Co-ordination meeting DG NEAR - ODGP

13 July 2021, 2 PM Online

Participants:
DG NEAR: Roberto Segundo,
ODGP: Arkadi Sytine, Olga Baltag, Gisella Gori, Anna Sargsyan

Agenda :
- Addendum (attached documents sent to DG NEAR on 01 July)
- Programming and coordination activities until the end of the year (PGG-SC, LSCM)
- Other order of business

Minutes

The state of play of Addendum

The Addendum has been received by the DH NEAR and they are now in the phase of internal
consultations, the Addendum is being consulted with their colleagues in contract and
finance unit. However, since most of the staff are away now because of the summer
holidays, the processing time might last longer.

With regards to PGG team, they are available throughout the summer holidays in case of
any questions or clarifications are required from their side. For PGG, it is quite essential to
proceed with the Addendum as quickly as possible, due to the financial issues, since many
colleagues have already integrated the increased budget for the activities in 2021, and even
there are some activities that are planned to be launched beyond 2021 and in current state,
it is impossible to implement these activities without the approval of the Addendum.

DG NEAR will ty to proceed as quickly as possible with the Addendum, however, it has been
instructed to proceed with the Addendum of the Cyber-crime project with high priority at
the moment and after this they will proceed with the one of PGG II.

It is expected that the PGG Addendum will be signed by September.

Changes in the composition of the DG NEAR Units

The DG Near is currently going through a re-organization, the date for the movement within
the units is set to happen on 16 of September, however, the date for the heads of units has
been put on hold and it is not sure when it will happen, it could be on 16 th of September or
even later.
The team that is dealing with PGG will move from C1 to C2, but the whole team will move
with their current files, and they will be the ones dealing with the PGG.

As of September, at least 60% of the UNIT will be able to work from office. It was suggested
to arrange in person meeting with the new head of Unit by the end of September or before/
after PGG- SC meeting.

Programming and coordination activities until the end of the year (PGG-SC, LSCM)

Due to DG NEAR’s heavy agenda and the de-organization of the DG NEAR units, it will be
quite challenging to hold the PGG-SC in September. It would be more feasible to hold the
PGG-SC either in the beginning or in mid- October. It was agreed to propose new dates in
October and then these dates will be consulted within the Unit and the Head of the Unit.

A local SC meeting will be organized wither in the end of November or the beginning of
December. For some countries, it is possible to hold the LSCM in the beginning of 2022.

Depending on the different aspects and the state of the Covid19 virus, it is also planned to
hold a final conference of the PGG II in order to present the final results of the Phase II and
the main parameters of the phase III.

With regard to the PGG Phase III, it has been mentioned that since the preparations will
start next year in fall, the DG NEAR will initiate the discussion on it only in October-
November this year.

Sub- working document

Joint sub- working document is the basis for developing joint communication, and it reflects
political and assistance priorities, however there are also set of documents which will
include regional multi-annual assistance and will be linked to the programming assistance to
the EaP countries, which is still under preparation.

Representative of DG NEAR to attend Venice Commission session

It is suggested that one of the representatives of the DG NEAR unit attend the Venice
commission session, in order to check how everything is going on with the opinions under
QRM. It was suggested by the PGG team that they discuss with it internally and then it can
be arranged either in October or in the next sessions within this year.
Communication and approval system

Communication and approval started to work, PGG team has established the procedure for
the regional projects by sending for feedback to the DG NEAR and in parallel to the EUDs.

New Initiative with German MFA and GiZ

A new initiative is being prepared with the German colleagues from the German MFA and
GiZ. The aim of the project is to monitor in the rule of law progress or regress in the EaP
countries and for that a specific methodology will be created in order to assess and monitor
the progress or the regress in the different areas in the rule of law and they will greatly rely
on data coming from current and future projects implemented in this area. They will be in
touch with PGG regarding this project.