Partnerships and Outreach in Europe round up 2023

Last year marked a substantial success in our efforts to forge and maintain strong relations between civil society in Scotland and Europe.

Scottish Advisory Forum on Europe (SAFE)

Irene Oldfather worked to establish the Scottish Advisory Forum on Europe (SAFE) to feed into the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, providing a meaningful engagement regarding Scotland’s relationships with Europe.

Irene and the team organised the two-day visit of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) President and delegation and hosted the third SAFE meeting, which resulted in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between EESC and SAFE – a significant milestone in prioritising the continuation of efficient, positive and innovative relationships between Scotland and Europe. As part of the two-day visit, Irene hosted the All Nations Summit in Edinburgh, which heard meaningful contributions about the importance of cooperation, the impact of Brexit on Wales, the unique Northern Irish context, and the enthusiasm of civil society organisations. The panel discussion was followed by breakout groups where we received insightful input on the following: Youth, Climate Change and Green Energy, Economy and Citizens’ Rights.

Irene was shortlisted for the Leadership Award in the 2023 Scottish Public Service Awards for her contribution to ensuring Scottish interest are feeding information development of the post-Brexit UK-EU relationship.

Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) on EU-UK relationship

As Vice-Chair of the UK Domestic Advisory Group (DAG), Irene continued to advocate for the meaningful representation of citizens by the DAG as we move forward with developing the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) to define the future UK-EU relationship.

Over the past year, we continued to work in partnership with the Scottish Government and to develop the work of the UK Dag, including the new Nations and Regions subgroup, highlighting priorities of civil society in the implementation and development of the TCA.

In November and ahead of the second Civil Society Forum hosted by the United Kingdom and attended by Irene Oldfather, the UK-EU Domestic Advisory Groups issued a joint statement, highlighting the need for cooperation in order to remove unnecessary barriers and address the issues faced by citizens across the UK and the EU.

EUPATI

University of Strathclyde has supported our EUPATI work over the last few years, and we will now be supported by Professor Mags Watson going forward as our academic representative.  This year our cooperation with EUPATI Stakeholder Group continues as we held a planning meeting to look at future priorities and were joined by Amanda Lyons from EUPATI central team. 

We are currently working in partnership with the Chief Scientist, Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, to design a series of learning sessions around clinical trials with a tentative date of 21 March 2024.

The last few months have been busy as we engage with our Youth Networks and Irene was invited to the Youth Gathering event in London.  The main objective was to set the foundations for an on-going sustainable engagement with youth in the UK based on the principles of the EU Youth Action Plan in External Action (YAP).  It also involved the formal launch of a network of European Affairs Societies in UK Universities.

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