You’ve heard of Uncle NED, meet Uncle EED
Writes Jacqueline Hale, Senior Policy Analyst at the Soros-funded Open Society Foundations:
An indication of how Europe might try came in December 2011 when European Union foreign ministers—with the encouragement of the Polish presidency of the union, then in the last weeks of its six-month term—discussed plans to establish a European Endowment for Democracy (EED). Such a body, if funded at even modest levels appropriate to its ambitions (up to around €30 million a year), could provide vital support for those engaged in civic activism. This could become part of a flexible strategy to foster democratic change without the stifling restrictions connected to “normal” EU assistance.
