On April 23 ECNL's designated representative participated in a regular bi-annual meeting of the Expert Council on NGO Law (Council) in Strasbourg. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the draft report, prepared by Mr. Jeremy McBride, the coordinator of the Council, on fines imposed on NGOs in the Council of Europe (CoE) member states, as well as to choose 5 countries to write a more extensive report on the same topic. ECNL is assigned to prepare a report on Serbia. In addition, President of the Council, Cyril Ritchie, and Jutta Gutzkow of the Council of Europe briefed Expert Council members as to where the CoE and the Conference of International NGOs (INGOs) stand in terms of the Council’s future. The Council’s mandate expires by the end of this year, and the plan is for the Conference of INGOs to conduct an assessment of the Council’s current work and provide specific recommendations to the Conference of INGOs and CoE on the Expert Council’s future.
