Programme

Conference - Strengthening civil society and participatory democracy in the EU: the way forward

Moderator: Corina Stratulat, Associate Director and Head of the European Politics and Institutions Programme, European Policy Centre

14:30-15:30 - Inaugural session

• Séamus Boland, President of the Civil Society Organisations’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC);
• Gabriella Civico, President of Civil Society Europe;
• Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography (video message);
• Pedro Silva Pereira, Vice-President of the European Parliament, replacing President Metsola for contacts with civil society organisations representing citizens (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats political group, Portugal);
• Ambassador Willem van de Voorde, Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU;
• Q & A.

15:30-15:45 - Break

15:45-16:45 - Panel I: Strengthening civil dialogue and participatory democracy in the EU: a path forward

• Pietro Barbieri, Vice-President of the Civil Society Organisations’ Group and rapporteur for the opinion SOC/782 Strengthening civil dialogue and participatory democracy in the EU: a path forward;
• Ângela Guimarães Pereira, Head of the Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy, Joint Research Centre, European Commission;
• Ingeborg Niestroy, Coordinator for the Real Deal project, Scientific project leader at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) and former work strand leader at SDG Watch Europe;
• Alexandrina Najmowicz, Secretary General of the European Civic Forum and member of the EESC’s Liaison Group;
• Q & A.

16:45-17:45 - Panel II: Structuring civil dialogue at EU level: how can we enforce Article 11 TEU?

• Ionuţ Sibian, Member of the Civil Society Organisations’ Group, and Patrizia Heidegger, Vice-President of Civil Society Europe and Deputy Director of the European Environmental Bureau - Presentation of the joint open letter from the EESC’s Civil Society Organisations’ Group and Civil Society Europe;
• Marta Arpio, General Secretariat of the Council, Director for Follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe (GIP.COFE);
• Dorthe Christensen, European Commission General-Secretariat; Interinstitutional & External Relations, Head of Unit Interinstitutional Affairs (SG.F.4);
• Angela Balan, Secretariat of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament;
• Q & A.

17:45-18:00 - Concluding remarks

• Séamus Boland, President of the EESC’s Civil Society Organisations’ Group.