European Neighbourhood Policy: Meeting with EU NGOs
"Developing the ENP and advancing its ambitious reform agenda cannot be done by governments and public servants only: it requires the involvement of civil society – both in the EU and in the partner countries." stated Commissioner Füle at a meeting on 15 September 2010.
This meeting takes place in the context of a review of the European Neighbourhood Policy that the Commission has just launched at the request of the Council and that will see consultations with the governments of Member States and partner countries as well as with civil society organisations.
The "Quintet Group" [1] includes organisations active in the area of human rights and democracy, good governance, environment and development, underlined the need to re-enforce civil society participation in the policy. Its representatives handed over to the Commissioner a Memorandum including recommendations aimed at making the European Neighbourhood Policy more effective in areas such as governance, human rights, conflict resolution, environment and climate change. As part of the ENP review, further consultations with civil society are planned.