Events

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Serbia held the 9^th meeting of their Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) in the House of Human Rights in Belgrade. This civil society platform between the EESC and civil society in Serbia was established within the institutional framework of the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) in order to allow civil society organisations on both sides to monitor the country's accession negotiations. It is also a platform to discuss issues of common interest and to inform the public at large of the challenges ahead during the accession period. Besides the current state of play in EU-Serbia relations and the accession process, main topics of the 9^th JCC meeting were Rule of law and functioning of democratic institutions and overview of the social dialogue situation in Serbia. A common declaration of the JCC was issued after the meeting.

The 12th meeting of the EU Advisory Group for the EU-Colombia, Peru and Ecuador Free Trade Agreement took place on 2 October 2019 in Brussels. Please click on the programme tab to consult the topics on the agenda.

With a view to gathering as much input as possible during the preparatory process for the opinion on The role of EU's trade and investment policies in enhancing EU's economic performance from a wide range of experts, the outcomes of the debate should feed into the preparation of the EESC opinion, to be adopted by the end of 2019.

The debate includes a first session focusing on the general implications of the EU's trade and investment policies on the enhancement of its internal economic performance, and a second session encompassing sustainable trade, environment and consumer policies.

A part of the REX Section meeting will be dedicated to the Eastern Partnership under the point called "2020 and beyond: civil society's vision of the future of the Eastern Partnership":

• Ten years of the Eastern Partnership – main achievements and missed opportunities
• Stronger and empowered civil society for a stronger partnership
• Eastern Partnership beyond 2020 – what's next?

The 17th meeting of the EU-China Civil Society Round Table will take place in Shanghai, China on 11 and 12 July 2019. In the margins of the Round Table meeting, a tripartite seminar - open to other stakeholders and civil society representatives – will be held on the topic of Urban culture in relation to scientific and  technological innovations.  

Representatives of the two Domestic Advisory Groups (DAG) from the EU and Moldova, established under Chapter 13 on Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, held the fourth joint meeting in Chisinau, Moldova, on 5 July 2019.

The sixth meeting of the EU-Africa Economic and Social Stakeholders' Network took place in Brussels, Belgium, on 3 and 4 July 2019. A political declaration was adopted by the network to be addressed to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the African Union.

The 6th meeting of the EU Domestic Advisory Group under the EU-Ukraine DCFTA took place on 27 Jun 2019 in Brussels. Please click on the programme tab to consult the topics on the agenda.

This year's meetings between the EU and Central America under the Trade and Sustainable Development Title of the Association Agreement included a joint meeting of the DAGs where the representatives of the EU and Central American Advisory Groups exchanged experience in their current operation and discussed proposals for capacity strengthening of the civil society monitoring mechanism, the role of the parties in this context and future cooperation. The joint meeting of the DAGs was followed by a workshop on Trade and Sustainable Development where the participants discussed the content of the chapter and looked for a common understanding of the chapter.

The participants had an opportunity to meet the organisations of their subgroups in sectorial meetings, to promote their cooperation and joint work under their current mandate. After the sectorial meetings, the participants attended the Civil Society Dialogue Forum where civil society representatives from the EU and Central America asked questions and expressed their positions with regard to the implementation of the Association Agreement and its impact.

During the meeting, the EU DAG discussed with a representative of the European Commission the progress in work on implementation of the EU-Canada CETA. The Group exchanged views with a representative of the Canada Mission to the EU. A discussion round on the work programme was also held.