Working Group 1: Rule of Law and Accountability
Rule of law, justice, accountability and anti-corruption are practical necessities for sustainable development and democratic governance. In a rapidly evolving global landscape, marked by geopolitical uncertainty, the TED Working Group 1 (WG1) on Rule of Law and Accountability facilitates information exchange, joint learning and strategic dialogue among TED members.
In 2024–2025, WG1 was structured around two complementary workstreams, reflecting the group’s continued consolidation of its rule of law and anti-corruption dimensions. The rule of law workstream advanced people-centred justice and more coherent country-level support through four rule of law clinics, including sessions linked to the OECD Recommendation on Access to Justice and to Global Gateway priorities. In parallel, the anti-corruption and accountability workstream further strengthened WG1’s role as a platform for exchange among EU and Member States as well as civil society partners.
In 2025–2026, the two workstreams were merged to promote stronger synergies and a more coherent approach across rule of law, accountability, and anti-corruption. The Working Group focuses on mainstreaming anti-corruption and promoting people-centred justice in EU and Member State programming. At the same time, its work is increasingly linked to the EU Global Gateway Strategy and its 360° approach, with a particular emphasis on good governance and transparency. WG1 aims to translate rule of law, accountability and anti-corruption priorities into practice. For this reason, its work is currently guided by two main objectives.
Objective 1: Strengthen the understanding and application of rule of law, people-centred justice, anti-corruption, transparency and accountability. These are key drivers of democracy, good governance, inclusive development, and business-enabling environments – through joint learning and support for coherent programming.
Objective 2: Identify opportunities for mainstreaming WG1 goals and key topics. This applies particularly through the core principle of good governance and transparency within the Global Gateway strategy and in broader EU and Member States programming and coordination in country-level support.
To achieve these two objectives, WG1 organised its work for the years 2025 and 2026 into three thematic areas for its diverse set of webinars, trainings and other knowledge products:
Thematic 1: Democratic Principles of Global Gateway: Applying the 360° Approach
Thematic 2: Building Democratic Resilience
Thematic 3: Adapting Team Europe Democracy Support to New ODA Realities