Earlier this week, we hosted our Swedish member Hela Manniskan for an intense 2-day visit in Brussels to get to know better our work and meet key actors from EU and Swedish institutions based in Brussels. 

Hela Manniskan is one of the biggest social and healthcare providers in Sweden, and last year joined our network to become our 51st member. Their visit to Europe’s capital focused on the European Semester access to employment, integration of migrants and asylum seekers and measures to face homelessness and long-term unemployment.

As part of this theme, after a presentation from Eurodiaconia, during the first day of the visit we met with Ms. Clotilde Clark-Foulquier from our partner FEANTSA to discuss the state of homelessness in Europe. After that, we had the opportunity to speak to Ms. Eva Zelic from the European Commission about the European Semester and its implementation in Sweden.

The second day of the visit was dedicated to meeting Swedish overseas delegations such as the Swedish Church in Brussels and the Swedish Permanent Representation – extremely insightful meetings that equipped our members with new knowledge and a clearer idea of the work of Sweden within the European Union. The day would not have been complete without a visit to the Parlamentarium, where our guests learned more about the history of the European Union and its impacts on our everyday lives. Before returning to their hometowns, Hela Manniskan’s delagation sat down for a final coffee with our Secretary General Heather Roy to reflect together on what has been learnt these days and start organising our future work.

If you would like to know more about our member Hela Manniskan, please visit the organsiation’s website.