Strasbourg, 18/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - European Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Stefan Füle and Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland signed a €4.8 million joint programme on Tuesday 17 January “to strengthen democratic reform in the Southern Mediterranean countries”.
The joint programme will support democratic reforms, and promote good governance and the independence and efficiency of the judiciary. It will also target corruption and human trafficking and seek to promote human rights and democratic values, working through government officials, future leaders, youth and civil society. After being rolled out initially in Morocco and Tunisia, some initiatives will be implemented throughout the region over a three-year period. If it is successful, the project could be extended, to Egypt and Jordan, for example.
Füle said this programme “marks a further step in the strategic partnership” between the EU and the Council of Europe and enables the EU to build on the “long-standing expertise” of the Council of Europe in “providing guidance on sensitive political and governance issues to the fragile new democracies”. The programme will complement the EU's “global response” to the Arab Spring “in supporting the countries willing to transform and to reform in order to answer their citizens' call for democratic rights, dignity and prosperity”, he added.
“The partnership with the European Union enables us to combine our strengths in this important mission” in developing democracy in the southern neighbouring countries, which will benefit from the “expertise” of the Council of Europe in “supporting political and democratic transformation”, said Jagland. (CG/transl.rt)