About the Council of Europe and the European Union

The Council of Europe and the European Union (EU) are separate organisations which have different, yet complementary roles.

  • The Council of Europe works together with its 47 member states to strengthen human rights and democracy across the continent and beyond.
  • The EU brings its 28 member states closer together both economically and politically by harmonising legislation and practices in certain policy areas.
  • The EU created the Eastern Partnership to cooperate closer with its eastern European neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine
  • The two organisations work closely together in areas where they have common interests, notably in promoting human rights and democracy across Europe and in neighbouring regions.
  • Cooperation between the European Union and the Council of Europe allows each organisation to benefit from the other’s specific strengths, thereby supporting each other’s work.

About the Partnership for Good Governance (PGG)

 

How does the PGG work?

The EU's Eastern Partnership is a policy initiative launched at the Prague Summit in May 2009, it represents the Eastern dimension of the EU's European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). It is based on shared values of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. In the period of 2014-2020, the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) is the key EU financial instrument for cooperation with the Eastern Partnership countries.

In April 2014, the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE) agreed in a Statement of Intent that targeted cooperation activities with the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries - would be implemented by the CoE under a ‘Programmatic Cooperation Framework’ (PCF) - renamed the Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) in June 2017.

The budget is €36 million. The PGG is funded 85% by the European Union and 15% by the Council of Europe and is implemented by the Council of Europe.

The PGG actions, both country-specific and regional, were designed in close consultation with national stakeholders, in the framework of the Council of Europe’s country-specific action plans and the European Union's country-specific annual action programmes, as well as association agreements where they have signed.

The Council of Europe's action plans are prepared on the basis of findings and recommendations from Council of Europe’s monitoring bodies and are in line with national reform agendas.


Council of Europe Monitoring bodies

Council of Europe monitoring bodies consist of independent experts who monitor the implementation of Council of Europe Conventions by member states and issue recommendations. These monitoring bodies include: the Group of States against Corruption; European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice; the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings; Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism; Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities; the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance; Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence; it also includes the European Court of Human Rights.


What will the PGG do?

The Partnership for Good Governance activities will provide extensive and substantial expertise on strengthening the capacity of Eastern Partnership countries’ institutions to implement domestic reforms and to bring them closer to the Council of Europe and European Union standards in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. This will be done through a variety of activities: conferences, seminars, working groups, networking, analytical reports and training sessions led by Council of Europe staff and international experts.

The actors involved are national stakeholders who play a decisive role in the implementation of reforms: parliaments, governmental bodies at all levels (ministries responsible for justice, finance, interior, health, education, labour and social protection, and public administration), public institutions in the relevant areas such as anti-corruption and anti-money laundering, public prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, penitentiary administrations, central and local electoral commissions, ombudspersons, the judicial community, judicial self-governing bodies, legal professionals, the media, local and regional authorities, non-governmental organisations, academia as well as the general public.


Who coordinates the PGG?

A permanent coordination mechanism between Council of Europe, European Union, Council of Europe Field Offices, European Union Delegations and the PCF National Coordinators will be established to ensure inclusive and comprehensive co-ordination between the Council of Europe, the European Union, the national stakeholders and partners as well as with other international organisations.

This will ensure synergies with other existing, and planned, country-specific and regional actions in the Eastern Partnership countries and will guarantee tangible results and the impact of the PGG for the final beneficiaries and the general public.


Are the results sustainable?

National stakeholders’ ownership of the reform process will be crucial to the PGG’s result-oriented implementation and sustainability. PGG actions focus on the development/improvement of national legal frameworks, national institutional capacities, and on the enhancement of the professional skills and knowledge of both partners and national stakeholders. Sustainability will be achieved by enhancing the institutional capacity and trained national staff.

The PGG will contribute to building up the knowledge and capacity of national actors, so that they may promote the objectives amongst their peers within the country and the region, as well as beyond the duration of the PGG.