What is Civil Society Dialogue?
Giving everyone a voice in EU enlargement
The continuing enlargement of the EU offers many advantages. It is a process that strengthens the unity of the European continent, enhances peace, stability and security, and brings new prosperity.
Enlargement, however, is not an automatic process. One of the lessons that can be drawn from previous enlargements is that citizens need to be better informed and prepared. It is necessary to involve citizens to bring them closer to each other and help them learn about different cultures, political and economic systems. In this way, the opportunities and the challenges of enlargement can be more fully understood.
Involving civil society
The idea of a ‘civil society dialogue’ was first proposed by the European Commission in October 2004 and endorsed by the European Council on 17 December 2004:
“Parallel to accession negotiations, the Union will engage with every candidate state in an intensive political and cultural dialogue. With the aim of enhancing mutual understanding by bringing people together, this inclusive dialogue also will involve civil society.”
The objectives of civil society dialogue, which also embraces the Western Balkans, are to:
- strengthen mutual exchange of experience between civil society in EU and the candidate countries;
- help bridge the information gap;
- generate mutual knowledge and understanding; and
- ensure a stronger awareness of the opportunities and challenges of future accessions.
A vibrant civil society is important in any democratic society… [There is a] need to foster the broadest possible consensus among not just the political class, but the population as a whole…. This is a major task. It requires politicians but also other representative voices of civil society like NGOs, churches and academia, to play a clear role".
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso,
Belgrade, 16 February 2006
The essence of civil society dialogue is systematic contact and exchange between all sectors of civil society in EU Member States and candidate countries.
As for Turkey, it makes Turkey better known within the EU, and allows Turkish citizens to understand more about the EU, its values and policies. At the same time, it assists citizens in playing a bigger part in political, cultural and economic development – thus boosting the emergence of a vigorous civil society in countries that accede to the EU.
EU-Turkey Civil Society Dialogue: Activities in Turkey
Over decades Turkey and the EU have already established numerous contacts at political, economic, professional, cultural and educational level. Many of these activities will be continued, strengthened, and more widely promoted. It is also important to make them accessible across remote or disadvantaged regions of the country.
In its first year, the Civil Society Dialogue built on previous activities, in particular the Greek-Turkish civic dialogue under which a variety of Greek-Turkish cooperation projects were supported between 2004 and 2005. A total of four civil society dialogue grant schemes were implemented in 2006 providing EC financial support worth € 4.33 million to more than 70 dialogue and cooperation projects.
For example, a new generation of European Horizons and Mosaic programmes, “Civil Society Dialogue: Culture in Action” managed by the EC Delegation in Ankara, promotes cross-border cooperation between EU and Turkish non-governmental organisations. The programme provided funding of €1.45 million for joint EU-Turkey cultural projects on the one hand and information/media activities regarding EU matters on the other.
Further to the EU funded activities, projects contributing to Civil Society Dialogue are also carried out on a bilateral basis between EU Member States and Turkey.
Last update: 1.9.2009