Chairwoman Hautala took part on 16.11.2009 in a roundtable meeting organised by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning new partnerships in democracy building between European Union and the Community of Democracies. The Community of Democracies is an intergovernmental organisation with aim to strengthen democracy around the world, initiated by Poland and the US in 2000. [:]

Aim of the discussion was how to increase the coherence, effectiveness and credibility of EU support to democracy building. More specifically, the participants discussed the thematic areas of cooperation and joint projects aiming to promote democracy around the world. Most helpful in this sense was agreed to be maximising coherence and synergy between the Community of Democracies and the European Union. Chairwoman Hautala underlined the importance of the coherence Union’s internal and external human rights policies and hoped for even closer transatlantic cooperation in this field.