Session Report of Team Europe Democracy (TED) Event: Supporting Civic Engagement on Rule of Law and Democracy Reform in Eastern Partnership Countries

This report summarizes the online learning event that took place on 11 July 2024 with democratization experts from Moldova, EU policy makers and many other professionals in the sector. It was organized by Team Europe Democracy (TED), researcher Amy Eaglestone and KPSRL.

Key takeaways

With demands for reform during the EU accession process, also comes a responsibility to look further than formal processes, institutions, and regulations. EU support to democracy and rule of law reform has to be people-centred and is only sustainable if taking the voices and needs of the population of Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries as the starting point to improve those more formal institutions and regulations. Applying such a ‘civic engagement lens’ throughout EU’s initiatives is a skill to be acquired and trained. - EU support still tends to go through/to ‘usual suspects’. It is difficult to collaborate with smaller organisations, or those in geographic regions that don’t have a historic culture of civil society or regions that are politically less aligned (and therefore less connected) with the EU. This requires investing in new networks, channels, instruments, and platforms. This while being cognizant of the sensitivities when reaching out on themes like justice and human rights, ensuring for example safe spaces or more subtle diplomacy. - Fostering a ‘CSO culture’ amongst others means supporting organisations in their revenue search, resilience against shrinking civic space and capacities to mobilise. It also means facilitating their seat at the table during institutional reform processes - and considering this the norm.