Objectives
The CODE is the common initiative of the International Centre for Democratic Transition and the Tom Lantos Institute. Our main goal is to launch a new series of annual conferences dealing with the most important issues of democracy and human rights.

Background
The European Commission has outlined a new strategy to tackle the social and economic exclusion of the large Roma community in Europe. It would serve as the framework for national Roma integration strategies, providing a new approach to the issue.

The Tunisian revolution resulted in a wave of democracy movements in the BMNEA region. Their common characteristics, the goals, instruments and results are different. The reactions of the EU and the US to these developments are worth thorough analysis.

The current changes may easily draw away the attention from the Eastern Partnership countries. Although they were the top priority both for the US and the EU (some of them due to their developments such as Moldova and Georgia and some of them due to recent setbacks such as Ukraine and Belarus), this approach may change at least on the level of available financial instruments.

Project Description
This year’s conference will focus on two democracy-related topics that are currently high on the agenda of the EU and the transatlantic community. These topics are the developments concerning the democratic processes in the neighborhood of the European Union and the question of Roma integration.