The European Pride Business Network has officially become a member of the Civil Society Liaison Group of the European Economic and Social Committee, establishing a permanent institutional channel to advocate for LGBTQIA+ workplace inclusion directly within European Union decision-making frameworks.

The Liaison Group, established in 2004, serves as a vital bridge for political dialogue and cooperation between the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and major European civil society networks. Operating in alignment with Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union, the platform comprises 22 EESC members and 49 European umbrella civil society organizations. Its core mandate involves facilitating the exchange of policy insights, shaping civil dialogue processes, and enabling civil society to actively collaborate on the preparation of official EESC consultative opinions, hearings, and high-level workshops.

For EPBN, this membership marks a critical milestone in expanding the reach of its advocacy efforts. By securing a seat within this formal EU structure, EPBN can directly integrate evidence-based data on LGBTQIA+ workplace challenges—such as the widespread prevalence of everyday microaggressions—into broader European socio-economic policies, corporate sustainability initiatives, and ESG strategies. The position ensures that the realities facing queer professionals across Europe are systematically represented during the co-creation of EU policy agendas.

Reflecting on the appointment, EPBN Advocacy Manager Lucia Urciuoli emphasized the collaborative democratic value of the institution: “We are truly honored to join the EESC Civil Society Liaison Group and hope to offer a valuable contribution by consistently advancing our perspective on Diversity and Equality in the workplace. The opinions on the acts, laws, and policies of European institutions that come from the EESC are of extraordinary value because they express the best possible outcome of the dialogue between civil society, institutions, and the business world. This is the Europe we love, which preserves its democratic model, whose weapons are dialogue and discussion, not power and force.”