Brussels, 30/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The new situation of the European Economic and Social Committee (ESC) after the Nice Treaty was the subject of two hours of very fruitful talks between advisors, at their plenary session in Brussels on Thursday 25 January. "With Article 257, we now have a mandate: the Committee is the very representation of organised civil society", commented Thomas Janssen, Chef de Cabinet of President Goke Frerichs. The advisors essentially exchanged their points of view on the internal work ahead of them. "We have new tasks to develop to become an instrument helping to involve that part of civil society that is not yet been represented amongst us, like NGOs, for example", Janssen explained, considering that the role of the Committee was "in no way played down in relation to that of the Committee of the Regions, as parity is currently enshrined in the Treaties".
Talks were fuelled by a paper prepared for plenary - and announced by President Frerichs at his investiture on 29 November last - by Britain's John Little, chair of the Employers' Group, entitled "The medium-term priorities of the European ESC", a text that reaffirms "the Committee's essential and fundamental role of consultation as defined in the Treaties". "I welcome the fact that there was such general support of advisors for the principle of greater selectivity in the Committee's work", said John Little at the end of the debate, setting out as priority actions: 1) stimulating the new economy of innovation and knowledge; 2)promoting fairness and equal opportunities; 3) developing links between socio-economic bodies and Community institutions. "This choice of action will play on the allocation of resources and the Committee's choices regarding its own-initiative opinions", commented the Committee's spokesperson. Following this debate, the advisors decided to prepare an opinion on the subject, which will be voted on in a forthcoming plenary session, following further work on the John Little paper.