EU Liaison

Our key goals are to impact EU decision-making and contribute to increasing the EU’s global footprint on democracy in collaboration with democracy organizations based in Brussels and Europe and to increase International IDEA’s visibility in EU institutions and their decision-making bodies. 

In addition to the in-country support programmes, International IDEA implements several global and regional programmes in collaboration with the EU. 

The EU Liaison team focuses on:

1. Improving and supporting the implementation of the EU’s external democracy policies (e.g. the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, Council Conclusions on Democracy, Gender Action Plan, Youth Action Plan).
2. Improving the EU’s internal democracy policies (e.g. Code of conduct for the 2024 European Parliament elections, European Democracy Shield, EU Defence of Democracy Package, EU Regulation on online political advertising).
3. Convening democratic institutions from EU member states to exchange approaches to democratic innovations, such as cybersecurity in elections, political finance and the use of ICT by political parties.
4. Facilitating visits to Brussels of International IDEA's regional and country programmes and their contacts with EU institutional actors.
5. Supporting Team Europe Democracy.
6. Shaping the international infrastructure on democracy and Summit for Democracy.
7. Supporting rotating EU Presidencies on the EU's democracy agenda.