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ANND urges EP to help safeguard policy space in Arab countries -
There are no translations available.

21 March 2012 - The Arab NGO Network for Development has urged MEPs to help ensure that the EU's proposed Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia are not pursued before new constitutions are adopted and development models established that prioritise peoples' social and economic rights. See letter to MEPs. See also letter from 42 Arab CSOs to the EU



ANND urges EP to help safeguard policy space in Arab countries -
There are no translations available.

21 March 2012 - The Arab NGO Network for Development has urged MEPs to help ensure that the EU's proposed Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia are not pursued before new constitutions are adopted and development models established that prioritise peoples' social and economic rights. See letter to MEPs. See also letter from 42 Arab CSOs to the EU



Commissioner says EU must not be afraid to engage with new leaders emerging from democratic transition -
There are no translations available.

The European Union must engage with the new leaderships emerging from the transitions in the Arab world and should not be afraid of the outcome of democratic elections, the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle said in a speech in Munich today.



Egypt's popular putsch -
There are no translations available.

By Daniel Korski - 26 Jan 12 - It is too early to write off Egypt's revolution. Unlike in the past, politics is now a live issue across the country, and that popular force is a difficult one to control or stop, and even the steps that have been taken now seemed impossible just over a year ago.



Trade as a cornerstone for the EU Eastern Partnership -
There are no translations available.

Karel de Gucht speech, 23 January 2012



Balkan economies confront the global crisis -
There are no translations available.

Belgrade resident Jelena Stankovic, 33, works in an international creative marketing agency, surviving cut after cut in both staffing and salary.



“Revolutions need to come from inside but transitions can do with support from outside” – So, what is the EU offering? -
There are no translations available.

In response to the Arab Spring the European Commission has proposed to create a new European Neighbourhood Instrument, based on the European Union’s reviewed approach to cooperation with its neighbours in North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.



The year of the HUBRICS -
There are no translations available.

No diplomatic meeting has personified the rise of the BRICS as much as the recent EU-Summit. Fresh from rigging an election, Russia’s president turned up in Brussels for the regular powwow - not to be lectured by EU leaders on the importance of free and fair elections, but to be begged for money.



EU renews trade preferences for Balkan countries -
There are no translations available.

The EU decided on Friday (December 30th) to renew trade preferences for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo until 2015. The preferences, which expired at the end of December 2010, will allow duty-free access of nearly all products from the region to the bloc. All exporters will be able to claim compensation for the duties they paid in 2011.



EU steps up budget support in Georgia: €26.22 million for Internally Displaced People and Education -
There are no translations available.

20-12-2011 - The European Union has recently disbursed €26.22 million to the Georgian Treasury in support of measures in two key sectors, internally displaced people and education, according to a press release from the EU Delegation in Tbilisi.



Romanian and Moldovan Civil Society hope to be involved in the ENPI PDF Imprimer Envoyer
There are no translations available.

logo-csdfFDSC , ProWomen and FOND (Romanian development NGO platform) have organised a seminar on civil society and development co-operation in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy, in Iasi (Romania) on 27/28 June 2007.

This seminar brought together around 40 NGOs from Moldova and Romania to discuss financial assistance to Moldova provided through the Romanian bilateral programme and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI).

The political use of aid was central to the discussions with Rodica Novac, director of the Association for organization Development, insisting on the fact that “We should do everything to avoid a financial assistance that would reproduce a colonial model. We need to ensure that Moldovans receive what they want and need and not something different.” Commenting on the issue, Igor Munteanu from the Institute for Development and Social initiative VIITORUL (Chisinau), said that “Moldova should be free to accept or reject aid provided by international donors depending on whether or not it fits its needs”.

Discussing the priorities of European aid under the ENPI, Florent Sebban, Policy Advisor at Eurostep welcomed the fact “that poverty reduction is a very important element of the Moldovan Country Strategy Paper for 2007-2013. However we have difficulties to identify how this commitment to prioritise the Millennium Development Goals within the CSP will be realised in the implementation of aid through the various Annual Action Programmes”. The focus on poverty eradication in the implementation of the financial assistance is considered essential by many of the participants including Victor Munteanu from the Open Society Institute in Chisinau who noted that “It is vital that the fight against poverty remains at the heart of any financial assistance. Poverty is at the centre of all our problems, which include migration of skilled workers, corruption, HIV/Aids...”
The seminar gave the opportunity to Moldovan NGOs to give their perspective on aid under the ENPI. Aurelia Bondari, director of the National AGROinform Federation (Moldova) called on the European Commission “to support the agricultural sector in Moldova in order to lift people out of poverty”.

Finally while the European Commission keeps on claiming that the programming and implementation of the ENPI will be done in a transparent and participatory manner, it seems that none of the civil society participants have been meaningfully involved in a consultation on the Moldovan Country Strategy Paper or on the Annual Action Programme. Moreover the European Commission cancelled its participation to this very important seminar. Valentin Burada from FDSC concluded that “it is time for Romanian and Moldovan NGOs to work together to ensure that financial assistance can make a difference for people living in poverty”.

Florent Sebban reports from Iasi
29/06/2007