Brussels, 11/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - In October 2012, the European Union created a new instrument to promote democracy in the EU's neighbourhood countries - the European Endowment for Democracy. Its executive director, Jerzy Pomianowski, told EUROPE about this endowment which has just financed its first six initiatives - in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Egypt, Georgia and Syria. (Interview conducted by Camille-Cerise Gessant).
Agence Europe (AE): What is the objective of the European Endowment for Democracy?
Jerzy Pomianowski (JP): This new organisation, created by the efforts of the member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament, aims to support the most fragile democracies in Europe's neighbourhood. We have a geographical mandate - the neighbourhood of the East (the Eastern Partnership countries) and the neighbourhood of the South (in other words, the MENA countries).
The system of support for democracy was relatively well developed but there are still limits and certain shortfalls. Our new endowment is working on these limits and shortfalls. The first element is the speed of action. To obtain support from the European Commission it takes almost 12 months, due to a significant amount of bureaucracy. Here, all the decisions must be taken very quickly - 12 weeks maximum between submitting the request and the final decision. NGOs often say that it's not important whether you give money or not, but tell us what the decision is because we have to plan our activity.
The second element is the type of action… Many fund donors can't finance bodies that are not registered. This possibility of funding the activities of groups that are well known but not yet registered is really a great change.
The third element is the support for individual activists. This is a unique opportunity. The endowment can give support to people recognised as active in societies but whose societal activities limit their professional activities. Obtaining basic assistance that enables them to have funds for daily life is an extremely important option to facilitate the new pro-democracy leadership.
Is that why the endowment was created then, when there is already the instrument for democracy and human rights, the instrument for stability and the civil social facility?
Yes, exactly. If our assistance is effective and well placed, in a few months our partners will be able fill in a request for the biggest and longest term financial instruments of the EU, and also of bilateral donors.
How do you go about choosing the people that you help?
The first thing is to obtain the request provided by the people or the group that think they merit support. We try to inform all the activists, political groups and NGOs that we exist, that we don't have any limit in our thematic framework. We are interested in all social or political activities that focus on the creation of democratic societies - in other words, that respect pluralism and the principle of non-violence, and that recognise basic democratic values. If these conditions are identified, it's not really important what type of activities they are (journalism, political activism, local governance, human rights, women's rights). It's not really important who or what.
How can you be sure that the endowment is well used?
We have only just begun so that's a difficult question. For every financing decision, we have to stay watchful and to monitor quite strongly and carry out an assessment of the project. What is more, our endowment can take a few more risks than others. That's important because we work with new organisations and new leaders.
If someone does not respect the criteria, must he reimburse the endowment?
Reimbursement will be difficult but we will always ask for it. The easiest way is to disburse our endowment gradually, measuring the results. Every time we have a doubt, we'll stop. We'll minimise the risks of disbursing the money badly.
How many requests have you already received?
We have been open for requests since mid-August and we have received over 150 requests. At the moment they are coming a bit more from the Eastern Partnership countries, which are a little better prepared to make a request. The big nations of the MENA region - Syria or Egypt - are in a very serious situation and their priorities are different for the moment. I hope that this explains a bit why the countries of the South have made fewer requests than those of the East.
What is the amount of the aid?
We think that the support scale will be €10,000-150,000. This corresponds to our general budget. We now have €18 million for the first three years (2013-2015). This is not a very big endowment but it is enough for fairly direct and well focused action to create a possible impact in the specific context of each country.
At a conference in May, you spoke of the difficulties of obtaining contributions from some countries, like Germany or the UK. How is this situation now? Which are the biggest contributors?
Germany decided, after long deliberation, to give €1 million to support the European Endowment for Democracy in 2014. The biggest contributors are Poland (€5 million for three years), Sweden and Denmark (€1 million each). The Netherlands and Switzerland are also quite big donors.
We don't have very big contributions from a financial point of view, but they are very symbolic from countries like Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary. This shows that these new countries would like to take more responsibility in common European action. And they say that they have the most qualifications for activities that support democracy because their legitimacy has been built through their own experience of democratic transformation.
Are the so-called important countries in terms of foreign policy, like France or the UK, less involved?
Yes. We must continue to put pressure on the governments of France, the UK, Spain and Italy, for example, so that they find some money in their budgets to support the European Endowment for Democracy and to show the new countries that they respect their efforts.
Do you have to request the authorisation of the Executive Committee before paying out the endowment?
The decisions to disburse the endowment are taken by the Executive Committee which is composed of seven people. It can take decisions quite quickly and we can ask it to vote by email, without having to have a meeting, if a situation requires it. It discusses the recommendation of the executive director and the secretariat. Before this, we ask the opinion of different external partners - ambassadors, delegations and experts, for example. Then it's the coaching. We talk to the person requesting the endowment to see what he wants to do and if it's possible to do the same thing with less money. So we speak about all the elements that can build the request. The final product of the project is not necessarily an exact copy of the original request. And if our response for help is negative during this process, our partner still has a positive impression that someone has listened to him and respected his work.
Do you think you will broaden the field for action?
We are dependent on the countries on the board - its members decided on the geographical and thematic priorities. Legally, there is no limit. We can go to Cuba, China, Russia, Burma - but if they ask us to do more, I'd expect some more contributions!