EN Official Journal of the European Union C 65/92

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — The Commission's contribution to the period of reflection and beyond: Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate’

(COM(2005) 494 final)

(2006/C 65/17)

On 13 October 2005, the European Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the Commission's contribution to the period of reflection and beyond: Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate.

and under Rule 19, paragraph 1 of its Rules of Procedure, the Committee decided at its 421st plenary session held on 26 and 27 October 2005 to establish a subcommittee to prepare its work on the matter.

The Subcommittee on Reflection and beyond: Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its draft opinion on 1 December 2005. The rapporteur was Ms Jillian van Turnhout.

At its 422nd plenary session held on 14 and 15 December 2005 (meeting of 14 December), the European Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 83 votes to 7 with 13 abstentions.

1. Executive Summary

The Committee has deliberately opted for a short and entirely operational response to the European Commission's communication. It sets out a small number of concrete measures where it believes the Committee, alone and in cooperation with the other institutions, could make a significant contribution to the broad debate during the reflection period and beyond. The two basic messages are: to anticipate the Constitutional Treaty's provisions on the democratic life of the Union by making participatory democracy, through the twin pillars of civil dialogue and reinforced European social dialogue, more of a reality now; and to ensure that the voice of organised civil society and that of its representatives is heard in the broad debate.

2. Introduction

Given:

— the very short period in which the opinion was to be drafted;

— the more detailed approach set out in the Committee's 26 October 2005 opinion to the European Parliament on the reflection period (1);

— the impending adoption by the European Commission of its White Paper on a communication strategy;

— the intention announced by the European Council in its 16 and 17 June 2005 conclusions (2) to take stock of the situation in the first half of 2006 and therefore the urgency of encouraging the broadest possible debate in the Union and in the Member States, including at the level of organised civil society;

the Committee decided, in order to help in establishing the broadest possible debate with the aim of supporting participatory democracy at local, regional, national and European Union level, to restrict itself in this opinion to a few operational recommendations through which the Committee itself could encourage that debate and improve its own role as a bridge between Europe and organised civil society.

The Committee welcomes the European Commission's initiative in presenting its ‘Plan D’ Communication. The Committee is however of the view that, whilst the plan is necessarily ambitious in its objectives, the real impact of the proposals made could be questioned, in particular in view of the absence of concrete indications of how the measures it proposes would be implemented. The Committee therefore looks forward to studying in due course the concrete proposals it expects the Commission to make. For its part, the Committee declares its intention of helping to render the Commission's proposals more operational, particularly in those areas concerning the involvement of organised civil society.

3. Recommendations

3.1 Building on the success of a pilot scheme, the Committee undertakes to generalise the use by its members of the ‘electronic visiting card’ system, whereby customised newsletters are sent out to personal mailing lists, thus enhancing the Committee members' bridging function.

3.2 Building on the success of the stakeholders' forums held in Brussels in April and November 2005 on sustainable development and ‘bridging the gap’ respectively, and in particular on the successful use of a customised version of the Open Space method, the Committee undertakes to help its members and national economic and social councils organise similar such stakeholders forums at the Member State level. The Committee could help by: — involving its various networks of members and their organisations and thus capitalising on their potential multiplier effects; — providing expertise on Open Space moderation; — drafting a manual, based on the Committee's experience to date, on how best to organise such forums; — seeking institutional involvement, particularly of the European Commission, as both co-organiser and participant. Such forums cannot on their own resolve the European Union's communication problems but they can, alongside improved consultation mechanisms, contribute to increased civic participation in the European debate.

3.3 Building on the recommendations set out in its opinion to the European Parliament on the reflection period, the Committee will continue to encourage the institutions to anticipate the Constitutional Treaty's provisions on participatory democracy. The EESC notably: — calls on the European Commission to put forward one or more proposals setting out new ways and processes enhancing the involvement of organised civil society in the policy-making and legislative processes of the European Union in the spirit of Article I-47 of the Constitutional Treaty; — calls on the Commission to take concrete steps to increase direct involvement of citizens in the political process at EU level by considering putting forward a proposal aiming at giving legal force to the European citizens' initiative as provided for in Article I-47(4) of the Constitutional Treaty; — calls on the European Commission to consider putting forward a proposal for a true communication policy; — looks forward to the full implementation of and respect for the new protocol of cooperation between the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee (3), which provides for ‘a more intensive culture of dialogue and consultation with organised civil society and its representative institution in the preparation and implementation of the Union's policies and decisions’.

3.4 Responding to the spirit of the European Commission's ‘Plan D’, the Committee calls upon the European Commission and in particular its representations in the Member States fully to involve the Committee's members in all initiatives aimed at encouraging debate at the Member State level, thereby guaranteeing that the voice of organised civil society is more systematically and appropriately heard.

3.5 In this context, notes the various specific actions proposed by the European Commission in stimulating a wider public debate and in promoting citizens' participation in the democratic process and calls upon it to involve to the full the Committee and its members, above all wherever the voice of organised civil society should be heard.

3.6 Also in this context, the Committee notes Part 5 of the Communication on funding and, in particular, the Commission's belief that ‘the remaining resources should be used to support Member State and civil society initiatives’. As detailed above, the Committee is prepared to decentralise its successful stakeholders' forum format and would therefore be prepared to enter into similar cooperative actions with the European Commission, including through joint funding, at the member state level.

Brussels, 14 December 2005. The President of the European Economic and Social Committee Anne-Marie SIGMUND

(1) ‘The reflection period: structure, themes and framework for an evaluation of the debate on the European Union’.

(2) Ref. doc. 10255/1/05 rev. 1.

(3) Signed in Brussels on 7 November 2005. Text available on the EESC website.