The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) is an independent European organization that supports democracy outside of the European Union. It serves as the platform for European civil and political society organizations working on democracy assistance. The EPD’s mission is to advocate for a stronger presence of democracy support on the EU’s agenda, to share knowledge on democracy assistance among various stakeholders and to provide small grants to partner organizations in the field.
29 / 01 / 2010 / Robbert Gerritsen & Alexander Way
EPD & Dutch Postcode Lottery in the NRC Handelsblad newspaper / EPD & de Postcode Loterij in het NRC
On 30 January, the EPD, in partnership with its principle sponsor, the Dutch Postcode Lottery, are advertising in the Dutch NRC Handelsblad newspaper to raise awareness of the work carried out by the European Partnership for Democracy and generously supported by Dutch Postcode Lottery players. For more information, click here . Voor meer informatie over de geplaatste advertentie en de activiteiten van EPD, klik hier.
14 / 12 / 2009 / Alexander Way
EPD welcomes director of the Malian Centre for Interparty Dialogue and Democracy
The European
Partnership for Democracy wishes to extend a very warm welcome to Dr Moumouni
Soumano, Executive Director of the Malian Centre for Interparty Dialogue and Democracy
(or CMDID, to give it its French acronym), who is on a fact-finding and
advocacy visit in Brussels. The CMDID is an organisation that serves a platform
on which to bring together both governing and opposition parties in Mali to
contribute to the consolidation of the country's democratic systems and
institutions. Read more about the work of the CMDID here.
10 / 12 / 2009 / Alexander Way
The Council Conclusions on EU democracy support explained
The Council
of the European Union agreed on 17 November to adopt Council Conclusions on
Democracy Support in the EU's External Affairs. This important development in
the EU's External Relations has sparked a great deal of interest among civil
society organisations working in the field of democracy support beyond the EU's
borders, but those not directly involved in the process may well be asking what
all the fuss is about. The European Partnership for Democracy has just published a special edition of its newsletter, in which we explain the important parts of the Conclusions and
Agenda for Action and look at the challenges to implementation that lie ahead. Click here to read the newsletter.
09 / 12 / 2009 / Kristina Prunerova
European Neighbourhood Policy's online information service
In
order to support people interested in the partnership between the EU and its neighbours, the ENPI Information and Communications Support Project has created
a webportal with over 2000 pages of information in English, French, Arabic and
Russian. This includes news, an explanation of the policy and its instruments, a glossary explaining the technical language used, and portals to country-specific information. Read more about the ENPI information service here, or visit the website directly here.
02 / 12 / 2009 / Alexander Way
EPD joins press freedom alliance
The EPD has joined with four fellow Dutch organisations to cooperate on a common innovative plan called 'Press Freedom 2.0', which aims to strengthen the freedom of the press around
the world. The plan was presented earlier this week to the Dutch Minister of Development Aid, Mr
Koenders. The other alliance members are World Press Photo (WPP), European
Journalism Centre (EJC), Mensen met
een Missie (MM) and the secretariat of Free Voice. Read more about the project here.
01 / 12 / 2009 / Kristina Prunerova
20 years of democratic renewal in Eastern Europe
The EPD's partner organisation, the Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS), is organising a gathering of
young civic leaders from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the Slovak
Republic, and democracy and human rights campaigners from EU Eastern
Partnership countries, with representatives of the European Commission,
European Council, European Parliament, and EU member governments to be held in Prague on 10 December on the
occasion of International Human Rights Day and to mark 20 years since the end of
the Cold War and the end of communist rule in Central Europe. Read more here.
23 / 11 / 2009 / Kristina Prunerova
EPD to represent Civil Society Organizations on Eastern Partnership forum
The EU's new Eastern Partnership (EaP) Civil Society Forum held its first conference on Nov 16-17. The EPD's programme manager for the post-Soviet and Asia region, Kristina Prunerova, was elected by delegates from civil society organisations to become the coordinator of the first working group on democracy, good governance and stability on behalf of those CSOs participating in the EaP Civil Society Forum that are based in the EU. Kristina will support Mr Siarhej Mackievic in his role as principal coordinator. Click here to read Kristina's report on what happened in the forum.
23 / 11 / 2009 / Marieke van Doorn
Zimbabwe conference in Brussels as constitutional reform delayed further
The Zimbabwe Europe Network (ZEN) held a conference on donor reengagement in Zimbabwe on 18 November in Brussels. The ZEN functions as an information hub on the country for Zimbabwean organisations, EU insitutions and Member States alike. The EPD, in conjunction with its Dutch partner organisation the NIMD, the European Commission and Zimbabwean organisations is actively supporting citizen engagement in the constitutional reform process taking place at present. Yet the process itself is to be delayed again into the New Year. The EPD's Africa programme manager Marieke van Doorn has produced this update on the state of play in the country.