News
Next EU Presidency says: “NGOs must be part of the effort to create a better Europeâ€
[19/04/2012]

Last week on April 19th Social Platform and a delegation of its members (and their Cypriot national members) exchanged with the Cypriot Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Ms Sotiroula Charalambous, at our conference "How the Cyprus EU Presidency will respond to the EU crisis".
At the conference we outlined our key messages on:
  • Counterbalancing the negative effects of the economic governance and austerity measures
  • Youth and employment
  • How the EU budget can support social priorities
  • How equality can better support the EU objectives on education, employment and social inclusion
  • And Cypriot civil society organisations outlined their own priorities for the Cypriot EU Presidency.
The Minister addressed the conference and highlighted that:
  • This meeting with Social Platform is the starting point of a constructive cooperation with NGOs ahead of their EU presidency
  • That it is important to strengthen the participation of NGOs in implementing the EU 2020 strategy on the EU poverty and employment targets.
Ms Charalambous also stated that she believed that "the role of NGO's must be part of our effort to create a better Europe".

Further details on our study trip to Cyprus will be available on our website in due course.



Pierre Baussand (Director Social Platform), Ms Sotiroula Charalambous (Cypriot Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion) and Conny Reuter (President Social Platform)