On 24 January, European civil society published an open letter to the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament, and the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union. The signatories of the letter urge the three main institutions of the EU involved in decision-making to take concrete measures to implement an open, transparent and regular dialogue with civil society organisations in all policy areas, as set out in Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union. Specifically, the letter calls for the Institutions to:
• Initiate an inter-institutional agreement on civil dialogue
• Establish within each institution leadership positions in charge of relations with civil society
• Encourage and promote greater cooperation between civil and social actors.
The open letter was initiated by the Civil Society Organisations' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Civil Society Europe and includes specific proposals for implementation. The letter gained the support of a total of 156 signatories from 26 Member States. The signatories include 39 European networks, 85 national organisations and 60 Members of the EESC's Civil Society Organisations' Group1. Alzheimer Europe was one of the signatories of the open letter. The full open letter is available at:
https://civilsocietyeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Press-Release-EN-EUcivilDialogueNow.pdf
