The Economic and Social Commission met at Deutsche Bank in Brussels on April 22, chaired by Philippe Jurgensen (France). Participants from eight countries included several members of the Neighbourhood Commission led by its president Giselbert Schmidburg (Austria). The meeting’s prior aim was to take stock of the first economic results of the 2004 enlargement. Presentations by four experts and the debates that followed resulted in a draft resolution on “the effects of EU enlargement”, which subsequently was adopted by ELEC’s Central Council (http://www.elec-lece.eu/B5resEso_F.htm#20). The commission will next meet in Paris on October 28, with at its agenda the economic consequences of the financial crisis as well as the reform of global governance.

The Mediterranean Commission met in Brussels on May 27, chaired by Carles Gasòliba (Spain). Its started preparing its 9th Mediterranean Conference, to be held in Cairo in Spring 2009, and drafted a message “for a renewal of the Barcelona process”, which was later adopted by the Central Council (http://www.elec-lece.eu/B5resMed_F.htm#4).

The Infrastructures Commission met in Berlin on June 5, under the chairmanship of Klaus Milz (Germany), and discussed the state of European rail infrastructures and the use of EU cohesion funds for transport in the New Member States.