- Date
- April 2011
Based on the Open Society Foundations’ 30-year experience in transition situations, the Open Society Institute-Brussels provided a response to the European Commission/High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joint Communication: A Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean, published on March 8, 2011.
We are encouraged by some positive elements in the proposed partnership, namely the prioritization of civil society as a building block for democracy; a readiness to use political rather than technocratic leverage; and the proposal to use clearer conditionality and benchmarks. These are significant and welcome changes to the EU's approach to its neighborhood.
Our response document also focuses on six areas that we regard as important for further policy development in the EU's approach to the region, and on which the Open Society Foundations have expertise:
- human rights benchmarks and conditionality;
- accountability for past wrongs;
- engaging and supporting civil society;
- a broad reform agenda;
- transparency and corruption;
- mobility.
The full response is available for download.
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