{"id":466000,"date":"2026-09-24T18:14:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T16:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/24\/la-presidente-del-cese-francese-non-dobbiamo-mai-aver-paura-di-parlare-con-le-persone\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T18:42:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T16:42:55","slug":"the-president-of-the-french-eesc-we-must-never-be-scared-to-talk-to-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/24\/the-president-of-the-french-eesc-we-must-never-be-scared-to-talk-to-people\/","title":{"rendered":"The President of the French EESC: “We must never be scared to talk to people”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Helping to build a better future for European citizens: This is the aim of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the French Economic, Environmental and Social Council. They highlighted this at the September plenary session<\/a>, reaffirming their commitment to acting as steadfast partners in defending the role and model of participatory democracy that they embody. <\/p>\n

The newly elected president of French Economic, Social and Environmental Council<\/a>, Claire Thoury<\/strong>, has chosen the EESC as the first European institution to visit in her new role. During the September plenary debate, Thoury outlined her priorities and highlighted the pressing issues facing the EU: attacks on European values, poverty, employment, artificial intelligence, and climate change. \u201cTackling today\u2019s major challenges calls for a strong, united Europe able to stand against the forces seeking to divide us,<\/strong>\u201d she emphasised. <\/p>\n

At present, the EU must restore confidence in democratic institutions, against a backdrop of disinformation and growing polarisation<\/strong>. \u201cWe are facing aggressive attacks on our values, to which we must respond with greater determination,\u201d said EESC President S\u00e9amus Boland<\/strong>. \u201cNo consultative body, in Europe or elsewhere, can take its legitimacy for granted. The repeated attacks on such institutions remind us that we must remain united, continue to demonstrate our added value, earn trust, and speak clearly and firmly about the importance of consultative assemblies,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n

President Thoury went on to describe the role of organised civil society as fundamental<\/strong> because \u201cby testing political decisions in the real world, it promotes fairness.\u201d She added: \u201cWe must not wait for our societies to be torn apart before strengthening the bonds that unite us. After all, that is what intermediary bodies do: they bridge the gap between real life and public authorities. By defending organised civil society, we are defending democracy itself. We must never be scared to talk to people, and we must never give up.\u201d <\/p>\n

The debate made it clear that the EESC and the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council are moving in the same direction<\/strong>, as their respective work programmes are both people-centred. Cooperation is growing, particularly through thematic discussions, the promotion of opinions and participation in joint events. This demonstrates a capacity for innovation and, as Ms Thoury stated: \u201cI believe in civil society diplomacy.\u201d <\/p>\n

For example, the “Erasmus for Organised Civil Society”  exchange programme, launched in 2023, has offered members and staff of the EESC and the national councils the opportunity to forge stronger ties and share views on policies and good practices. Furthermore, in a few weeks\u2019 time, the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council will launch the Citizens\u2019 Convention on Public Finances<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

In the current difficult geopolitical climate, \u201cthis constructive approach to cooperation with the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council and, more generally, with all national economic and social councils is essential\u201d, explains the EESC in a press release. This is why the EESC has gradually developed a network of national economic and social councils; it already has 24 members and enables expertise to be shared more frequently. <\/p>\n

“If Europe is to remain competitive while becoming more social, representative and inclusive,” concluded Boland, “our assemblies must continue to serve as vital platforms for dialogue between citizens and the executive and legislative authorities, at both national and EU level,” he added. <\/p>\n

Organised civil society in the EU is therefore calling for stronger cooperation. \u201cSustained strategic cooperation between our Committee and national economic and social councils is essential for strengthening our capacity to adapt and increase our impact. Together, our institutions serve as beacons of democracy. Where an economic and social council is strong, civil society has a voice \u2013 and democracy is stronger,\u201d said Cillian Lohan<\/strong>, chair of the EESC\u2019s \u201cCivil Society Organisations\u201d Group. Meanwhile, Dumitru Fornea<\/strong>, a member of the EESC\u2019s “Workers\u2019 Group” emphasised that \u201cthe French Council holds a special place in our history: its model of institutionalised dialogue helped inspire that of the EESC. This experience can be of value far beyond the Union, for example in candidate and partner countries. Let\u2019s pool our experiences to help each interested country build a model suited to its own circumstances”, he concluded. For Michel Chassang<\/strong>, a member of the EESC\u2019s Employers\u2019 Group, ”
\nThere is no vibrant democracy without a strong and organised civil society that is listened to. Our organisations \u2013 the French Council and the European EESC \u2013 do exactly that, albeit at different levels.\u201d In this context, \u201ccoordinating the national and European levels more effectively would strengthen the voice of organised civil society in Europe.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claire Thoury, the newly elected head of the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council, has chosen the EESC as the first European institution to visit in her new role<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":465991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35503,29788],"tags":[32851,25847,35896,33394],"class_list":["post-466000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ambiente","category-diritti-en","tag-boland","tag-eesc-en","tag-thoury","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466001,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466000\/revisions\/466001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}