There is a time for everything. The time has now come for us to say farewell. We have spent two and a half years together: since April 2018, I have had the honour of serving as vice-president for communication, alongside Milena Angelova, the Vice-president for budget.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, the readers of EESCinfo, for your loyalty. We have had the privilege of sharing the best moments of our events, seminars, debates, discussions and plenary sessions with you - in a nutshell, all of the initiatives that have defined the EESC's term under the presidency of Luca Jahier.
I have had the opportunity to work with a fantastic team in the Directorate for Communication and Interinstitutional Relations. I will take with me memories of the colleagues who have supported me throughout this period, of these women and men who have helped me to grow, who have taught me to be more attentive to the world around us and with whom I have shared all of the initiatives implemented during this term. Without their work, their commitment and their enthusiasm, my task would have been impossible.
How many times have we put into practice Hannah Arendt's notion that finding the right words at the right time is action!
So many reminders, faces and words will stay in my memory. These include the journalists from December's seminars and among others: the words of Andrew Caruana Galizia who launched a call for freedom of expression, the speech by Marta Lempart and the second civil society prize in 2019, dedicated to equality and awarded to the Polish Women’s Strike, which called on women to bring about change.
I remember the advice from the media correspondents in Brussels, who we invited to the COCOM meetings: "Listen to your members, who all have stories to tell".
Sometimes lively discussions filled the rooms where we met in Athens and in Malaga. In 2018, the Athens seminar, held in the cradle of democracy, gave us the opportunity to reconnect with the roots of our European values. In 2019 we met in Malaga, at a seminar full of initiatives by young people, and we reaffirmed that the European Union is a project that should be built hand in hand with civil society.
From March 2020 onwards, we have had to lock down and reorganise our daily work. The pandemic has led us to live and to work differently. The Committee reacted quickly and on 17 March we published a statement calling for greater solidarity and joint action at European level to deal effectively with the consequences of the pandemic.
We worked hand in hand with other institutions to tackle the social, economic and political crisis. As representatives of organised civil society, we spoke with a united voice, highlighting that we will only have the strength to tackle the crisis if we work together.
As the communication department, we have ensured media coverage for our legislative work, which has never ceased. However, we also wanted to share how EESC members were working in their countries, within their own organisations, to tackle the effects of the pandemic.
Our "Dessine-moi..." section opened its columns to members, who shared their emotions, thoughts and comments about the moments they experienced during the pandemic, when it seemed like time was standing still. Most significantly, they helped us rediscover the diversity of our Committee, and of all the activities carried out by trade unionists, entrepreneurs and members of other civil society organisations.
We will soon be writing a new chapter in the history of our institution. I thank you all for your work, your commitment, your dedication and, above all, for the readiness you have shown to communicate the European Economic and Social Committee.
Thank you to all the readers of EESCinfo for always being eager to receive news from the EESC, thank you to the members for sharing their thoughts, thank you to the groups, thank you to the sections and thank you to the translators, for the precise work they do despite being under time pressure.
A big thank you to the Press unit team for their efficiency and creativity and for publishing this newsletter, which never ceases to attract new subscribers. Thank you to colleagues from the INF unit, for bringing their artistic and technical touch to the production of EESCinfo.
I am not leaving, I will be staying with you and continuing my role as a member. You will find in me a fervent supporter of all your information and communication-related activities.
My final message is borrowed from Albert Camus, and is a sort of motto that I leave you with in the hope the we can apply it every day: "To create is to live twice".
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