The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a summary event of ‘’My Europe… Tomorrow’’ project which focused on the exchange of experiences in different initiatives such as ‘’My Europe… Tomorrow’’ project on the dialogue on youth unemployment and immigration in Spain, Estonia and Austria, ‘’Talking Transport’’ on the dialogue between authorities and civil society on the Scandinavian Mediterranean (ScanMed) and ‘’Talking recognition’’ on the preparation of an own-initiative opinion on the recognition of non-formal education, launched recently at the EESC aiming at improving the dialogue with the EU citizens.
The main aim of the event was to come to a joint conclusion on how the efforts could be joined in developing an EESC online consultation tool.
Furthermore, the aim of the ‘’My Europe… tomorrow’’ (MET) project is to hold a structured dialogue on European issues with members of the public through civil society organizations, while the main objective of the ‘Talking Transport’ website is to implement a structured dialogue between authorities and civil society on the ScanMed corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Eventually, the ‘Talking Recognition’ has to do with the validation of non-formal and informal learning (NFIL) reflecting the appreciation of EESC of the benefits of non-formal education and the importance of recognizing it.
The summary event held by the EESC offered an opportunity to discuss the achievements of the MET project so far. MET could be seen as an innovative aspect of a structured dialogue in a two-way exchange with the public. It combines an innovative online approach with traditional methods such as seminars and other local events. On this occasion, in addition to the country reports by the partner organizations, there was a presentation of the MET online platform and a reflection on its future use, while the participants heard about the experience of people across Europe who are already using the platform.