by the EESC Civil Society Organisations' Group

On 25 March from 14.30 to 18.00 CET, the EESC's Civil Society Organisations' Group will hold a conference in Brussels to explore how the EU as a whole and Member States individually can work towards effective sustainable civil dialogue and participatory democracy.

Guest speakers will include:

• Pedro Silva Pereira, Vice-President of the European Parliament, replacing European Parliament President Roberta Metsola for contact with civil society organisations representing citizens, and
• His Excellency Willem van de Voorde, Belgian Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Belgium to the EU.

During the conference, the following two recent initiatives will be presented:

• the EESC opinion on Strengthening civil dialogue and participatory democracy in the EU: a path forward (SOC/782), drawn up at the request of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU and adopted at the EESC plenary session on 15 February;
• an open letter, which received the support of 156 signatories from 26 EU Member States and was initiated by the Civil Society Organisations' Group and Civil Society Europe. The letter calls on the main EU institutions to take concrete measures to implement open, transparent and regular dialogue with civil society organisations in all policy areas.

The conference will bring together institutional stakeholders and a wider audience to reflect on ways to implement the measures proposed by these and other initiatives.

The conference is open to the public. Prior registration is required for active participation on site or remotely. The event will be streamed.

For further information, the draft programme, registration and streaming, please visit the event website.