EUKI Interview: Civil Society Must be an Equal Partner in Climate Action

You have contributed civil society perspectives from Romania to European climate policy. From your experience, what is the role of civil society in local, national and European climate action?

Civil society plays a crucial role in all areas of society, including climate action. It provides a wealth of expertise and makes climate policy more holistic. It encompasses a broad range of actors, from farmers’ cooperatives to academic institutions that share their expertise on many different issues, from the social impacts of decarbonisation to education and environmental topics.

One strength of CSOs is that they are close to citizens and speak their language. Let me give you an example in the context of energy poverty: Civil society actors have first-hand knowledge about the challenges faced by women in deprived neighbourhoods and therefore have insights that policymakers would otherwise find very difficult to access.

Many CSOs can also rely on strong support from citizens. They can easily collect 100,000 or more signatures for a petition! The Fridays for Future movement is a good example: It was fundamental for the European Green Deal. Its members were no experts, yet they had considerable influence. Civil society is therefore a crucial resource for climate action, providing policymakers with powerful messages.

What is your view on the relationship between policymaking and civil society?

Public administrations often seek advice and expertise from CSOs: civil servants participate in CSOs’ study trips to energy communities, for example. However, alongside this kind of cooperation, there may also be conflicts – often even within the same organisation. Governments are sued, and protests are organised against their decisions.

I think that dialogue with civil society is often not sufficiently structured or institutionalised in many EU member states. In many public consultations, civil society’s voice is too weak. For example, there may be 13 responses from industry, which usually has plenty of resources to prepare such responses, and maybe one or two from civil society, which has limited funds but represents the general public’s interests. Civil society must therefore become an equal partner, which is why it is important to support CSOs’ capacities for advocacy and participation in public policy analysis and consultation processes. This is a serious issue.

Corina Murafa

is an independent public policy expert and university lecturer in climate, energy and sustainability, having worked for the World Bank, European Commission, Frankfurt School of Management, OMV Petrom, Deloitte, Ashoka, national governments and think tanks.

You were a member of the Economic and Social Committee in Romania. What was your experience regarding civil society’s contributions to climate action?

I have witnessed two diverging developments. First, the contributions from civil society have added a lot of value and increased the quality of climate-related debates. Constructive dialogue has led to improved legislation, and issues that were nobody’s child before, such as energy poverty, started to receive more attention. Again, it was civil society’s intensive cooperation with farmers and local communities and its concerns for their well-being that were particularly valuable.

Second, however, civil society’s spaces are currently shrinking all over Eastern Europe. This development hits all sectors, from services for people with disabilities to childcare and environmental and climate organisations. Civil society is facing intimidation, inquiries into its funding, Orbán-style rhetoric and even direct threats, defamation and legal proceedings initiated by governments. These conflicts are fought with unequal weapons. CSOs don’t usually have the same resources as governments or industry to hire the best lawyers. So, there are currently many reasons to be worried, and it seems to be a continuous battle that we have to fight.

The EESC is a forum in which civil society can voice its opinions on European legislation together with the private sector and workers’ organisations. What is your experience as a member of this Committee?

The EESC is an “interesting animal”. I take pride in being part of the EU’s only institutional forum where organised civil society – employers, workers and diverse CSOs – comes together to negotiate, reach consensus and advise the EU institutions on legislation and policy. We are 329 independent members from all the EU member states, appointed to represent the interests of the communities we serve and make their voices heard. We issue opinions on EU legislation – around 200 per year. Finding consensus among these different groups can sometimes be a lengthy process with heated discussions, but in the end, we usually come up with a balanced opinion, which helps decision-makers advance certain reforms.

With civil society experiencing shrinking spaces all over Europe, what can the European institutions do to strengthen civil society engagement for the climate?

EU institutions can do a lot! The civil society group within the EESC wrote an open letter to the incoming Commission President, the President of the European Parliament and the presidency of the Council, asking for a clear and more structured civil dialogue process at the EU level.

There are some public consultation mechanisms in place, but for meaningful consultations, it is not enough to publish a document somewhere on a website and invite the public to voice its opinions. In addition, replacing civil society dialogue with ad hoc formats or symbolic consultations such as citizens’ assemblies or opinion surveys can be very dangerous for the quality of democratic input to policymaking.

The EU should also be more outspoken and stronger in its retaliation against member states that are breaching the values of the European treaties. The Hungarian government completely banning civil society organisations that address LGBTQ and human rights issues and the Romanian government suing CSOs are only two examples.

Therefore, in a time of democratic backsliding and civic fatigue, I think that structured and institutionalised civil dialogue matters more than ever. We must strengthen it – both in Brussels and across member states – through representation, resources and political will.