CONCORD Director, Seamus Jeffreson, was invited to the General Assembly of Coordination Sud on June 15th to address the following question “Enabling environment for NGOs: What situation in France, Europe and the world?”. Here is the speech he delivered to Coordination Sud’s membership [text in French].
Italian NGOs are currently under attack, due to allegations undermining the credibility and expertise of organisations and volunteers saving lives in the Mediterranean. This case is unfortunately not isolated in the EU.
With the revision of the Cotonou Agreement which will start mid-2018 and the soon to be signed new EU Consensus on Development, where do we stand on development cooperation after 60 years of European Union?
CONCORD in the news – This article, including an interview of Johannes Trimmel, our President, has been published in Devex on April 4th. The UK NGOs could miss out on 140 million euros of funding a year from the European Union as a result of Brexit.
Inspiring blogpost from Laura Sullivan, our Vice-President, on the future of Europe – Last week I went to Rome for the EU 60 events, especially to meet lots of other civil society organisations trying to help reflect on the past and future of the EU. Whilst there I tried to reconcile a couple of things in my head.
What does an effective partnership between EU Delegations and Civil Society Organisations look like? Which impact have the EU roadmaps on the EU-Civil Society dialogue at country level? Do the EU funding modalities and instruments fit the needs of all Civil Society Organisations whatever their size and role? Get an answer and discover the other key findings in our new report “EU Delegations – Towards a more effective partnership with civil society”.
On February 6th, CONCORD participated in a workshop in the European Parliament organised by the Budgetary Control Committee on the Study “Democratic Accountability and Budgetary Control of NGOs Funded by the EU Budget”. This recent study is key for NGOs funded by the EU as it addressed important issues such as transparency and accountability, the functioning of the Financial Transparency System and the Transparency Register. Read the key findings and suggestions on how NGOs should tackle the criticisms mentioned in the report.
For two days, on December 6th and 7th, CONCORD and the FIP-IFP organised a seminar on the post-Cotonou process. These 2 days closed with a multi-stakeholders debate, titled “Stand up for a better future for all”. What came out of this process? What have we learned? What are the next steps? Read the joint statement and discover much more in this blogpost.
On December 7th, CONCORD and the Slovak Presidency will host an open dialogue on the future of the Cotonou Agreement. The event, titled “Stand up for a better future for all” will bring together authorities and Civil Society Organisations from both the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, to discuss the future of the EU’s partnership with 79 ACP states after 2020.
CONCORD members gathered in Budapest on 8th and 9th November to discuss the shrinking space for civil society in Europe. This event, the first of its kind, aimed to foster information-sharing and mutual learning between our members on the solutions they are exploring. Our Hungarian members, HAND, supported the preparation of the event and highlighted the extreme situation for civil society in the country.