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)
Date: 2005-12-14
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: ESC opinion, EU competence, European Union, European citizenship, administrative transparency, citizens' Europe, democracy, political participation, public awareness campaign, social dialogue (EU)

C 65/92

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

17.3.2006

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Communication from the
Commission to the Council,
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’

the European Parliament,

(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

in the Member States, including at the level of organised
civil society;

The Committee has deliberately opted for a short and entirely
operational response to the European Commission's communi-
cation. 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 parti-
cipatory 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 Committee decided,
in order to help in establishing the
broadest possible debate with the aim of supporting participa-
tory 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 ambi-
tious 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
forward to
implemented. The Committee therefore looks
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.

— the impending adoption by the European Commission of

its White Paper on a communication strategy;

3. Recommendations

— the intention announced by the European Council in its 16
and 17 June 2005 conclusions (2) to take stock of the situa-
tion in the first half of 2006 and therefore the urgency of
encouraging the broadest possible debate in the Union and

(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.

Building on the

success of a pilot

3.1
the
Committee undertakes to generalise the use by its members of
the ‘electronic visiting card’ system, whereby customised news-
letters are sent out to personal mailing lists, thus enhancing the
Committee members' bridging function.

scheme,

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 65/93

3.2
Building on the success of the stakeholders' forums held
in Brussels in April and November 2005 on sustainable devel-
opment 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 organi-
sations 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 Euro-
pean 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.

Building on the recommendations set out in its opinion
3.3
to the European Parliament on the reflection period,
the
Committee will continue to encourage the institutions to antici-
pate 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 enhan-
cing 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

Brussels, 14 December 2005.

level by considering putting forward a proposal aiming at
giving legal
initiative as
force to the European citizens'
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 guaran-
teeing that the voice of organised civil society is more systema-
tically and appropriately heard.

the various

In this context, notes

3.5
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.

Also in this context, the Committee notes Part 5 of the
3.6
Communication on funding and,
in particular, the Commis-
sion'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.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND

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

EESC website.