EuPI - European Policies Initiative
Transforming New Member States from
Consumers into Co-producers of
Common EU Policies
The fifth enlargement, which was concluded on January 1, 2007 with the membership of Bulgaria and Romania in the EU, resulted in the accession of ten Central and Eastern European countries from the former socialist block into the European Union.
The transformation of the New Member States from consumers into co-producers of EU policies calls for reconsidering their capacity to effectively exercise these new responsibilities and at the same time capitalize on the opportunities provided by membership.
Now when these countries have become full members of the EU, developing capacity for constructive co-authorship of common European policies is of key importance and interest as for the development of the EU as a whole, as well as for the societal development of each individual CEE Member State.
The European Policy Initiative (EuPI) aims at stimulating and assisting new Member States from CEE to develop capacity for constructive co-authorship of common European policies at both government and civil society level.
As a new priority area of the European Policies and Civic Participation Program of Open Society Institute – Sofia, EuPI will contribute to improving the capacity of new Member States to effectively impact common European policies through quality research, policy recommendations, networking and advocacy.
The initiative operates in the ten new Member States from CEE through a network of experts and policy institutes.
The intended outcome is to increase the capacity of CEE Member States for influencing the formulation of common European policies, which could lead to:
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Greater “openness” of certain existing EU policies.
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Greater relevance of the common European policies towards specific needs of the new member states.
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Greater civic participation in European policy-making and more effective use of the potential of the CEE non-governmental sector established in the transition period.
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