Honorary President of IVO and PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society) representative Martin Bútora will serve on Board of European Foundation for Democracy through Partnership (EFDP), launched on 15 April.  Former Czech President Václav Havel will serve as Chair of the Council of Patrons of EFDP.

"The new foundation marks a turning-point as leading figures from across Europe rally round Václav Havel's vision that democracy and human rights must lie at the heart of the European foreign policy agenda. It will be a small, but important, step on the long road to improve the prospects for democracy in complicated areas and societies," said Martin Bútora, founding President of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), Slovak Republic, and one of the Board members of the EFDP.

Through advocacy, flexible funding mechanisms, and a knowledge hub for European democracy assistance organisations, the new foundation will co-operate with EU institutions, but retain an arm's-length approach to preserve flexibility where the EU encounters diplomatic constraints.

For the past 12 months, the Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS) has served on the steering committee that established the new foundation. Two PASOS representatives - Martin Bútora and Jacek Kucharczyk, Research Director of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), Poland - will serve on the Board of EFDP. IVO and IPA are both members of PASOS, a network of 35 independent think-tanks spanning 22 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The PASOS Secretariat is located in Prague, Czech Republic.