Invitation to the European Network Conference, Brussels 8/9 April 2019

Date of article: 01/03/2019

Daily News of: 01/03/2019

Country: EUROPE

Article language: en

Dear colleague,

I warmly invite you to the next Network Conference on 8- 9 April 2019 in the European Parliament in Brussels. This time round our meeting will take place against the backdrop of the European elections where much is at stake. For this reason participative democracy and how to strengthen the role of citizens in decision-making will be a key theme during the conference which will bring together the national, regional and European Ombudsmen and Petitions Committees as well as the liaison officers. In addition to the panel discussions, there will be working groups to tackle some of the issues that affect us all.

I very much hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you in the European Parliament in April 2019.

With kind regards,
Emily O'Reilly, European Ombudsman

Topics for discussion
Based on the feedback we received from you after the 2018 conference and from other fora, we have chosen four topics for workshop discussions: participative democracy; the effect of GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation) on the work of ombudsmen and petition committees; the challenges ageing societies face; and developing ombudsman soft powers. We will also discuss cross-border problem solving with SOLVIT, the European Commission-funded network.

Interpretation will be provided in Spanish, German, English, French, and Italian.

Draft programme

Conference venue
The conference will take place at the European Parliament. You will receive your entrance badges in the Atrium Welcome Point, Rue d’Ardenne 2, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.