Importance of democratic reforms stressed by CSF at Euronest Assembly

During the third ordinary annual Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, which took place on 27-29 May 2013, the Director of the Brussels-based Secretariat of the EaP CSF Natalia Yerashevich addressed the General Assembly.

In her speech Ms Yerashevich briefed Parliamentarians from the European Parliament and the partner countries on the work of the EaP CSF and stressed the Forum's engagement in the monitoring of the Eastern Partnership Roadmap, which will produce conclusions and recommendations ahead of the Vilnius Summit. Furthermore, she underlined that the CSF puts a special emphasis on election monitoring, as the decisions taken and reforms implemented by leaders who enjoy low legitimacy will be less respected by the people. As a result the whole EaP process could have less impact, than expected. She stressed the important role of Euronest in bringing about meaningful democratic changes in the Eastern Neighbourhood and underlined the will of the civil society to cooperate with Euronest in order to achieve these goals.

Commissioner Füle, who addressed the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly as one of the keynote speakers during the opening of the Assembly, encouraged Parliamentarians to continue strengthening their ties with the Civil Society Forum and the National Platforms as reform objectives agreed with partner countries need to be a true reflection of their societies' concerns and aspirations. Furthermore he stressed that the EU aims at making the process of political association and economic integration that began in Prague in 2009 irreversible.

The full speech of Ms Yerashevich is available here.

The full speech of Commissioner Füle is available here.

The programme of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and of the Third Ordinary Session are also available.

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