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SOCIAL ENTERPRISE PROJECT

(SECOND PHASE)

ACTIVITY REPORT

October 2014 – September 2015

2

SECOND PHASE OF THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE PROJECT

OCTOBER 2014-SEPTEMBER 2015

1. Context

After the first phase of the project which ended with the presentation of the report and its recommendations

to the EESC plenary session of October 2014, the mandate of the project group was extended until

September 2015.

2. Objectives of the second phase of the project

Objective 1: Follow-up of the work done and of the project recommendations

Objective 2: Disseminate the report elaborated at the end of the first phase (see recommendations

and appendices I to X)

Objective 3: Continue communication, cooperation and exchange of best practices

Objective 4: Follow-up EU level work and agenda

Objective 5: Work on the policy development

Objective 6: Bring SE stakeholders closer to EU institutions and provide support to the sector

3. Method

3.1 Activities developed during the second phase

2 project group meetings 29 January 2015

9 June 2015

Going local: 14 fact finding

missions, with a focus on northern

Europe as well as central and

eastern Europe

From October 2014 to September 2015:

Germany, Italy, Spain, Latvia, Bulgaria, France, Lithuania,

Croatia, Romania

Contacts with Member States GECES meeting: November 2014

Italian Presidency conference: November 2014

GECES meeting: September 2015

Launch of Luxembourg Presidency: July 2015

Upcoming Dutch Presidency, July 2015

Luxembourg Presidency conference: December 2015

(still to come)

Contacts with EU institutions

Commissioners or Commissioners' Cabinets:

Ms Bienkowska: 2 February 2015

Mr Juncker: 18 February 2015

Mr Dombrovski: 22-23 February 2015

Ms Thyssen: 10 June 2015

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Meeting with EC general Directors:

Mr Calleja-Crespo: 18 March 2015

EP Intergroup on Social Economy: 13 November 2014,

22 April 2015, 25 June 2015

Social Economy Category: 1st

October 2014,

14 November 2014, 26 February 2015, 8 July 2015

Participation of the INT Secretariat in the European

Commission SBI steering group meetings

Regular meetings between the INT Secretariat and the

EC SBI team

Meeting European and national

civil society stakeholders to present

the EESC project

Social Economy Europe

Social Platforms

Social Services Europe

Swiss civil society: 16 October 2014

Sicilian civil society: 17 October 2014

Irish civil society: 9 December 2014

1 closing event 10 July 2015

4. Achievements of the project second phase

Objective 1: Follow-up the work done and the project recommendations

Among the 10 recommendations submitted to the European Commission at the end of the first phase

of the project, 5 were followed by concrete actions:

Recommendation 1: "Develop and launch a 2nd

phase of the Social Business initiative

(SBI)": as from 1st June 2015, the new SBI team is in place at the European Commission. It

has started to work on the next steps.

Recommendation 3: "Continue with the Social Economy Intergroup": the EP relaunched its

Intergroup on Social Economy and it hold a first hearing in the EESC premises on 22 April

2015.

Recommendation 7: "Gather and share the most suitable financial solutions and financial

ecosystem for social enterprises": in spring 2015, the EESC received a request from the

Luxembourg Presidency asking for an exploratory opinion on the following topic: Building

a financial ecosystem for social enterprises. The elaboration of this opinion is ongoing and

its adoption is foreseen for the EESC September plenary.

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Recommendation 9: "Promote social entrepreneurship in education at all levels": going local

missions took place, in particular in Bulgaria, Croatia and Belgium.

Recommendation 10: "Prioritise further research and reflect social enterprises better in

national statistics collection to increase understanding, recognition and visibility":

International Labour Organisation (ILO) is working on those topics and there is a 3rd sector

impact project in progress.

Objective 2: Disseminate the report elaborated at the end of the first phase (recommendations

and appendices I to X)

The following table presents the different events in a chronological order and contains 2 statistics:

the total number of recommendations without the appendices, and the total number of the full report

(recommendations and appendices) distributed. 860 exemplars of the recommendations alone were

distributed and 2089 exemplars of the full report, giving a total number of 2949 copies.

Event Date Recommendations Language Final report

Northern Ireland delegation 02/10/2014 10

EESC plenary, Brussels 15/10/2014 200

Swiss delegation 16/10/2014 20

Sicilian delegation, Brussels 17/10/2014 6

Social Platform, Brussels 31/10/2014 5

Solidar, Brussels 06/11/2014 10

Intergroup, Brussels 13/11/2014 20

GECES + Presidency

Conference, Rome

16/11/2014 300 IT 300

Madrid 03/12/2014 20

Irish delegation, Brussels 06/12/2014 45

Legal experts, Brussels 20/01/2015 20

SEN final conference, Brussels 28/01/2015 40

Project group meeting 29/01/2015 3

Ms Bienkowska's Cabinett 03/02/2015 3

A new generation for a new

Europe

03/02/2015 40

Europe Tomorrow, Brussels 04/02/2015 3

Confrontations Europe 16/02/2015 70 FR 70

ETUC 19/02/2015 5

LV Parliament, Riga 22/02/2015 40 LV 100

Minister Schmit 04/03/2015 2

Daniel Calleja Crespo 18/03/2015 2

SE first? 25/03/2015 50

Riga 25/03/2015 40 LV 40

Plovdiv 26/03/2015 10

Intergroup 22/04/2015 54

Capacity building seminar 22/04/2015 25 EN 8

5

Lithuania 24/04/2015 75 LT 70

Interview 28/04/2015 1

Madrid 29/04/2015 80 SP 50

Croatia 06/05/2015 10 HR 10

Bulgaria 11/05/2015 70 BG 70

Romania 12/05/2015 70 RO 100

El Hueco, Spain 14/05/2015 70 SP 100

Edinburgh 21/05/2015 80

Corsican delegation 28/05/2015 10 FR 10

Statistical map, Brussels 01/06/2015 20

Translation service 05/06/2015 2

Zagreb University 09/06/2015 8

Ms Thyssen's Cabinet 10/06/2015 2

European Commission trainees 16/06/2015 80

Group III conference 23/06/2015 40

Intergroup 25/06/2015 100

Milan 1-3/07/2015 50

Luxembourg Presidency 09/07/2015 60

Closing event EESC project 10/07/2015 150

860 2089

Total of reports distributed: 2949

Objective 3: Continuation of communication, cooperation and exchange of best practices

During the second phase of the project, the website was constantly updated and will continue to be

active.

Latest news can be seen under the following link: http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.social-

entrepreneurship-make-it-happen

Besides, the Twitter account @EESC_SocEnt, that was created in the beginning of the project,

counts now over 1075 followers, i.e. an increase of 400 followers since the end of the project first

phase.

Objective 4: Follow-up of the EU level work and agenda

The cooperation with the rotating Presidencies is ongoing and increasing: after having participated in

the Presidency conferences in Heraklion and Rome, the EESC was invited to present its work on

Social Enterprise during the Latvian Presidency (Latvian government, meeting of the chairpersons of

the Committee on Employment and Social affairs). Besides, the EESC is now going to be involved

in the Luxembourg Presidency conference and has already taken contacts with the Dutch

government in view of the next Presidency (January-July 2016).

http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.social-entrepreneurship-make-it-happen

http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.social-entrepreneurship-make-it-happen

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The cooperation with the European Commission has been maintained and is now continuing with the

newly established SBI team composed of officials from DG GROW, DG EMPL and DG FISMA.

Besides, the private experts of the GECES have been renewed and the group, in which the EESC has

the status of an observer, will start its work in September 2015.

The cooperation with the European Parliament has been intensified and the Intergroup on Social

Economy reinstalled.

Furthermore, the EESC is cooperating with the OECD on some topics.

Objective 5: work on the policy development

As already mentioned above, the EESC is currently working on an exploratory opinion on the

financial ecosystem for social enterprises, upon request of the Luxembourg Presidency.

Objective 6: bring SE stakeholders closer to EU institutions and provide support to the sector

On 10 July 2015, the EESC organised its project closing event. 111 participants representing the EU

institutions and the sector registered. After interventions from the EESC, the European Parliament,

the Luxembourg Presidency and the European Commission, 2 panels were organised: one on

financing social enterprises and the other one on job creation. Key messages of the first panel were

the importance of the hybrid financing, the necessity to invest in social economy and the necessity to

define what the social enterprises ecosystem should be. Key messages of the second panel were the

importance of skills and trainings, the way social impact is measured, the importance of social

dialogue and of the attractive character of the sector.

The conclusions of this event were the following:

Need to have concrete proposals

Necessity to find solutions to the barriers that hinder the sector's development

Need to be fully committed towards the sector

Importance of having a political will

Importance of an "ownership" at local, regional and national level

Importance of a constant promotion of the different forms of social enterprises

Need to increase the visibility of the sector

Necessity to develop an appropriate financial ecosystem

Importance of the governance: how can a common language be found to push the agenda

forward?

Importance of concrete actions, with the support of the rotating Presidencies

General willingness to continue the work done by the EESC, in a more permanent way.

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5. Next steps

In view of the general call, also expressed by the European institutions during the project closing

event, upon a continuation of the EESC's work on the topic of social economy enterprises, a request

for setting up a permanent study group has been submitted to the EESC Bureau.

A permanent study group could, among others, follow-up, assess and monitor the policy

developments and impact at EU and Member States levels, but also gather and share perspectives of

Member States stakeholders.

6. Chronological report and follow-up to the 42 actions undertaken

During all these events, the EESC work on social enterprise was presented and the project report

distributed.

Date Place Meeting Objectives and Follow-up

16.10.2014 Brussels,

EESC

Visit of a Swiss

delegation of

social

entrepreneurs

Objectives of the visit:

- to present the EESC project;

- to exchange experiences and best practices.

Follow-up of the visit:

- maintain the contacts.

16-

17.10.2014

Brussels,

EESC

plenary

Presentation of

the project report

(recommendation

s and appendices I

to X)

Objectives of the presentation:

- to inform EESC members about the results of the first phase.

Follow-up of the presentation:

- legacy speech of Commissioner Barnier (video message)

- request for the renewal of the project group's mandate


EESC

Visit of a Sicilian

delegation of

social

entrepreneurs






Beginning of

the second

phase

23-24.10

2014

Kreis-

Offenbach,

Germany

General Assembly

of the ENSA

network

Main topic:

European

instruments for

inclusive growth

Objectives of the conference:

- to contribute to a better understanding of social innovation and

social investment;

- to have a closer look to the role of public-private partnerships and

the role of social entrepreneurship;

- to discuss initiatives that are targeting specific groups as fight

against child poverty, creating youth opportunities, work-life

balance, social inclusion and active ageing;

- to see which opportunities the new EU programming period will

bring.

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Follow-up of the conference:

- EESC project was presented;

- all the ENSA thematic working groups (childhood, youth and

family, disability, elderly, social inclusion) tried to build a

strategy and agenda for the future.


EP

Public hearing on

"Social economy

in the European

Parliament: issues

at stake and

dialogue with the

Italian EU

Presidency"

Objective of the hearing:

- to discuss the issues for social economy in the light of the EU

Presidency conference "Unlocking the potential of social

economy for EU growth".

Follow-up of the hearing:

- letters sent to the presidents of the EP political groups asking

them to support the re-establishment of the Intergroup on social

economy.


EESC

Social Economy

Category meeting

Objective of the meeting:

- to evaluate the conference on "Social economy and social

innovation as drivers of competitiveness, growth and social well-

being";

- to present the latest legislative developments concerning the

social economy at national level (Italian third sector law,

Romanian law on social economy);

Follow-up of the meeting:

- follow-up the European agenda and the evolution in Member

States.

17-

18.11.2014

Rome,

Italy

Unlocking the

potential of the

social economy

for EU growth +

Meeting of the

GECES

Objective of the conference:

- to present, analyse and discuss the role of social economy for EU

growth and the next concrete steps to support it.


- necessity to have an Intergroup on social economy was raised;

- necessity to revise the Commission's mapping study was raised;

- a group of legal experts was created and met at the EESC, on

20.01.2015;

- meeting with the organisers of the Social Enterprise World Forum

in view of the Milan event on 03-04.07.2015

26.11.2014 Madrid,

Spain

IV Encuentro

Universidad

Cooperativismo


- to tackle the topics of fiscal reform, structural modifications in

cooperatives, among others;

- to discuss the role of the social enterprise as stimulator of the

social economy.



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04.12.2014 Madrid,

Spain

The social

economy in the

light of the future

agenda of the

European

institutions


- to discuss the link between social economy and innovation and

the role of the sector in the socio-economic environment as well

as in job creation.




EESC

Visit of a

Northern Ireland

delegation of

social

entrepreneurs







CoR

Social Enterprise

Network closing

conference

Objective of the conference:

- to present the social entrepreneurship network;

- to see how to support social enterprises in an intelligent way

- to give perspectives for future cooperation.


- EESC project was presented;

- the link towards the Social Enterprise Network was placed on the

EESC project website in order to give it some visibility.


EESC

1st project group

meeting


- to make a state of play on the priorities identified for the second

phase of the project;

- to fine-tune the project group working method and strategy

(objectives to reach, activities foreseen etc.).


- implement the strategy defined during the meeting.


EC

Meeting with

Commissioner

Bienkowska's

Cabinet


- to present the work done on social enterprise;

- to raise awareness on the topic of SE.


- Commissioner Bienkowska was invited to the INT section

meeting.

3-4.02.2015 Brussels,

EESC

New generation

for new Europe


- to see how Europe can improve the situation young people are

facing in terms of employment and business opportunities;

- to see what is young's point of view on the future of Europe;

- to analyse the role of social enterprises for European growth and

job creation.


- participants list sent to all participants in view of networking.

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EESC

Europe Tomorrow Objective of the meeting:

- presentation of Europe Tomorrow social and environmental

innovation development programme;

- presentation of the EESC project.


- meeting with Henri Malosse;

- Europe Tomorrow invited to the EESC's end of mandate event


EESC

Social impact

investing and its

role in the future

social

public/private

investments:

continuing

dialogue


- to see the different social investment approaches in G7 countries;

- to see the next steps of the European Commission in the field of

social impact investment.




EESC

Meeting with

Henri Malosse


- to send a letter to President Juncker asking for the Commission's

support towards social enterprise.


- Letter and project report were given by Mr Malosse to Mr

Juncker.

22-

23.02.2015

Riga,

Latvia

Latvian

government –

Meeting of the

chairpersons of

the Committee on

Employment and

Social affairs


- to discuss the employment issues with emphasis on the inclusion

of the most vulnerable groups into the labour market;

- to see social entrepreneurship as a tool to achieve social

objectives;

- to discuss social entrepreneurship opportunities and youth

Guarantee initiative implementation.


- Project report given to Commissioner Dombrovskis' Cabinet.


EESC

Social Economy

category meeting


- to discuss the European Foundation Statute;

- to discuss the priorities of the Category for 2015.


- discuss the possibility for going local events in central and eastern

Europe.


EESC

Meeting with

Minister Nicolas

Schmit and with

Nadine Muller


- to launch cooperation with the Luxembourg Presidency;

- to explore the possibility of organising an event in cooperation

with the Luxembourg Presidency in July;

- to discuss on the conference that Luxembourg Presidency will

organise on 3 and 4 December and invite Ariane Rodert to be a

speaker.

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- Ariane Rodert was invited to the Luxembourg Presidency

launching event in July;

- Luxembourg Presidency expressed the wish of an EESC

exploratory opinion on a topic linked to social economy and

invited Ms Rodert to have a joint reflexion on the theme to

address (exploratory opinion will be elaborated for the EESC

September plenary).


EC

Meeting with Mr

Calleja Crespo,

Director general,

DG Grow


- to tackle the cooperation on 2 events: Social Enterprise World

Forum in Milano, 1-3 July, and the Conference of the

Luxembourg presidency, on 3 and 4 December;

- to cooperate with the EESC on the awareness raising actions in

the Member States;

- to reflect already now on a strategy for 2016 and 2017.


- second meeting envisaged in the second semester of 2015.


EESC

Future of Europe:

social economy

first?


- to reflect on the question of whether redesigning economics is

needed;

- to reflect on the question whether social economy can help

Europe flourish again;

- to present EESC's work on social enterprise to Muhammad

Yunus.


- motivate Member States to act on social economy.


EESC

Social Services

Europe breakfast

session

"'Job Creation and

Economic Growth

in the Health and

Social Sector –

The Contribution

of Non-profit

Service

Providers"


- to discuss employment opportunities and challenges in the Social

Enterprise sector.


- interest of MEPs to discuss the project;

- contacts with MEPs.

26-

28.03.2015

Bulgaria,

Plovdiv

Fourth European

Forum of Social

Entrepreneurship


- to organise a Europe wide Conference on Social Entrepreneurship

for Growth and Jobs;

- to share best practices.


- contacts taken for going local missions.

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15.04.2015 Paris,

OECD

Seminar on

"Social impact

bonds: promises

and pitfalls"


- to reflect on the role of the social impact bonds as a funding

source for social enterprises;

- to see how social impact bonds can promote innovation within the

social enterprise sector;

- to see what the "dark side" of these exotic financial products is;

- to reflect on what the social impact bonds landscape will be in

social systems in different parts of Europe in ten years' time.


- establish new contacts.


EESC

Social Economy

Intergroup Public

Hearing


- to reflect on the question of a European social economy policy:

the point of view of EU institutions;

- to reflect on the question of a European social economy policy:

the point of view of social partners and organisations promoting

social economy;

- to present EESC's work.


- EESC opinions were sent to the co-chairs and vice-presidents of

the EP Intergroup for social economy.

24.04.2015 Lithuania Going local event

– "Social

enterprises: the

situation in

Europe and

Lithuania"


- to initiate discussion and disseminate information on social

enterprises, social economy and social entrepreneurship;

- to encourage the involvement of social partners in Lithuania;

- to promote the social economy, as opportunity to promote

community spirit, employment, social inclusion and growth;

- 3 meetings organised: social entrepreneurs, trade unions and

participation in the rural parliament meeting.


- contacts, links and EESC documents sent to the participants.

29.04.2015 Madrid,

Spain

Seminar on third

sector and

voluntary sector

Objective of the seminar:

- to discuss the situation of voluntary sector and third sector in

Spain;

- to analyse the project of third sector law;

- to analyse modifications to the law concerning the voluntary

sector.

Follow-up of the seminar:


13

06.05.2015 Zagreb,

Croatia

University of

Zagreb


- to discuss with a class of 150 students the value of social

entrepreneurship and what it includes;

- to discuss the topic of business with ethics and sustainability;

- to present innovation as a way to create projects to solve societies

challenges.


- project report was handed out to students and staff, and there were

a few twitter posts;

- the University has asked to be kept informed on future EESC

initiatives and would also like to engage more with us;

- the project report was also given to the ministry of economy

during a personal meeting, and to the mayor of Kutina;

- contacts were taken with MEPS from Croatia, since social

entrepreneurship needs stimulation into Croatia to be an accepted

form of entrepreneurship.

11.05.2015 Sofia,

Bulgaria

Opportunities for

social

entrepreneurs for

the period 2014-

2020


- gathering of students from the University of National and World

Economy who reflected on the theme "Opportunities for

development of social entrepreneurship in 2014-2020 – Creating

employment for young people";

- tackle the question whether Bulgaria could gain accesses to the

European Commission funds and use them in the interest of the

society.


- EESC project got an award from the Rector of the University of

National and World Economy.

12.05.2015 Bucarest,

Romania

Boosting social

economy –

European

regulations and

policy


- meeting with ministers and parliament;

- analyse the main data and policy challenges in Romania;

- exchange the Romanian and European experience;

- give input on the SE law.



14.05.2015 El Hueco,

Spain

European social

entrepreneurship

and social finance

spring meeting


- propose new methods and solutions to the problems and

handicaps that the social entrepreneurs in the EU have to face;

- analyse and reflect about the present and the future situation of the

social entrepreneurs in the European Union countries from

different perspectives: legislation, financing, civil society, good

practices, incubation initiatives, social entrepreneurs, etc.;

- spread new financial tools for social entrepreneurs in Europe,

especially venture financial funds for social entrepreneurs.

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- general willingness to get actively involved in the development

process of public policies on social economy;

- send documents and links to the participants.


EC

Putting the third

sector on the

statistical map of

Europe


- discuss the opportunities and challenges to better capture the

social economy enterprises in national statistic reports (second

European meeting).


- reflection on a definition of social enterprise.


EESC

2nd

project group

meeting


- to make an update on activities;

- to discuss the way of presenting the actions undertaken during the

second phase of the project;

- to prepare the closing event of 10 July.


- Drafting of the report for the second phase of the project.


EC

Meeting with

Ms Thyssen's

Cabinet


- to present EESC work on Social Enterprise;

- to raise awareness on the importance of the subject, especially in

terms of job creation and training;

- to discuss the priorities of Commissioner Thyssen.


- maintain the contacts;

- inform regularly the Cabinet on EESC's work and initiatives in the

field of Social Enterprise.


EC

EC Business and

Startups stage

subcommittee

panel discussion

"Social

Entrepreneurship:

pathways towards

a sustainable and

cohesive Europe"

Objective of the panel discussion:

- to promote an informed and balanced cross-sector dialogue on

social entrepreneurship, by involving stakeholders to provide a

policy, societal, academic and business perspective on this matter.

Follow-up of the panel discussion:

- continue promoting the dialogue;

- stay in contact.


EP

Social Economy

Intergroup Public

Hearing

Objective of the public hearing:

- to tackle the question of social impact investment and financing

mechanisms;

- to tackle the question of financing social economy enterprises;

- to present the EESC exploratory opinion on financial ecosystem.

Follow-up of the public hearing:

- Social Economy Intergroup Public Hearing participants were

invited to the EESC Social Enterprise closing event.

15

1-3.07.2015 Milan,

Italy

Social Enterprise

World Forum

2015

Objective of the Forum:

- to share knowledge on how social enterprise can be effectively

supported to deliver social and economic impacts;

- to raise awareness of the social enterprise potential to support

future social change in urban and rural settings;

- to broaden an understanding of where the market opportunities for

social enterprise lie in the medium to long term;

- to examine transferrable strategies, systems and models with a

view to directly influencing social enterprise development on a

worldwide basis.

Follow-up of the Forum:

- encourage and support the organization, development and

coordination of social enterprise;

- encourage and support the development of social inclusion for all;

- encourage and support a concern for environmental, cultural and

social issues;

- present the EESC work.


EESC

Social Economy

Category meeting

Objective of the event:

- to present the EESC exploratory opinion on the financial

ecosystem of social enterprises (under elaboration);

- to give an update on the EESC own-initiative opinion on the

Economy for the Common Good;

- to give a state of play on the EESC own-initiative opinion on the

external dimension of social economy;

- to give an update on the United taskforce on Social and Solidarity

Economy;

- to give an update on the renewal of the private members of the

GECES;

- to give an update on the EP Intergroup on Social Economy

activities.

Follow-up of the event:

- contacts taken with the new EC SBI team.


Permanent

Representa

tion of

Luxembou

rg

Launch of the

Luxembourg

Presidency


- to present Luxembourg Presidency priorities;

- to tackle several key issues of social enterprises, among which the

financial ecosystem.


- participation of Minister Schmit in the EESC project closing event

on the following day.


EESC

Project closing

event


- to present the EESC work on social enterprise done between

February 2014 and July 2015;

- to discuss the topic of the financial ecosystem;

- to analyse the role of social enterprise in terms of job and business

creation.

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- keep the momentum;

- maintain the contacts with the other institutions;

- continue the cooperation with Luxembourg presidency (ongoing);

- finalise the exploratory opinion requested by the Luxembourg

presidency (ongoing);

- get in touch with the Dutch Presidency (ongoing);

- submit a request to the EESC Bureau to set up a permanent study

group (ongoing).

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