National Convention on the EU in Georgia
Project Goal
- To institutionalize the public debate on EU related issues based on the partnership of governmental, non-governmental and business organizations in Georgia;
- To strengthen the expert capacities on negotiations on EU integration in Georgia;
- To engage the general public in national policy-making on EU related issues through establishment of the sectoral EU communities based on the model of the National Convention on the EU Working Groups;
- To create the interactive and permanent information channel for all segments of the society;
- transfer the Slovak know-how in the field of democratic institutions building and permanent expert dialogue.
The overall goal of the project is to stimulate the direct, transparent and open dialogue among the target groups, to provide them with the expert information and feedback from different networks, groups or local organizations, to engage into the discussion on the key issues of the European integration of Georgia and its eventual success crucial segments of the society and facilitate the establishment of the groups based on the common cross-political interest.
The target groups: the government, public opinion makers, media, NGOs, political parties, different networks, entrepreneur s and public at large in Georgia.
Project Impacts
- Establishment of the permanent, coherent and continual thematically structured debate forum focused on the relations between the EU and the Georgian Government;
- To support an elaboration of „national“ positions and creation of the national consensus in particular issues asserted by the state’s representatives towards the EU institutions;
- Strengthening of the governmental and NGO capacities for EU integration processes;
- Structured information on the EU based on the sectoral interests of the crucial segments of the society (expert and general knowledge improvement);
- Improve readiness of the state for integration into the international structures.
It is a unique model which was successfully applied and developed by the Slovak Foreign Policy Association between 2003 –2007. According to the Slovak model, the project was applied in, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. In all five countries the initial phase of the project was financed through Slovakia´s bilateral development assistance (Slovak Aid).
Slovak Foreign Policy Association is the main Partner of the Levan Mikeladze Foundation in this project. The project was submitted to the Slovak Aid for consideration for funding on March 18 2015.
From the institutional point of view, National Convention on the European Union is the most appropriate instrument for maintenance and further development of nation-wide discussion on the EU which will fulfil three main objectives:
- It will support an elaboration of national positions in particular issues asserted by the representatives of the State at the accession negotiations;
- It will provide the democratic legitimacy to the EU performance in the eyes of the public (deciding about us with us);
- It will serve as an active and permanent information resource on the EU for the public.
Outputs
- Policy recommendations from Plenary Sessions;
- Policy recommendations from Working Groups Sessions;
- Research outputs for the WGs’ (internal experts of the WGs) ;
- Press releases and press conferences (after each WG and Plenary session);
- Web page of the project;
- Printed publications (policy recommendations: Plenary Sessions plus WGs, research outputs of internal experts);
- Establishment of the think-tank network cooperating on the EU integration agenda issues with other segments of society (government, entrepreneurs, local governments, etc...).
Working Groups
Working Groups are created based on crucial issues in the State. Each WG are chaired by the two co-chairs and consisted of one internal/local expert of the WG and the regular members. Representatives of the governmental structures (relevant ministries and agencies) are offered to take the co-chairing of working groups. In case they decline the offer, experts from the private sector and non-governmental organizations will be addressed. Each Working Group will be encouraged to invite one international expert on the topic in focus to participate in the Working Group sessions. The majority of events will be held in Tbilisi, in order to foster the awareness about the critical importance of state-level institutions, recognized by the EU as counterparts in negotiations, for success of reforms and EU integration.
Representatives of national and regional media will be invited to NCEU Plenary Session. The Plenary Session and each Working Group Session will be followed by the press conference or media briefing. In total 16 working group and two plenary sessions will be held.
During the WG sessions, recommendations prepared beforehand by the local and foreign experts are presented. After the presentations, the discussion will follow in which all WG members are expected to participate. At the end of each meeting, concluding remarks will be made, which later will be discussed by the co-chair and the expert, who will finalize the document. Four recommendations will be delivered on each of four topics.
In addition, an electronic book with the recommendations produced by the Working Groups throughout the project period will be published on the website.
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Project Name:
Project Duration:
Project Donor : |
National Convention On The EU in Georgia
November 1, 2015 – February 28, 2017
Slovak Foreign Policy Association (2015-2017; 2021-2022) |
| Implementing Partner: |
The Levan Mikeladze Foundation
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| Project Budget: | €79,658 (2015-2017) €112,982 (2021-2022) |
The Working Groups focus on the following fields:
