Brussels, 13/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will be organising a conference on 8-9 March 2004 in Brussels. The theme of the conference is "Participatory democracy, current situation and opportunities provided by the European Constitution" and will bring together social partner representatives and other actors from civil society at a European level, particularly from the socio-economic, vocational, civic and cultural areas in the EU Fifteen and ten future Member States, as well as representatives from the European institutions, national economic and social councils and the academic world.
The work will be structured into three sessions on: the European Constitution, civil dialogue and democratic life in the new Europe; towards a European civil dialogue; participatory democracy: for a new partnership between all the actors in European governance. Two parallel workshops are being organised on: 1) European civil dialogue: an institutionalisation of lobbying or the key to effective participation of the actors from civil society in the processes involved in forming and making decisions of the Union?; 2) European civil dialogue and democratic legitimacy: in what way can organisations from civil society claim to represent the general interest and as a consequence become actors in the European civil dialogue?
This conference is therefore expected to contribute to: analysing the perspectives of civil dialogue in the framework of sustainable reform of the participatory organisations of civil society in policy and decision making of the Union; clarification of the relationship between social and civil dialogue; introducing new perspectives to the partnership between the EESC, social partners and other organisations from civil society. (Info: EESC, Brussels, Patrick Fève. Tel: 02 546 96 16).