Connecting civil society organisations with EU decision-makers. That is the primary objective of the
Connecting Europe project, which was launched in 2017 by the European Policy Centre, in close cooperation with Stiftung Mercator.
The initiative consists of a network of 45+ civil society organisations across 13 European countries. As a platform for exchange, Connecting Europe aims to give the organisations in the network more visibility in Brussels, connect them with EU decision-makers, and provide EU policy expertise across a range of topics: from democracy and the rule of law, youth and education, to EU foreign policy, with a focus on EU-China and EU-Turkey relations.
After two years of pandemic and multiple crises at the EU level, it was time to analyse the network in more depth and take stock of the work done in the past five years. The analysis focuses on three aspects: (1) providing a clearer picture on the partner organisations involved; (2) analysing the network activities and how partners interacted with each other; (3) the topics that Connecting Europe’s covered over the years. This network analysis will help adapt the future direction of the project and provides insights in how European multi-stakeholder networks function.
Read the full paper here.