European Economic and Social Committee
COMMUNICATION
GROUP
Brussels, 28 September 2015
To the members of the
Communication Group
____________________
The secretary-general of the European Economic and Social Committee is pleased to enclose the
MINUTES
of the 111th meeting
of the
Communication Group
held in Brussels, EESC, room JDE 63
on
11 September 2015, from 9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
_____________
EESC-2015-04887-00-00-PV-TRA (EN) 1/7
Rue Belliard/Belliardstraat 99 — 1040 Bruxelles/Brussel — BELGIQUE/BELGIË
Tel. +32 25469011 — Fax +32 25134893 — Internet: http://www.eesc.europa.eu
EN
ATTENDANCE LIST
Members present
Jane Morrice (Gr. III – Chair)
Alexander Graf von Schwerin (Gr. II)
Mindaugas Maciulevičius (Gr. III in replacement of Indrė Vareikytė)
Béatrice Ouin (Gr. II)
Monica Taylor (Gr. II)
Ullrich Schröder (Gr. I in replacement of Stefano Mallia)
Cveto Stantič
Marie Zvolská (Gr. I)
Members absent
Thierry Libaert (Gr. III)
Stefano Mallia (Gr. I)
Indrė Vareikytė (Gr. III)
Contact points
Anna Maria Darmanin (Gr. II)
Alfred Gajdosik (Gr. III)
Andris Gobins (Gr. III)
Roman Haken (Gr. III)
Renate Heinisch (Gr. III)
Raymond Hencks (Gr. II)
Gonçalo Lobo Xavier (Gr. I)
Antonio Longo (Gr. III)
Juan Moreno Preciado (Gr. II)
Gintaras Morkis (Gr. I)
Eve Päärendson (Gr. I)
Irini Pari (Gr. I)
Krzysztof Pater (Gr. III)
Lidija Pavić-Rogošić (Gr. III)
Inger Persson (Gr. III)
Eric Pigal (Gr. III)
Cristian Pîrvulescu (Gr. III)
Martin Siecker (Gr. II)
Xavier Verboven (Gr. II)
Secretariat
Mr Lindvald Nielsen, Head of Communication (Secretariat)
Ms Birmann, Online Information Unit
Ms Di Nicolantonio, Head of the Visits and Publications Unit
Ms Füssl, Head of the Online Information Unit
Ms Gavanas, Group II Secretariat
Ms Giraldo Restrepo, Visits and Publications Unit
EESC-2015-04887-00-00-PV-TRA (EN) 2/7
Ms Glouharova, Press Unit
Ms Hocquet, Communication Department
Mr Jarosz, Group I Secretariat
Mr Jones, Head of the Press Unit
Mr Knoblach, Online Information Unit
Ms Low, Vice-President's Cabinet
Ms Marangoni, Press Unit
Mr Nelissen, Online Information Unit
Mr O'Bradaigh, Group III Secretariat
Ms Patai, Unit Inter-institutional relations and relations with national ESCs
Ms Pedersen, Visits and Publications Unit
Ms Sanchez, Online Information Unit
Ms Sijercic, Online Information Unit
Ms Skulavikova, Secretary-General's Secretariat
Mr Soriano, Group II Secretariat
*
*
*
1.
Adoption of the draft agenda – Presentation of the Members' portal by the ITT Unit will
take place at the next meeting
2.
Approval of the minutes of the 110th meeting of the Communication Group held at the
EESC on 25 June 2015.
3.
Opening remarks of the chair (VP Morrice)






Welcome to the Communication Contact Points; welcome to the Vice-President in charge of
Communication designate, Mr Lobo Xavier as an observer.
Europe in Harmony -1 July Ms Morrice presented the prizes to the three winners of the video
and song competition "Europe in Harmony" (see under point 10)
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – 7 July Ms Morrice visited the headquarters in Geneva
to explore future possibilities for cooperation. Thanks to this visit "Europe in Harmony" will be
presented at the Prix Italia in Torino end September.
The exhibition "Faces of Europe" ran until end of August.
The "EESC European Award for Excellent Design and Sustainability" was presented in
Frankfurt by Alexander Graf von Schwerin and Indre Indrė Vareikytė; Mr von Schwerin took the
floor to say how appreciated this initiative was – a good tribune for the EESC, to be continued if
possible.
The framework for Going Local was approved by the Bureau on 30 June (main change:
inclusion of promotion of Section work), members should not forget that financial coverage is
possible; several members supported this Going Local initiative and its continuation in the new
term-of-office.
EESC-2015-04887-00-00-PV-TRA (EN) 3/7




Opening on 3 September of the Workers' Group exhibition "Work completed" linked to the
change of Group Presidency; the exhibition will be available electronically on the Group II
website.
President's End of term of office event on 7 September "Is change still possible in Europe?" –
with side-events a.o. on "Europe in Harmony"
Exhibition "Discover the unexpected Luxembourg" in the framework of the Luxembourg EU
Presidency on 16 September at 7.30 p.m. (after the farewell ceremony for leaving members); Mr
Hencks thanked the Communication Group for this window to Luxembourg's cultural side.
Brochure on EESC Achievements Shaping Europe has been published; very impressive work
done by the members; the vice-president encourage members to use this very good publication.
4.
Going Local
Result of the survey among contact points – cooperation EC-EP
Not many replies were received from the contact points, but from those received it resulted that:








90% had regular contact with EC/EP offices during the last 12 months (invitations to
conferences/events organised locally) – satisfaction
75% know the EC/EP contact person – members feel welcome the offices
60% said that EESC documents can be found in the EC/EP offices
25% said that a link to the EESC website can be found on the ECEP representation websites
25% have been in contact with Europe Direct or civil society organisations dealing with EU
matters
The One-Stop-Shop on Going Local, at the secretariat, is appreciated
The going local events are still growing in numbers
Only 10% report back – to be improved.
Mr Lobo Xavier insisted that the +/- 140 new members should be involved in Going Local events as
soon as possible with help from old members; he was backed by Ms Zvolská on this; he also insisted
the reporting back be increased.
Mr Gobins would like to have – as a source of inspiration – some "best practices" for the cooperation
with the Commission and Parliament offices.
Ms Ouin welcomed the Going Local initiative, but insisted that the EESC opinions should be
promoted more at the different local conferences and events; the EESC must be proactive (with the
help of the section secretariats).
Mr Maciulevičius felt that a stronger awareness should be raised in the Member States which means
that the membres must be more active, which is difficult as members have their national job and the
EESC. Ms Pavić-Rogošić backed Mr Maciulevičius; in Croatia the number of events are growing and
EESC-2015-04887-00-00-PV-TRA (EN) 4/7
the work to be done on national websites is enormous. Some kind of support at Member State level
would be a great advantage.
Mr Hencks, Ms Ouin, Ms Raunemaa and Mr von Schwerin insisted on the very important relations
with young people, i.e. the schools. Mr Longo also asked for a competition to be organised for the
student having written the most interesting document on the EESC. Ms Heinisch wants to extend a
teacher platform to create a network of teachers.
Mr Verboven raised the problem about the "unknown EESC". The EESC transmits its opinions to all
EU Institutions, but COREPER does not forward them the Ministers; the political instances of the
EESC should improve this very urgently.
5.
End of Term of Office Report
Ms Morrice thanked the Communication Group and Contact points, as well as the Communication
Department, for the excellent cooperation during the last 2 1/2 year. She will present her end of term
of office report to the EESC Bureau next week, of which some points:








Update of the 2010-2015 Communication strategy
Development and implementation of a framework for Going Local
Assessment of internal communication and cultural activities (bringing recommendations on
the EESC cultural activities)
Two-way flow of information "Back Home and Brussels"
Focus on "What we do" and not on "What we are"
Communicate Europe in Partnership
Updated digital version of the EESC Newsletter
Visual harmony of EESC publications and graphic products.
While enumerating all this progress, Ms Morrice praised the work done by the former VicePresidents: Ms van Turnhout, Ms Pari and Ms Darmanin.
While warmly praising the work of Jane Morrice, both as responsible for the Communication Strategy
AND as Vice President for the whole institution, several proposals came from the members present:







The Communication Department should become a proper directorate
More member motivation and modernisation (Twitter, FaceBook etc)
More interinstitutional cooperation
Work on maintaining a substantial number of visitors to the EESC
Close the generation gap by Going Local (Focus both on young people and the elderly)
Do more to approach senior citizens
Streamlining of the EESC communication. Communicate the work of the institution and resist
pressure from personal or group promotion
EESC-2015-04887-00-00-PV-TRA (EN) 5/7


6.
Creation of one-stop-shops in each Member State promoting EESC activities and vice-versa.
Involve staff in the secretariat. National coordinators!
Quick reactions on "hot" themes such as for the moment migration/human trafficking. Use
editors or editorial teams.
Communication action plan
Ms Morrice presented the action plan – situation end of term of office. The document gives a status,
figures and activities linked to the targets agreed upon in the updated Communication Strategy.
It is now up to the in-coming vice-president to have a look at this.
A point was made by Ms Ouin on the creation of more editorial committees.
7.
On-Line Tools
Ms Füssl, Head of Unit Online Information, presented the evolution of social media, which has been
immense during this term of office.
After discussion, some members would like the following points to be raised by the new vicepresident:




8.
Make it easier to find the EESC opinions on the website
Key meetings should have social media capacity
Cooperation Communication / IT to be worked on
EUNearYou – no new initiatives on this tool. Low take-up among members. When facing out,
see the possibility of offering the platform to other users.
Video competition "Europe in Harmony"
Ms Morrice thanked the colleagues involved in this huge competition which met a frank success. A
survey is planned to be commissioned to an external evaluator. The outcome of the survey will be
presented to the new Communication Group.
9.
Civil Society Prize
94 proposals divided between 24 Member States - no applications from Sweden, Cyprus, Luxembourg
and the Netherlands - have been received for the launch of the prize in May on the theme "Combating
Poverty". The deadline was 10 September; a pre-selection committee will meet in October to make a
short-list; the enlarged presidency and the secretary-general will decide on the winners midNovember and the prizes will be handed out during the December plenary session.
EESC-2015-04887-00-00-PV-TRA (EN) 6/7
10.
Civil Society Media Seminar
The seminar, linked to the European Year of Development will take place in Luxembourg in
November; the preparatory work is moving on smoothly.
11.
Rolling programme for Culture in 2015
Ms Ouin informed the Communication Group about the cultural programme, informing them a.o. that
the culture sub-committee does not support as a cultural event the "Smart Island" initiative foreseen
on 24 November in the framework of the TEN Section. A decision will be taken by the EESC Bureau
on 15 September. Ms Morrice will inform the Bureau accordingly.
12.
Agenda for next meeting
The Communication Group approved the agenda.
13.
Any other business

The Group took note of the coming Video productions to be commissioned by the EESC

Beehives project – NAT Section and EMAS want to continue the green promotion of the ESC =>
bees on the JDE roof; to be financed by the Communication budget. No comments from the
Communication Group.
Ms Morrice finally gave the floor the Vice-President in charge of Communication designate, who
congratulated her for the excellent work done and thanked her for all the help, advice and support he
has got from her. He is looking forward to working with the Communication Department in the next
term of office to make communication evolve.
Ms Morrice then thanked all the members for their work, support and enthusiasm – a special thanks to
the members whose term of office has not been renewed. She also thanked the Communication
Department for cooperation during her mandate.
The meeting ended at 1 p.m. followed by a cocktail event with different external stakeholders.
________________
EESC-2015-04887-00-00-PV-TRA (EN) 7/7