A total of 230 Civil Society Organisations have been invited to participate in the second meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in Berlin (18-19 November 2010).
 
They were chosen from 562 applications from Civil Society Organisations from EU Member States, Eastern Partnership Countries, international networks and from third countries. The selection of participants was made by the Civil Society Forum Steering Committee, and approved by the European Commission.
 
At the beginning of August, the European Commission informed all applicants of the results of the selection.

On 5-6 July, 2010 a Conference of the National Forum of Belarus' civil society was held. The National Forum is an important part in the overall mechanism of civil society participation in the Eastern Partnership initiative. It has been designed to bring together and consolidate civil society positions at the national level, to elaborate the general strategy for the participation of Belarusian civil society representatives in the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (CSF) and to advance substantive proposals on taking this initiative further. Additionally, the National Forum is entitled to recommend organizations for participation in the general Civil Society Forum to be convened on 18-19 November, 2010 in Berlin. Belarus has become the second after Armenia member-country of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) that has shaped a relevant national platform for civil society.

                                                     National Civil Society Forum

                Resolution of the Conference "Roadmap of the Eastern Partnership for Belarus”

                                                          Minsk, 5-6 July, 2010

Resolution text in PDF

 We, representatives of Belarus’ civil society, participants in the Conference of the National Civil Society Forum "Roadmap of the Eastern Partnership for Belarus"

• regard the Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative at this stage as the main mechanism for six post-Soviet countries’ integration into Pan-European processes;

• recognise a special importance of the Eastern Partnership for Belarus, which is not a member of the Council of Europe and is poorly integrated into most European processes (from strategic cooperation on defence and security issues to the freedom of movement and contacts between people);

• consider Belarusian State and government’s actions and measures within this initiative as insufficient;

• reiterate our interest in the active participation of civil society in the Eastern Partnership initiative within the framework of the Civil Society Forum, which is the main catalyst and instrument of promoting europeanisation and democratisation of Belarus.

The Conference participants acknowledged the successful and efficient work of the Belarusian delegation at the First EaP Civil Society Forum in Brussels in 2009 and discussed the aims and objectives of the delegation at the Second Forum in Berlin in 2010.

As an immediate objective of the development of the Civil Society Forum we are seeking to create mechanisms for including civil society in the process of laying out the Eastern Partnership “road map”. This mechanism should be set up as programme monitoring, i.e. as organisation and public presentation of the general picture of the programme’s advancement based on unified criteria.

Conference of the National Civil Society Forum Belarus “Eastern Partnership Road Map for Belarus”

Conference Results Summary

What Belarus’ civil society can offer to the Eastern Partnership?

On 5-6 July, 2010 a Conference of the National Forum of Belarus’ civil society was held. The National Forum is an important part in the overall mechanism of civil society participation in the Eastern Partnership initiative. It has been designed to bring together and consolidate civil society positions at the national level, to elaborate the general strategy for the participation of Belarusian civil society representatives in the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (CSF) and to advance substantive proposals on taking this initiative further. Additionally, the National Forum is entitled to recommend organizations for participation in the general Civil Society Forum  to be convened on 18-19 November, 2010 in Berlin. Belarus has become the second after Armenia member-country of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) that has shaped a relevant national platform for civil society.

Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum would like to present you the first issue of CSF Information bulletin that describes events and processes that have taken place recently within the frames of CSF activities.  

Download PDF version of the bulletin

The second Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (CSF) will take place on 18-19 November 2010 in Berlin. The overall aim of the Forum is “to promote contacts among Civil Society Organisations and facilitate their dialogue with public authorities” in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

The European Commission has invited civil society organizations (CSOs) from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to submit expressions of interest to participate in the second Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (CSF) scheduled for 18-19 November 2010 in Berlin.

A Commission press release said the Forum, which aims to promote contacts among Civil Society Organisations and facilitate their dialogue with public authorities, would “inter alia give an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved since its first meeting in November 2009 to discuss how it should evolve in the future.”

* The document is based on proposals developed by Humanitarian Technologies Agency (Minsk) and International Consortium EUROBELARUS and adopted by Belarusian participants of CSF in Brussels via e-mail consultations.

Problem Zone

Civil Society Forum in Brussels on November 16-17, 2009 has become important which provides involving CSOs in the Eastern Partnership initiative. CSOs have succeeded to raise and solve at the Forum some key questions related to forming regular CSF bodies, CSF mission and role in EaP. As a result of the Forum the initiative group has been formed from SCO representatives that share idea of active involvement of Civil Society at political decision-making level. It could be foreseen that the next phase of holding and developing initiative and potential of CSF will require changes in focus of attention from procedure and self-organization issues to solving content objectives of thematic platforms.