The European Commission published the Communication "The roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe's engagement with Civil Society in external relations" which promotes legal environment as one of the major EU commitments in its external actions. ECNL’s contribution on enabling environment section was specially highlighted in the consultation report. The Communication puts forward the priorities for EU’s engagement with CSOs in external actions as:
- To enhance efforts to promote a conducive environment for CSOs in partner countries.
- To promote a meaningful and structured participation of CSOs in domestic policies of partner countries, in the EU programming cycle and in international processes.
- To increase local CSOs' capacity to perform their roles as independent development actors more effectively.
The Communication was developed during a consultation process organized by the EC and DG DEVCO. The Consultation sought input from CSOs and other actors in the areas of: CSOs and development effectiveness principles; challenges related to a shrinking legal and regulatory space for CSO action; promoting the participation of CSOs in public policy processes and in domestic accountability; enhancing CSO internal capacity; CSO internal governance and accountability; towards a consistent EU engagement with local CSOs at country level; 'new areas for reflection'.
ECNL’s submission emphasized the importance of the enabling environment for CSOs that can be measured based on the specific country context and characteristics of the sector.
The summary report prepared by DEVCO highlights ECNL’s proposal on developing a three-tier approach for countries with various level of the civil society sector development that can better safeguard the standards for freedom of association. ECNL’s comments also dealt with the issues of CSO participation, cooperation, mass media and new media role.
More can be found in the report prepared based on the consultation results. ECNL aspires that these objectives will be properly reflected in EU programs under the new Multi-Annual Financial Framework (2014-2020).