The Eastern Partnership Conference: Towards a European Community of Democracy, Prosperity and a Stronger Civil Society

The paper is post-conference report of the conference "The Eastern Partnership Conference Towards a European Community of Democracy, Prosperity and a Stronger Civil Society” held by the Polish Institute of International Affairs, Centre for Eastern Studies, the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and the European External Action Service on 29 September 2011.

The aim of the conference was to develop recommendations for the inclusion of civil society activities in the Eastern Partnership. Civil society has been involved in the Eastern Partnership initiative since November 2009, when the EaP Civil Society Forum was launched to support EaP goals. After two years of EaP development, the Civil Society Forum is recognized by most of the stakeholders as an important and valuable actor that regularly provides expert opinion, independent monitoring and policy proposals to government officials and EU institutions. The situation and democratic processes in the EaP region still prove to be volatile and unstable, and therefore there is the need to further strengthen Europe’s ties with the countries of the region and to develop concrete mechanisms of cooperation between official structures and civil society on securing regional stability.