MEUSAC Core Group met for the first time on the 29^th August under the chairmanship of Dr. Chris Said, Parliamentary Secretary for Public Dialogue and Information. This meeting served to launch the consultation process involving Government, the political parties, the constituted bodies as well as civil society and experts.

In his opening address, the Parliamentary Secretary referred to the positive experience of MEUSAC prior to Malts’ accession to the EU. Although adapted to today’s circumstances, MEUSAC will be based on the same principle of having as wide a consultation as possible. Before adopting its position on a particular Commission proposal during the formal legislative process, the Government will enhance the current level of consultation with stakeholders in particular. MEUSAC aims at strengthening the current consultation procedures as well as to refine and render such procedures more transparent and effective. A discussion on how this would be done ensued. In particular, dossiers with national implications will be handled directly by the Core Group, whereas for dossiers of a sectorial nature consultations will be carried out by the Implementing Ministry as well as by MEUSAC’s sectorial committees.

The Head of MEUSAC was asked to prepare a set of recommendations on the setting up of the sectorial committees. In conjunction with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, the eligibility criteria for the participation of NGOs in these committees have to be determined and the procedures for their selection established.