Paweł Adamowicz's report on "Developing civic participation as a way to strengthen local democracy in the Eastern Partnership countries" was adopted today at the sixth annual meeting of the European Committee of the Regions' Conference of the Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP).
"My clear message is that the EU cannot stand idly by in the face of the events on its Eastern border and it needs to recognise the legitimacy of support to democratisation processes. One of the most important challenges is building up our neighbours' civic structures and strengthening their identification with Europe, while fully respecting their autonomy" underlined Adamowicz while presenting his report.
The paper provides a clear set of recommendations, calling for a substantial increase in EU support - financial and organisational - for the Eastern Partnership countries, while simultaneously asking for a thorough reform of local government in their path to full democratisation.
President of the European Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula speaking at the meeting on behalf of the EU regions delivered a message of their readiness to be involved in administrative capacity-building programs in the EaP countries:
"Even if our resources are limited, we can start small by agreeing on sectoral pilot projects and developing a business case for interested partners to join. Within the framework of the CoR - Ukraine Task Force and ongoing EU-Ukraine cooperation programs, for instance, we are currently looking at identifying possibilities of peer-to-peer cooperation for territorial development".
