The first meeting of the European Social Platform (ESP) with representatives of the Bulgarian civil sociey sector was held on the 2 June in Sofia. Over 50 participated on behalf of the local NGOs, among which the Internet Rights Bulgaria Foundation.

A number of matters were discussed among which:

 the work of the Social platform on European level: membership, social services, campaigning etc.
 the expectations the Platform has towards the Bulgarian NGOs, such as: exchange and sharing of experience, finding a social based dialogue among the different countries in Europe and Bulgaria, better understanding of the problems on local level;
 discussion regarding the Bulgarian NGOs expectations in the work on European level.

The European Social Platform was established in 1995 bringing together nearly 40 European non-govermnental organisations and networks from more than 30 countries. The aim is to build an inclusive society and promote the social dimention in the European Union.

The members of the Social Platform represent thousands of organisations working on local, national or European level for social justice, life-long learning, homelessness, health and reproductive rights and racism.

What does ESP participation mean to Bulgarian NGOs?

„Just when they found a common solution of the problem, they succeeded to force the politicians to change their views." Elisabeth Muschik, Mental Health Europe, Vienna

The role and influence of the European social networks in the civil society development is huge, while the Bulgarian NGOs involvement in these networks is very important. Some aspects of this participation were mentioned at the meeting:

 support and inclusion for all in the European Union processes and guarantees for the participatory process in the countries development;
 exchange and sharing of common objectives and ideas with partners from different EU member-states;
 improving the communication and transparency in decision-making and fulfilment of projects and policies;
 stronger support in campaigns and common actions as much within the network, as specifically for certain regions or thematics.

Main outcomes

There were two major outcomes about the Social Platform:

1. It aims mostly to create and support common ways for working together in the process of policy-making rather than to provide points of view to the organisations it works with;
2. The platform cannot be defined as very "quick" with respect to the taken decisions: the most important is that it tries to put a common agenda to EU decision-makers. But for this, it uses networking to ifluencing policies.

"We are raising a strong voice about the changes we would like to see. And the main change was that we have built-up trust, across Europe and among the networks", concluded Simon Wilson, the ESP Director.