30 Amendments of Reinhard BÜTIKOFER related to 2014/2231(INI)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas a number of EU Member States have undergone a process of democratic transformation since the end of the Cold Warover the past decades and have accumulated extensive experience in this field that iscould be relevant to the activities of the EED;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas in a number of countries around the world, notably in the EU's immediate neighbourhood, the space for legitimate civil society action is shrinking and authoritarian regimes are using increasingly sophisticated means to restrict the work of NGOs and pro- democratic actors whilst feigning a veneer of democratic appearance;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the establishment of the EED should be seen as a sign of a new trend in EU neighbourhood policy thatcontributes, alongside other EU programmes such as the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and the ENP Civil Society Facility, to a much-needed process of shiftsing the paradigm from aEU's traditional state-centred approach to a more balanced and long-term oriented, society-centred perspective, with a focus on direct engagement with grassroots movements;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas the assessment of the impact of democracy assistance activity, such as that carried out by the EED, remains an inherently difficult task, notably due to the non-linear and long-term nature of political transformation in the countries concerned and to the often confidential nature of the activities involved;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Acknowledges with satisfaction that despite the short time of activity and limited funds, and the EED has met Parliament’s recommendations, delivering added value to existing EU democracy support through faster, flexible, bottom-up and demand-driven funding in a smarter and financially more efficient approach than other EU means, thanks to the cooperation with local non- violent, pro-democracy partners and a lower administrative burdeninherent challenges to assess the impact of democracy support activities, the EED is meeting Parliament’s earlier recommendations, and delivering added value to existing EU democracy support;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is of the opinion that the EED as a democracy support modality has proved its ability tobeen contributeing towards diminishing both political and personal risk;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines theStresses its full and continued support to the EU's multipronged efforts to support civil society organisations, social movements and activists around the world; reiterates the importance of ensuring complementarity of EED activities and existing EU external financialng instruments, notably the EIDHR;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Regrets that the EU's global approach to democracy support remains fragmented and largely disconnected from its human rights policy; calls on the EU and the Member States to develop a holistic approach to support political transition and democratisation in third countries, which comprises respect for human rights, the promotion of justice, transparency, accountability, reconciliation, the rule of law and the strengthening of democratic institutions, including legislative bodies;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the EED founding parties, especially on all EU Member States, to fulfil the obligations to whiccontribute or to enhance their contributions to the EED, in line with theyir committed themselvements when establishing the EED;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses that in order to sustain and further develop EED effectiveness it is vital to ensure long-term, sufficient, stable and predictable funding; recalls its recommendation of 29 March 2012, where it stressed that EU budget contributions to the EED should not be at the expense of the already limited resources of the EIDHR;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. CWelcomes the financial contributions from Northern and Central European Member States; calls on sSouthern Member States with a particular interest in the Southern Neighbourhood to match the funding of contributing northern Member States; , some of which entertain particularly close historic, economic or cultural ties with the Southern Neighbourhood to make a particular effort to contribute to the EED;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Calls on all EED contributors to enable the EED to maintain a lean administrative structure with low operational costs, especially through harmonizing their donor requirements and agreeing to a single reporting framework; regrets that certain donors, including Germany, are imposing excessively cumbersome and intrusive requirements; calls on all EED donors to ensure full autonomy of the EED Executive Committee in the selection of beneficiaries on the basis of the work- plan endorsed by the Board of Governors and calls for an end to earmarking by donors of funds for particular countries or projects;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Calls on the EED also to support beneficiaries in countries with a rather consolidated democratic regime yet where certain groups, such as ethnic minorities, are being politically marginalized or excluded;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Considers it crucial to ensure sustainable funding for EED recipients in the long run by strengthening complementarity links with other donors;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Considers it crucial to ensure sustainable funding for EED recipients in the long -run by strengthening complementarity links with other donorbilateral donors and the European External Financial Instruments, in particular the EIDHR, which - where appropriate – could take over the medium-term financial support of 'mature' EED beneficiaries;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 – point 1 (new)
Paragraph 16 – point 1 (new)
(1) invites the EED and the European Commission to set up a contact group with the goal of identifying best ways for EED beneficiaries to transition to the EIDHR financial support;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 16 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Calls on the European Commission and the EEAS to come forward with specific proposals on mechanisms for programming interface and cooperation with the EED, so as to ensure coherence and sustainability in the longer term;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the EED to further actively engage in countries where the space for external support for civil society is severely hampered, since the main reason for the establishment of the EED was to support the unsupported; supports the efforts of the EED to explore innovative means for supporting agents for change in particularly difficult political environments, including in Egypt, Azerbaijan and Algeria, as well as to enhance its support to civil society in regions afflicted by frozen conflicts;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Strongly encourages the EED to place a stronger emphasis on groups suffering from socially excluded groupssion or political marginalization by supporting, among others, women’s rights and women’s increased public participation and ethnic minorities, as well as on grassroots movements, vulnerable or emerging political movements, trade union and media activists;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Calls on the EED to develop better cooperation with and open its grants to, when and if relevant, cooperation with religious communities, including persecuted religious minorities; recalls the fact that the church has played a crucial role in opposing communist regimes and in the democratic transformation processes in Central and Eastern Europe;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Encourages the EED to step up its support to emerging young leaders and newly elected women, youth or minority representatives in countries in political transition;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Welcomes the first presentation of the EED Annual Report in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, in accordance with Article 8.4 of the EED Statute, and; stresses its openness for this to takes place on an annual basis as itthat this annual exercise is a good opportunity to take stock and develop new synergies;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Encourages the EU delegations and Member States’ diplomatic missions in the countries where the EED is active to bring potential beneficiaries to the EED’s attention and to inform them about the EED; in turn, encourages EED staff to liaise closely with relevant EU and Member States diplomatic staff in relation to potential beneficiaries which cannot be supported by the EED;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Encourages the EEAS to dedicate an information session to the EED in the framework of the annual meeting of the EU Heads of Delegation, and to include sessions on the EED in its annual human rights training curriculum for the human rights focal pointand the Commission to disseminate information regarding the EED among its staff, notably in EU Delegations;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Calls for a triennial meeting of the EED Board of Governors at ministerial level to reflect on the EU's democracy support policy and on future EED strategic priorities;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Calls on the EED to foster cooperation with key actors and international and regional organisations active in the field of democracy assistance; stresses also the importance of close cooperation with democracy assistance organizations and foundations from EU Member States;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Calls on the EED to continue to develop new innovative means for democracy assistance in order to adjust to the growing climate of restriction in a number of countries with authoritarian regimes; underlines the importance in this context of developing country-specific strategies;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Welcomes the very good public outreach on the EED’s achievements so far, and considers that further underlining the uniqueness and added value of the EED would increase its fundraising capacity;