Brussels, 13/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - Roger Briesch, the newly elected President of the European Economic and Social Committee, which met on 11 December in Brussels, presented his priorities and projects for the next two years, which are along the same lines as Tom Jenkins (who was Committee president from 1996 to 1998). He said that the "work of the Committee must be done in continuity so that citizens are given concrete help in resolving their problems, whether such problems are a matter of combating unemployment and poverty, or concern economic and social development of the Third World, economic, social and political integration of immigrants, or peace-keeping and consolidation". A line of conduct that was followed by the next presidents, Beatrice Rangoni-Machiavelli and Göke Frerichs.
In his programme (for which he had already sketched out a few avenues during his investiture at the Presidency in October: see EUROPE of 26 October, p.17), which was the subject of indepth debate and very broad approval at the Committee's Bureau, President Briesch specifies the four lines of action to be "pursued in a systematic and resolute manner": 1) optimise the role of the Committee's advisory body with the Parliament, Council and Commission by intensifying cooperation with them; 2) improving the representation and credibility of the Committee as an institutional representative of civil society; 3) developing the internal structures and means of the Committee; 4) and strengthening the presence of the Committee in the debate on the future of Europe. "All these proposals form a whole. They must help the Committee to carry out its fundamental vocation of serving the interests of EU citizens as far as possible", President Briesch stressed, noting in passing that "the opinions of the Committee, whatever the finesse and perfection, will hardly have an effect if the Committee, as an institution, does not occupy the front of the scene as the current media society demands, if its members do not answer "present" in the general policy debate, if we do not obtain the support of the forces that we are supposed to represent and, finally, if we do not benefit from the esteem of the institutions that we are entrusted with advising". According to Roger Briesch, it would, for example, be appropriate to undertake joint actions with the Committee of the Regions (with which it shares joint services) and to elaborate a common opinion on interesting themes, in particular the civil society and territorial authorities.
President Briesch also insisted on the importance of "giving representative organisations at the European level not represented in Committee, and above all the European transnational networks of NGOs, the possibility of taking part in forming our opinions, for example by organising regular meetings or hearing them or inviting them to take part in work of working groups". Relations with European social partners must also be intensified, Mr Briesch stressed, proposing to organise end 2003, in collaboration with the European social partners and the civil society, a conference on the theme "Social Dialogue and Civil Dialogue".
Regarding the development of dialogue and cooperation between the civil society and the national economic and social councils, Roger Briesch recalled that, during the meeting of presidents of these organisations on 29 November in Dublin, a Dublin Declaration had been adopted, addressed to the Convention, governments and parliaments of Member States as well as to the organised civil society of Europe. In the declaration, the advisers share a common vision of Europe on which the future constitutional treaty should be founded, and define the contours of Europe that they advocate and which would above all: - reconcile cultural diversity and political unity; - contribute to the development of a society with a social market economy, solidarity, sustainability and cohesion; - be politically more visible and more transparent and be based on cooperation between all actors concerned; - and contribute to the strengthening of citizens' rights. Furthermore, the declaration insists on the importance of the role of the Committee, its right of own initiative and opinions that it gives on European legislation.