In collaboration with New Eastern Europe, the EaP CSF took part in the podcast “Talk Eastern Europe”. EaP CSF Interim Director Vera RIhackova-Pachta, EaP CSF Steering Committee Co-Chair Sofia Strive and EaP CSF Steering Committee member Tatiana Poshevalova spoke about the Eastern Partnership Summit and civil society expectations for the future. Listen to the podcast here.

The 13th EaP CSF Annual Assembly has gathered more than 340 CSOs, as well as EaP and EU decision-makers to discuss the last steps and challenges ahead of this major event, and also the ambitions and policy objectives set out in the new policy documents. To discover the key takeaways of our flagship event, read the report here.

The EaP CSF has launched a call for delegates for the new cycle of 2022-2024, to which organisations from the six EaP countries and European member states are invited to apply. Throughout their mandate, selected delegates attend yearly working-group meetings and two annual assemblies, jointly advocate, expand their network, and a lot more. Find more information and apply here.

The EaP CSF Secretariat continues with the new Re-granting to Members (FSTP) programme, which is distributed via three lots. Lot 1 is aimed at monitoring of the new EaP deliverables and targets as defined in the Joint Staff Working Document, while Lot 2 supports projects addressing the Forum’s strategic advocacy priorities. Lot 3 aims to support the work of EaP CSF member organisations to develop and deliver on the strategic policy and capacity building priorities of the Forum within the regional dimension and strengthen mutual learning between the members.

Lot 1:

• Civic EaP Tracker: Monitoring EaP targets, deliverables and related reforms, Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”

Lot 2:

• Advocating for good environmental governance in the EaP region, Resources and Analysis Center “Society and Environment”, Ukraine;

• Synergy of e-Health and digital skills in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova: the path to increase resilience of EaP civil societies in crisis times, N(N)LE International Business and Economic Development Center (IBEDC), Georgia;

• The unresolved conflicts from Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, A common EaP and EU vision for reconciliation and confidence building across the region, Expert for Security and Global Affairs Association, Romania.

The 6th EaP Summit that took place on 15 December was a critical juncture in the EU’s relations with its Eastern neighbours. EaP CSF commends the results of the EaP Summit and considers it a success. Simultaneously, in times of crises that are gripping the region, the EaP CSF calls for a future Eastern Partnership that puts rule of law and democratic accountability at its core. See the full statement here.

Ahead of the Eastern Partnership Summit, the EaP CSF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, hosted an in-person event at the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU which focused on the new role of the EaP policy for Belarus.

Panelists raised that new strategic approaches, including capacity-building opportunities, need to be fostered by the EU in order to strengthen the Belarusian civil society.

At the 10th CORLEAP annual meeting on the renewed EaP agenda on 14 December, EaP CSF Steering Committee Co-Chair Irina Sukhy spoke about the situation in Belarus and shared her hopes that local authorities will lead local development based on human rights, inclusiveness and common European values, once Belarus will be free and its officials will return to the Eastern Partnership and Corleap.

Steering Committee Co-Chair Sofia Strive commented on priority reform areas for the EaP on integrity and innovation at the Open Government Partnership Summit on 14 December. She referred to the new EaP Index and highlighted that the EaP region did not perform well on governance and integrity-related reforms.

The EaP CSF Steering Committee decisively condemns the disproportionately violent response of the police during the protest in Baku on December 1 and restrictions on the freedom of assembly guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Read the full statement here.

The EaP Index 2021 charts the performance of the six Eastern Partnership countries and their progress towards sustainable democratic development and European integration. For the first time, the EaP Index generates sectoral recommendations to help civil society, EaP policymakers, independent researchers, think-tanks and the European Union make evidence-based decisions and practical reforms to enhance the EaP’s implementation. Find the Index here and a short briefer here.