62. Emphasises the crucial importance of active civil society participation in and contribution to processes of governance and societal transformation, recognising the need to include representatives of women‘s and minority groups in such processes; strongly supports greater engagement with civil society in these processes, both in terms of ever-greater outreach and a stronger emphasis on including the views of civil society in policy-making; welcomes in this respect all the EU programmes that aim at training young ...[+++]professionals and simplifying student exchange programmes for third country nationals as these contribute effectively to the development of civil society; underlines the need for an independent structural and financial support for civil society; considers that, as in the case of the UPR process within the UNHRC, local and international civil society actors should be involved in the Commission’s ENP progress reports by delivering separately their own assessment to be added to these reports; welcomes moves towards the establishment of the Civil Society Facility (CSF) and the European Endowment for Democracy, and calls for substantial funding for these in the forthcoming Multi-annual Financial Framework; and insists that, in future, civil society must be engaged so as to contribute directly through an institutionalised ‘civil society monitoring mechanism’;

supporting the capacity-building efforts of independent and representative civil society through its expertise in fields such as social dialogue, economic and social rights, vocational training, good governance, equality in the labour market, sustainable development, social cohesion, consumer protection cooperatives, SMEs, advocacy capacity, migration, rural development and women's rights;

It is only at the end that, having considered the requests and offers, each party takes its position. It is then, probably towards the end or the middle of 2004, that we shall know exactly what we are prepared to offer and I shall make these offers, as I have done so far, in cooperation with the Council, with Parliament and with a number of other professional and other sectors of civil society that are concerned by these matters.

Promoting the use of common spaces and activities in which immigrants interact with the host society Improving the living environment in terms of housing, healthcare, care facilities for children, neighbourhood safety and opportunities for education, voluntary work and job training, the condition of public spaces, the existence of stimulating havens for children and youth | Strengthening the integration dimension in Social Inclusion and Social Protection Policies Encouraging the exchange of information and good practice with regional, local and urban authorities through networks operating at EU level and strengthening the link between these networks and the NCPs through ad hoc consultation and expertise Supporting trans-national co-operatio ...[+++]n at regional, local and municipal level between public authorities, private enterprises and civil society, including migrants’ associations |

- People-to-people issues, including civil society development, activities in the fields of media and journalists' exchanges, promotion of good governance and respect for human rights, professional, academic and youth exchanges, visit schemes, cooperation in the sectors of education, training, science and culture, twinning between local and regional administrations as well as civil society organisations.

Yes, civil society is involved, not by setting up a new body but by creating a network around the convention whereby groups in society can refer to the convention and whereby, conversely, the convention can also seek advice from European affairs study centres, trade unions, any other organisations which exist in our society, as well as civil society.