Civil Society Europe (CSE) is the coordination of civil society organisations at the EU level: a strong voice for effective advocacy, alongside the European representation of social partners.
CSE enables horizontal exchanges between civil society organisations and movements across Europe providing a common and permanent space to:
- Share experience and knowledge
- Scale-up campaigns and other forms of collective action
- Act for policy change on transversal issues of common interest
- Promote a thriving and enabling civic space in Europe
- Strive for the recognition of civil society organisations by policymakers
- Strengthen mechanisms for the participation of civil society organisations in European decision-making processes, as well as their transparency.
- Work towards an effective, open, and structured civil dialogue at the EU level
Our work in 2024
Some of the primary objectives of CSE’s 2024 work programme are:
1. Developing building blocks for a civil society strategy based on participation, protection and support of civil society.
2. Enhancing civil society organisations (CSOs)’ democratic participation at the EU level through:
- Coordinating the participation of CSOs in the follow-up of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE).
- Civil Society State of the Union recommendations and proposals for the European Commission work programme
- Coordinating civil society’s perspective on the Defence of Democracy Package
- Contributing to a framework for cross-border cooperation of civil society at the EU level
Check our Civil Society State of the Union Report!
Check our latest policy paper on the Defence of Democracy Package!
• Campaigning in favour of an enabling civic space and strengthened civil dialogue in the 2024 European Parliament (EP) elections through:
- Our campaign Civil Society for EU.
- Developing and implementing tools for civil dialogue.
Check our campaign Civil Society for EU!
Check our training manual on civil dialogue!
Check our wiki site for social and civic activism!
• Defending EU values, fundamental rights and the rule of law through:
- Developing joint civil society assessments of the rule of law and civic space in the European Union.
- Develop a mechanism for the protection of human rights defenders in the EU.
- Promoting access to funding for civil society at all levels as well as monitoring key EU funding instruments.
