Political parties are one of the key organisations for citizens to organise their political participation and representation. As such, political party support is identified as a crucial element of Democracy Promotion in Partner Country Cooperation Programmes of the EU. During the last few decades, EU institutions have developed numerous documents and guidelines on the effective promotion of human rights in third countries. Still, clear policies and guidelines for political party cooperation as part of effective democracy promotion do not yet exist.

The following recommendation paper is the result of the first ENoP Democracy Dialogue with the Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, on the role of political party cooperation in democracy support.