been recognised, but the bad news is linked to implementation – the ad hoc nature of consultations, which come late in the decision making process.

ENPI and IPA programming docs involve the EC and governments, but strategic documents should include all the people involved.

Transition

Vince gave an overview of the issues surrounding transition and why it was abandoned as a topic within EPAN.

EPAN Steering Committee and Leadership

Vince explained that since Colombe, Florent and Mirkka have all left or will be leaving, and as Valentin will not be representative of RO anymore we need more steering group members, and a new Vice-chair to replace Mirkka.

Mark, Tanja, Wico and Kelly all joined the steering group

Tanja was made vice-chair.

24 April 2008 - EPAN Meeting

Civil Society in the Western Balkans

Tanja gave an overview of general CS trends in the Western Balkans. A publication from the network (annex 5) has just been released, which usesSlovenia as a good example. Croatiais also seen as good example within the region, and Bosnia has a strong base although the legal situation is complicated. We heard an overview of the issues: the legal bases are generally there but implementation is not as successful.Coalitions need to be built up and relations with institutions developed. Traditional donors are withdrawing and the EU is taking over as most important donor. The region has little tradition of CSR and philanthropy so expectations come from commitments from the EC.

From the EU side, CS was supported through CARDS with the EIDHR and thematic lines. In 2005-6, strengthening CS was mainstreamed, which made funding less accessible. IPA priorities reflect those in CARDS and CS is once again a cross-cutting issue. The new facility for CS (technical assistance, people to people, networking in particular issues) has been presented by the EC and there are some other funds for networking and coalition building.

One CfP has been opened, targeted at media professionals called “Support for actions promoting a better informed public debate about EU enlargement in the candidate and potential candidate countries”(

The partnership principle needs to be underlined and transition experiences of NMS can be helpful for this.Loosening up criteria would ensure that CS can be properly involved. The locals are the ones who should be involved.

Discussion to prepare questions for the EC session.

The group came up with some points that need clarification:

  • Are there more concrete ways the partnership principle can be implemented?
  • How is the EC making use of transition experiences from previous enlargements?
  • How was the decision taken to divide up the IPA facility – was CS consulted?
  • Why is it not possible to show initiative in proposing actions in the region?
  • Could the eligibility criteria be loosened?
  • How will the EC build capacity in local authorities and so on?
  • How is global citizenship and development education taken into account? Transition and the example of the situation for farmers in NMS deteriorating since enlargement have implications for candidate countries and potential candidates.
  • What is going to happen with regards to Kosovo? Many countries have not recognised the legitimacy of the country since it declared independence.
  • What can be done about reducing levels of ODA and the lack of incentive now NMS are EU members?

EC session

Dr Heather Grabbe is political advisor to Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. She gave an overview of EU enlargement policy and then asked for specific questions from participants.

The eventual aim is for the countries in the enlargement policy to join the EU, but there are so many issues involved – issues from conflicts in the Western Balkans and political conditions with Turkey. Most processes will not be concluded under this Commission, but everything is leading to a slow gradual integration into Europe. Priorities include visa facilitation and liberalisation and the integration of civil services through training and twinning.