The workshop entitled, "Protecting European Social Values through Better Regulation" was designed to give NGOs an understanding of the Better Regulation process and how it might effect their work.
Tamsin Rose, an independent health consultant, and Florence Berteletti-Kemp, EPHA Vice-President gave a joint presentation, which outlined the history and evolution of the current discourse on Better Regulation (BR) in the EU; key aspects of BR; the role of the NGO sector; and differing viewpoints on the effectiveness of the BR process.
The workshop continued by asking participants ’what do we need in order to better engage with BR?’ and ’how do we ensure that BR protects our values and interests?’.
Among the outcomes developed were:
NGOs should exercise their right to access documents on the website of the European Commission to increase transparency - if documents are not made available in 15 working days, record and complain.
The 3rd Sector is the 7th largest economy in the world - NGOs need to recognise themselves as consumers, producers and employers and therefore need to be much stronger in taking their place in the internal market.
NGOs should widen their perspective and target other DGs, e.g. DG Internal Market.
The workshop was attended by 30 delegates and the discussions were very lively. Many participants commented that they had learnt a lot about a new topic and were inspired to go back to their organisations and build awareness of BR among their colleagues and members.
