ECF meets in Paris for its General Assembly and the CSOs Convention closing event

13 July 2022 | Future of Europe

The 2022 Annual General Assembly (AGA) of the European Civic Forum took place on 29th June, in the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) in Paris. After the meeting of the National Platforms of NGOs, ECF members had the opportunity to approve the 2021 Activity report discussed statutory affairs, ongoing and upcoming activities and the 2023 work programme. In this occasion, the members also renewed part of the Board of Directors, namely: 

  • Civil Alliance Latvia – CAL (Latvia) 
  • Foundation for the Development of Civil Society – FDSC (Romania)  
  • Community Development Institute – CDI (North Macedonia) 
  • Initiative for Development and Cooperation – IDC (Serbia) 
  • Institute for Public Affairs (Poland) 
  • Movimento Europeo – CIME (Italy) 
  • National NGO Coalition (Lithuania) 
  • Netwerk Democratie (The Netherlands) 
  • Volonteurope (Belgium) 

This was the first in-person assembly in over 2 years, and the members present could also enjoy informal moments, in a pleasant environment.

On 30th June, a High Level Conference on Civil Society and the Future of Europe was held by Civil Society Europe (CSE), the CESE and the Mouvement Associatif, under the auspices of the French Presidency of the European Union. This event marked an important step in the follow-up process of the Conference on the Future of Europe (whose report on its final outcome was released in May 2022) and the Civil Society Convention for the Conference of the Future of Europe (read here its final collective recommendations), with the participation of representatives of both civil society organisations and institutions. 

The primary output of the High-Level Conference was the Paris Declaration (or #AppeldeParis), a collective statement prepared by CSE to set all participants’ vision for the future of Europe and civil society’s role in its achievement. In fact, the draft declaration was debated and discussed among the participants, with approximately 20 amendments being made during the event. As a result, the hemicycle successfully adopted the Paris Declaration at the end of the day (here in English and French).