On 18 and 19 September, the donors of the EEA and Norway Grants held in Strasbourg fruitful strategic discussions on the Council of Europe’s co-operation with the EEA and Norway Grants.

The Special Representative for Democracy and the Rule of Law from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Ambassadors of Iceland and Liechtenstein met with the Deputy Secretary General and discussed the new impetus given by the Reykjavik Declaration to the support for Ukraine, and the priorities for the co-operation, including the situation of minorities and civil society organisations.

The delegation presented the key role that democracy and the rule of law will play in the new Financial Mechanism and the important support that the Grants will provide to civil society. They also exchanged views on the new Fund for International Partner Organisations included in the Protocol to the EEA Agreement signed last week which will allow for an even stronger role of the Council of Europe in the upcoming cycle.

The delegation met with the Director General of Democracy and Human Dignity and discussed gender equality, anti-discrimination, education, youth and media freedom. Later, they met with the Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law and elaborated on the future developments on the area of anti-corruption, the support for the rule of law in member States and the potential that co-operation projects on artificial intelligence can offer to tackle fake news.

As every year since 2012, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, together with the Financial Mechanism Office and the Directorate of Programme Co-ordination reviewed the results and lessons learned from the previous year. The parties also discussed the strategic priorities and the new working modalities to be included in the next Framework Co-operation Agreement 2025-2031.

 Webpage on Council of Europe co-operation with EEA and Norway Grants