​During a debate with the European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, held on 22 March, EA group's CIVEX coordinator and mayor of Opole Lubelskie, Mr Dariusz Wróbel stressed that in order for the Eastern Partnership's policy to bring the greatest benefits to citizens, local authorities must become active partners in developing the Partnership's strategy.

Mr Wróbel reminded that Poland, along with Sweden was the main initiator of the Eastern Partnership and has provided strong and continuous support for the initiative, particularly in the field of development cooperation. However, he also added that it is necessary to increase the interest of other EU member states for the eastern neighbourhood.

Finally, Mr Wróbel repeated that the Eastern Partnership requires solidarity and cooperation in the broadest sense and that it is necessary to exchange experiences especially on issues related to decentralization, democratization and increasing direct citizen participation in achieving the Partnership's objectives.