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Brussels, 20 February 2008

MINUTES
of the 15th meeting
of the Liaison Group
with European civil society organisations and networks
held at the Committee building, Brussels, on
19 December 2007

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CESE357/2008 FR-EN/GW/ym

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The 15th meeting of the Liaison Group with European civil society organisations and networks was held in Brussels on 19 December 2007.It was chaired by Jillian Van Turnhout, EESC vice-president, and Jean-Marc Roirant, co-presidentof the Liaison Group.

The meeting began at 9.45 a.m. and ended at around1 p.m.

ATTENDANCE LIST

  • Members of the Liaison Grouppresent

EESC Representatives

Members

Ms Jillian van Turnhout
MrMiklós Barabás
MrGeorgios Dassis
MrRaymond Hencks
MrFilip Hamro-Drotz
MrBernardo Hernandez Bataller
MrHenri Malosse
MrStaffan Nilsson
MrJan Olsson
Ms Irini Pari
MrMario Sepi
MrCveto Stantič / EESC vice-president
Group III vice-president
ECO section president
Group II member
REX section president
INT section president
Group I president
Group III president
ECO section vice-president
Group I vice-president of
Group II president
Group I member

Representatives of European civil society organisations and networks

Members

CESE357/2008 FR-EN/GW/ym

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MrJean-Marc Roirant
MrMaurice Duranton
MrGérard Fouilloux
MrTommaso Grimaldi
MrHenrik Kröner
MrDiogo Pinto
MrJan-Robert Suesser
MrLuk Zelderloo
Alternates
MrDirk Jarré
MrGérard Leseul
Ms Ariane Rodert
MrMarcel Smeets / Secretary-General, Ligue française de l'enseignement, President of the European Civil Society Platform for Education and Training (EUCIS-LLL)
President, International Association of Mutual Benefit Societies (AIM)
Board member, European Older People's Platform (AGE)
Secretary-General, European Vocational Training Association (EVTA)
Secretary-General, International European Movement (IEM)
Secretary-General, European Youth Forum (EYF)
Member of the Board of Directors, European Civic Forum
Secretary-General, European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD)
European Federation of Older Persons (EURAG)
(for Mr Gérard Fouilloux)
Deputy General Delegate, Coordinating Committee of European Cooperative Associations (CCACE)
(for Mr Étienne Pflimlin)
European Council for Non-Profit Organisations (CEDAG)
(for Mr Luk Zelderloo)
Director-General, International Association of Mutual Benefit Societies (AIM) (for Mr Maurice Duranton)
  • Members of the Liaison Groupabsent

EESC representatives

MrDimitris Dimitriadis
(apologies received)
MrCarmelo Cedrone
Ms Marie Zvolska
Ms Brenda King
(apologies received)
Ms An Le Nouail Marlière
Ms María Sánchez Miguel
MrSukhdev Sharma
(apologies received)
MrJános Tóth
(apologies received) / EESC president
Group II member
Group I member
SOC section president
Group II member
NAT section president
REX section vice-president
TEN section president

Representatives of European civil society organisations and networks

Members

MrOlivier Consolo
(apologies received)
Ms Ilona Kish
MrWilliam Lay
MrGérard Peltre
(apologies received)
MrÉtienne Pflimlin
(apologies received)
Ms Mieke Schuurman
MrYannis Vardakastanis
Ms Myria Vassiliadou
Alternates
Ms Carlotta Besozzi
MrPatrice Collignon
(apologies received)
Ms Sabine Frank
Ms Cécile Gréboval
Ms Jana Hainsworth
(apologies received)
MrYves Roland-Gosselin / Director, European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development (CONCORD)
Secretary-General, European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (EFAH)
Director of the Confederation of Family Organisations in the EU (COFACE)
President, Rurality-Environment-Development International Association (RED)
Co-president, Cooperatives Europe
Secretary-General, European Children's Network (EURONET)
President, European Disability Forum (FEPH/EDF)
Secretary-General, European Women's Lobby (EWL)
Director, European Disability Forum (FEPH/EDF) (for Mr Yannis Vardakastanis)
Director, Rurality-Environment-Development International Association (RED)
(for Mr Gérard Peltre)
Deputy Secretary-General, European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (EFAH) (for Ms Ilona Kish)
Director of policies, European Women's Lobby (EWL)
Secretary-General, EUROCHILD
(for Ms Mieke Schuurman)
Presidentof the Confederation of Family Organisations in the EU (COFACE)
  • Observers

MrPierre Barge
MrJean-Claude Séché / President, European Association for Human Rights (EAHR)
Vice-President, Europeans throughout the world
  • Other EESC representatives

MrJoost van Iersel / EESC member, rapporteur for the ad hoc group on the Renewed Lisbon Strategy 2006-2008
  • Other representatives of European civil society organisations and networks

Ms Sophie Falier
Ms Audrey Frith
Ms Anja Härtwig
Ms Jeanne Perego
Ms Aurélie Sgro / Head of communication, European Vocational Training Association (EVTA)
Coordinator, European Civil Society Platform for Education and Training (EUCIS-LLL)
Person responsible for information and for the development of European policies, EUROCHILD
European Vocational Training Association (EVTA)
European Association for Human Rights (EAHR)
  • Other participants

Ms Sara Rodríguez / Department for institutional relations, Fundación Comunidad Valenciana – Región Europea
  • EU Commission representative

MrRobertas Galkus
  • EESC secretariat
MrPatrick Fève
Ms Sophie Cavallin
MrJurï Soosaar / General Secretariat, Unit for "Transparency, relations with interest groups and external organisations"
Head of the Unit for Relations with civil society organisations – constitutional matters
Administrator, Unit for Relations with civil society organisations – constitutional matters
Administrator, ECO section secretariat

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Jillian van Turnhoutopened the meeting and announced first that, at the request of the EESCpresident, Dimitris Dimitriadis, she would be co-chairing the Liaison Group from now on. In this context, she hoped that in the coming months she would be able to meet, on a bilateral basis, representatives of the member organisations and networks of European civil society to discuss the future prospects of the Liaison Group.

Jillian van Turnhoutthen announced the following changes to the membership of the Liaison Groupsince the last meeting on 6 September:

Gérard Fouilloux, board member of the European Older People's Platform (AGE), would represent the "Older Persons" sectoras a full member. His alternate would be Dirk Jarré, of the European Federation of Older Persons (EURAG)

Myria Vassiliadou, the new secretary-general of the European Women's Lobby (EWL) would from now on represent the "Gender Equality" sector as a full member replacing Mary McPhail, the former secretary-general of the EWL. Cécile Gréboval, EWL policies director, would be her alternate.

1.Adoption of the draft agenda

Jillian van Turnhoutannounced that Joost van Iersel, rapporteur of the EESC's Lisbon Group, could only be present from 10.30 a.m. She therefore proposed reversing the order of agendaitems 4 (Renewed Lisbon Strategy 2006-2008) and 5 (Statute fora European MutualSociety).

Thus amended,the draft agenda was adopted.

2.Approval of the minutes of the 14th meeting, held on 6 September 2007

Irini Pariasked that, on page 10 of the minutes, the second paragraph concerning her remarks be amended as follows:

Original text:

"Nonetheless, she did not write off the possibility of making adjustments or changes, in particular so that civil society organisations other than the social partners could be involved in governing CEDEFOP. She also mentioned the existence of the European Training Foundation in Turin. Ms Pari therefore invited the Liaison Group members to think about the improvements that could be made to existing structures, rather than creating a new institute."

Amended text:

"Nonetheless, she did not write off the possibilitythat there might be cooperation with civil society organisations. She also mentioned the existence of the European Training Foundation in Turin. Ms Paritherefore invited the Liaison Group members to think about the improvements that could be made rather than about the creation of a new institute."

Thus amended, the minutes were approved.

3.Statement by the co-president of the Liaison Group, Jean-Marc Roirant

Jean-Marc Roirantfirst of all briefly introduced the various items on the agenda. He then turned to the question of the civil dialogue in the light of the Lisbon Treaty, a topic which had also appeared in the work programme of the Liaison Group, to recall first of all that the aforementioned treaty had completely preserved the provisions of the Constitutional Treaty concerning the democratic life of the Union, Article I-47 of which enshrined the reality of participatory democracy, thus openingup new prospects for the voice of civil society to be taken into account more and better within the framework of the new system of European governance. Constructive reflection was necessary in this context in order for proposals to be made which made it possible to benefit fully from these new provisions in order to make civil dialogue too an institutional reality like the social dialogue.Defining and setting up the ways and means that would enable the public to express their viewswas still necessary so that the decisions of the public authorities were understood better and enjoyed greater public support. In this respect, there was no doubt that civil society organisations - NGOs, associations, mutual societies or cooperatives – continued to suffer from being insufficiently taken into accountby the public authorities, both at national and European level.

However, Jean-Marc Roirant continued, there were certain glimmers of hope that this situation was changing. Thus on 8 and 9 November, at the initiative of one of its vice-presidents, Gérard Onesta, the European Parliament had helda citizens' Agora that had enabled approximately 350 representatives of all sorts of associations to have a debate and make their views known on the future of Europe.

Without any doubt, legitimate questions had been raised and were still being asked about the representativeness of a number of participants and the lack of transparency concerning the selection criteria, as well as about whether the Agora should be presented as the only place capable of providing the interface between civil society and the European institutions. Having said that, many civil society organisations supported the initiative and thought that it could prove useful to continue with it. But, insisted Jean-Marc Roirant, this could only be done under certain conditions and in a spirit of clarity, i.e. with the knowledge that there could not be just one single place for representing and expressing the views of civil society, which indeed the Liaison Group, for its part, had never claimed to be.

In this context,therefore, it was alsocompletely in order to do some serious thinking, particularly within the Liaison Group, on such civil dialogue issues and on the legitimacy and relevance of associationsas part of the enrichment of representative democracy. Such thinking would be particularly opportune as the French Secretary of State responsible for European Affairs had already stated that France wanted to make its EU presidency,in the second half of 2008, a people's presidency. In this context, Jean-Marc Roirant added, some organisations, including the European Civic Forum, had submitted proposals aiming in particular to re-open certain issues, including those relating to the statutes of the European association and the European mutual society, which would constitute a form of recognition of the importance of the role of civil society organisations in European integration with a view, in the long term, to placing civil dialogue on an institutionalised footing.

Jean-Marc Roirant also pointed out that the European Civic Forum intended to play its full partin the debate by organising a meeting soon in Slovenia of civil society players, to which the members of the Liaison Group would be invited. In addition, approximately 800 heads of European associations- NGOs, cooperatives, mutual societies, etc. – would be meeting in France from 4 to 6 September 2008 under the French presidency to discuss civil dialogue.

In conclusion and while again welcoming the setting-up of the Liaison Group and the efforts made by the Committee to develop and structure the dialogue with European civil society organisations and networks, Jean-Marc Roirantstressed the need to take an extra step forward in quality when setting up a structured civil dialogue between the European institutions and these organisations and networks,against the background of recognising the major contribution made by civil society players to the democratic life of the EU; hence the need to dothe thinking he had mentioned, which in no way aimed to question the prerogatives and role of the European institutions, whether it be the European Parliament, as the expression of representative democracy, or the Committee, as the representative body of organised civil society.On the contrary, he insisted, the aim was to confirm the Committee's role and give associations the means to express all the richness of their diversity.

Jillian van Turnhoutagreed with Jean-Marc Roiranton the need foran extra step forward in quality in relations between the Committee and European civil society organisations and networks, as the setting-up and perpetuation of the Liaison Groupwere only a first step which now made it possible to project oneself into the future. It was important to set new objectives together, and she was delighted by the open and constructive atmosphere that reigned within the Liaison Group, which she felt would help give it a new dynamic and ensure its increasing influence and effectiveness.

Staffan Nilssonsaid he fully understood Jean-Marc Roirant's concern regarding the need to take anextra step forward in the dialogue between the institutions and civil society organisations, which also applied to the Liaison Group if it was to have a greater and real impact on the work of the Committee. He felt it was important here that the Committee should develop even more in the future its function as a privileged meeting place and centre for dialogue with organised civil society, particularly through the Liaison Group.

In this context too, Staffan Nilsson informed the members of the Liaison Group of Group III's intention to propose to the Committee that an own-initiative opinion be drawn up on the prospects opened up by the Lisbon Treaty as regards participatory democracy and civil dialogue, which fitted in with the reflection envisaged by Jean-Marc Roirant. The Liaison Group should therefore also be involved in the preparation of this opinion.

Henrik Krönerfelt that more could and should be done as regards dialogue with the public, whowere generally still rather ignorant of what the European Union was and what it did. More therefore had to be done as regards education and information, but also to increase the possibilities of dialogue.

He thereforeinformed the Liaison Group that, on the occasion of its federal council held on 15 and 16 December, the European Movement had called on the governments of the Member States to develop a strategy of more active communication on European issues, laying particularly stress on effective communication with civil society. The implementation of such a strategy should help create a genuine dialogue with civil society. The European Movement urged the Member States to set up a structured dialogue with civil society organisationsbecause of the links that such organisations had with the public.

Secondly, Henrik Krönerinformed the Liaison Group of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Congress of Europe, which had been held in The Hague from 7 to 11 May 1948 and had led to the European Movement, which had been created shortly thereafter, in October of the same year. This Congress was at the origin, in particular, of the creation of the Council of Europe and of the College of Europe at Bruges. These celebrations would culminate with the holding in The Hague of a European Civil Society Forum, on 23 and 24 May, to discuss the future of Europe.

As part of the preparations for this Forum, a website would be opened from January to May in order to collect contributions from civil society on their vision of the future of Europe. The ideas expressed would be grouped into "60 ideas for Europe", which would form a basis for discussion at the workshops to be organised at the Forum and would be discussed with the political leaders and the presidents of the European institutions present at plenary sessions. With an eye on the European Parliament electionsin 2009, the aim was also to call on civil society to relay these ideas at national level by organising similar debates in the 27 Member States with political leaders and members of the European Parliament. Members of the Liaison Groupwere asked to make their own ideas known on the website opened by the European Movement.

Henri Malossereminded the meeting that the "Employers" Group of the Committee played a fully committed part in the Liaison Groupand considered the latter to be useful. His Group felt that the Liaison Grouphelped to consolidate the EESC in the consultative duties assigned to it by the treaties by enriching its discussionsand enabling it to take into account the views of those involved in organised civil society whowere not directly represented among its members. The Liaison Group was also useful for European civil society organisations and networks by providing them with a place for meeting EESC members and exchanging ideas and dialogue with them.

Regarding the citizens' Agoras, Henri Malossestressed that he by no means intended to deny the right of the European Parliament to set up a structured dialogue with organised civil society, but he agreed with Jean-Marc Roirant that the Agora could under no circumstances be regarded as an exclusive place of dialogue. For the future, he pointed out that the Committee had already said it waswilling, if the Parliament so wished, to allow the latter to benefit from its expertise regarding how to structure the dialogue with civil society organisations.

Turning to civil dialogue, Henri Malosse stressed that the members of his Group felt there was no clash with social dialogue. On the contrary, civil dialogue and social dialogue were complementary and were both facets of participatory democracy. He stressed that economic playerswere an integral part of civil society and had not only a social, but also a societal responsibility, i.e. towards society as a whole. It was both important and stimulating for employers' organisations to be full actors in the civil dialogue, and not just the social dialogue, although without any pointless and artificial distinctions being created between those involved in civil society or claims for exclusive rights being expressed by certain parties. Bringing together all these actors was one of the objectives of the Liaison Groupand it was also one of the reasons why the EESC Employers'Group took part.