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 European Union: how does it work? Can you influence decisions? Do you know how the policies that affect your life are made?
What if some of the EU’s complicated procedures were turned into a game – fun to play but challenging as well – that you could download onto your smartphone, tablet or laptop?
Presentation by Christiane Westphal (European Commission) on the occasion of the 20th LMO meeting on 6 June 2011 in Madrid, Spain
Presentation on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
Speech by Mr Luca JAHIER, President of Group III 'Various Interests' of the European Economic and Social Committee at the Hellenic Parliament, Athens, on 13 November 2013
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is the biggest and most ambitious free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the European Union. Economists believe that an agreement with the USA will be advantageous for both the European Union and the USA, and the negative effects of trade liberalisation will be insignificant. This publication is a summary of the debate on "What development opportunities does the TTIP bring to Europe?" that was held in Sopot on 2 October 2014 as part of the European Forum for New Ideas.
The EESC organised debates with organised civil society in all Member States between 2 September and 2 November 2016. The debates were coordinated by three EESC members ('trios') from the country concerned, often in co-operation with the European Commission (15 debates) or the national Economic and Social Council (7 debates).
Presentation by Juan Menéndez-Valdés (Eurofound) on the occasion of the 20th LMO meeting on 6 June 2011 in Madrid, Spain
Presentation on the occasion of the EESC conference on Eradicating domestic violence, 21 Sep 2012, Brussels
Conclusions of the debate which took place during the Extraordinary Meeting of the Employers’ Group Bureau in Vienna on 22nd October 2013.
Presentation by Jesús Ferreiro (University of the Basque Country) on the occasion of the 20th LMO meeting on 6 June 2011 in Madrid, Spain
