This web site aims at providing information on issues that concern the Commission's consultation and dialogue with civil society.
Here you will find a short presentation of the contents of this site.
Place the mouse on top of each topic to find more information.
Note that the Commission carries out external consultations in the development of almost all policy areas. Therefore, links included in this website do not give an exclusive picture of the Commission services' relations with civil society.
The general civil society web site is maintained by the Secretariat-General of the Commission. Should you have further questions on specific issues presented here, you can find contact information in the respective web sites or use the Commission mailboxes.

This gives an overview on the Commission’s framework of consultation and dialogue with civil society and other interested parties

This will bring you to the “Communication on general principles and minimum standards for consultation of interested parties by the Commission”, applicable from 2003. The document provides a coherent framework for consultation of interested parties. There you can also find an explanation of the term ‘civil society’ : Have a look at the chapter «The specific role of civil society organisations».

This provides a link to the Commission’s single access point for consultation «Your-Voice-In-Europe», in which you can follow and participate in the Commission’s open public consultations.

You will also find links to more specific civil society related web sites that give information on the Commission’s relations with civil society from different aspects. They are maintained by respective Commission services. These web sites are grouped according to policy activities.

In addition, when you click on the policy activity, you will arrive at the relevant consultation page, as listed on the portal 'Your Voice in Europe' .

These links to other Commission sites may be useful in this context.

This provides links to the other EU institutions and bodies that have regular relations with civil society and other external parties.

In this section, visitors will be alerted about on-going issues of general interest related to civil society dialogue, if and when they occur.

Here, one particular civil society theme is introduced regularly, with a short explanation.