Yesterday we participated in the launch of the European Democracy Support Annual Review 2025 European Partnership for Democracy.
This year’s Review carried particular strategic weight, highlighting how democracy support is entering a new geopolitical phase. With shifting global dynamics and a reduced U.S. footprint in external democracy assistance, Europe is increasingly called upon to strengthen both its internal democratic resilience and its external support role.
In this evolving landscape, operational readiness, institutional cooperation and the ability to act rapidly — especially in fragile and transitional contexts — have become even more critical. Sharing comparative experiences and lessons learned remains essential as we collectively reflect on the future of European democracy support.
Beyond being a valuable opportunity to reconnect with partners and colleagues such as Khalil Zerargui and Thijs Berman, the event highlighted the strength of long-standing professional collaboration. Khalil is a senior electoral legal expert who has worked with numerous organisations in Africa and the Middle East, including ECES, UNDP and OIF. Thijs is the Executive Director of the European Partnership for Democracy, former Director of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, and former Member of the European Parliament, having served several times as Head of EU Election Observation Missions. Both previously collaborated with ECES on an EU-funded project supporting the electoral process in the Central African Republic.
We also had the privilege of listening to a first panel of experts chaired by Rosa Balfour, Director of Carnegie Europe, and composed by H.E. Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia; Martin Seychell, Deputy Director-General at DG INTPA, European Commission; Thomas Carothers, Director of the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Tim Enderlin, Ambassador, Head of the Peace and Human Rights Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) of Switzerland; and Nacho Sánchez Amor, Member of the European Parliament. Later Petros Fassoulas, Secretary General of the European Movement International, joined the conversation to bring his contribution. In a second panel of discussion chaired by Richard Youngs, Co-founder of the European Democracy Hub and Senior Fellow at Carnegie Europe, we had the pleasure of listening to Tamara Wittes, President of the National Democratic Institute (NDI); Leopoldo López, Co-founder of the World Liberty Congress and Venezuelan opposition leader; and Negin Shiraghaei, Founder of the Azadi Network and former BBC Persian news anchor.
Kudos to the European Partnership for Democracy and to speakers such as Thomas Carothers and Thijs Berman for framing the debate with strategic depth and realism.
