European Economic and Social Committee
The EESC's activities concerning Eastern Neighbours involve Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The main objective of the EESC with regard to the European Eastern Neighbours is to enhance relations with civil society organisations in the region and to involve them in a dialogue with both their national policy makers and the EU organised civil society.
The main cooperation mechanisms with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are the Civil Society Platforms which complement the political bodies existing within the framework of the EU Association Agreements with these countries. The Platforms allow civil society organisations from both the EU and the partner country side to monitor the implementation process and prepare their recommendations to the relevant authorities.
On the EU side, these Platforms comprise members of the EESC as well as representatives from large European civil society networks. On the partner country side, they represent a broad spectrum of civil society organizations. The membership of the Platforms is based on balanced representation of all interest groups (employers' organizations, trade unions and various interests' groups).
Within the EESC, the Eastern Neighbours Follow-up Committee was established in 2004 as a dedicated body responsible for relations with civil society in the Eastern Neighbourhood countries. The Follow-up Committee usually meets four times a year and its members take active part in the Eastern Partnership activities such as EaP multilateral platforms and the EaP Civil Society Forum.
The 206th meeting of the Section for External Relations of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) took place on 31 January 2023. During the meeting, which comes nearly one year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a debate was held on the resilience of Ukrainian civil society and on the EU support to the country.
The 11th meeting of the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform took place on 20 April 2022. During the meeting, an exchange between authorities and members of the civil society platform was held with special focus on the unprovoked and unilateral armed aggression initiated by the Russian Federation against Ukraine on its independent and sovereign territory. A joint declaration, prepared by both sides, was discussed and adopted.
The 8th meeting of the EU-Georgia Civil Society Platform (CSP) was convened on 13 December 2021 via a videoconference.
Representatives of the European and Georgian Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs), set up under the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Georgia, held their 6th joint meeting virtually on 2 December 2021.
The meeting of the EU-Moldova Domestic Advisory Group will take place on 18 November 2021 via a video conference. Please click on the program tab to consult the topics on the agenda.
The 8th meeting of the EU-Georgia Domestic Advisory Group took place on 16 October 2021 via a video conference. Please click on the programme tab to consult the topics on the agenda.
The representatives of the two Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) from the EU and Ukraine held their fifth joint meeting via a videoconference on 22 October 2021.
The 8th meeting of the EU-Moldova Civil Society Platform took place on 28 October 2021 in the format of a videoconference. During the meeting, a debate focused on assessing the state of play of the implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement. The social dialogue and prospects for the future in Moldova were also discussed as well as the minimum wage mechanism.
The 11th meeting of the EU Domestic Advisory Group under the EU-Ukraine DCFTA took place via a videoconference on 18 October 2021.
The 10th meeting of the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform took place on 27 September 2021 remotely by videoconference. During the meeting, a debate was held to assess the state of play of the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement with special focus on rural youth, and on digital and green skills.
