Press invitation

The European Economic and Social Committee

to host the European Citizens' Panel on 5-6 May 2018

The European Citizens' Panel will begin at the European Economic and Social Committee, acting as a springboard for launching public consultations on Europe. At the request of the French government the EESC, as the representative of civil society, will host this "premiere", which will take place on its premises on 5 and 6 May.

Last March, while attending the EESC plenary session, Nathalie Loiseau, The French Minister for European Affairs, presented the European consultation process put forward by Emmanuel Macron. In light of this, Georges Dassis (the outgoing EESC president) and Luca Jahier (the new EESC president) proposed that the Committee be actively and closely involved. In 2017, the Committee successfully organised consultations on the Future of Europe in the Member States, in the framework of the White Paper by Jean Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.

This event, organised by the European Commission, will bring together 80 citizens from 27 Member States, selected using the EuroBarometer method, to meet and exchange ideas on the future of Europe.

The panel will consist of an opening plenary session, followed by a series of working groups that will take place in parallel and a closing plenary session.

The president of the EESC, Luca Jahier and the vice-president of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič (tbc), will open the session by welcoming the participants.

During the event, the participating citizens will be invited to debate and to identify 12 overarching questions that get to the heart of what matters to European citizens. The intention is to draw up an online consultation questionnaire aimed at all European citizens. This should provide a basis for those Member States wishing to organise further initiatives.

The questionnaire, called a "pan-European tool", will be managed by the European Commission and launched on 9 May in the run up to the May 2019 summit in Sibiu.

The two plenary sessions will be broadcast via webstreaming.

Press: journalists who wish to do so are invited to attend the opening plenary session on 5 May from 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.

For the closing plenary session, 6 May at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., webstreaming is planned.

Please confirm your attendance by 12 noon on 4 May at the latest:
E-mail press office -  tel: / tel: +32.2.546.94.76

For more information, please contact:

EESC Press Unit – Ewa Haczyk – Plumley
tel.: +32 2 546 8641 / +32 499 265 989

E-mail Ewa Haczyk

@EESC_PRESS