The allocation of €6 million by the European Commission will finance the establishment and initial functioning of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), which was conceived in the framework of the renewed European Neighbourhood Policy. Its aim is to help promoting deep and sustainable democracy as well as respect for human rights and the rule of law.

The launching of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) is counting now with €6 million from the European Commission. This new instrument is aimed at helping political parties, non-registered NGOs, trade unions and other social partners in a coherent, concerted effort to promote deep and sustainable democracy as well as respect for human rights and the rule of law. This new instrument was announced by the Commission in December 2011.

The core activities of the EED will be to allocate financial support to the targeted beneficiaries. It will offer a rapid and flexible funding mechanism for beneficiaries who are unsupported or insufficiently so, in particular for legal or administrative reasons. Such actors may include: journalists, bloggers, non-registered NGOs, political movements (including those in exile or from the diaspora), in particular when all of these actors operate in a very uncertain political context. This will be precisely the added value of the EED.

The geographical focus will be initially, although not exclusively, in the European Neighbourhood region. The EED takes the form of a private law Foundation established in Belgium, which is autonomous from the European Union, governed by its own Statute and governing bodies. As such it is not a European instrument but complements existing EU cooperation instruments.