Comité Económico y Social Europeo
The EESC's engagement with civil society organisations in Russia is governed by the five guiding principles for EU-Russia relations agreed between EU foreign ministers and the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. One of these guiding principles is "support for people-to-people contacts".
Dialogue and the exchange of experiences between civil society representatives from the EU and Russia contribute in a significant way to the continued implementation of the EU-Russia Strategic Partnership. The EESC has adopted a two-stranded approach to its relations with Russian civil society in order to engage with as wide a range of civil society representatives as possible. On the one hand, it maintains relations with the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, its official Russian counterpart, and organises – amongst other things – annual joint seminars on topics of interest to civil society on both sides. The EESC's other partner is the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, which brings together a different set of civil society organisations.
The EU-Russia Follow-up Committee is an internal EESC body, which acts as a steering group, and is responsible for developing and maintaining relations and organising meetings and joint seminars with civil society in Russia.
The EESC has called for a European stimulus package for the labour market policy, amounting to 2% of GDP. We recognise that the "Compact for Growth and Jobs" adopted at the European Council summit in June 2012 is a first important step in that direction. This must be further fleshed out to create the needed room for manoeuvre for sustainable growth and employment across the Europe.
A lot has happened both in the EU and in the countries of its close neighbourhood since the EU-led Black Sea Synergy initiative providing scope for regional cooperation was launched (in 2008).
A lot has evolved since the last Black Sea NGO Forum took place.
What did not change however is a vital need for civil society active engagement and mobilization of all parts of our societies to act together.
Intervention on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
Presentation on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
Presentation on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
Presentation on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
Presentation on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
Presentation on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
Speech on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
