The Eastern Partnership Summit in Prague on 7 May 2009 confirmed the European Commission proposal from December 2008 to establish the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF) “to promote contacts among Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and facilitate their dialogue with public authorities” in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The summit invited the European Commission “to develop and propose modalities for the establishment of a Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership”.
The first EaP CSF took place in Brussels on 16-17 November 2009 and gathered more than 200 CSOs. During the Forum, participants elected the CSF Steering Committee and tasked it with the responsibility of developing a procedure for selection of the participants for the next Forum. The CSF Steering Committee elaborated the procedure that can be found below. The procedure was applied in the process of selection of the participants to the second meeting of the EaP CSF, which was held in Berlin on 18-19 November 2010.
The Steering Committee of the EaP Civil Society Forum, in cooperation with the European Commission/European External Action Service, is now inviting all interested parties to submit expressions of interest to participate in the third meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum. The submission of expressions of interest is a necessary step in the selection process to participate in the EaP CSF meeting on 28-30 November 2011.
The extended format (from 1,5 up to three days) of the EaP CSF has been made possible thanks to the European Commission/European External Action Service and the generous support of Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Complementing the work already done by the Forum 2009 and 2010, this annual event will be mainly focusing working groups, we would elaborate common programmes and activities.