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Brussels, 3 August 2012
MINUTES
of the 22nd meeting
of the Liaison Group
with European civil society organisations and networks
held at the Committee building in Brussels
on 20 April 2012
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R/CESE 1517/2012.../...
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The Liaison Group with European civil society organisations and networks held its 22nd meeting in Brussels on 20April 2012, chaired by its two co-chairs, Staffan Nilsson, President of the EESC, and Jean-Marc Roirant, President of the European Civic Forum (ECF). The meeting started at 9.30a.m. and finished at 1 p.m.
ATTENDANCE LIST
- Members of the Liaison Group present
EESC representatives
Staffan NilssonEdgardo Iozia
Luca Jahier
Jorge Pegado Liz
Joost Van Iersel / President of the EESC
President of the Single Market Observatory (SMO)
President of the Various Interests Group
President of the CCMI
President of the Europe 2020 Steering Committee
Representatives of European civil society organisations and networks
Members
Diogo PintoConny Reuter
Jean-Marc Roirant
Jan Robert Suesser
Alternates
Serap Altinisik
Patrice Collignon
Emmanuelle Faure
Alexandrina Najmowicz / Secretary-General of the International European Movement (IEM)
President of the Platform of European Social NGOs
President of the European Civic Forum (ECF)
Vice-president of the European Civic Forum (ECF)
Policy Officer, European Women's Lobby (EWL)
Director of the Rurality-Environment-Development International Association (RED)
European Affairs Senior Officer, European Foundation Centre (EFC)
Coordinator, European Civic Forum (ECF)
R/CESE 1517/2012.../...
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- Other participants
Andris Gobiņš
Mogens Kikerby
Heidi Pekkola
Julia Pouply
Noé Viedma / European Association for the Defense of Human Rights (AEDH)
Member of the EESC, rapporteur for the EESC's opinion on the proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Year of Citizens
President of the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA)
Policy and Communication Officer, European Non-Governmental Sports Association (ENGSO)
Policy Assistant at Culture Action Europe
Policy Officer at the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL)
- Members of the Liaison Group absent
EESC representatives
Sandy Boyle (apologies received)Stéphane Buffetaut
Mario Campli
Bryan Cassidy
Georgios Dassis (apologies received)
Leila Kurki (apologies received)
Henri Malosse (apologies received)
Krzysztof Pater (apologies received)
Michael Smyth (apologies received)
Hans-Joachim Wilms (apologies received) / President of the REX section
President of the TEN section
President of the NAT section
President of the INT section
Group II president
President of the SOC section
President of Group I
President of the Labour Market Observatory (LMO)
President of the ECO section
President of the Sustainable Development Observatory (SDO)
Representatives of European civil society organisations and networks
Members
Pierre Barge (apologies received)Luca Bergamo
Olivier Consolo
Arielle Garcia (apologies received)
Cécile Gréboval
Monique Goyens
Christopher Harrison
Monika Kosinska
Maciej Kucharczyk
Gérard Peltre
Étienne Pflimlin (apologies received)
Giuseppe Porcaro
Conny Reuter
Gerry Salole
Luk Zelderloo
Alternates
Valentina Abita
Carlotta Besozzi (apologies received)
Julien Dijol
Sabine Frank
Audrey Frith (apologies received)
Jana Hainsworth
Dirk Jarré
Rita Kessler
Gérard Leseul
Peter Matjašič
Ursula Pachl
Christian Wenning / President of the European Association for Human Rights (AEDH)
Secretary-General of Culture Action Europe
Director of the European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development (CONCORD)
Deputy director of the Federation of French Mutual Health Insurance Schemes (FNMF)
Secretary-General, European Women's Lobby (EWL)
Director-General of the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC)
Former president of the European School Heads Association (ESHA)
Secretary-General of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
Director-General of the European Older People's Platform (AGE)
President of the Rurality-Environment-Development International Association (RED)
Co-president of Cooperatives Europe
Secretary-General of the European Youth Forum (EYF)
President of the Platform of European Social NGOs
Director-General of the European Foundation Centre (EFC)
Secretary-General of the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD)
Project manager, European Council for Non-Profit Organisations (CEDAG)
Director of the European Disability Forum (EDF)
Policy coordinator, European Liaison Committee for Social Housing (CECODHAS)
Secretary-General of the Platform for Intercultural Europe
Director of the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL)
Secretary-General of Eurochild
International Cooperation Officer, European Federation of Older People (EURAG)
Project manager, International Association of Mutual Benefit Societies (AIM)
Deputy general delegate, Coordinating Committee of European Cooperative Associations (CCACE)
Secretary-General of the European Youth Forum (EYF)
Deputy director-General of the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC)
Secretary-General of the Union of European Federalists (UEF)
- EESC Secretariat
Martin Westlake
Nicolas Alexopoulos
Maria Echevarria
Patrick Fève
Christian Weger
Coralia Catana
Barbara Walentynowicz / Head of the EESC of president's private office
Secretary-General
Deputy Secretary-General
Director for General Affairs
Head of Unit for Relations with civil society organisations, constitutional affairs
Administrator, Unit for Relations with civil society organisations, constitutional affairs
Member of the EESC president’s private office
Administrator, Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship
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1.Adoption of the draft agenda (R/CESE 735/2012)
The draft agenda was adopted.
2.Approval of the minutes of the 21st meeting held on 21 November 2011 (R/CESE734/2011)
The minutes were approved.
3.Enlargement of the Liaison Group to the sport sector
Jean-Marc Roirant stated that two new European civil society organisations had sent him and the Committee president an application for membership, with a view to representing the sport sector within the Liaison Group: the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) and the European Non-Governmental Sports Association (ENGSO).
He noted that, according to the Liaison Group's Rules of Procedure, any request to enlarge the Liaison Group to include unrepresented sectors of European organised civil society should be made in the form of a joint proposal by the EESC President and the Co-chair, which should be submitted to all members for approval.
He then invited Heidi Pekkola, Policy and Communication Officer at ENGSO, and Mogens Kikerby, President of ISCA, to present their organisations briefly.
Following these two presentations, Mr Roirant noted that both organisations met all the criteria for representativeness set out in the Liaison Group's Rules of Procedure allowing a European organisation or network to represent a sector of civil society.
The two co-chairs then jointly submitted these two applications to the members of the Liaison Group for approval; they were approved unanimously.
Liaison Group members would be informed at a later date of how the positions of member and alternate would be divided between the two organisations.
Mr Roirant finished by adding that 21 sectors of European organised civil society were now represented within the Liaison Group.
4.Statements by the EESC president, Staffan Nilsson, and the Liaison Group co-chair, Jean-Marc Roirant
Staffan Nilsson informed group members of a number of important activities he had recently participated in. He started by talking about the joint conference held by the EESC and the Committee of the Regions on 30 March on the European Citizens' Initiative. This conference had provided an opportunity to discuss the concept of participatory democracy and the potential of the citizens' initiative, with civil society and local and regional public authorities. He noted that one key issue in this connection was establishing a helpdesk that was independent of the EU's institutions and bodies, run by civil society organisations themselves. The Committee intended to consider this proposal in more depth.
Mr Nilsson then spoke about his attendance at the TEDx conference on social entrepreneurship at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands on 17 April. He highlighted the fact that this conference, organised by young people aged between 20 and 30, had brought together social entrepreneurs, experts and academics to share ideas and experiences on what it meant to be a social entrepreneur and how social enterprises could form a key element of crisis exit strategies.
Thirdly, he referred to the conference held on 18 April by European Movement Ireland and Public Affairs Ireland, on the priorities and challenges for Ireland's presidency of the EU in the first half of 2013, which was also attended by the Irish minister for European affairs, Lucinda Creighton. He stated that he intended to inform the Irish minister of the Committee's priorities and possible avenues for cooperation during the first half of 2013, and invited Liaison Group members to let him know their views on the subject, if they wished.
Finally, Mr Nilsson briefly mentioned the programme for the Civil Society Day to be held on 8 May, the theme for which was Democracy in Europe: where do we stand? A civil society perspective.
Jean-Marc Roirant, in turn, went over the various items on the agenda, highlighting how well they fitted in with the Liaison Group's missions, particularly the tasks assigned to the European organisations and networks that were members.
He pointed out – particularly for the benefit of the new members of the Liaison Group – that European civil society organisations and networks were involved in the EESC on three levels, the first being in the context of the EESC's own work, particularly when opinions were drawn up by the Committee's working bodies, in line with their areas of expertise. He mentioned the contribution drafted by the European organisations and networks as part of the Committee's work to prepare for the Rio+20 conference as the latest example.
The second level involved holding joint events on topics of common interest to both the Committee and the member organisations and networks, such as the 2009 and 2010 Civil Society Days and the one to be held on 8 May.
The third level related to independent activities by the European organisations and networks made officially possible by the Committee regarding certain cross-cutting subjects, such as the structured framework for civil dialogue or the alliances forged around the statute for a European association or the European Year of Citizens 2013. He stressed that these independent activities had made it possible to establish close relationships between European organisations and networks extending far beyond just the members of the Liaison Group, which thus acted as a focal point within a more structured framework for horizontal dialogue between these organisations and networks.
MrRoirant then moved that the group turn to the next item on the agenda.
5.Exchange of views with Luca Jahier, EESC rapporteur for the own-initiative opinion on the principles, procedure and action for the implementation of Article 11(1) and (2) of the Lisbon Treaty
Jean-Marc Roirant invited Luca Jahier to introduce the debate.
Mr Jahier started by informing the Liaison Group of the timetable for drafting the opinion: two study group meetings had already been held, and a third was scheduled for June; the SOC section would adopt its opinion in July, and it would be included on the agenda for the September or October plenary session.
He then explained that the opinion formed part of a process of reflection, one key stage of which had been the seminar organised by Group III on 22 March 2011, on "What are the prospects for participatory democracy in Europe?". At this seminar, a compendium was presented that gave an overview of the substance of Committee's work on this subject over the past decade or more. Thus, although participatory democracy was not a new topic, it had been attracting ever more interest over at least the last fifteen years. This period could, however, be divided into three phases.
The first phase, which MrJahier called the "creative impetus" phase, had run from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, and was characterised by the enlargement of the European democratic area. Three key dates stood out in this period: (i) October 1999, when the EESC held the first convention on organised civil society at EU level; (ii) July 2001, when the Commission published a White Paper on European governance; and (iii) February 2002, when the European Convention started work to produce the draft Constitutional Treaty. This work would continue until July 2003. This short phase had allowed certain concepts to be formalised that would later be built on and developed and were now highly topical. In this connection, he stressed that the joint European Parliament/European Commission Transparency Register for the registration and monitoring of organisations and self-employed individuals engaged in EU policy-making and policy implementation, which had been launched in June 2011, could be traced back to this White Paper from 2002.
The second phase, which Mr Jahier put between October 2004, when the draft Constitutional Treaty was signed in Rome, and 1 December 2009, when the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, was in his view a period of standstill in terms of enlarging the European democratic area.
The third, current phase was thus a phase of progressive implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon, with in particular major innovations such as the establishment of the permanent presidency of the European Council and of the European External Action Service. With regard to Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the former Article 8b of the Treaty of Lisbon, only the citizens' initiative referred to in paragraph 4 was fully operational - since 1 April 2012. Paragraphs 1 (horizontal civil dialogue) and 2 (vertical civil dialogue) had unfortunately stalled. Mr Jahier saw three reasons for the situation.
First, neither the Commission, the European Parliament nor the Council had shown any particular interest in opening up areas for dialogue with civil society organisations. The Commission had thus repeatedly made it clear that it had no intention of taking initiatives on Articles 11(1) and 11(2), although the Committee had twice requested it to submit a green paper on the practical implementation of the two provisions.
Clearly, Mr Jahier continued, the problem was complex, particularly regarding the representativeness criteria which associations had to meet in order to participate in the civil dialogue. But. apart from that, the Commission considered that its role was limited to Article 11(3), which required it to consult all those with a point of view to express, and that its task was thus solely to draw up clear and transparent rules ensuring that everyone could take part in public consultations.
As far as the European Parliament was concerned, the Citizens' Agora, launched in 2005, had so far been held only three times and remained controversial even within the institution. The situation at the Council was unfortunately well known.
Secondly, he noted that several attempts to create areas for European civil dialogue had been made in recent years without any great success. He mentioned in that connection the "civic days" which each Member State holding the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU was supposed to hold, with the support of the European Commission, the first of which had taken place under the French presidency, in September 2008. The civic days had met, at best, with a mitigated response from the European institutions.
Thirdly, the economic, financial and social crisis affecting the European Union was having a negative impact on democratic processes, especially ways of exercising representative democracy, as a result of the tendency to fall back on intergovernmental negotiations in an attempt to find solutions to the crisis. This had resulted in an even greater distance and lack of understanding between the public and the European institutions, which was a source of serious concern in view of the forthcoming European Parliament elections in 2014. This gave rise to two dangers: first a record low turnout and secondly the rise of anti-European, nationalist movements.
It was therefore all the more vital to make use of the provisions of Article 11(1) and (2) to generate momentum for stronger European democracy by establishing areas for structured dialogue with the civil society organisations as part of the process of creating a strong alliance between the two complementary pillars of democracy, representative and participatory democracy, which together strengthened the European Union's democratic legitimacy.
Against this background, Mr Jahier said that he intended to develop a twofold message in the opinion.
The first was to stress the prescriptive and normative character of Articles 11(1) and (2) and thus opposition in principle to any deliberate attempts by certain groups within the institutions to give these articles a purely descriptive character. Thus, for the Commission, these articles were simply statements of principle which involved no obligation to act.
The second message, following on from the first, was that it was necessary to create a new dynamic, to develop specific levers making it possible to move towards a new stage of structured participation by civil society organisations in European processes.
The strategy he intended to propose to that end had four parts. The first was to convince the Commission that significant progress had already been made on structured dialogue as a result of its consultation practices. Mr Jahier mentioned three examples: the European Integration Forum, which dealt with policies for integrating immigrants, the Cotonou Agreement, which established formal arrangements for the participation of non-state actors in the debate on the use of the funds made available to each ACP country or region, and the structured dialogue with civil society organisations led by the Commission's Trade DG.
Rather than drawing up a green paper, he felt that it would be preferable to ask the Commission to take stock of what had been achieved, ten years after the publication of the White Paper on European Governance, in terms of dialogue with organised civil society, and to evaluate current practices so as to draw conclusions which would make it possible to draw up guidelines and other specific arrangements necessary for the development of structured civil dialogue within the meaning of Article 11 TEU.,