REX Work Program 2015-2018

EESC-2015-05103-00-04-TCD-TRA (EN) 1/7

Work Programme of the External Relations Section for the
October 2015-April 2018 term of office

I.MAIN OBJECTIVES AND POLITICAL PRIORITIES

The general objective of the activities of the EESC's Section for External Relations is to express the views of organised civil society from both the EU and third countries in all aspects related to the EU's external action and in the Common Foreign Policy of the EU.

In practice this concerns the EU's foreign, enlargement, trade, neighbourhood, and development, policies. The REX Section aims to promote a context which favours the activities of civil society organisations, to establish and improve direct contacts with civil society organisations and to support and strengthen civil and social dialogue in non-EU countries and regions.

During the ongoing term of office, the main horizontal priorities of the REX section are:

1. contributing to the functioning, acknowledgement, strengthening and capacity building and of civil society organisations in non-EU countries, in particular in Neighbouring Countries;
2. fostering social dialogue and civil dialogue in non-EU countries and regions;
3. support common objectives of civil society, such as decent jobs, inclusive and sustainable development, the fight against climate change, good governance, human rights, equal rights and non discrimination
4. contributing, together with its civil society counterparts, to the content and implementation of the EU association agreements and trade agreements with non-EU countries and regions through the setting-up of structured, representative civil society joint consultative committees;
5. managing refugee crises and migration flows.

In geographical and thematic terms, specific priority should be given to:

• the neighbourhood and candidate countries – with a special focus on refugee flows - relations with third countries, implementation of international protection;

• issues related to the development of democracy, inclusive and sustainable development, and the promotion and strengthening of both civil society organisations and the institutions in which they are represented;

• trade issues - REX Section will maintain the role of the EESC in the negotiation and monitoring process of ongoing and future strategic trade agreements;

• refuge flows and migration;

• the continuity and visibility of our two Round Tables with China and Brazil as well as the relations with other conutries with which the EU has Strategic Partnerships.

Regular contacts with the relevant European Commission DGs, European Parliament and the EEAS will be held in order to coordinate the section's priorities with the EU's priorities in its external policy.

During the current term of office the following Member States are going to hold the presidency of the EU: Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Malta, the United Kingdom and Estonia. The Section for External Relations will meet on nine occasions per year. Two extraordinary section bureau meetings per year will also be organised in order to assess and streamline the activities and political priorities of the section during the year. The Section will promote a debate, first at Section level and then at EESC level, on the role of the EESC in the external dimension of European policies.

II.CONSULTATIVE WORK

The section's consultative work (opinions and information reports) will be made consistent with the work planned by the different REX standing groups, the section's institutional obligations, the Commission Work Programme, the requests of the Council presidencies and the EESC president's international programme.

Specific attention will be given by REX opinions to:

 the implementation of the EU's Agenda for Migration;

 the revision of the EU trade policy;

 the revision of the EU's Neighbourhood Policy;

 the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals;

 the follow-up of the EU's enlargement strategy;

 the Global Strategy for the CFDP;

 the revision of the Cotonou Agreement;

 the global supply chains;

 the follow-up of the implementation of the EU instruments for development cooperation by the various REX standing bodies;

 Issues tackled by international organisations.

III.EXPECTED NEW WORK

1. In terms of candidate countries, mandates could be received for setting up Joint Consultative Committees within the EU-Albania Stabilisation and Association Agreement, and within the EU-Bosnia and Herzegovina Stabilisation and Association Agreement.

2. Within the Neighbourhood Policy, the Section will be requested to join the EU-Ukraine Domestic Advisory Group, to be set up in January 2016, after the entry into force of the trade chapter within the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Other requests of this same nature could come from concluding trade agreements with Morocco, Tunisia or Jordan in the Euromediterranean region.

3. Concerning other international trade/investment agreements, mandates might follow for recently completed FTA negotiations with Canada, Singapore and Vietnam, but also for the major negotiations with Japan and the United States, if successfully completed during the mandate, and others.

4. A request to set up a JCC within the revised EU-Mexico Association Agreement could be received. Depending on the progress of negotiations with Mercosur and Cuba, the EESC could be given a mandate to establish new civil society monitoring mechanisms within those agreements. The EU-Chile JCC has been approved and will start its work end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.

5. The Section might be requested to pay special attention to specific horizontal issues concerning the external dimension of internal EU policies, such as migration and asylum policy, the energy union and energy imports, the social and solidarity economy, sustainable development, EU and international standards and their bearing on agricultural and food imports, and inequalities.

IV.WORK PROGRAMME OF THE DIFFERENT REX AREAS OF ACTIVITY

Candidate countries

The Joint Consultative Committees (JCC) remain a valuable tool for the Committee in its work relating to the accession of Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro. The JCCs' role is to channel know-how, experience and information between the EU and the socio-occupational organisations in these countries on the scope of common policies and the actual taking-up and implementation of the Community acquis.

The JCCs will each hold two meetings per year, alternatively in the candidate country and in the EU.

The Western Balkans

The section will maintain the links established at regional level with the Western Balkan countries, in particular via the efforts of the Western Balkans Follow-up Committee, whose key objectives include strengthening civil society organisations and developing social and civil dialogue in each country.

The sixth Western Balkans Civil Society Forum will be held in 2017.

The European Economic Area

The section will continue its activities regarding relations with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein in the framework of the EEA Consultative Committee’s work, and will participate in meetings of the EEA Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Eastern Europe neighbouring countries

The section will continue its efforts to improve communication between civil society representatives from the EU and its Eastern neighbours, support the consolidation of civil society organisations in those countries and help them to strengthen their capacity to influence national decision-making mechanisms.

In particular, the section will continue its involvement in the work of the Eastern Partnership thematic platforms and the working group on social dialogue established in November 2012 within the EaP Civil Society Forum.

The section will consolidate the work already done in the previous term of office with the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform and the EU-Moldova Domestic Advisory Group. It will aim at quickly implementing, in 2016, the EU-Ukraine Domestic Advisory Group, the EU-Moldova Civil Society Platform, the EU-Georgia Civil Society Platform and the EU-Georgia Domestic Advisory Group. A specific initiative will be launched, in cooperation with the EU Delegation in Kiev, in order to strengthen the capacity of the social partners in Ukraine. Some specific work at bilateral level might be launched with Armenia, whose civil society organisations are asking for better awareness and integration of European values and models.

Russia

The Russia Contact group will pursue its cooperation with Russian NGOs within the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum. It will resume its contacts with the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation if conditions for it are met, in agreement with the EEAS. It will also strengthen its cooperation with the EU-Russia Joint Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

Euro-Mediterranean region and Union for the Mediterranean

Work in this area will focus on continued support for the development of ESCs and strong civil society organisations in the region, as well as monitoring of the implementation of the revised neighbourhood policy. The democratic strengthening, an inclusive and sustainable development policy, and the strengthening of civil society organisations will be key elements of our activities .The current refugee crisis, the promotion of measures that facilitate regular migration and the mid-term solutions to it on the basis of cooperation with countries in the southern neighbourhood will be a priority.

The section strategy will be based on the following core aims:

• support for ESCs and the setting up of new ones wherever conditions for it are met, social dialogue and civil society development, focusing on countries undergoing transition or reform processes;

• promoting civil society involvement in the EU's Neighbourhood Policy;

• better coordination with the EU ESCs, EU institutions, the Union for the Mediterranean and other bodies;

• promotion of the Charter for ESCs in the Euro-Mediterranean region;

• increased involvement of economic and social players in decision-making processes in their countries;

• introduction of civil society monitoring mechanisms for trade agreements in the region;

• boosting civil society involvement in the decision-making processes and in some of the programmes of the Union for the Mediterranean;

• promoting the development of civil society and the creation of ESCs in key countries such as Tunisia and Palestine.

The members of the section will attend the sessions of the Euromed Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the UfM Council of Ministers.

International trade

The monitoring of trade agreements by civil society is one of the section's main challenges for the next few years. The section will continue to closely monitor the EU trade negotiations currently under way at bilateral and regional level. The section will attach particular importance to the Sustainability Impact Assessments drawn up prior to the negotiations and to the environmental and social issues in future agreements.

The REX section will pursue its work within the Domestic Advisory Groups provided for in Korea, Moldova, Central America, Colombia/Peru/Ecuador and Cariforum agreements.

The REX Section will actively contribute to the setting up of new Domestic Advisory Groups within the EU-Georgia and EU-Ukraine trade chapters, for which it will also provide the secretariat.

Other mandates for Domestic Advisory Groups might be received within recently signed (EU-Canada CETA) or incoming trade or investment agreements (USA, Japan, India, Mercosur, a number of ASEAN countries, etc.).

The Section will insist on the demands submitted by the EESC to Commissioner Malmström regarding the composition of DAGs, in agreement with European civil society organisations: BusnessEurope, ETUC, UEAPME, BEUC, Cooperatives Europe, Eurochambers, COPA-COGECA.

The section will also focus on the links between the EU External policies and external trade, as well as on the impact of EU trade policies on issues such as sustainable development, social protection and labour rights, food security and climate change.

The Section will also follow the WTO negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda by participating as civil society advisor in the WTO Ministerial Conferences.

Transatlantic relations

Monitoring the negotiations for a Trade and Investment Agreement will remain a priority for the section. The EU-USA Follow-up Committee, set up by the EESC in 2015, will follow up these negotiations but also Transatlantic relations in a broader sense.

On the basis of the recommendations of its opinion on EU-Canada relations, the section, together with its Canadian counterparts, will follow the implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement once it is ratified.

ACP-EU relations and EU development policy

As far as relations with the ACP group of countries are concerned, the section's Work Programme will focus on the active follow-up of the Cotonou Agreement and its revision process (to be concluded before 2020), the EU development policy, the implementation of SDGs, and the negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the objectives of contributing to a sustainable and inclusive development and enhancing the role of civil society organisations.

In 2016 and 2018, regional seminars will be held with non-state actors from alternating ACP regions. In 2017 the 28th meeting of ACP-EU economic and social interest groups, with representatives from all the ACP countries, will be held in Brussels.

The EESC, in collaboration with its African partners, will organise its yearly meetings of Economic and Social Actors in the EU-Africa Strategy, to agree on the positions of social and economic actors from both continents.

The members of the EU-ACP Follow-up Committee will continue to participate in the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

The section will continue its work within the Civil Society Consultative Committee of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, whose first meeting was held in 2014.

The standing bodies of the REX section should monitor the implementation of the various financial instruments of the EU intended for development cooperation in the countries or regions of their competence: EDF, DCI, PI, ENI, IPA2, EIDHR, INSC, etc.

Relations with Latin America

The EESC will follow the ongoing negotiations for an Association Agreement between the EU and Mercosur, as well as its cooperation with our Mercosur counterpart, the Mercosur Consultative Economic and Social Forum.

Moreover, the EESC will set up the Joint Consultative Committee provided for in the EU-Central America Agreement for Political Dialogue and Cooperation.

With a view to the revision of the Association Agreement with Mexico, the REX section will actively follow the possible establishment of another committee of this type. Similarly, it will try to establish contact with Cuban civil society in order to complement the current negotiations for an EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with a civil society perspective.

On the basis of the mandate received by the Association Council within the EU-Chile Association Agreement, the EU-Chile JCC will be set up.

The members of the Latin America Follow-up Committee will attend the EuroLat Joint Parliamentary Assemblies, and will continue to organise the civil society hearings as part of the EuroLat meetings.

The section will hold its next EU-Brazil Round Table in Brazil in the first half of 2016 and will present its conclusions to the EU-Brazil summit.

The EESC will also organise the 9th Meeting of European Union, Latin America and Caribbean Organised Civil Society in 2017, as a preparatory event for the EU-CELAC Heads of State Summit.

Relations with Asia

The EU-China Round Table is expected to relaunch its work under the new EESC Presidency. The EESC will maintain its involvement in the EU-China High Level Partnership for Sustainable Urbanisation.

The EESC will continue and strengthen its cooperation with Japanese counterpart organisations with a view to following the negotiations for an EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement, with special attention being paid to the setting-up of joint arrangements for civil society monitoring of the agreement.

The EESC has developed contacts with South Korea, India and other Asian countries, in the trade area. It will aim at pursuing those contacts when appropriate.

Relations with international organisations

Cooperation with other international organisations such as the UN, FAO, International Organization for Migration, etc., will be enhanced. A Joint Action Plan between the EESC and the ILO will be agreed at the beginning of this term of office.

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EESC-2015-05103-00-04-TCD-TRA (EN) 1/7