The European Civil Society
and its dealings with the European institutions
I. The role of civil dialogue in the EU 1.1. Institutional definitions
Civil Society Organisations (CSO) also named “Non State Actors”: They are the principal structures of society outside of government and public administration including economic operators or NGOs:CSOs refer to a range of organizations which include: the labour-market players (i.e. trade unions and employers federations – the “social partners”), organizations representing social and economic players, which are not social partners in the strict sense of the term (for instance: consumer organizations), NGOs, CBOs (Community base organizations, i.e. organizations set up within society at grassroots level which pursue member oriented objectives (e.g. youth organizations, family associations and all organizations trough which citizens participate in local and municipal life and religious communities).
Non Governmental Organisations (NGO): Organisations which bring, with an international scope, people together in a common cause (local development, relief or social struggles) and whose objectives are not member oriented.
NGOs Network: A network is defined as an organization formed to strengthen exchange, communication, co-operation and awareness building among member organizations with similar interests and objectives, as well as disseminating information activities. The member organizations are bound by common themes of interest (Food security, Gender, Youth etc.)and/ or ideological affinities (Christians associations networks). Though the expression “NGO Network” is commonly used, it also concerns CSOs in the general acceptance of the term.
NGOs Platform: co-ordination structure of different families (field of work, religious, philosophical) of NGOs bound by their common national / European legal status and common preoccupations linked to this National and European identities. Here also the term NGO is to be understood in its broader acceptance, as a synonym of CSO.
European Institutional interlocutors:
European Economic and Social Committee: advisory body that must be consulted by the Commission and the Council in certain specified areas including social policy, it may be consulted on others and it can proffer its own views on anything it wishes (“own initiative opinion”). It is composed of three groups: Employers, Employees, Diverse activities. The latter is supposed to represents the civil society in its diversity: trade unions, SME, Craftsman associations, consumer associations, women associations, universities representatives, NGOs…
Parliament: Considered the most accessible of the EU institutions through informal contacts it may exercise a strong influence on the Commission by the adoption of resolutions and the introduction of issues to be debated on the European Institutions agenda.
Council of Ministers: most powerful of the European institution it is extremely difficult to reach for CSOs.
General Directorates of the Commission: External Relations: Dev; DG for Employment and Social Affairs, Environment according to the issues.
Council of Europe: The Council of Europe is the continent's oldest political organisation, founded in 1949. It groups together 45 countries, including 21 countries from Central and Eastern Europe. It is distinct from the 25-nation European Union, but no country has ever joined the Union without first belonging to the Council of Europe.
The Council was set up to:
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defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law,
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develop continent-wide agreements to standardise member countries' social and legal practices,
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promote awareness of a European identity based on shared values and cutting across different cultures.
Since 1989, its main job has become:
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to act as a political anchor and human rights watchdog for Europe's post-communist democracies,
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assisting the countries of central and eastern Europe in carrying out and consolidating political, legal and constitutional reform in parallel with economic reform,
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providing know-how in areas such as human rights, local democracy, education, culture and the environment.
To achieve those aims, the Council elaborates and promotes treaties or conventions, many of them open to non-member States and makes recommendations to governments setting out policy guidelines on specific issues.
European Human Rights Court: The European Court of Human Rights is composed of a number of judges equal to that of the Contracting States to The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms drawn by the Council of Europe(currently the forty-four Member States of the Council of Europe). There is no restriction on the number of judges of the same nationality. Judges are elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for a term of six years. Any Contracting State (State application) or individual claiming to be a victim of a violation of The Convention (individual application) may lodge directly with the Court in Strasbourg an application alleging a breach by a Contracting State of one of the Convention rights.
1.2. The search for a participatory democracy
Participation to policy formulation
A basic principle of participatory democracy is that participation of all interested parties to the elaboration of a policy. This is expected to improve the quality of the policy thanks to the exchange of expertise built on the different experiences.
The EU legal framework for civil society participation
The Commission legal framework states that it should consult [civil society] widely before proposing legislation and whenever appropriate, publish consultation documents (Amsterdam Treaty).
But The White paper on European governance (2001) limits somehow the impact of this willingness to reinforce the culture of consultation and dialogue.
As the EU system is a representative democracy, consultation of interested parties can only ever supplement and never replace the procedures and decisions of legislative bodies which process democratic legitimacy, only the Parliament and the Council, as co-legislators can take responsible decisions.
Gaining legitimacy through civil dialogue
Consultation of civil society also aims at enhancing the involvement – and eventually the support - of interested parties and the public at large. It legitimises the European Commission activities.
Involving the candidate and accession countries civil society in the enlargement process
Information exchange and dialogue with the future member States civil society aims at gaining its support for the European enlargement and the legislative reforms (i.e. for social and economic policies) it entails on the national level.
It also aims at preparing the civil society to participate in the dialogue with the institutions -and with other member States civil society organisations - on European issues after accession.
The role of CSOs in the scheme of the European Commission
CSOs as dialogue facilitators
The Civil society organization plays a crucial role as facilitators of a broad policy dialogue. They are indeed in position to:
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Bring different social groups and grassroots organizations knowledge and experiences to the European Institutions
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Act as a watchdog for the respect of vulnerable groups interests
CSOs as implementation actors
The NGOs may answer EU call for proposals up to implement EU projects in developing countries corresponding to Strategic Country Document or to the geographical and sectorial priorities defined by the Commission. They may also submit their own proposals for financing trough the EU co-financing scheme.
CSOs as information relays
CSOs are useful channels to make sure information about the EU policies reach a wide audience of people concerned by them.
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Origins of European NGOs platforms and networks
2.1.The immediate post war period: networks emergence around the United Nations
Networks were first thought for building international sector-specific expertise to deal with the specialised United Nations departments.
The UN located therefor a regional office and several departments in Europe - mainly in Switzerland and Austria. Various categories of NGOs organised themselves according to their respective field of work in order to influence the corresponding UN programmes.
2.2. Networks development around the Council of Europe during the 60’s -
The Council official recognition of the role of NGO’s by the creation of the “consultative status” (international NGOs sharing the aims of the Council may address written or oral communications to the different organs of the Council. They may assist to certain Meetings of the Parliamentary assembly and other organs of the Council. This status has been revised in 2003 to foster a more active cooperation (participatory status).
The cooperation between the Council and CSOs encouraged the emergence of more Europe oriented networks in order to increase the impact and efficiency of the consultations on different issues.
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The Council direct link to national governments: new opportunities for networks advocacy campaigns (especially in the field of Human Rights)
2.3. European and National Platforms constitution around the European institutions
A Commission monitored process
The co-ordination of the different sectors NGOs at European level starts in the mid 70’s (75-76) when the Commission (GD Dev) invites about ten big European NGOs to participate in the elaboration of a European development policy. Those informal meetings lasted three years notwithstanding most NGOs discontent with the arbitrary choice of their interlocutors by the Commission. In 1978 a few NGOs decide to create a federative structure to overcome this representativeness problem: the Liaison Committee of NGOs is born (CLONG)26.
The Social platform creation (1995) is another example of a Commission initiated process: social CSOs and NGOs gather to work on the Green Paper on European Social policy (93), they organised a CSOs/NGOs Forum which, in turns, led to the creation of the Platform.
European level organization impact on the national level
An efficient participation to the Liaison Committee required national level co-ordination in order to establish joint positions to increase the influence of national NGOs in the Liaison Committee and in order to co-ordinate advocacy on national level with the Liaison Committee lobbying on European level.
While some countries already had structured platforms for national level lobbying and members oriented services purposes (Belgium, Holland), some countries lacked the national level co-ordination necessary for their efficient participation to the Liaison Committee (e.g. France). By the end of the 70’s, all European countries had created their national platform, most of them on the CLONG model (e.g.France).
2.4. Networks and NGOs platforms Liaison committee merger into the European NGOs Confederation for Relief and Development (CONCORD) in 2003
Though positive impact, through the CLONG, of NGOs lobbying campaigns on EU development policy could be observed (like e.g. the EU co-operation agreements with Sandinist Nicaragua and with Cuba notwithstanding American opposition, or the sanctions imposed on South Africa for apartheid), organisational weaknesses could be observed such as: .
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The absence of co-ordination between the CLONG and the different networks leading to a loss of efficiency in advocacy on specific issues: Cotonou, Human Rights, Food Security, WTO etc.
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The double representation of big NGOs through networks and through the CLONG.
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The CLONG’s financial dependency to the UE (80 % financing) which made the lobbying activities critical.
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The increase in the financial dependency to the EU due to the practice of returning its members part of their contributions up to finance their national activities.
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The 2003 crisis: the Commission audit detects bad financial management practices and the Commission stops financing the Liaison Committee.
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Therefore a new model of platform is created in 2003: CONCORD (including the NGOs national platforms and the networks).
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