Brussels Advocacy Visit of Moldovan minority leaders

Yet another successful advocacy visit has been marked in the working calendar of the Association of Ukrainian Youth of Moldova “Zlagoda” in Brussels. Advocacy campaign “EU Pro-Active”, implemented by the mentioned organization in autumn of 2014 has considerably increased skills as well as the motivation of the leaders and resulted in the planning and implementation of the advocacy visit of four minority activists from Moldova to Brussels on May 26-27. During two days, representatives of the Ukrainian, Russian and the Jewish communities of Moldova had five meetings with the key decision makers in the European Commission and the European Parliament in Brussels. Mr Dimitri Lekartev, the head of the “Zlagoda” underlined the relevance and the importance of the meetings, firstly and most importantly with MR Dirk Shuebel, the head of the Unit, Eastern Partnership EEAS. Discussed was the EU perspective for Moldova right after the EaP Summit, as well as the role of the civil society including national minorities in supporting the countries’ European aspirations and values. Worth of mentioning is also the second, not least important issue discussed on funding opportunities and priorities for minority organizations, possible ways of reviewing the grant schemes for smaller organizations as well as the capacity building actions. Throughout the discussion, the upcoming EU-Moldova Human Rights dialogue has been touched upon and as the first result EU delegation invites the group to attend the upcoming consultations scheduled for June 9 -10, 2015.

Meetings with the Moldovan Ambassador as well as the assistant to MP Andi Cristea, Chair of the Delegation of the EU-Moldova PCC from the European Parliament had broader political context. Moldovan activists have established good working contacts with the hosting delegates in Brussels. All in all, these meetings have been particularly useful and supportive in terms of the increased awareness both over the political process of EU-Moldova dialogue as well as the minority organizations involvement in the supporting programmes run by the European Commission in EaP countries.

Brussels advocacy visit of Moldovan minority leaders: Aliona Grossu of the Ukrainian minority community in Republic of Moldova; Dmitri Lekartev of the Ukrainian minority community in Republic of Moldova; Vera Moraru of the Russian minority community in the Republic of Moldova; Lidia Zambilovici of the Jewish Community of Republic of Moldova has been supported by the Eastern Partnership Minorities Network programme.

 

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