Second meeting of the Civil Society Forum (18-19 November 2010) - BERLIN The second meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (CSF) took place on 18-19 November 2010 in Berlin. It gathered some 230 civil society organizations (CSOs) from Partner countries, EU Member States as well as from third countries (as observers). The meeting was attended also by invited guests, including the representatives of EU Member State and Partner country governments. The aim of the Forum was to discuss the implementation of the Eastern Partnership and work out recommendations of the CSOs on further development of the initiative. The event proved also to be an excellent occasion for representatives of both the EU and Eastern Partnership CSOs to meet and share their experiences. It contributed to fostering links between civil society activists from the countries of the region and raised their awareness of the challenges faced by their fellow colleagues in other countries. The meeting was attended by Štefan Füle Commissioner for Enlargement and the European Neighbourhood Policy. In his opening speech, he expressed his satisfaction with the fact that within one year, the Forum had become an integral part of the Eastern Partnership. Furthermore, the Commissioner underlined the core role that civil society plays in democratic changes in the region and expressed his wish of its further engagement in the Eastern Partnership. He also presented a new CSF website (http://www.eap-csf.eu/) which aims to coordinate CSOs’ undertakings and disseminate information. The website is financed by the European Commission but managed by the CSF Steering Committee. Members of the CSF Steering Committee presented reports on their activities since the first Forum’s meeting and experience gained so far. Afterwards, the participants continued in working groups and sub-groups covering the whole range of issues from democracy, human rights, good governance through economic integration, environment and climate change to contacts between people. It encouraged more specific and focused discussion between participants. The second meeting of the Civil Society Forum worked out recommendations (http://www.eeas.europa.eu/eastern/civil_society/forum2010/recommendations_en.htm) on the implementation of the Eastern Partnership, which were presented to the Ministers for Foreign Affairs gathered at the EaP Ministerial Meeting on 13 December 2010. The CSF Steering Committee selected Civil Society Organisations for the second meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum [16 KB] (Berlin, 18-19 November 2010. A list of Civil Society Organisations [64 KB] invited to participate in the the second meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Agenda
[822 KB] of the second meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum