The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum has released its latest comprehensive overview of reform efforts in the region – the Eastern Partnership Index 2025, produced with EU support - recognising the contribution of the EaP RSO in improving safety standards.

Marking its 10th edition, the Index assesses both, progress and setbacks between July 2023 and March 2025 in key areas such as democracy, good governance, the rule of law, policy convergence with the European Union, and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals – including goals related to transport, road safety, and sustainable mobility.

The findings are based on contributions from over 60 independent experts, including EaP RSO national consultants Poghos Shahinyan and Tatiana Mihailova. The Index highlights challenges and opportunities, and offers concrete policy recommendations for the EU, EaP governments, and civil society. In particular, the 2025 Index has recognised the establishment of the EaP RSO as “hold[ing] promise to improve safety standards and facilitate spread of best practices in an important field.”

We echo the Index’s call that, “Speeding up the extension of European best practices in transport safety, and impact assessments of new infrastructure projects affecting EaP states should be an imperative.”

Pages 126-127 of the Index includes a case study of the Observatory, detailing our aims and objectives, and offer recommendations to civil society, national authorities, and the EU on how they can work with us to strengthen our positive impact on improving road safety.

We stand by these recommendations and look forward to working with civil society and other actors in our member countries to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals, reducing road casualties and making transport safer, more sustainable and accessible for all.