NGOs from the Mediterranean, Southern Caucasus and Eastern Europe have raised their concerns on the programming of European Community aid to their countries under the new European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI).

In a meeting organised on February 6th 2007 by Eurostep, together with WWF, Aprodev and WomNet; civil society actors called for the ENPI money to guarantee the right to food sovereignty and sustainable development instead of pushing for “reciprocity” in on-going and future trade negotiations. The need to ensure a systematic mainstreaming of gender and environment issues in the programming and implementation of the ENPI was also central to the discussions. Finally participants claimed that civil society organisations were absent from the discussions on the programming at national level despite commitments to involve them in various EU documents such as the European Consensus.

See the follow up letter and the full report of the seminar.