The importance of institutionalising civil and social dialogue in EU candidate and partner countries

Key points

The EESC:

• reiterates the importance of institutionalising civil and social dialogue in EU candidate and partner countries;
• considers that this should be achieved through a comprehensive and conducive legislative framework that ensures the effective participation of civil society organisations (CSOs), social partners and other relevant stakeholders in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of legislative and policy work;
• suggests aligning the institutional set-up of civil and social dialogue in the candidate countries with the principles, standards and good practices in the European Union and encouraging it in partner countries with reference to the EESC;
• promotes authentic and structured tripartite dialogue between governments, trade unions and employers’ organisations;
• stresses the importance of a financial support, training, institutional partnerships and operational assistance, and without prejudice to their independence from the government;
• encourages the relevant EU institutions to promote the importance of the involvement and effective participation of organised civil society in the negotiation processes, in a transparent and inclusive manner, thus also contributing to strengthening the existing consultative structures of civil society (such as joint consultative committees, civil society platform and domestic advisory groups);
• suggests integrating civil and social dialogue conditionality into EU accession negotiations and cooperation programmes.