25.5.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 184/3
7. reiterates its willingness, together with wider civil society organisations and the EU institutions, to act as a bridge builder to debate the European project with citizens, going beyond those already convinced, and to reach out to them in their communities, territories, cities and villages.
It is therefore vital to create the possibilities for participating in public debates and foster a culture of participation at all levels;
8.
The Commission should make provisions, in its organisation, for contact persons responsible for civil dialogue.
It should also work with the Member States to promote the strengthening of civil dialogue structures and support their creation where they do not yet exist, by harnessing European funds.
This initiative would raise awareness and improve the quality of civil dialogue, thereby helping the Commission and Member States to better comprehend the benefits that well-functioning civil dialogue can bring to policymaking.
Moreover, civil dialogue would be strengthened by research and monitoring activities, leading to the identification and sharing of best practices;
9. highlights in this regard that the involvement of young people and youth organisations is particularly important in mobilising first time voters and young voters.
In order to achieve full representativeness, it is necessary to support solutions that allow for broad involvement and foster equality of opportunity in this regard.
It is necessary to reach out to those who are furthest from the decision-making centres and engage in discussions with them.
Greater participation at local level appears to be a necessity;
10. moreover, calls on the European Parliament, the European Council and the Member States to amend the 1976 Electoral Act as a matter of urgency, to clarify the principles of universality, directness and secrecy of elections.
This would allow for the implementation of standards throughout the EU, thus guaranteeing voting rights for persons with disabilities.
Drawing on the above recommendations and the Conference on the Future of Europe, the EESC: 11. views the recently signed protocol on cooperation with the European Commission (27 October 2022) as a renewed political commitment to contributing to the European political agenda and to Europe’s main goal, objectives (1) and aspirations, namely achieving a European Union that is competitive, economically prosperous, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable, whilst ensuring that the transition to climate neutrality, digitalisation and demographic change are socially fair and just, and making the European Green Deal and the 2030 Digital Decade successes for all Europeans.
The European Union must also be guided by the European Pillar of Social Rights and a Competitiveness Agenda, the political roadmaps that ensure that no one is left behind;
12. stands ready — and, now more than ever, has the legitimacy — to act as a key hub for citizens and organised civil society participation, including future citizens’ panels.
The role of such a hub would be to multiply the effect of ongoing citizens’ consultations organised by the European Commission and other institutions, and also to systematically collect feedback from European organised civil society on all the major priorities and policies of the European political agenda.
This will help to enhance public trust in the EU project and institutions by giving citizens an effective role in public decision making.
The EESC would be a host to guide, supervise, design, organise, run, and facilitate deliberative processes with the aid of external experts and representatives of civil society organisations.
This offer builds, in particular, on the final report of the Conference on the Future of Europe of 9 May 2022 which explicitly call for ‘enhanc[ing] the institutional role of the EESC and empower[ing] it as facilitator and guarantor of participatory democracy activities such as structured dialogue with civil society organisations and Citizens’ panels’.
Within this context, the recommendations of the EESC own-initiative Opinions and Commission-requested exploratory opinions should be reviewed via evaluations of EU policies, where relevant;
13. is of the view that citizens’ panels and CSO consultations could focus on agenda setting, such as the preparation of the Commission’s work programme, or could be linked to the lifecycle of key legislative priorities.
Citizens’ input could be most useful in the pre-legislative phase, to deliberate and make recommendations ahead of certain key (legislative) proposals.
To this end, consultations of citizens’ panels and of the CSOs could be carried out on the basis of an annual roadmap and timeline, established by the EESC in cooperation with the European institutions.
This could include specific requests from the European Commission, the European Parliament or the Council of the European Union, by the EESC itself on its own initiative, or at the initiative of its partner organisation, the European Committee of the Regions;
14. reiterates that the cycle of activity could start with the State of the Union speech and declaration of intent, with a view to the European Commission’s annual work programme for the following year.
Consultations would take place during the first half of the following year;
(1)
Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty on European Union.