EAPN Capacity Building Webinar for national networks and European organisations
How can we strengthen and make more effective EAPN’s engagement in the European Semester?
19 November 2020, 14:30-17:00
Draft Agenda of Webinar (as of 28 October 2020)
14h30-14h40 Welcome, Introduction to webinar (objectives, target audience, main elements, technical issues), Tour de table (What do you want to learn/take home?) Martina Brandstätter, APN Austria, Chair
14h40-15h00 European Semester (up to) 2020 and EAPN European Semester Toolkit 2020: 1) What are the key processes and deliverables of the European Semester? – 2) Which policy and monitoring frameworks are relevant for the European Semester? – 3) What is the EAPN Toolkit about and how can it support the National Networks and the European Organisations? 4) How did APN members’ involvement work and which hurdles did they identify? Mathias Maucher, EAPN Policy Officer
Questions and Answers
15h00-15h15 Key processes, milestones, outcomes, policy frameworks and reforms of the European Semester: 1) What is EAPN’s assessment of the progress made on poverty reduction, access to social protection, adequate minimum income provisions and access to services in recent years? – 2) What has changed with the European Semester Cycle 2021 compared to the last years? – 3) What does this mean for EAPN’s involvement and a structured and meaningful engagement by EAPN members? Sian Jones, EAPN Policy Coordinator
Questions and Answers
15h15-15h30 European Semester and Civil Dialogue: 1) Main insights from the European Semester Cycle 2020 – 2) Outlook on the European Semester Cycle 2021 – 3) How can NGOs/CSOs engage in the European Semester 2021 and aim at influencing the Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP) and the National Reform Programmes (NRP)? – 4) What has the European Commission done in recent years to promote and support this involvement – and what can/needs to be improved?Filip Tanay, Teamleader, Unit EMPL A.1 “Employment and Social aspects of the European Semester”, DG EMPL, EC
Questions and Answers
15h30-16h15 Presentations of promising practices of the European Semester work by 3 National Networks: 1) In which European Semester processes and with whom in your governments or in the European Commission do you engage? – 2) How do you use the work on the European Semester to influence national policies? – 3) What worked well and what did not work/could not be achieved in recent years – and why?
Moderated by Mathias Maucher, EAPN Policy Officer
• Paula Cruz, EAPN Portugal
• Ryszard Szarfenberg, EAPN Poland
• Rimgailė Baltutė, EAPN Lithuania
Questions and Answers
16h15-16h40 Exchange amongst participants: How can EAPN members improve their involvement in the European Semester and have more impact on national policies? Exchange actively involving all participants on lessons learnt in the webinar and on past own experiences: 1) Is the EAPN European Semester Toolkit useful? – 2) Is the functioning of the European Semester and the key moments to be used by EAPN members in 2020 and 2021 clear?– 3) What can be done by EAPN members to influence the European Semester Cycle 2021 “back home”?– 4) What is needed to strengthen the capacities of national networks to use the European Semester to make progress on their own priorities and demands?
Moderated by Martina Brandstätter, EAPN Austria
16h40-16h50 Question to all participants: What do you take home from the webinar?
Moderated by Martina Brandstätter, EAPN Austria
16h50-16h55 European Semester 2021 and EAPN European Semester Toolkit: Which elements need to be adapted in the EAPN Semester Toolkit 2021?
Mathias Maucher, EAPN Policy Officer
16h55-17h00 Wrap up and end of webinar
Martina Brandstätter, EAPN Austria, and Sian Jones, EAPN Policy Coordinator