Brussels, 18/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - European civil society has a new representative, a Frenchman voted in on Tuesday 17 April by his 344 colleagues for a two-and-a-half year term of office as the new president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). New president Henri Malosse says it is time for the EESC to emerge from the shadow of the other EU institutions in Brussels and become “the real voice of citizens”.
Malosse does not pull his punches in his description of Europe today, saying at his first press conference as head of the EESC in Brussels on Thursday 18 April that “the house of Europe is burning”. He warned that the upcoming European elections of 2014 could be very bad if Europe doesn't change, adding that the EESC should make itself the main intermediary between European leaders and civil society.
He says the EESC needs to take the limelight rather than remaining any longer in the shadows, if it wants to influence European politics. He says that it is by holding the other EU institutions to account that the EESC can help rebuild citizen confidence in the European project.
Malosse will work on this objective with the new EESC vice-presidents, Jane Morrice, former deputy leader of the Northern Ireland Assembly and member of the EESC since 2006, and Hans-Joachim Wilms of Germany, European affairs delegate of the construction, agriculture and environment trade union (BAU) and member of the EESC since 1994. (JK/transl.fl)