Transcript Functioning and role of the future EU

Functioning and role of the future
EU-Serbia Civil Society Joint Consultative
Committee (JCC)
Ionut Sibian
Rapporteur on Serbia
President of the Western Balkans Follow Up Committee
Belgrade, April 4th 2014
Future EU-Serbia JCC
• Based on the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association
Agreement, the establishment of the JCC should accompany
the accession process from the perspective of civil society in
Serbia and the EU (EESC).
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Role of the JCC
• To propose recommendations to the relevant political authorities on
both sides, the Government of Serbia, the EU-Serbia Stabilization and
Association Council, the Council of the EU, the European Commission
and the European Parliament
• To promote dialogue and cooperation between the economic and
social interest groups of the EU and Serbia on all economic and social
aspects of the country's accession process to the EU
• To enable the candidate country´s JCC representatives to become
acquainted with the process of consultation taking place within the
European Union and more generally with the dialogue between social
partners in the EU
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Role of the JCC
• To enable the EU representatives to familiarize themselves
with the social structures and the economic and social impact
of the reforms in the candidate country
• To promote the involvement of the economic and social
actors in the candidate country in the implementation of the
EU Acquis
• To provide economic and social interest groups in the
candidate country with relevant information on
developments in accession negotiations and on institutions
and professional organisations of the EU
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Role of the JCC
• foster public debate and awareness in the candidate country
about membership in the EU
• facilitate the process of capacity- and institution-building and
the consolidation of civil society organisations in the
candidate country in various ways, e.g. through informal
networking, visits and other activities
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Support for the Serbian JCC members
• Prepare and support the Serbian JCC members on their
potential future involvement within the EESC.
• Often JCC members are appointed as members of the EESC
once the candidate country joins the EU.
• The EESC assesses important EU-legislative proposals and
regularly records its own initiative opinions.
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Composition of the EU-Serbia Civil Society JCC
• It consists of 18 members, 9 members from the Serbian civil
society and 9 from the EESC.
• On each side:
 3 representatives of employers' organisations, chambers of
commerce
 3 from the trade unions, chambers of labor
 3 from the NGOs
 + observers (Permanent observers, not exceeding four for each
side , may be appointed by each EESC and Serbia)
• The JCC is set-up for the whole duration of the accession
negotiations.
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Appointment of the JCC members
9 EESC members were appointed by the EESC Bureau/Plenary
session in February 2014.
They were nominated by the 3 Groups of the EESC,
which consist of representatives of organisations of
 employers,
 employees and
 CSOs
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EESC apointed members in JCC
Groupe I
Groupe II
Groupe III
Cveto Stantic
(Co-President)
Dimitris Dimitriadis
LECHNER Christoph
JOO Kinga
COULON Pierre Jean
SKRABALO Marina
Vladimira Drbalova
ZORKO Andrej
SPORAR Primoz
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Appointment of the JCC members
• The EESC is interested in a broadly based representation
of interests which is as wide as possible, so that the
interests can be introduced fully by a candidate country
and also wide information and proposed solutions can be
disseminated in the broad national civil society.
• The 9 Serbian members will be officially appointed by
the Serbian Government. We call on the selection
procedure to be transparent and inclusive.
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How does the JCC work
• Mandate of members lasts for 2,5 years,
with possible renewal.
• JCC is co-chaired by a Serbian and an EESC member.
Each side elects its Co-Chair.
• Rules of procedure of the JCC will be adopted at the 1st
meeting.
• JCC meets twice year, once in the candidate country and once
in the EU. It lasts a day with an informal meeting the night
before.
• JCC will develop a multi-year program of work on its own.
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Issues of the meetings
• Focused on the ongoing accession negotiations (progress
reports by the European Commission) and on the individual
negotiating chapters.
• Other important accession-related issues and problems of
civil society e.g. Social or Civil Dialogue, use of pre-accession
aid (IPA) or the future use of European Social Fund (ESF)
resources, strengthening the role of civil society in the
accession process a.o.
• 1 or 2 main topics are selected by the Co-Chairs for each JCC
meeting.
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Other participants
At the meeting in the candidate country participate:
• Foreign Ministry,
• EU Integration Ministry,
• Labor and Social Ministry and
• coordinating body for NGOs
• EU mission,
• responsible Serbian authorities,
• permanent observers from the European Economic Area (EEA)
• speakers and guests.
• civil society organisations will be invited to attend as
observers
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Results and effects of JCC meetings
• Results and suggestions of JCC meetings are summarized in a
joint statement and transmitted to the relevant Serbian
authorities and EU institutions.
• Media are kept informed and press conferences are
organized during those meetings.
• Responsible EU institutions take on board important
suggestions,
• Competent institutions of the candidate country pay
attention to the discussions and the proposals of the JCC and
take them into account.
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Thank you very much for your
attention!
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