Speech at the Civil Society Days closing session

Dear Assya, Dear Participants, Distinguished Speakers,

I am thrilled to conclude such a successful and participatory event that we've had these 5 days!

The level of the mobilization was impressive, as we can see it on Facebook or Twitter. The fact that the Civil Society Days were virtual this year allowed us to reach out to many more people than usual, and this can be a good lesson learned for the next editions. Only in the opening we had more than 527 participants.

I would like to thank all the civil society organisations of the Liaison group, our EESC members and sections for having led the discussions and to all participants for making such an interesting event.

We achieved our objective: to bring together citizens, civil society organisations and EESC members together with high-level representatives of EU institutions – like VP Šuica, MEPs, high representatives of the Portuguese Presidency and of the Committee of the Regions, to discuss on important issues.

And regarding these issues: sustainable recovery and future resilience have been declined in various aspects.

To sum up, what really matters for people now is to ensure a swift recovery, while safeguarding our values, supporting our businesses to survive, rebuilding economies and recovering the lost jobs. We have seen an unprecedented expression of unity and solidarity when Member States have adopted the Next Generation EU - a most ambitious effort to share resources and work together for a common goal. Now we have to ensure the Recovery and Resilience Facility is used in the best way possible and that the funds reach those in need – be it the unemployed or businesses, especially SMEs which are struggling to survive.

Civil Society organisations have been involved only to a limited extent in the preparation of the National Recovery Plans linked to the Facility, but we must ensure that this trend will be reversed in the implementation of the plans.

We also need to make our economies and societies more resilient for the future and more adapted to the green and digital transitions. These shifts are inevitable, so we need to reap the opportunities they offer, while being fair and pro-active and ensuring that nobody is left behind. One of our event's workshops was about a social Green Deal. It is indeed time to make sure that the green transition is just and socially fair. This will require substantial changes in the way we live, work, produce and consume. Climate action and the European Green Deal should more strongly contribute to eradicating poverty, injustice and gender inequality.

As regards recovery and sustainable future, allow me to go through some more key take-away messages from our event and its workshops.

In the recovery, the social economy is one of our assets, which brings innovative solutions to today's challenges.  Cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations and social enterprises represent an opportunity for young citizens to access the labour market and start their own business. We need to increase the awareness about the social economy business models, in particular for young people. In general, the economy needs a mix of various forms of enterprise that are more resilient, support workers, give back to society and have a lower impact on environment. 

Education, training and culture are key to help our societies to recover from the current crisis, prepare for the future and create more inclusive and cohesive societies. We will pursue the objective of achieving a new European Education Area by 2025 and translating the new Skills Agenda into concrete measures in the coming years.

One of our event's conclusions is that we can and need to count on young people to contribute on policies. On our road to the future, a sustainable and socially just Europe cannot afford to lose young people along the way. 

We need to to ensure that young people have the chance to meaningfully participate and stay engaged all around Europe. Their voice needs to be heard in different areas of policy, not only those specific to youth.

The message is similar when it comes to recognising the value of volunteering. Volunteering is an expression of European Values and contributes to creating a society based on solidarity, inclusion and democratic principles.

Finally, we have also discussed how to avoid citizens' disengagement from and loss of trust in the governing institutions. The conclusion was that it is necessary to strengthen the role of intermediary organisations between citizens and governments (civil society organisations, parties, trade unions, etc.) as this will create positive synergies for the society.

And this brings me to highlighting the role of our Committee in all the discussions related to the Conference on the Future of Europe. I am happy about the importance that the Commission attaches to citizen's involvement. The CoFoE is indeed a great chance to connect with citizens and the ones who are active in civil society organisations. You can count on the Committee to bring a substantial contribution to the debates, by involving workers, employers and organised civil society, by being multipliers and ambassadors and bringing the debates in our members' organisations.

Working all together, at EU and national level, each one in our remit, we will succeed in building a sustainable and strong Europe for the next generations!

Thank you for your participation and looking forward to next year's Civil Society Days!

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Speech at the Civil Society Days closing session

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