The European Movement UK held an event, chaired by Peter Luff, at the Foreign Office that brought together 20 representatives from NGOs based in the UK to share valuable experience and insights.

Civil society as well as the EU, has grown a lot over the last few years. More and more organisations have been created to defend social, environmental or political causes and in the current context, their demands deserve to be heard and taken into account by decision-makers.

How does the EU respond to this increasing involvement? How does the EU perceive and deal with civil society? How could the EU improve the action of civil society?

Attempting to find responses to these questions, speakers raised the issues of education, democracy and legitimacy within the EU and between the EU and civil society. A range of views highlighted the fact that the EU could and should be the first partner of civil society but that the EU does still suffer from a lack of transparency due to the complexity of its institutions.

Once again the EU should simplify and clarify its strategy and services. It should support the work of civil society, creating strong partnerships and including it in its decision-making processes to become more democratic and effective.

We would like to thank Baroness Greengross of Notting Hill for her keynote address on her own European experience and charity involvement as well as John Hilary from War on Want, Sarah Lambert, Head of the Commission Representation in the UK and all the attendees.