Delors and Rocard address civil society at China-Europe forum

Some 900 Chinese and European NGO leaders and academics flocked to Brussels last week to share experiences on civil society co-operation between the two blocs.

The forum, held on 6 October in Brussels, took place on a massive scale, in line with the size of the two continents involved. Co-organised by the Fondation Charles Leopold Mayer, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, China’s People’s University and Sun Yat Sen University, it brought together dozens of NGOs, think tanks and municipalities.

The plenary summarised the results of 27 workshops held across Europe on socio-economic topics as diverse as science, technology, governance and public service financing. It also summarised a series of 19 dialogues organised between socio-professional categories ranging from the military to artists and entrepreneurs.

Jacques Delors kicked off the plenary by addressing values. Some are shared, he said, like Europe’s draft motto ‘United in diversity’, comparable to what the Chinese Prime Minister offered in 2003 with ‘Union in non-uniformity’. Some are different, like the balance between the individual, which is stronger in the West, and society, emphasised in China.

Michel Rocard, MEP and a former French prime minister, noted that talks were more open during this edition of the forum than during the first one, which took place in China. He called for more trust, and for new world governance that learns from history. “You have been violent recently, and we have been worse in the past,” he told the plenary.

Echoing Rocard, Guan Chengyuan, China’s Ambassador to the EU, described relations between both continents as a “strategic partnership”, with both favouring a more balanced international order, including at the UN.

Speaking to EURACTIV off the record, one Chinese lady took a realpolitik view, explaining that the EU’s lesser influence compared to the US was down to its lack of a clear policy based on fighting for its interests and a set of a few core values. “Trade and cultural dialogue is not enough. For example, the EU does not have a military presence in the Far East,” she said. 

One participant from a “civil society’ workshop countered: “Chinese pupils always learn a lot from Europe’s culture, and also love its famous brands”.

Asked why the environment – a collective good – is not well addressed in China, a Chinese participant answered: “We are not aware of it enough. The State, rather than society, is taking decisions. But it’s improving, with more exposure to international issues”.

Read more with Euractiv

EU institutions at odds over lobbying transparency

Anti-Fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas said the Commission would go ahead with creating its own register of lobbyists, with or without Parliament on board, amid claims from MEP Alexander Stubb that a common approach would be "impractical".