November 22, 2006, European
Parliament, Eastman Building
(Room 300)
ECAS is delighted to invite you to the Citizens´ Panel taking place in Brussels on 22 November 2006. This is a project for the European Year of Workers´ Mobility and as a part of it we have already released the report "Who´s still afraid of EU enlargement?" (see www.ecas.org).
Having presented the statistical data, we would now like to present the people.
The Panel is an innovative, experimental undertaking, in line with the Commission´s "Plan D" and the willingness of the EU institutions to talk directly to people. 15 European citizens, representing a cross-section of European countries, will talk about their positive as well as negative experiences of workers´ free movement in the enlarged Union. The added value of such an undertaking is the citizen input: evidence of what citizens want can help legislators find solutions. Our aim is to create such citizens´ input on exercising free movement rights in the European Union.
They will be questioned by and they will question:
MEPs - members of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, Commission representatives, representatives of Social Partners and journalists. Five issues will be under discussion: looking for a job (e.g. recognition of diploma); situation of family members; residence; obtaining social security benefits; and the potential dangers of abuse or exploitation at work. Please find the programme is attached.
We are also looking forward to hearing your voice in the debate!
Registrations for the Panel can be made by sending back the filled-in registration form to conference@ecas.org. If you cannot come but you would like to ask a question or contribute with your evidence, please send us e-mail to hotline@ecas.org
