2012 Civil society contributions to National Reform Programmes

The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso has underligned, in a letter sent to EESC President Nilsson the key role of civil society organisations in contributing to the formulation of National Reform Programmes. He suggested several issues that could be addressed by the EESC and the national Economic and Social Councils (ESC) and which would be particularly useful for the Commission.

The EESC invited the national ESCs and similar institutions to send to it written contributions, comments on the Country specific recommendations and concrete proposals to improve the National Reform Programmes and their implementation.

The EESC received until now 12 contributions, which were immediately forwarded to the European Commission, in order to be taken into account in the drafting of the Annual Growth Survey 2012 – which launches the European semester 2012.

These valuable reports will also be discussed at the Europe 2020 Steering Committee meeting of the 24 November 2011. They will be included in an official EESC "Integrated Report" that will be officially adopted by the EESC in its December plenary session.