The Malta-based European Asylum Support Office will be holding its first consultative meeting tomorrow, attracting some 75 participants from asylum and refugee NGOs and civil society from across the EU.

Set up earlier this year, the office will be holding at least one consultative meeting every year with the aim of hearing what the main actors within its field have to say and to plan its work programme.

The office’s executive director Robert Visser said he was happy that in its first year of operation EASO was setting up a consultative forum and holding its first plenary meeting.

“This clearly demonstrates that EASO is willing to engage in consultation with civil society because it believes in the added value and cross fertilisation of ideas that such exchange could yield,” he said.

The EU regulatory agency – the first to be hosted in Malta – was established to strengthen member states’ practical cooperation on asylum, enhance the implementation of the Common European Asylum System, and support countries whose asylum and reception systems are under particular pressure. The agency is still in its infancy and is recruiting its first officials to be able to roll out its services as soon as possible.

Tomorrow’s forum will also be addressed by top European officials in the area, including the Commission’s director for immigration and asylum Marta Cygan, MEP Jean Lambert from the EP’s Civil Liberties Committee and UN refugee agency director of the European bureau Daniel Endres.

The EASO will be holding other forms of consultation through various initiatives including expert meetings, seminars, workshops and internet consultations.

According to Dr Visser, EASO is also establishing a register of civil society operating in the field of asylum.

“The aim of the register is to ensure EASO consults relevant competent organisations as widely as possible in the most efficient and effective manner,” he said.