Mario Sepi RIP
VitaEurope is saddened to announce the death of Mario Sepi, former president of the EESC
VitaEurope extends its condolences to all those whose lives were touched by Mario Sepi, who died on October 10, 2011. He is remembered by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for having “dedicated his whole life … to the fight for justice and to the defence of the weakest in society”.
“Mario Sepi was a sincere and genuine European who consistently strove, with enthusiasm and optimism, to advance the cause of a federal Europe and give everyone the opportunity to play a full and responsible part in building up the complex institutional European venture. In these tough times for the European Union, we will miss Mario all the more” reads an EESC official communication.
At VitaEurope we will not forget him. He was one of our first and most enthusiastic supporters and bloggers. In memory of those days we have chosen to publish our interview to Sepi in 2008. The struggles, challenges and opportunities he spoke of are as relevant today as they were then and should give us pause to reflect on what we have achieved to date and where we wish to go in the future.
Rights and solidarity are to be the guiding values of the newly elected Presidency of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a consultative body with headquarters in Brussels that acts as a bridge between civil society and European institutions – the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. On October 22 the EESC announced that it will be Mario Sepi, an Italian with a long background as an active trade unionist, who will lead the Committee until 2010.
The neo president has already announced the key priorities for his mandate; should they be fulfilled civil society can hope for Brussels to listen more attentively to what the third sector has to say. Sepi speaks especially of reinforcing participatory democracy and rights. But he also believes that the Lisbon Strategy is the starting place for European societal change: “the time is right to submit new proposals to the institutions, member States and organisations linked to the Committee”.
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Da 30 anni VITA è la testata di riferimento dell’innovazione sociale, dell’attivismo civico e del Terzo settore. Siamo un’impresa sociale senza scopo di lucro: raccontiamo storie, promuoviamo campagne, interpelliamo le imprese, la politica e le istituzioni per promuovere i valori dell’interesse generale e del bene comune. Se riusciamo a farlo è grazie a chi decide di sostenerci.