Dear members, friends and partners,

With the beginning of September, the summer comes to an end.

For us at CESI, this summer period gave us the chance to take stock of all the crucial events and developments of this year (and they were quite many!) and evaluate our efforts and initiatives so far.

It was a good opportunity to assess the impacts of the ongoing bloody war in Ukraine and design our strategies for a tough autumn that is approaching. We had time to prepare for the challenges that workers and citizens are expected to face in the coming months: the energy crisis, the surging inflation, and, once again, the pandemic.

Against the background of multiple crises and unprecedented difficulties for the world of work, we tried to keep the voice of workers strong and ensure their effective representation at European level. We all know that it was not easy, but our mutual solidarity and collaboration proved that together we can achieve a lot.

Symbolically, the end of this fruitful semester was marked by one of our major flagship events this year: Our ‘Summer Days’ 2022. Through a series of interactive workshops, keynote speeches, plenary debates, and discussions, this year’s Summer Days provided us with the opportunity to ask ourselves what is at stake for workers and citizens and exchange on the timely challenges of the green and digital transitions.

Together with the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the EUobserver as media partner, we managed to gather a significant number of experts and representatives from think tanks, institutions and trade unions and share our views on the trends that will define our future.

However, for me personally, the biggest success of the event was that it made us finally come together. After two years of mostly online meetings and events, we managed to see each other in the real world and share our experiences, thoughts, and feelings. Indeed, in our work, the human factor is (and should be) the most important aspect of our activity.

For these reasons, I would like to close this period with sharing the best moments of our gathering. With the help of our communication team, we managed to create a collection of pictures and videos with moments that will stay forever.

Please find everything here:

Videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-e0HWyWj-X3lbTgEYO0JP50CNxbOeLLw

Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/D9pbrUsrJepUPtHL8

Key conclusions of the event in the EUobserver: https://euobserver.com/stakeholders/155449

And please save the date for our next ‘Summer Days’, which will take place on June 29 and 30 2023.

Slightly before an extremely challenging autumn begins in Europe, I would like to express my gratitude for your support over the past semester. And I wish you strength and commitment for the many challenges ahead of us this upcoming autumn.

As you know, CESI will be present and assist whenever needed.

With kindest regards,

Klaus Heeger