On 27-28 June, the European Commission held the annual consultations with counterparts in the Council of Europe in preparation of the 2024 Enlargement package.
On 27-28 May, the Council of Europe hosted a delegation of 11 colleagues from DG NEAR led by Allan Jones (Head of Unit A2) for the annual consultations on the Enlargement package. These consultations are part of the preparations for the 10 country reports and an occasion for colleagues for DG NEAR colleagues to gather input and fine-tune their assessments in the fields of democracy, rule of law and human rights. The Council of Europe is a strategic partner for DG NEAR and the benchmarking organisation in these important areas falling under the fundamentals for EU accession.Â
In addition to the plenary meetings, colleagues who travelled to Strasbourg were able to hold bilateral consultations with experts throughout the organisation, including the secretariats of the monitoring bodies, the European Court of Human Rights and the execution department. The EU Delegation in Strasbourg and NEAR A2 supported the organisation of these bilateral meetings.