Chairwoman Hautala joined on 15 March a National Democratic Institute (NDI) panel on the EU-US Transatlantic Dialogue; Strengthening Cooperation on Democracy Support, with Ms Madeleine K. Albright Former U.S. Secretary of State, Mr Javier Solana, Former EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Mr Jerzy Buzek President of the European Parliament, and many others. National Democratic Institute had brought together senior European and U.S. policymakers and opinion leaders to develop recommendations for strengthening transatlantic cooperation on democracy support. [:]The speakers discussed under Chatham House rule a wide range of issues during the several days of the event, while central attention was given to the strengthening of the democracy support in the evolving world by the US and the EU. There have been notable changes on both sides of the Atlantic in this regard brought in by the change of administration in the US and the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in the EU.

One strand of discussion concerned how to reinvigorate democracy support infrastructure and deepen engagement with the emerging democratic powers. Another discussion was held on how to best engage in democracy support in authoritarian and semi-authoritarian states and about democracy support in failed, fragile and conflict-affected states. Strengthening synergies between democratic and socio-economic development was also raised as a separate area of reflection.