Promoting social dialogue at Eastern Partnership level, by Veselin Mitov

The Eastern Partnership was launched in 2009 in order to implement the European Neighbourhood Policy regarding the countries neighbouring the European Union in the east: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus (whose participation was, however, suspended). Its objective is to contribute to the economic development, intensify the commercial exchanges and consolidate the democratic institutions.

The Eastern Partnership recognises the importance of dialogue with civil society, as well as with social partners. For this reason a 'Civil Society Forum' was put into place, with representatives of civil society organisations from both the EU and neighbouring countries. In fact, this Forum is largely dominated by NGO's representatives, while representatives of social partners are left with the bare minimum. This situation has been regularly criticised by trade unions' organisations and employers' organisations, and led the EESC to prepare an own-initiative opinion on the subject. The discussion with the Forum has already resulted in the creation of a workshop specifically focused on social dialogue and all the relevant issues (labour policies, social policies etc.). This is a first step which, however, should be further pursued, drawing inspiration from the model of consultation that the EESC represents at the level of the European Institutions.