Democracy support is at the centre of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the EU’s development cooperation with its partners countries. The EU provides extensive support to initiatives and programmes that seek to develop and consolidate human rights, democratic institutions and the rule of law in partners’ countries. Since the early 1990s, a human rights clause has been included in all EU agreements with partner countries, notably the Cotonou Agreement (2000) with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, which established the European Development Funds (EDF).

The EU in Ethiopia and Germany intend to implement a long-term support strategy within the framework of democratic development and support to good governance. Actions in support of democratisation and respect for human rights, including the right to participate in the establishment of governments through free and fair elections, can make a major contribution to peace, security and the prevention of conflicts.

In this context the EU has established a “democratic package” that is composed by four different interventions related to the overall context for the general elections 2020, for an approximate envelope of 22.95M EUR:
 

• European Response to Electoral Cycle Support in Ethiopia (EURECS Ethiopia) (16.55M EURO, funded under European Development Fund (EDF) and by KFW on behalf of the German government and implemented by ECES);
• Prevention, mitigation and management of election-related conflicts and potential violence (PEV-Ethiopia) (3.6M EURO, funded under IcSP-FPI and implemented by the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES);
• Supporting the Ethiopian Political Parties Dialogue (1.8M EURO, funded under IcSP-FPI and implemented by the Netherlands Institute for Multi-Party Democracy (NIMD));
• Establishing an environment for inclusive, knowledge-based dialogue on the political process in Ethiopia (1M EURO, funded under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace of the Foreign Policy Instrument (IcSP-FPI) and implemented by International IDEA.