Transcript Time to act on the Future of Europe…

Time to act
on the Future of Europe…
www.act4europe.org
Participatory democracy in the European Union:
challenges for EU and national NGOs
Riga, 20.04.06
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NGOs organise themselves in the EU
Current EU approach to civil dialogue
Next steps and challenges
1) NGOs organise themselves in the EU
Growing impact
of the EU for NGOs
• Diversity of NGOs throughout Europe.
- Provision of services and practical resources
- Political advocacy
• Growing impact of EU for NGO concerns.
- Increasing EU competences environment, social.
policies, public health, migration...
- Role in implementation of EU policies (programmes).
NGOs organise
Themselves at EU
Level
Different channels (mostly since 90s):
• Setting up of EU office of national NGOs (e.g. Polish
NGO Office in Brussels)
• EU branch of international NGOs (e.g. Amnesty
International, Save the Children, OXFAM…)
• Umbrella organisations (e.g. European Anti-Poverty
Network, European Environmental Bureau)
• Sectoral platforms (European Social Platform,
CONCORD- development, HRDN, Green 10…)
WHAT do European
umbrella networks
do?
They represent Members / constituencies / topics on a
political level by:
• Collecting information and channeling it between EU and
National level
• Lobbying EU institutions (policy and position papers,
meetings, press releases)
• Contributing to capacity building on many levels
2) Current EU approach to civil dialogue
What is Civil
Dialogue?
•Civil Dialogue ( Social Dialogue) as structured contact
with EU institutions
•Dates back to early 90s (democratic deficit, need for better
policy-making)
•Civil society contributes to bridging gap between EU and
citizens, to a better and more inclusive policy-making:
-Legitimacy
-Expertise
Civil Dialogue:
in practice
•Different types of consultations:
– Biannual meetings (Commission, European Parliament)
– Hearings
– Expert groups, consultative committees
– Stakeholder forums (European Health Forum)
– Public consultations (http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/)
• Structured relations = tip of the iceberg: importance of less
formal contacts (“lobbying”)
Civil Dialogue:
key developments
• 2001:White Paper on Governance: acknowledges the
specific role of civil society
• 2002:Minimum Standards on Consultation of Interested
Parties
• 2002:Communication on Impact assessment
• 2004:Constitutional Treaty: article 47 acknowledges
participatory democracy
Main features of the
current civil dialogue
framework
• Commission - focused, no single framework for all
institutions: lack of rationalisation?
• Wide definition of civil society (incl. socio-economic actors)
• No accreditation but a database (CONECCS)
• No representativity criteria
• Not binding
• Article 47 of the Constitutional Treaty : more
comprehensive approach
3) Next steps and challenges
Challenges:
EU institutions
• Respect of time limits (June 2005: 9 out 40 public
consultation less than 6 weeks)
• Diverse levels of dialogue across policy fields
(environment  culture)
• Improving access to consultation
• Ensuring a horizontal approach on cross-cutting issues
• Need for increased transparency (e.G. Expert groups)
• Balance between stakeholders (e.G. Public/private
interests)
• Does it really matter? Improving feedback
• Take dialogue with NGOs seriously
Challenges:
EU NGOs
• Improving awareness about existing participatory tools
• Enhancing mutual knowledge and trust with EU
institutions
• Sharing information and coalition building
• Reaching out « beyond Brussels » (to the national and
local level)
• Involving members from the New Member States
• Capacity building
Challenges:
national NGOs
• Lack of resources (specialised EU officer)
• EU-related activity: implementation of programmes rather
than policy work
• Different levels of knowledge /technical skills required
• Finding the right balance: devolving to EU network,
participation through EU network or direct participation?
Next steps
• Transparency initiative (consultation between May and
August 2006)
• White Paper on Communication (consultation until July
2006)
• Period of reflection on the Constitutional Treaty
(ongoing)
Questions for debate
• How to make the participation of national networks more
effective?
• Which type of tools/resources are needed?
• Which lessons can already be drawn from 2004
enlargement?