Brussels, 19/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - On the occasion of the last plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee for this legislature, its president, Göke Frerichs, drew up a balance sheet of the activities that he had recommended to the special attention of the members during his inaugural speech on 29 November 2000. At the time, the Committee was to try to master the new challenges facing the EU, such as enlargement, but also to meet the need for renewal of the Committee and the way it works, President Frerichs said as a starter. The eight priority tasks mentioned at the time by the president have been given concrete substance on the ground: (1) identity of the Committee inside and outside the institutions has developed: the Nice Summit confirmed the Committee in its role as advisory body. It was also given a new mandate, that of representative of the organised civil society in the context of the EU's institutional system. The president said they have been able to develop their identity as a Committee thanks to opinions allowing clarification of the definition and the role of the organised civil society in the process of European unification as well as its functioning in the context of new European governance. He recalled the many conferences held on this subject, including that on the organised civil society in November 2001. He also recalled that, since March 2002, the Committee has strengthened its image through setting dialogue up between the European Convention and the national networks, as well as transnational groups and associations of the civil society; (2) the efficiency of the Committee's work has been improved thanks to the setting in place of a working group on communication, which has allowed the press and the general public to become more familiar with the Committee; (3) interinstitutional contacts have intensified and have become more regular, with the conclusion of a cooperation agreement with the European Commission, the signing by Presidents Prodi and Frerichs of a declaration on the implementation of the partnership protocol between the two institutions. Contacts have already taken place with the European Parliament with a view to concluding a similar agreement; (4) the strategic priorities on which the work of the Committee must be based given new challenges have been redefined, with the development among other things of very specific opinions; (5) the working method of the Committee has been improved and modernised thanks to the approval in July of a new Rules of Procedure. The president's only regret is that the statute of the Committee members has not been drawn up. Nonetheless, said Mr Frerichs, the new Rules of Procedure provide for a draft statute being presented to the Bureau by March 2003 at the latest; (6) in order to prepare for enlargement, the Committee continued its systematic cooperation and continues with joint consultative committees with the candidate countries; (7) international cooperation with the economic and social organisations of ACP countries, Euromed, Mercosur, the Balkans and Asia (India) has been well managed, mainly through the setting in place of the EU/India round table in 2001; (8) the Committee has contributed to the success of the euro by placing emphasis on the practical aspects of this operation. By way of conclusion, President Frerichs declared: "We have taken our responsibilities for the future seriously, namely the human factor. The Committee is a single community of citizens committed to the EU: we come from different social ranks of the society; there are young people and not so young, but we all have the aim of creating a free, democratic and social Europe that takes social justice into account".