Accession to the European Union is a key political objective for the Western Balkans and Turkey. This requires the negotiation and ratification of an Accession Treaty. However, the Treaty itself is not enough to make accession a success. As part of the process, candidate countries go through a complex transformation to bring them in line with values regarding democracy, human rights and the rule of law shared by existing Member States. New legislation and principles have to be agreed, implemented and monitored effectively in order to advance towards EU accession. The role of civil society in giving citizens a voice and holding governments to account in this process is crucial.
The present programme focuses on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), i.e. all not-for-profit, non-market and non-state organisations and structures in which people organise to pursue shared objectives and ideals.
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