Brussels, 25/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The current economic and financial crises, as well as different forms of poverty, will be the main questions tackled during the third Citizens' Agora meeting with representatives from civil society on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 January at the European Parliament in Brussels. This event will be organised in cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). The Citizens' Agora will provide opportunities for MEPs to speak, as well as organised civil society and NGOs. This event will be different to the two previous Agora meetings because it will also allow senior citizens living on the breadline to speak. This week's Citizens' Angora will be chaired by EP Vice-Presidents Libor Roucek (S&D, Czech Republic) and Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA, Belgium) and by EESC President, Staffan Nilsson (a farmer from Sweden).
Libor Roucek informed the press that “The Citizens' Agora is a unique way in which Parliament develops more contact with organised civil society. The backdrop to the current crises can be characterised by rising unemployment in the 27 member states of the EU. There are 7 million more unemployed than two years ago and this has repercussions on those living in poverty, particularly elderly workers”. The Agora will bring to an end the European Year against Poverty 2010 and will link to 2011, a year focusing on the remarkable work of voluntary workers, without whom there is no solution to poverty, explained Roucek.
Staffan Nilsson welcomed the offer of cooperation made by the EP to the Committee, “cooperation to ensure that representation from civil society is as broad as possible”. He also pointed out that the new treaty means that all the institutions are obliged to consult with organised civil society. Nilsson highlighted the fact that “the EP and the EESC are not rivals. Their responsibilities are different and cooperation between them is necessary if we want to reach the poverty eradication objectives… this struggle will not end after a year, it will continue”.
The novelty contained in Agora 2011 is that it “will be involved in the fourth workshop and 'consensus conference', which will bring together 20 citizens from 15 member states, senior citizens aged over 60 experiencing financial insecurity”, explained Isabelle Durant. She also made it clear that “ordinary non-organised citizens will be working together on questions such as the digital and cultural divide”. She concluded that “thanks to all these contributions, we can be sure that there will be a concrete and strategic follow-up to the recommendations made by the NGOs, EP, EESC and pensioners”. The two previous Agoras were held in 2007 on the future of Europe, and 2008 on climate change. (G.B./transl.fl)