Brussels, 09/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Eastern Partnership - which aims at greater cooperation with six countries of Eastern Europe - must include sub-national authorities more and be based on application of democracy at every level of power. This was the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), voiced by CoR President Mercedes Bresso. During a conference on Wednesday 9 November, organised at the initiative of the CoR Polish regions, Bresso spoke of neighbourhood policy with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Democracy at every level. “It is our deep conviction that the development of multi-level democracy is a must for successful cooperation with our partners”, Bresso said. The CoR is well placed for underlining this point, as it is the only European body that regularly monitors local and regional elections in partner countries, as was the case in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
Partnership at every level. To ensure that eastern countries uphold European standards, it is not just a question of democracy, but also of closing the gap between the values and principles of those countries and those of the Union. This objective can only be attained with the active support of local and regional authorities, as the Eastern Partnership cannot simply be a process between European institutions and governments. This message was probably well received by the European Commission, according to the point of view expressed by Simon Mordue, the head of European Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Stefan Füle's private office, who said: “I shall use the word transformation to describe the evolution of revised neighbourhood policy. What one sees is transformation of this policy, an initial policy between governments and the European Union, towards a policy that is more of a partnership between companies and a partnership that calls for all players to work together”. (MD/transl.jl)