The latter involves an annual meeting of religious leaders with the Presidents of the European Commission, Parliament and Council, biannual dialogue seminars between the Commission and the Churches (represented by COMECE and CEC), as well as the occasional bilateral briefing on, for example, the Commission's work programme or the outcome of European summit meetings. Moreover, every six months Church representatives meet government officials of the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU. In addition, the Churches' EU representations regularly organise conferences¹ in the European Parliament.

Since Article 17(3) TFEU aims at strengthening the contribution of Churches and religious communities to European integration, it is expected that a future dialogue framework will be not less than the dialogue structures already in place, but rather will upgrade and enhance them.

1-One example are the four conferences organised by COMECE, CEC and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in the European Parliament during the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008. See http://www.comece.eu/comece.taf?_function=church&_sub=_dialog&id=2&language=en.