On 17-18 February the ECEC Workshop on Lobbying Communication - with the Common Training Framework for (Civil) Engineers as a focus example - took place in Vienna, Austria. The Executive Board as well as representatives from almost all ECEC member organisations participated in the meeting, making it possible to gather multiple viewpoints from different countries.

The Workshop’s aim was to inform the members of EU decision-making processes and apply this knowledge to practical lobbying examples such as the Common Training Frameworks for Civil Engineers. A Common Training Framework should constitute a common set of knowledge, skills and competences that are necessary for Civil Engineers and therefore set a standard for Civil Engineering in Europe. This would also help professionals’ mobility within the EU Member States and give them access to automatic recognition. After the first attempts to regulate a CTF for Civil Engineers in 2016/17, the ECEC in cooperation with the ECCE has now again taken up the task to agree on a Framework, causing the ECEC to organise this workshop, which was an important possibility for gathering input for the further discussions.

The highly qualified moderator Giulia Constantino (IDP European Consultants) trained the participants in the field of EU institutions, their internal processes and communication tools and possibilities.

During the First Session of the two-day workshop, the EU institutions, agencies and decision-making processes were introduced by Ms. Constantino, followed by Session 2 on Stakeholders’ communication, lobbying and advocacy tools. Later in the day and on the following half-day, this newly gained knowledge was applied to concrete examples such as the Common Training Frameworks for Civil Engineers and the review of European Procurement Law.

Please note that as of this week, the ECEC is now on LinkedIn. We welcome you to stay up to date with ECEC activities via this new account or via our Twitter.