On the eve of the Eastern Partnership Summit, European Movement Vice President Nataša Owens (and Co-Chair of our Political Committee on Europe in the World) travelled to Riga to participate in the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Conference (20-21 May 2015).

During this two-day conference, civil society stakeholders gathered in Latvia to formulate a set of recommendations for the representatives of governments meeting to determine the future course of the EaP project.

After vivid discussions in four working groups the stakeholders came up with proposals on how to ensure sustainable horizontal and vertical cooperation between the different actors involved in the Eastern Partnership: civil society, governments, and EU institutions.

The participants concluded that so far the potential of multilateral cooperation has not been exercised to its full extent, as the Eastern Partners have not been involved in the planning of respective EaP policies and other forms of dialogue. They urged for more EU engagement with CSOs, touching upon the issues of Good Governance and Accountability, Economic Modernisation, Social Issues, tighter Cross-border Cooperation, Mobility and Security.