Venue: Palace of the Republic, 16 Maria Cebotari St. Chişinău, Republic of Moldova Agenda
Thursday, 3 October Arrival of participants Side events of the Forum Friday, 4 October 08.00 09.00 Coffee and Registration (Lobby, 1 st floor) 09.00 09.10 Introductory remarks (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) Boris Navasardian and Krzysztof Bobiński, Co-Chairs of the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Forum; Lilia Carasciuc, Transparency International, Moldova and National Coordinator of the Moldovan National Platform 09.10-10.30 Welcome speeches (Grand Ceremony room, 2nd floor): Mr Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Ms Natalia Gherman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova Mr Linas Linkevičius, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Mr Radu Podgorean, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania H.E. Mr Petr Mareš, Ambassador at large for the Eastern Partnership, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic H.E. Ms Ingrid Tersman, Ambassador of Sweden to Moldova H.E. Ms Beata Pęksa-Krawiec, Special Plenipotentiary of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Eastern Partnership Ms Maia Panjikidze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Mr Borys Tarasyuk, Co-President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly 10.30 11.00 Coffee break (Lobby, 1 st floor) 10.45-11.15 Press briefing for the senior government officials (Conference room A, 2 nd floor) 11.00 12.30 Civil society in the context of Association Agreements: before Vilnius and after (Grand ceremony room, 2 nd floor) 2
Moderator: Vera Rihackova, EUROPEUM Opening remarks Armenia - Mikayel Hovhannisyan, Eurasia Partnership Foundation Azerbaijan - Leila Alieva, Center for National and International Studies Belarus Andrej Yahorau, Center for European Transformation Georgia - Kakha Gogolashvilli; Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies Moldova - Sorin Mereacre, East-Europe Foundation Ukraine - Oleksandr Sushko, Institute for Euro-Atlantic Integration Hrant Kostanyan, Center for European Policy Studies, Belgium Kristina Vaiciunaite, East Europe Studies Center, Lithuania 12.30 14.00 Lunch and elections of the Country Coordinators (Hall, 2 nd floor) 14.00 15.40 Assessment of reform process in EaP countries: European Integration Index and Road Map Monitoring Moderator: Jeff Lovitt, PASOS (Grand Ceremony room) Opening remarks Overview of the European Integration Index (EII) Iryna Solonenko and Viorel Ursu Findings of the EII and Road Map Monitoring on the reform process in EaP countries in 2012- first half of 2013: Armenia Boris Navasardian, Yerevan Press Center Azerbaijan Gubad Ibadoglu, Public Initiative Center Belarus Dzianis Melyantsou, Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies Georgia Manana Kochladze, Green Alternative Moldova Leonid Litra, Institute of World Policy Ukraine Dmytro Shulga, International Renaissance Foundation EEAS representative - TBC Audience discussion and questions 15.40 16.10 Coffee break (Lobby, 1 st floor) 16.10 17.50 Parallel plenary sessions: 1. (WG1) Electing the leaders: Elections in Eastern Partnership countries 3
(First Presidium room, 2nd floor) The panel will examine the experience of elections in the Eastern Partnership countries in 2013 - in Armenia last February and forthcoming presidential contests in Azerbaijan and Georgia. The CSF has put elections at the centre of its attention as ultimately it is elected politicians who will implement the plans and ideas which civil society argues for. It is essential that non-governmental organisations do their utmost to ensure that politicians are elected in free and fair elections. This gives legitimacy to law making and policy shaping in general. If politicians cheat in the way that they are elected then the laws they pass will be flawed. One of the instruments is election monitoring by independent local and international observers. This is an important role for civil society. Moderator: Krzysztof Bobinski, Unia&Polska An overview of what has happened in 2013 and what we can expect in 2014- speaker TBD Armenia Artak Kirakosyan, Civil Society Institute Azerbaijan Anar Mammadli, Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center Georgia - Nino Lomjaria, ISFED 2. (WG1) Threats for media freedom in Eastern Partnership area (Conference room C, 2 nd floor) Moderator: Andriy Kulakov, Internews, Ukraine Armenia - Boris Navasardian, Yerevan Press Club Azerbaijan - Arif Aliev, Union of journalists Yeni nesil Georgia - Maka Jakhua, Green Wave Association Belarus - Andrej Bastunec, Belarusian Association of Journalist Moldova - Independent Journalism Centre 3. (WG1) Anti-Corruption (Second Presidium room, 2 nd floor) Moderator: Svetlana Savitskaya Moldova Lilia Carasciuc, Transparency International Other speakers TBD EU participant - Nienke Palstra, Transparency International Liaison office to the EU, Brussels 4. (WG1) No EU visa regime for EaP: making the dream real? (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) 2014 year may bring a breakthrough for EaP visa liberalization process as far as Moldova has a chance to be first finalizing its work within Visa Liberalisation Action Plan and secure visa free travel to the EU for its citizens, whereas Ukraine and Georgia are slightly behind trying to catch up. Armenia and Azerbaijan launched Visa Facilitation Agreements with the EU, while Belarus enjoys just informal facilitation. Many challenges are appearing on the way as visa liberalization is not much popular 4
issue for the most of the EU Member States. What should be done to reach sustainable progress? How can civil society actors streamline and consolidate their efforts? Moderator - Oleksandr Sushko, National Coordinator of the Ukrainian National Platform; Institute for Euro-Atlantic Integration Opening remarks by Mr. Iulian Groza, the Deputy-Minister of External Affairs From facilitation to liberalization: where EaP countries are? Alexandra Stiglmayer from ESI, Brussels (TBC) Presentation of the Visa Liberalization Index - Jakub Benedyczak, Stefan Batory Foundation Civil society strategy for visa liberalization: best practices of advocacy and monitoring, communication strategy, relevant messages, know how to reach key target audiences - Maryana Kuzio, Europe without Barriers, Ukraine 5. (WG2) Social and economic dimensions of the DCFTA of the EU with Eastern partners (Conference room A, 2 nd floor) Experts on the panel will try to elaborate on the advantages of the DCFTA for development of the EaP region, analyse social challenges of the DCFTA in EaP countries and design propositions on possible cooperation with the EU and within EaP to address social and economic challenges of the European integration to reduce socio-economic imbalances and increase stability Moderator Hennadiy Maksak, WG2 Coordinator Opening remarks representative of Moldovan government in charge of DCFTA negotiations TBC Georgia - Kakha Gogolashvilli, Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies Armenia - Tatul Manaseryan, Director of "Alternative" Research Centre Moldova Ion Tornea, Institute for Development and Social Initiatives Viitorul Ukraine Irina Kosse, Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting European Commission Luc Pierre Devigne, DG TRADE 6. (WG3) Good Environmental Governance Flagship Initiative: EaP CSF WG3 second assessment (Conference room D, 2 nd floor) Moderator Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, WG3 "Environment, energy and climate change" Co-ordinator Summary findings: dynamics in 6 EaP countries since 2011. Georgia - Manana Kochladze, Green Alternative NGO Moldova - Dumitru Drumea, ECOS Center Ukraine - Zoriana Mischiuk, UNENGO "MAMA-86" Economics of ecosystem and biodiversity and environmental governance - Bogdan Prots, WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme EaP Good Environmental Governance Flagship Initiative results - European Commission, tbk 5
Concluding remarks from panelists and moderator. 7. (WG4) Youth policy and human rights (Conference room E, 1 st floor) 2013 was an important year regarding EU youth policies, when youth programmes were shaped and discussed for the next budget period (7 years). New opportunities for the active young people appeared in the frame of the Eastern Partnership program. However, certain political developments in a number of EaP countries put in danger the future development of the Eastern Partnership program and EaP - EU integration. The panellists will discuss opportunities for young people and their right of realisation in the EaP region, as well as problems and challenges in the youth related issues in the EaP region. The results of the Eastern Partnership Youth Side Event will also be presented. Belarus - Nino Karyakina (National Youth Council of Belarus) (tbc) Ukraine - Elyzaveta Shchepetylnikova (Ukranian assosiation of Student self governance) Matthias Christensen European Youth Forum (tbc) Representative AEGEE Europe (tbc). 8. (WG5) Social dialogue as a key tool for promoting social cohesion and economic growth in EaP countries (Conference room B, 2 nd floor) Moderator - Andrzej Adamczyk - Solidarnosc Trade Union The panel will discuss the current trends as regards social dialogue in EaP countries and address the issue of how social dialogue could contribute to social cohesion and economic growth in EaP countries. The experience of the EU and the ILO prove that social dialogue is a powerful tool for dealing with labour market challenges such as promoting employment and fair income distribution, combating poverty and enhancing productivity. In a context of increasing concern about social inequalities and economic discrepancies, social dialogue is crucial to achieve balance between economic growth and social equity. It also enhances the ownership by the main actors involved. Social dialogue should therefore become one of the priorities to work on and it should be adequately introduced in EaP countries as a means to support the necessary economic reforms and transition to market economies leading to the improvement of the general development of the societies and their living standards. EU - Anton Leppik, Pan-European Regional Council of the International Trade Union Confederation EU - Matthias Thorn, International Organisation of Employers Azerbaijan - Agil Dadashov, Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan Armenia - Gagik Makaryan, Republican Union of Employers of Armenia 6
17.50-18.00 Closing of the day (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) 18.00-18.40 Closing remarks by Jerzy Pomianowski, Executive Director of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) followed by a presentation of the EED for Forum participants Discussion on European Endowment of Democracy with Forum participants: Jerzy Pomianowski, Executive Director of the EED 19.00-20.30 Reception hosted by Moldovan Government in the Palace of the Republic with the presence of the Prime-minister of the Republic of Moldova Mr. Iurie Leanca (Hall, 2 nd floor) Saturday, 5 October 08.30 09.00 Welcome Coffee (Hall, 2 nd floor) 09.00-09.20 Co-Chairs of the CSF Steering Committee report on the SC and Forum activities (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) 09.20 11.00 Working Group meetings Report on activities in 2012 2013 Work plans for 2013 2014 Elections of WG coordinators WG 1 Democracy, human rights, good governance and stability Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor WG 2. Economic integration and convergence with EU policies Conference room A, 2 nd floor WG 3. Environment, climate change and energy security First Presidium room, 2 nd floor WG 4. Contacts between people Second Presidium room, 2 nd floor WG 5. Social Dialogue Conference room B, 2 nd floor 11.00 11.20 Coffee break (Hall, 2 nd floor) 11.20 12.20 Parallel Sub Working Group meetings I; establishing priorities of the 7
work of sub group for 2013-2014 and discussion of modus operandi WG1: Subgroup: Human Rights (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Election Monitoring reform (Conference room A, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: VISA facilitation group (First Presidium room, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Regional security (Second Presidium Room, 2 nd floor) WG2: Subgroup: Trade and Trade Regulated Cooperation linked to Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTAs) ( Conference Room B, 2 nd floor) WG3: Subgroup: Energy Security (Conference room C, 2 nd floor) WG4: Subgroup: Culture (Conference room D, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Youth (Conference room E, first floor) WG5: Subgroup: 12:30-13:30 Parallel subgroup meetings WG1 Subgroup: Fight against corruption (First Presidium room, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Public administration (Conference room A, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Media Freedom (Second Presidium room, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Judiciary Reform (Conference room B, 2 nd floor) WG2 Subgroup: Transport (Conference room C, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Agriculture & Rural Development (Conference room D, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: SME Policy (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Territorial, regional and cross border cooperation (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: Environment & Climate Change (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) 8
WG3 WG4 WG5 Subgroup: Climate Change and Environment Protection (Conference room E, 1 st floor) Subgroup: Education (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor) Subgroup: 13.30 14.30 Lunch (Hall, 2 nd floor) 14.30 16.00 Plenary (chaired by Boris Navasardian) (Grand Ceremony room, 2nd floor): Discussion of the Forum s future and internal matters Presentation of WG discussions Discussion of the future of EU Coordinators 16.00 16.20 Coffee break and election of EU Coordinators (Hall, 2 nd floor) 16.20 17.30 Plenary chaired by Boris Navasardian and Krzysztof Bobinski (Grand Ceremony room, 2 nd floor): Discussion of draft resolutions Discussion on input to Vilnius Summit Adoption of resolutions 17.30 17.45 Group photo (stairs, 1 st floor) 17.45 18:30 Press briefing 19.00 Delegates attend the Wine Festival (Chisinau city center) Sunday, 6 October Departure day 9