EESC adopted an own-initiative Opinion on Enhancing the transparency and inclusiveness of the EU accession process on the EESC Plenary session on 9 or 10 July, tabled by Marina Skrabalo – an EESC member from Croatia. The Opinion outlines some of the key features and lessons learned from the EU’s enlargement policy over the past five years.
It calls, among other, for disclosure of all key documents for accession negotiation; making adoption and implementation of legislation on public access to information, public consultations an integral part of the progress monitoring process as well as for national parliaments to play a proactive, deliberative and supervisory role in the accession process in a timely and strategic manner. The role of EESC in facilitating civil society engagement in the accession process and its challenges is also reflected in the document.
Many of the recommendations urge for more significant participation of the civil society and the other social partners in the negotiation process and concrete recommendations are given for improvement in this area to the European Commission, the national governments of negotiating countries as well as to the EESC itself.