Brussels, 16/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Economic and Social Committee, which met in plenary session on 11 and 12 July in Brussels under the presidency of Göke Frerichs, heard the president of the EU Council on Employment and Social Affairs, Laurette Onkelinx, who presented the priorities of the Belgian Presidency on social policy (see EUROPE of 14 June, p.12). The Belgian Presidency's very top priority is "development of the European social model", recalled the Belgian deputy prime minister.
The members of the Committee - including Austrian national Anne-Marie Sigmund, British John Little, Italian Beatrice Rangoni-Machiavelli and Belgian Etienne de Paul de Barchifontaine - discussed during the same sitting the problem of the organised civil society, the preparation of the Laeken Summit and institutional issues. The second key person for the DGB (German trade unions), Ursula Engelen-Kefer, mainly stressed the important relay role that can be played by the Committee "with its various component parts - entrepreneurs, trade unions, liberal professions, farmers, etc.". In her response, Laurette Onkelinx recalled the memorandum from Benelux in preparation of the Laeken Summit (see EUROPE Documents No 2242 dated 23 June 2001) and announced for 20 and 21 September a conference organised by the Belgian Presidency in collaboration with the Foundation for improving living conditions in Dublin, on the "quality of employment", which, she said, is "one of the most important elements of the EU social dimension". A delegation of the Committee headed by President Göke Frerichs will be taking part.