Civil society organisations defending and strengthening European democracy
30/03/2023 - Extraordinary meeting of the Civil Society Organisations' Group - EESC, Brussels
Moderator: Jennifer Baker
9:15 - 9:35 a.m. - Inaugural session
- Séamus Boland, President of the Civil Society Organisations' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
- Gabriella Civico, Director of the Centre for European Volunteering (CEV), representing the EESC Civil Society Liaison Group
- Colin Scicluna, Head of cabinet to Dubravka Šuica, European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography
9:35 - 10:00 a.m. - Keynote speech
- Marie-Hélène Boulanger, Acting Director of Directorate JUST.C, Rule of Law, Fundamental Rights and Democracy, European Commission
- Q & A
10:00 - 11:10 a.m. - Panel I: The role of civil society organisations in protecting the Rule of Law
- Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/European Free Alliance, France)
- Waltraud Heller, Programme Manager Civil Society Cooperation, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
- Dovilė Juodkaitė, Member of the Civil Society Organisations' Group and of the EESC Ad Hoc Group on Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law
- Jana Miléřová, Deputy Director of Glopolis (Czechia)
- Q & A
11:10 - 11:25 a.m. - Coffee break
11:25 a.m. - 12:50 p.m. - Panel II: Good practice examples of effective policy dialogue between civil society organisations and decision makers
- Anne Esser, Research Project Officer at Civil Society Europe, initial findings of the EnTrust Project
- Anna Herweg, Senior advisor in public affairs, Groene11 (Netherlands)
- David Samuelsson, Chair of NOD Sverige and of CIVOS – Cooperating Civil Society Organisations (Sweden)
- Q & A
12:50 - 01:00 p.m. - Concluding remarks
- Séamus Boland, President of the Civil Society Organisations' Group of the EESC