On 1 July 2013, as Lithuania embarks on its Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Workers’ Group (II) of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is organising its extraordinary meeting at the Seimas in Vilnius, at the invitation of the Coordination Centre of the Lithuanian Trade Unions. The meeting will begin at 9.00 a.m.

At 2:00 p.m., a press conference of the participants will be held in the Press Conference Hall, Building 2 of the Seimas. The event will be broadcast live on the website of the Seimas, the website of the Parliamentary Dimension of the Lithuanian Presidency and on the TV channel Seimas–tiesiogiai (The Seimas Live).

The participants of the meeting will be welcomed by Vydas Gedvilas, Speaker of the Seimas, and  Georges Dassis, President of the EESC Workers’ Group. The speakers at the meeting will include representatives of the Government, the Seimas, and social partners: Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Chair of the Committee on European Affairs, Kristina Miškinienė, Chair of the Seimas Committee on Social Affairs and Labour, Algimanta Pabedinskeinė, Minister of Social Security and Labour, Luca Jahier, President of the Various Interests’ Group (III) at EESC, Jacek Krawczyk, President of the Employers’ Group (I) at EESC, and Józef Niemiec, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

The morning session, the Social Dimension of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, will be devoted to the discussion on the approach of the EESC, ETUC, and the Lithuanian Presidency to the EU’s social dimension. The discussion during the second session of the meeting will focus on the role of social dialogue and collective bargaining in Europe and Lithuania.

A detailed programme of the event will be available here: http://www.lrs.lt/intl/presidency.show?theme=145&lang=2.

The Lithuanian Trade Unions see the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU as a major challenge, especially at this difficult period of time when Europe must revert to the social model it has been developing for many years and return to such universal values and democratic principles as human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity enshrined in the EU Treaty, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and other legal instruments. Concurrently, the members of the Workers’ Group (II) of the EESC say it is crucial to exchange opinions with the representatives of the European trade unions and governments of EU Presidencies, because experience has demonstrated that this is a very fruitful endeavour.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)  represents various economic and social components of organised civil society. It is an institutional consultative body established by the Treaty of Rome of 1957. Its consultative role enables its members, and hence the organisations they represent, to participate in the EU decision-making process. The Committee has 344 members from across Europe, who are appointed by the Council of the European Union.

Jolanta Anskaitienė, Public Relations Unit, Communications Department, tel. +370 5 239 6508, e-mail: [email protected]