Brussels, 11/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Wednesday 13 July, the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will welcome the Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy, Waldemar Pawlak, who will present the priorities of the Presidency, and the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, for a debate on the subject “Sustainable Europe: the European Union's responses to the citizens' expectations”. All of this will be under the chairmanship of Staffan Nilsson, the President of the Committee. This subject is one of the key elements of the priorities of his chairmanship.
To mark the first ever Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Committee is holding a Polish national evening on the same day, which will be preceded by the opening of the exhibition “Pawel Kuczinsky, Satirical Drawings”. The exhibition will be opened by the two vice-presidents of the Committee: Jacek Krawcyk (employers' group, Poland) and Anna Maria Darmanin (employees' group, Malta). The next day, on Thursday 14 July, the Committee is to hold a literary lunch with the Polish author Jacek Dehnel.
On Thursday, the Commissioner for the Budget, Janusz Lewandowski, will present the Commission's proposals for the multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020. His address will be followed by a debate with the presidents and council members on behalf of the various groups of the EESC. Staffan Nilsson will introduce the debate and Jacek Krawczyk will conclude it.
As regards the rest, the economic and social members will have two exploratory opinions to approve, by request of the Polish Presidency of the EU: the first deals with the “future of the labour market in Europe - seeking an effective response to demographic change” (rapporteur: the Austrian trade unionist Wolfgang Kreif); the second is about “the Eastern Partnership and the Eastern dimension of EU policies, particularly the CAP - food security, undisturbed trade, increased cooperation and development aid, strategic partnership” (rapporteur: the Finnish director of the Confederation of Agricultural Producers, Seppo Kallio). For more information: http://www.eesc.europa.eu (G. B./transl.fl)