Hungary: Towards effective EU-civil relations

With the creation of Plan D, the debate regarding the White Paper on Communication and most recently the launching of the Green Paper on the European Transparency Initiative, one has the feeling that the EU is getting serious about bridging the gap with its 450 million citizens. There are a number of options to put these different policies into practice and the European Economic and Social Committee thought the best step would be to hold a Regional Stakeholders? Forum in Budapest. The Stakeholders? Forum, at first sight seems to be yet another expression that is impossible to translate into other languages (don’t even bother with “bridging the gap?) the EESC sees it as a practical way to involve the meeting participants. These are ?receptors?, ?multipliers? and other stakeholders. The first meeting of this kind was organised in Brussels in November 2005 and the current one was organised in a regional setting (with participants from Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia) on the 9th and 10th of June 2006 in Budapest, Hungary. The title was ?Bridging the Gap: how to bring Europe and its citizens closer together?? hosted by the European House, a Hungarian NGO working in the field of European partnerships. Keynote speakers EU Commissioner László Kovács and EESC President Anne-Marie Sigmund made introductory remarks to about 50 international and 100 Hungarian ? mostly civil society ? participants. President Sigmund appealed to Europeans to break free from their current apathy and depression. She stressed that new instruments like the Stakeholder Forum are needed in order to bring about a real civil dialogue, which is an important means to bridge the gap between Europe and its citizens. Commissioner Kovács identified a clear need for people to be associated with Europe and highlighted the crucial role of civil society. He called for a continuous dialogue between citizens, organised civil society and politics. “People have to associate themselves with Europe? he declared. In his speech Pál Vastagh, Chairman of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament stated that the EU is now the main regulator of citizens? everyday life, with up to 80% of legislation coming from the EU level. It is absolutely vital for citizens to realise this fact. After the introductory remarks and using an ?open space? approach, the two-day conference was organised in 25 workshops based on the proposals of the participants themselves. The three main topics, as subsequently voted by the participants, were: a) effective cooperation between civil society organisations and the EU b) EU financial support for civil society projects c) the meaning of European citizenship The recommendations from the working groups will contribute to the consultation processes envisaged in the European Commission’s October 2005 Communication on Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate and its February 2006 White Paper on a Communication Policy. Official EESC site of the programme: eesc.europa.eu/stakeholders_forum/09_06_2006/index_en.asp