Open Space in the European Community

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Dear colleagues,
the press release below is the second of its kind mentioning the use of 
Open Space Technology in the work of the European Community.
In the last 5 years open space has also spread in the Youth Programs of 
the Community, the German Agency Youth employs it regularly for its own 
planning process and for conferences they organize.
If any of you are involved in this work, lets hear about it.
It might also be a sign of open space becoming fairly common in civil 
society approaches on this continent.
Greetings from Berlin
Hope to see a lot of you here when The Practice of Peace Program is held 
by you know who in Berlin November 30, December 1 and 2.
Have a peek
www.practicepeaceberlin.org
and sign up!
mmp


European Economic and Social Committee

PRESS RELEASE N° 102/2005 	22 September 2005

September plenary to hold extraordinary debate on

Bridging the Gap: how to bring Europe and its citizens closer together?

28 September, 15h
European Parliament, Paul-Henri SPAAK, Salle P3C050

On 28 September the EESC will once again be holding an extraordinary 
plenary session debate on the theme of 'Bridging the Gap: how to bring 
Europe and its citizens closer together.'

This debate follows on from a similar debate held in the July plenary 
session (see press release n° 89/2005) and is intended to serve as input 
to the dual processes of the Committee's preparations for its innovatory 
7-8 November Stakeholders' Forum on the same theme and the opinion it is 
preparing, at the request of the European Parliament, on the so-called 
'reflection period' (the opinion will be debated and adopted in the 
Committee’s 26-27 October 2005 plenary session).

The Committee, as a bridge between Europe and civil society, has from 
the very start been particularly active in the “Communicating Europe” 
initiative, arguing strongly for more dialogue with and involvement of 
civil society in such major policy processes as, for example, the Lisbon 
Strategy.

The Stakeholders’ Forum on the theme of “Bridging the Gap” is being 
organised by the Committee in close cooperation with the European 
Commission and will bring together receptors, multipliers and 
stakeholders in a novel format designed to facilitate genuine dialogue 
and debate.

In particular, the Forum will use an innovatory ‘Open Space’ approach, 
whereby there is no pre-ordained agenda and the participants themselves 
decide what they wish to discuss and recommend. The Committee used this 
method very successfully in its April 2005 Stakeholders’ Forum on 
Sustainable Development (see press releases n° 40 and 47/2005).

European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallström has confirmed her 
participation in the Forum and it is expected that the recommendations 
arising out of the Forum’s work will be fed into the reflection process 
on the Commission’s White Paper on an EU Communication Strategy, 
expected before the end of the year.


For more details, please contact:
Christian Weger at the EESC Press Office
99 rue Belliard, B-1040 Brussels
Tel.: 02 546 9396/9586; Mobile: 0475 753 202
e-mail: press at esc.eu.int
Website: http://www.esc.eu.int/press/index_en.asp

The European Economic and Social Committee represents the various 
economic and social components of organised civil society. It is an 
institutional consultative body established by the 1957 Treaty of Rome. 
Its consultative role enables its members, and hence the organisations 
they represent, to participate in the Community decision-making process. 
The Committee has 317 members. Its members are appointed by the Council.
--


Practice of Peace Program with Harrison Owen in Berlin, Germany
November 30 through December 2, 2005
Info and Registration at www.practicepeaceberlin.org


Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
www.boscop.de   www.michaelmpannwitz.de

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