Brussels, 08/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - By invitation of the Dutch Minister for European Affairs Atzo Nicolaï, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) spoke at the informal meeting of Europe Ministers in Amsterdam on 5 October. It was also attended by the President of the EP, Josep Borrell, and his predecessor Pat Cox, European Commissioners Margot Wallström (who will be responsible for communication) and Antonio Vitorino (JHA), and ministerial delegations from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey, on how to improve communication on Europe, especially on the European Constitution (see EUROPE of 30 September, p.4). The conclusions will be submitted to the European Summit of November, said President Nicolaï at the end of the session.
In Amsterdam, the EESC President Roger Briesch presented a Committee document on the theme "Bridging the Gap: the EESC and the draft European Constitution". As an important player in the EU's new communication strategy, due to its various economic and social components from the organised civil society it represents, the Committee can "improve the citizens' understanding of Europe, contribute to the need for greater democratic expression and help the decision-making process", underlined President Briesch. To this end, the Committee is organising a hearing of representatives of organised civil society on the draft Constitutional Treaty on 9 November. As a communicator, the EESC's biggest asset is its role as "a prism within several important networks" (its members, the organisations it represents, its close links with its counterparts in its member organisations). The EESC is able to make use of its strengths in the general context of the "Communication Europe" strategy, as it is "fully integrated into this strategy, by allowing full use to be made of the potential of the networks available to it, but also by asking the other institutions of the EU to make full use of the EESC (…) more generally, in the Community decision-making process".