Inaugural speech by President Luca JAHIER at the Seminar in Helsinki on Tuesday 7 July 2015.
Eastern Neighbours
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.
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Inaugural speech by President Luc JAHIER at the Seminar organised in Helsinki on Tuesday 7 July 2015.
Inaugural speech by President Luca JAHIER
The EU is highly dependent on energy resources. More than a half of EU energy consumption is linked to imports. Increasing instability in the Middle East together with the deterioration of EU-Russia relations mean that energy security will remain at the top of the EU's agenda in the coming years. How can we achieve a true energy union? How can interconnectivity be increased between Member States? What should the ideal energy mix look like and how can energy efficiency be increased within the EU? The publication summarises the debate that seeks answers to these questions.
Members' conclusions after the conference held in Vilnius on 25 October
The main messages of the 6 EESC opinions on Eastern Partnership.
The EESC believes that Northern Dimension cooperation should not only comprise actors from governmental and regional levels but it should also involve business organisations, trade unions and non-governmental organisations. Civil society is an important Northern Dimension actor: the role of civil society organisations in the implementation of the different projects is essential.
Staffan Nilsson`s speeches at the Northern Dimension meetings
Topics: EU-Japan FTA: state of play; Better access to the EU market motivates economic reforms in Eastern Partnership countries;
What Future for the EU's relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of countries post 2020?; Factors for Growth in the EU