Editorial March 2023 – United in democracy with a thriving civil society
As co-chairs of EESC's Liaison Group, we are pleased to co-sign this editorial. This month marked an important milestone in the EU organised civil society sphere with the organisation of the EESC Civil Society Days 2023, the EESC's plenary session debate "United for democracy: employers', workers' and civil society's organisations working for a sustainable democratic future" and the adoption of EESC's resolution "United for Democracy".
The 2023 Civil Society Days were a momentous occasion to celebrate and honour the hard work of those in the front lines safeguarding our democracy. We are very pleased that, after years of pandemic and war, we could get together in Brussels and online more than 500 hundred civil society and philanthropy organisations representatives and a series of EESC members from across the EU.
We discussed the fundamental issues civil society faces in today’s aftermath of the pandemic and many political upheavals, economic crises and natural disasters, and issued a series of recommendations. These recommendations, together with the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe, formed the basis for EESC's resolution "United for Democracy", adopted on the 23 March 2023.