EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE

Consultation of Civil Society
Experiences with Stakeholder Fora

After an introduction of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) as a civil society forum, this contribution reports on experiences with stakeholder fora and the possible development of participation and consultation in the context of the new EU Sustainable Development Strategy.

The European Economic and Social Committee, which was established by the Rome Treaty almost 50 years ago, could be described as a multi-stakeholder forum. It is a consultative body of the European Union, which is consulted on legislative proposals and Commission communications on the basis of the Treaty. It is composed of representatives of organised civil society from all EU Member States, appointed by the Council, on proposal by the Member States. The Members of the EESC are organised in three Groups: employers, employees and the various other economic and social components of organised civil society. The Nice Treaty recognised that the EESC represents not only economic and social activities, but also the general public. The EESC provides the European institutions with an aggregate view from organised civil society on European initiatives and it provides organisations in the Member States with very early information on what is happening on the European level. The EESC thus helps to integrate civil society organisations in the processes of decision-making and European integration: it functions as a bridge between Europe and organised civil society.

In 2001, before the adoption of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy by the European Council at its meeting in Göteborg, the EESC, together with the European Commission, organised a hearing on the Commission's communication “A sustainable Europe for a better world: A European strategy for Sustainable Development”. It was, at the time, the only public forum made available by the European institutions where civil society organisations could make their voice heard in the run-up to Göteborg. In its communication, the Commission had committed to organising biannual stakeholder fora and had invited the EESC to co-operate on this. The EESC organised two such fora in 2002 and 2005 together with the Commission and organised a hearing in March 2006 on the Commission's communication on the "Review of the Sustainable Development Strategy – A platform for action". Through hearings and fora the EESC is reaching out to a wide range of civil society organisations and stakeholders on the European, national and sometimes even on the regional level. This is in parallel to its own consultative work – the Committee has been producing opinions on the Sustainable Development Strategy and has also adopted opinions on several sectoral and horizontal aspects of the strategy. In its opinions the EESC has criticised current concepts of productivity and growth (very much in line with the Club of Rome) and has dwelled on the concepts of distributive and intergenerational justice. The kind of questions, which the EESC has put to decision-makers, are remarkably progressive, ahead of the political level and demonstrate that the concept of sustainable development is already well established among mainstream organisations of civil society. However, the EESC just as much as the Commission, the other European institutions as well as national governments and administrations could do more to better integrate the concept of sustainable development into its work on other policy areas, including the Lisbon strategy, as well as into its own organisational structure.

The participants in fora and hearings organised by the EESC represent the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. While all three dimensions are to be considered, the EESC does not see these as the sort of the pillars, which together form sustainable development; rather, as the EESC has underlined in its opinions, it is the social and environmental considerations, which set the framework within which the markets can develop. The participants in fora and hearings are categorised as stakeholders, receptors – which explains the presence of the European Commission, other European institutions and representatives of Member States – and multipliers such as journalists and academics. To the Stakeholder Forum in spring 2005 the EESC invited, among others, those organisations, which had participated in the Commission's online consultation on sustainable development in 2004. Other participants include participants of previous sustainable development events as well as organisations, which are in touch with the the EESC and the Commission on this issue. To some extent, the participants of the fora are recruited by self-selection and nobody can be obliged to participate. It has happened that the business sector was underrepresented at sustainable development events in spite of being invited in large numbers, which may have been due to a lack of interest. There has often been a certain overrepresentation of governments, which is probably a sign that there is not a lack of resources (the EESC cannot reimburse travel costs for the participants at hearings and fora).

For the 2005 Stakeholder Forum, which followed the Commission's online consultation on the review of the strategy in 2004, the EESC used the "open space" format, which leaves the definition of content to the participants instead of using an agenda set by the organisers. This was due to the perception at the EESC and the Commission that the widest possible input of opinions and ideas was needed at that stage. The results were summed up in a brochure1, which contained the results of approximately 40 working groups held in the afternoon of the first day of the conference and which was basically ready on the second day. However, both the Commission and the EESC could have done more: at occasional stakeholder meetings, such as a biannual forum, discussions often tend to remain rather general and this will probably always be the case as long as there is no mechanism for continuous stakeholder consultation or even participation. Instead of walking away with the results of the discussions of only one afternoon, it might have been worthwhile to build on the commitment of participating stakeholders and to continue working, together with the stakeholders, on the basis of these results. The new EU Sustainable Development Strategy should give civil society a platform not only to express its view in a very general way every two years. In addition, civil society should be invited to work in much more detail and continuously on specialised issues. There should also be a dialogue on best practices and on best policies. The EESC stands ready, together with similar institutions on the national level as well as with other partner organisations, to provide such a forum.

More information can be found on the EESC website

about the hearing on the Review of the Sustainable Development Strategy"
on 20-21.3.06

about the Stakeholder Fora on Sustainable Development in the EU on 14-15.4.05 and 12-13.9.02

The results of the hearing in 2001 are contained in the brochure A European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development