EESC en Kroatië richten gezamenlijke organisatie op (en)

During a 11 October 2006 official visit to Zagreb, the President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Ms Anne-Marie Sigmund, was able to lay the basis for the creation of an EU-Croatia Civil Society Follow-up Committee.

Anne-Marie Sigmund met the Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Mrs Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi?, as well as representatives from the Economic and Social Council, the Office for Social Partnership and the National Foundation for Civil Society Development.

The Follow-up Committee, which will gather members of the EESC and representatives from Croatian organised civil society, will give the opportunity for civil society to take part in the Stabilisation and Association Process as well as to assess the current accession negotiations between Croatia and the EU.

The Follow-up Committee should be officially established by the end of the year and its first meeting should take place in Brussels at the beginning of 2007.

Background information

The EESC traditionally establishes Joint Consultative Committees with representatives of civil society from acceding countries to the EU. This has most recently been the case with Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. The Follow-up Committee will be established in the same spirit and will contribute to the accession process of Croatia to the EU.

The creation of this joint body fulfils one of the objectives laid down in the Conclusions of the Western Balkans Civil Society Forum organised in March 2006 by the EESC (see press release 31/2006).