Preparations for the Polish Presidency of the European Union Council are going on. One of the elements of these preparations is a debate concerning priorities of the Polish Presidency and in a broader sense the role of Poland in the EU and the aims our country as a Member State wants to achieve.
Representatives of the third sector and scientific circle will be invited to take part in this debate.
The role of the third sector (or broadly speaking – civil society) is extremely essential in a globalising world. The existence of a number of institutions and non governmental organisations forming the basis for the development of civil society development is the precondition for a strong civil participation in a democratic state and positively affects the increase in the efficiency of public administration activities.
The European Union as the union of democratic states places also emphasis on a public debate around Community Policies and on the involvement of the third sector in a public life. Among others, non governmental organisations use structure funds while implementing different types of projects. The role of the third sector is crucial for the Polish administration. Non governmental organisations are entrusted with the implementation of a part of public tasks. The UKIE signed a contract with the Institute of Public Affairs to prepare an expert opinion on “Polish Presidency of the European Union Council – cooperation between public administration and non governmental sector”.
On our website you can find the result of this work containing among others the experience gained in that field of Slovenia, France and Sweden.
The study contains recommendations for public administration in the scope of its cooperation with the third sector. Undoubtedly, as the authors have observed, the Polish non governmental organisations did (and continue to do) a lot, among others in the field of European integration efforts as well as the development connections and cooperation among societies. The experience of Slovenia, France and Sweden is also very interesting, although they cannot be directly transposed on the Polish ground. The Polish administration will certainly draw on the propositions presented by the Institute of Public Affairs, nevertheless due to the limits particularly of financial nature, the realisation of all the demands is impossible.
Certain propositions, for example in the scope of the preparation of the cooperation between the government and the third sector strategy go beyond the issue dealing with the preparations for the Polish Presidency.
We invite you already today to participate in a discussion on that subject. We plan to give it frameworks without formalizing it excessively through an open debate on the role of non government organisations in the European Policy of Poland before and during the Presidency.
Download:
Expert opinion of the Institute of Public Affairs “The Polish Presidency of the European Union Council - cooperation between public administration and non governmental sector”