Annual Assembly 2018: Full Schedule

Leading the Way Towards a Democratic European Future (Tbilisi, Georgia, 10-12 December 2018)

Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel, 1 Rose Revolution Square
Parliament of Georgia, 8 Shota Rustaveli Avenue (11 December, first half of the day)

Please note that only invited organisations can attend the event

11:00am

Arrivals and registration of participants

Monday December 10, 2018 11:00am - 6:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Registration and breaks

5:30pm

Kick-off session for delegates (Plenary, Ballroom 2 & 3)

The goal of the session is to set the tone for the 3-day event by providing the context of the challenging environment in which the civil society of the EaP and, to the growing extent, of the EU is functioning. The session will start with the inspirational speech of Haykuhi Harutyunyan, EaP CSF Steering Committee member, having the first-hand experience with the Velvet revolution in Armenia. The session will proceed in a world café format with participants getting to know each other and the EaP CSF.

Speakers

Haykuhi Harutyunyan

EaP CSF Steering Committee Member, Working Group 1 "Democracy, human rights, good governance and stability" Coordinator

Monday December 10, 2018 5:30pm - 9:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

9:00pm

Welcome reception hosted by Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia (“Filini” Restaurant, 1st floor – Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel)

Opening remarks by:

Moderating

Aleksandra Kalatozishvili

Co-chair of EaP CSF Steering Committee, Working Group 4 "Contacts between people" Coordinator

Speakers

Mamuka Bakhtadze

Prime Minister of Georgia

Carl Hartzell

Head of the EU Delegation in Georgia

Monday December 10, 2018 9:00pm - 10:00pm

Networking

7:45am

Departure to the Parliament of Georgia

Tuesday December 11, 2018 7:45am - 7:45am
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Registration and breaks

9:00am

Introductory word by Co-Chairs of the EaP CSF Steering Committee

Speakers

Krzysztof Bobinski

Co-chair of EaP CSF Steering Committee, EU Coordinator, Working Group 1 "Democracy, human rights, good governance and stability" Coordinator

Aleksandra Kalatozishvili

Co-chair of EaP CSF Steering Committee, Working Group 4 "Contacts between people" Coordinator

Tuesday December 11, 2018 9:00am - 9:10am
Parliament of Georgia 8 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

9:10am

Opening speeches (Parliament of Georgia)

Speakers

Johannes Hahn (via a video address)

European Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations and Neighbourhood Policy, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, DG NEAR

Thomas Buchsbaum

Special Envoy For Eastern Partnership, Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria

Irakli Kobakhidze

Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia

Tuesday December 11, 2018 9:10am - 9:40am
Parliament of Georgia 8 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

9:40am

Panel discussion – how to combat corruption and violations of human rights in the EU and EaP countries? (Parliament of Georgia)

Moderating

Iskra Kirova

Senior Policy Analyst, Open Society European Policy Institute (OSEPI)

Speakers

Bill Browder (via a video address)

Financier, Economist and Human Rights defender

Matthew Caruana Galizia

Reporter

Harry Hummel

Senior Policy Advisor, Netherlands Helsinki Committee

Alexandra Stiglmayer

General Secretary and Senior Analyst, European Stability Initiative (ESI), Austria

Tuesday December 11, 2018 9:40am - 11:00am
Parliament of Georgia 8 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

11:00am

Presentation of the EaP CSF Pavel Sheremet Journalism and Civil Society Activists' Awards (Parliament of Georgia)

The EaP CSF Pavel Sheremet Journalism Award recognising courage and outstanding achievement in the cause of media freedom will be presented by: Matthew Caruana Galizia, reporter and Laura Dittel, EaP CSF Steering Committee member.

The outstanding and courageous work of individuals and organisations from the Eastern Partnership region contributing to the political, economic and social development of their countries and defending the core democratic values will be recognised by the EaP CSF Civil Society Award 2018, presented by: Mikalai Kvantaliani and Ana Otilia Nutu, EaP CSF Steering Committee members.

Moderating

Laura Dittel

EaP CSF Steering Committee Member, Working Group 2 "Economic integration and convergence with EU policies" Coordinator

Matthew Caruana Galizia

Reporter

Mikalai Kvantaliani

EaP CSF Steering Committee Member, Belarus Country Facilitator

Ana Otilia Nutu

EaP CSF Steering Committee Member, EU Coordinator, Working Group 3 “Environment, climate change and energy security" Coordinator

Tuesday December 11, 2018 11:00am - 11:20am
Parliament of Georgia 8 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

11:20am

High-level panel discussion – the EaP in the time of change (Parliament of Georgia)

The year 2018 has brought about many new developments in the EaP region meanwhile the EU EaP policy has been subject to evaluation and re-launch. The “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia opened avenues to the implementation of effective reforms that will put the country firmly on the path to democracy with an impact on the wider region. Georgia and Ukraine remain on reform path; the effectiveness of this process will be tested namely in the upcoming elections in Ukraine. Moldova has been backsliding in the rule of law area with serious consequences for the country’s prospect and human capital. In Azerbaijan and Belarus, the situation remains more or less unchanged.

Are we – civil society, EU and EaP stakeholders coping with the change? How effective has been the reform of the EaP architecture? What fresh ideas are on the table for the upgraded formats of cooperation and what can be offered as a new carrot to the best performing countries in the region?

Moderating

Jeff Lovitt

Chair, New Diplomacy

Speakers

Vakhtang Makharoblishvili

Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia

Lawrence Meredith

Director, Neighbourhood East, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, DG NEAR

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia

Roman Romanovsky

Head of European Cooperation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belarus

Darius Skusevicius

Deputy Foreign Minister of Lithuania

Lasha Tughushi

EaP CSF Steering Committee Member, Georgia Country Facilitator

Tuesday December 11, 2018 11:20am - 12:50pm
Parliament of Georgia 8 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

12:30pm

Registration of locally-based attendees at the hotel

Tuesday December 11, 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Registration and breaks

12:50pm

Order of the day

Tuesday December 11, 2018 12:50pm - 1:00pm
Parliament of Georgia 8 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

1:00pm

Departure back to the hotel

Tuesday December 11, 2018 1:00pm - 1:00pm
Parliament of Georgia 8 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia

Registration and breaks

1:00pm

Lunch (Foyer)

Tuesday December 11, 2018 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Registration and breaks

2:00pm

Parallel Working Group meetings (see exact location below)

WG1“Democracy, human rights, good governance and stability” meeting, Stakeholder: Sinziana Poiana, Policy Officer, Civil Society Support, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, DG NEAR (Plenary, Ballroom 2 & 3)
WG2 “Economic integration and convergence with EU policies” and WG5 “Social and Labour policies and social dialogue” meeting (Ballroom 1)
WG3 “Environment, climate change and energy security” meeting, Stakeholder: Maia Javakhishvili, Deputy Head, Environment and Climate Change Department and Tamar Aladashvili, Director, Environmental Information and Education Centre, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (Meeting Room 5)
WG4 “Contacts between people” meeting, Stakeholder: Marta Wytrykowska, Policy Officer, Eastern Partnership Division, European External Action Service, EEAS (Meeting Room 6)

The session will present the modalities of operation of WGs and include a structured-networking part. The members will exchange opinions with the stakeholders and develop the EaP CSF contribution to the EaP events happening in 2019.

Tuesday December 11, 2018 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Group sessions

6:00pm

Reflexion on the centenary of independence of the EaP countries (Plenary, Ballroom 2 & 3)

The session will remind of the establishment of independent governments in 1918 in five out of six current EaP countries, their aspirations and what legacies they have handed down to the current independent states of the EaP.

Moderating

Leila Aliyeva

Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften Fellow, Vienna Institute

Speakers

Beka Kobakhidze

Georgian Studies Fellow, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies

Natia Kuprashvili

Chair of Georgian National Platform of the EaP CSF

Tuesday December 11, 2018 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

7:00pm

Networking reception and dinner ("Filini" Restaurant, 1st floor – Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel)

Tuesday December 11, 2018 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Networking

8:30pm

Parallel night owl sessions (see exact location below)

Implementing Open Government Partnership in EaP countries – civil society perspective (Ballroom 1)

This panel discussion will provide a platform for CSOs from all EaP countries to exchange research findings and experience on the nexus between open government, accountability and good governance, facilitated by the results of the EaP CSF re-granting project “Civil society for combating corruption and promotion open governance in the EaP countries”. What results have the CSOs achieved in opening governments and anti-corruption efforts within the OGP multistakeholder approach?

Speakers:
Elena Fileeva, Lawyer, Article 42 of the Constitution, Georgia
Svitlana Shevchenko, International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS), Ukraine
Gubad Ibadoghlu, Chairman, Public Initiatives Centre (PIC), Azerbaijan

Moderator: Giorgi Kldiashvili, Founding Member and Executive Director, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), OGP Steering Committee member, Georgia

Post visa-free agenda of the EaP countries for better civil society cooperation in justice, freedom and security (Meeting Room 6)

The event will focus on the achievements, challenges and lessons learned during the visa liberalisation process and will focus on how to strengthen the civil society efforts to make the reforms in justice, freedom and security stable and to provide effective implementation the criteria under post liberalisation monitoring in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Speakers:
Gogita Gvedashvili, Director of the EU Programs, Georgian Center for Security and Development (GCSD)
Iulian Groza, Executive Director, European Integration Policy Moderator, Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), Moldova
Alexandra Stiglmayer, General Secretary and Senior Analyst, European Stability Initiative (ESI), Germany
Iryna Sushko, Executive Director, Civic Organization “Europe without Barriers”, Ukraine

Moderator: Krzysztof Mrozek, Coordinator, Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland

Гендерный мейнстриминг в деятельности ФГО ВП – Gender mainstreaming in EaP CSF (in Russian, Meeting Room 1)

The aim of this is session to provide an overview of gender aspects of the Forum’s activities: looking for opportunities and identification of challenges:

Presentation of intermediate results of investigation on the role of National Platforms within National Gender mechanisms
Identifying person or organisation concerned with gender mainstreaming within National Platforms
Joint development of action plans on gender mainstreaming within National Platforms
Expansion of National Platforms’ gender experts network (GenNET) with further formalisation of this experts’ network

Tuesday December 11, 2018 8:30pm - 10:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Group sessions

9:00am

Plenary session – the EaP CSF in a time of change (Plenary, Ballroom 2 & 3)

Delegates attending the AA2018 are the first ones participating in the reformed Forum. The session will be therefore used to present the main points of the reform and how it influences the work of the Forum. The reform envisages adoption of a Code of Ethical Conduct, which will be presented and voted on during this session. Lastly, under the reformed Forum a new ombudsman-type structure will become an integral part of the Forum. The session will be used to elect its members. The presentation of the EaP CSF awards for the best re-granting projects, implemented in 2018 will crown the session.

Moderating

Goda Neverauskaite

EaP CSF Steering Committee Member, Working Group 5 "Social and Labour Policies and Social Dialogue" Coordinator

Wednesday December 12, 2018 9:00am - 10:45am
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

10:45am

Presentation of the Centenary Resolution (Plenary, Ballroom 2 & 3)

Speakers

Krzysztof Bobinski

Co-chair of EaP CSF Steering Committee, EU Coordinator, Working Group 1 "Democracy, human rights, good governance and stability" Coordinator

Wednesday December 12, 2018 10:45am - 11:00am
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

11:00am

Coffee break (Foyer)

Wednesday December 12, 2018 11:00am - 11:15am
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Registration and breaks

11:15am

Elections in the EaP: what is at stake? (Plenary, Ballroom 2 & 3)

With elections that have recently happened, or will be happening in 2019, in four EaP countries, the panel will discuss what these elections might bring. What role has been played or can be played by the civil society? What are the priority areas of reform right after the elections? How can citizens be supported in holding their governments accountable and demanding a real change of policy practice? What new approaches can be designed to prevent the EaP countries from backsliding?

Moderating

Plenary

12:30pm

Closing remarks

Speakers

Ina Coseru

EaP CSF Steering Committee Member, Working Group 3 “Environment, climate change and energy security" Coordinator

Wednesday December 12, 2018 12:30pm - 1:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Plenary

1:00pm

Farewell lunch (Foyer)

Wednesday December 12, 2018 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel 1 Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi, Georgia

Networking