The conference brought together national authorities, representatives of European and national civil society organisations, human rights defenders, EU agencies, donors and international organisations. It was an opportunity to take stock of the process prompted by the European Commission’s 2022 report on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, its follow up seminars held earlier in 2023, and the Council Conclusions on the role of the civic space in protecting and promoting fundamental rights in the EU of March 2023.

The conference was organised by the European Commission and the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU and it was a good occasion to present the results achieved by the CERV programme (in particular, under the Charter and Union values calls).

The new call for proposals for civil society organisations active on protecting and promoting Union values (or, Union values call), which is open to submissions until 7 March 2024, introduced several significant novelties also based on feedback from the stakeholders participating to the seminars mentioned above. 

The European Commission will publish a paper summarising the conclusions of the overall consultation process at the beginning of 2024.