Civil Society Europe is the coordination of civil society organisations in Europe. It was established as an informal network end of 2014 as a follow up of the European Year of Citizens and building on the European Year of Citizens Alliance, and then set up as an international not for profit organisation in February 2016.  It includes 28 European platforms of civil society organization which include the most representative national and European networks in education, culture, the environment and animal rights, social rights, youth, active citizenship, volunteering, governance, transparency, the fight against racism, patients’ rights, disability, and development cooperation. CSE works on issues related to civil dialogue, monitoring civic freedoms in European countries, transparency and governance at EU level, and is becoming the reference for European Institutions on transversal issues concerning civil society organisations. Civil Society Europe reaches out through its members millions of citizens active at national and regional level in all countries of Europe.

Carlotta Besozzi is the coordinator of Civil Society Europe. She holds a degree in philosophy at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. She has worked most of her career in the civil society sector after a few years at the European Parliament as a political and research assistant for a member. Previous to being the Coordinator of Civil Society Europe she has been for a decade the Director of the European Disability Forum for which she coordinated participation in EU research projects on the full participation of disabled people’s organisations as equal and active partners in future research initiatives (EURADE) and on Active Citizenship for persons with disabilities (DISCIT). She has more than twenty years’ experience and knowledge of the civil society sector and of engaging citizens and civil society activists.