Country visits of the Conference of INGOs

The Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe visits Member States to meet local NGOs and public authorities to introduce them to the Conference of INGOs, better understand the cooperation between NGOs and decision-makers and to discuss NGO participation in the public decision-making process. Certain legal frameworks are in place in countries in order to consult NGOs and to associate them in decision-making.

The Conference hears the point of view of both NGOs and authorities to find out what use is made of these participatory tools. Each visit is followed by a report which highlights the important issues for the NGOs at that specific moment and socio-political context. Recommendations are formulated to improve the effectiveness of cooperation between NGOs and the public authorities. The findings of the visits also contribute to advancing the Council of Europe’s work in this field.

The participation of civil society in decision-making is one of the priorities of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and guidelines on civil society’s effective and meaningful participation in the political decision-making process are being developed for possible adoption by the Committee of Ministers.

VISITS and REPORTS

2022

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Report (English) Report (Bosnian)

2022

Finland

Report (English

2019

Armenia

Report (EN) Report (Armenian) Comments by the Government of Armenia

Italy

Information Report (EN)Comments by the Government of Italy

2018

2017

Serbia

Information ReportComments by the Serbian Government

Estonia

Information Report Comments by the Estonian Government

Ireland

Information Report

2016

Hungary

Information Report Comments by the Hungarian Government

Germany

Information Report

Romania

Information Report

Poland

Information Report (EN)Report (PL)Comments by the Polish Government

2015

Bulgaria

Information Report Comments by the Bulgarian Government

Moldova

Information Report Comments by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova Statement by the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe

FOCUS

Back Report on the fact-finding visit of the Conference of INGOs to the Uk published

Following its visits to London on 20 and 21 May 2018, and on 16 October 2018, the Conference of INGOs is publishing a report that highlights the issues that NGOs and representatives of the Ministries and other public agencies had at stake at the time of the visit: regulatory framework, political activities, lobbying regulation, participation in decision making and Brexit.

A public consultation on the Civil Society Strategy which took place during the first visit of the Conference of INGOs, and the publication of the Strategy during the second visit, constitute an important political step for civil society, presenting a structured vision on how the government wishes to work with the CSO sector. As CSOs have underlined, the government had not published a CSO Strategy for 15 years. The elaboration of the Strategy is seen as the “beginning of the conversation”. To be really valuable, it needs to be followed by action. Its implementation and its monitoring are of primary importance for the accountability of the public authorities toward CSOs. Even if we had hoped for a more in depth exchange with the representatives of the Charity Commission during these two meetings in London, we hope that the latter, as well as other entities concerned by this report, will be able to contribute to this discussion by presenting their comments to this report and take the recommendations presented in the report into account.

We would like to thank BOND our hosting organisation for great collaboration, guidance and substantial contribution to the debates. We thank all the public officials who made themselves available for discussion, and the Permanent Representation of the United Kingdom to the Council of Europe for the preparatory work.

Report of the Conference of INGOs on its fact-finding visit to the UK

Strasbourg 8 October 2019

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