Rebuilding the equality, solidarity and democracy agenda within the European project

8/13/2019 Rebuilding the equality, solidarity and democracy agenda within the European project

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Rebuilding the equality,solidarity and democracy agenda

within the European project

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Editoria

We are celebrating 2013 as the European Year of Citizens against the backdrop of a major crisis a ecting alllevels of our societies, when trust in institutions is fading and people are questioning the very legitimacy ofEuropean decisions.For decades, market-oriented European policies have led to increasing inequalities and polarisation between the richand the poor despite an overall stable economic growth. Consequently, imbalances are often tackled by countriesthrough scal and social dumping policies.

The crisis has critically revealed these situations and encouraged citizens to question the real added value, if notthe very basis, of the European project. The austerity measures imposed in the weakest countries are underminingdemocracy together with the access to democratic and fundamental rights of millions of people, while worsening theeconomic downturn and increasing debts.

Under these circumstances, the credibility of the European project as a whole is highly at stake. Policies which organisecompetition between people and territories without proper redistribution of wealth which focus on individuals-consumersand do not answer collective needs, which claim to o er equal opportunities but fail to support the disadvantaged,such policies are unacceptable and create a fertile space for regressive populist agendas.

A real democratic society can only be achieved through the participation of all its citizens. This is a prerequisite forEurope to become a community of shared future based on a more equal distribution of wealth to achieve economic,social and democratic well-being for all. Solidarity and democracy go hand in hand. They progress together, just asthey regress together. Today, they need to be at the center of public policies and to be better structured.

A real democratic society means recognition of civil society. When policies implemented are supportive of the aspirationto a better life and shared future, civil society organisations play a key role in our societies in providing an essentialenvironment for debate, civic action, inclusion of the excluded and engagement. When policies are supportive of theaspiration to a better life and shared future, civil society organisations are a major actor to help restore con dence incollective approaches to the problems individual citizens face. They give a voice to the aspirations of citizens and are

Editorial

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a decisive antidote to the sense of isolation and abandonment of individuals. Civil society organisations contributeto reinforcing democracy by giving meaningful strength to the feeling of belonging to a collective cause and sharedconcerns. The recognition of their role as advocates and agents for change is crucial for our democracies that are inneed, especially in times of crisis, of constructive and collective approaches.

Those who understand the need of strong social cohesion policies in these times of crisis should understand the rolecivil society organisations play. Civic commitment serves in challenging policy-makers for appropriate and suitablepolicy responses. Recognising civic commitment means that a genuine dialogue is engaged ahead of public decision.It also means ghting passive compliance. Active citizenship is based on the participation of individuals in the life ofthe communities they live in and their involvement in public debates. These are two essential elements for the vitalityand the legitimacy of European democracy.

The ECF is deeply concerned with these issues and tries to provide responses, together with other European networks.We took the opportunity of this European year to create and coordinate a Europe-wide civil society Alliance of over 60European networks and platforms around a common Manifesto envisioning European citizenship as a value-basedapproach of living together in solidarity and the respect and access to fundamental rights for all, as a complement tothe individual right-based and mobility-oriented acceptation of citizenship.

For the rst time in the history of the European years, this Alliance had a real national outreach and managed to mobi -lise thousands of civil society militants across Europe from a wide variety of sectors within thematic working groupsand international conferences, thus fostering an open and meaningful deliberative process about the future of Europe.

The conclusions of this collective re ection will be handedover to the European Commission and to the Presidency ofthe Council of the European Union on December 13 th 2013in Vilnius, in the frame of a high visibility closing event of thisEuropean year. This will be an opportunity to call on the Com-mission and the other institutions to put active citizenship atthe core of the European vision for a society grounded onequality, solidarity and the involvement of citizens at all levelsof an economic, social, cultural and political Union.

Jean-Marc Roirant European Civic Forum President, Euro-pean Alliance President.

The recommendations of the Alliance for democra-tic European citizenship

The European Year of Citizens Alliance (EYCA) is anopen network of European and national civil societyorganisations and networks willing to promote activecitizenship as a core element of the European project inthe context of the European Year of Citizens 2013. Theprinciples on which the EYCA was established can befound in its Manifesto adopted in spring 2012.

The EYCA gathered 62 European members represen-ting over 4 500 individual organisations in 50 Europeancountries.

In spite of the lowest budget ever allocated to a Euro-pean Year, the EYCA obtained nancial support fromthe European Commission for its activities at the Euro-pean level, whilst at the national level EYC Alliancesalmost exclusively functioned on the voluntary partici-pation of their constituencies.

Events have been organised at the local, national andEuropean levels to raise citizens awareness of theirrights and their means of participation in the EU deci-sion-making process. These actions and discussionson citizenship have also been fuelled and continuedonline through the EYCA website (www.ey2013-al-liance.eu) and social media.

The main aim of EYCA has been to advocate for ci-tizenship to become a transversal dimension of Eu-ropean policies and a key priority in all areas of theUnions action. For us, EU citizenship should not becon ned to an individual rights-based approach, asfundamental as this aspect is, but should have a strongvalue-based dimension so as to tackle the Europeanssense of belonging to a common European project. Inthis respect, throughout the Year, the members of theEYCA have contributed to a transnational re ectionprocess on themes linked to active citizenship in Europevia three working groups. Their recommendations havebeen gathered in a document Its about Us, its aboutEurope ! (Towards Democratic European Citizenship)which will be send to European decision-makers (seep. 4).

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One of the main aims of the wide cross-sector and transnational network that is the EYCA is to ensure that activecitizenship is understood as a lasting cross-cutting theme in European public policies. After a year-long col-lective re ection and consultation process, the EYCA will present its key proposals for the reinforcement and

enhancement of active citizenship in Europe at the closing event of the European Year in Vilnius on December 12 th

and 13 th 2013. This process was divided into three thematic working groups (citizens participation and civil dialogue ;economic, social and political rights as a coherent whole ; an inclusive citizenship for all EU residents) gathering 117civil society representatives from both European and national organisations (representing 26 di erent countries).

The concept of citizenship of the European Union, introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992, added a politicaldimension to the primarily economic nature of the European Community. According to the Charter of FundamentalRights of the EU, the Union places the individual at the heart of its activities by establishing a citizenship of the Unionand by creating an area of freedom, security and justice.

Despite its o cial recognition in the Treaties, EU citizenship is now in crisis. In an increasingly systematic way, popu -list forces build on the widespread popular disenchantment and stir nationalist and xenophobic attitudes in order toundermine the possibility of a shared future based on democratic and progressive values. From the EYCA perspective,rebuilding solidarity, providing a framework for citizens to better live together and reversing the current trend requiresmajor changes in the way European policies are developed and implemented in order to regain momentum in Europetowards greater integration and the pursuit of peace.

The EYCA recommendations have been compiled in a document entitled Its about Us, its about Europe ! TowardsDemocratic European Citizenship which will be available in 16 languages and accessible on www.ey2013-alliance.This document gathers all the key priorities and the recommendations addressed by the EYCA members to Euro-pean decision-makers at the European, national and local levels. These requests and proposals detail a vision for theEuropean society divided into three chapters :

Chapter 1 : ACTIVE EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP AS A PROJECT OF SOCIETY Although the EYCA proposals are heavily in uenced by the current economic, social and political crisis ; they rst andforemost give substance to a political vision for society and for Europe, namely, an open, inclusive and participativeEurope.

TowardsDemocraticEuropean Citizenship

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These proposals therefore aim to regenerate the European project by bringing back citizens, solidarity, equality, fairnessand vision where they should be : at the heart of Europe. This implies a shift from a dominant approach of regardingcitizens as individual-consumers to an approach of a citizenship that both respects individual aspirations and takesinto account collective needs for a shared future.

Achieving this model requires a paradigm shift from a Europe that is largely considered as an economic project toone that restores and promotes the values of solidarity and equality among States and European citizens. Only byemphasizing these fundamental components can the legitimacy of the European project, the trust and enthusiasmfor Europe and greater progression in the integration process be ensured.

Chapter 2 : FOR AN OPEN AND INCLUSIVE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACYThe EYCA vision for Europe will not be achieved until the persistent inequality and discrimination faced by manyvulnerable, marginalised and excluded citizens is resolutely tackled.

The indivisibility of rights is an indispensable pre-requisite of social inclusion and active citizenship. This requires speci cattention to ensure that no citizen residing in the EU is excluded, at risk of exclusion or discriminated against due toa lack of respect of their social and economic rights. At the core of the European social model is care and protectionfor all, especially the most vulnerable members of society. The EYCA believes that citizens can only be conscious oftheir responsibilities towards each other in a society which enables e ective and universal access to rights.

Chapter 3 : ONE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY, THREE DEMOCRATIC PILLARSBeyond these core questions all democratic pillars need to be functioning optimally so as to ensure a vibrant ande ective European democracy. Education and media should be independent whilst reinforcing their European dimen -sion. Within the framework designed by the universal values enshrined in the international treaties, European Unioninstitutions should ensure that decisions are in line with citizens needs, aspirations and vision of society. Organisedcivil society defending human rights and the common good with constructive and collective solutions should bereinforced since its role as an advocate and agent for change is crucial for democracies, especially in times of crisis.

The issue of European citizenship returns to the question of the construction of the European project. If the EuropeanUnion institutions really want a social and political Europe, then citizenship of the Union must be granted to all thepeople who live in the territory including third country natio-nals who become residents in Europe.

This is the vision of European citizenship EYCA membersshare and which is developed in its nal recommendations(www.ey2013-alliance.eu). It will be defended in the upco-ming months, particularly in the context of the 2014 Europeanelections.

What does active European citizenship mean to you ?

Throughout the year, the EYCA has collected Pola-roid photographs during events or in the public space,asking people to take a photograph of themselves andto share their vision of active (European) citizenship.The idea of this photographic project was to launcha discussion, use art and photography as means ofexpression and realise a collective, participative andtransnational project.

The title [Work In Progress] was chosen to show thatthis project could never be complete. This exhibitiondoes not have the purpose of nding any truth or pro -ving any trend but it aims to engage discussions withpeople, to have them questioning themselves and re-

ecting about their role in society. Just as democracy,active citizenship is a process, a permanent work inprogress.

Nearly 400 citizens, from 44 nationalities, from tenEuropean cities (London, La Courneuve, Amsterdam,Zagreb, Nantes, Berlin, etc.) played the game andshared their vision of active citizenship and/or Europe.Between humour, concerns, philosophy and commonsense, their messages represent food for thought forthose who will have a look at them.

An exhibition gathering all the Polaroid photographswill be available from December 2013 in the frame ofthe Closing Event of the European Year of Citizens inVilnius and declined online at www.polaroidproject.eu.

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The European Year of Citizens has a bitter taste for many actors, notably organisations, who played the game likewe did and seized this opportunity to highlight the breach of European citizens rights and to further the idea ofa European democratic citizenship.We certainly knew from the beginning that from the institutional perspective this year would be, above all, a commu-nication campaign. But if we take a look at the o cial Website of the European commission :

The aim [of European years] is to raise awareness of certain topics, encourage debate and change attitudes.The Euro- pean Year can also send a strong commitment and political signal from the EU institutions and member governmentsthat the subject will be taken into consideration in future policy-making. In some cases, the European Commission

may propose new legislation on the theme.

A strong political signal : this is precisely what we hoped for and what many European citizens expected in thiscontext of social, economical and political crises. As the European year is about to end, it is necessary to have a quickoverview of the implication of European political and institutional actors.

We were both optimistic and realistic about this operation and we fully agreed with Marie-Christine Vergiat, FrenchMember of the European Parliament, who stated that :

We should not be duped by what this year represents, but this is the occasion to really speak about citizenship. Thecurrent crisis is a nancial crisis which has terrible economic and social consequences, because it is not being han -dled well. But it is also a political and democratic crisis. [] This European Year is an opportunity to debate over, withor without the support of the European institutions. More and more people are willing to re ect together to build and

suggest alternatives at the European level. They are aware that many things happen at this level.

Journey to the endof the year 2013

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And we believed, like Antigoni Papadopoulou, the rapporteur for the European Year at the European Parliament, that:

The European year of citizens (EYC) provides a unique opportunity to highlight citizens rights and to encourage active participation in the democratic life and public affairs of the EU.

This is all the more necessary in a period of economic, social and political crisis, as she reminded in another interview .

The president of the European commission, Jos Manuel Barroso, also reassured us during the opening event of theEuropean Year in Dublin, as he concluded his speech stating that :

The European Union is what we decide to make of it. There are many things that can and should be done better andthis year of citizens offers new opportunities for helping to shape the European Union of the future. I want to see a

real debate on how the European Union should evolve in the years to come, both in the economic and in the political sense. A debate which engages every citizen. That is why we are here today. And that is why I really want to engagewith you in this debate.

We were also reassured by the Irish Minister of Foreign A airs, Lucinda Creighton, when she started the openingconference of the Year with civil society on January 22nd in Brussels (for those who nd redundant or odd to havetwo opening events, lets point out here, that members of the European civil society were not invited at the rstevent in Dublin) :

I see this year as providing an opportunity to recall and cele- brate the rights and bene ts we enjoy as citizens of the Euro - pean Union. However the opportunity is greater than that. This year is our chance to have a pan-European debate about what it means to be a citizen of this European Union and the kind offuture we want to realise within it.

After a di cult start, as the o cial decision concerning theEuropean year 2013 only took place in November 2012, westarted believing that the year of citizens could really open atime of dialogue between citizens and European institutions,a time when the European leaders would pay more attentionto the peoples needs and claims, while engaging a constantand constructive dialogue. The positions of major institutionalactors in favour of a substantial debate about the future of theEuropean Union seemed to con rm the idea that Europeanleaders were ready to listen to citizens questions. We hopedthat they would even take them into account thanks to (so tospeak) the preoccupying socio-economic and pre-electioncontexts. So we were actually quite con dent.

Then we started doubting. What if this European Year of Ci-tizens was not actually meant as a way to engage people inan equal to equal debate but would only be the umpteenthadvertising campaign on all that the European institutions doto improve the daily life of citizens (consumers) ?

Of course Citizens Dialogue illustrated the will of the Euro-pean Commission to debate with European citizens since theCollege of Commissioners was mobilised during the wholeyear to go meet European citizens in all member States withan average of 200 participants at each meeting. What kind ofdialogue is possible between 1 or 2 people with a microphoneand an audience of 200 people (with one microphone in total) ?

An idea too good for a simple European Year And while political discourses mentioned the necessarydebate about the future of the European Union, the o cialcommunication about the Year was limited to promoting theactions of the EU for the European citizens Interestingly

Borders to cross

On 29 th-31 st October, the European Civic Forum Boardmembers met with over 250 stakeholders from all overEurope during a very inspiring learning conference in

Amsterdam to discuss innovative practice of democra-tic and social innovation.

The event labelised in the framework of the Europeanyear of citizens Alliance EYCA, was initiated by theDutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

The event was particularly successful in showcasingno less than forty grassroots civic initiatives for socialchange across Europe. Project managers could discusstheir methodology and their impact on society.

The discussions highlighted the current crisis of repre-sentation in Europe at all levels and the need to react,widely mobilise social movements, when the discrepan-cy between policies implemented and citizens expec-tations pushes millions of people towards regressiveand Eurosceptic populist movements.

The European Civic Forum hosted a workshop aboutthe impact of new forms of activism and their capacityto revive the public space, reconcile people with poli-tics, to enhance dialogue and enable participation. Theworkshop engaged participants to re ect upon theseissues through the presentation of two successful civic-driven initiatives for social change : GOTEO from Spainand Clubture from Croatia.

And last but not least, we welcomed in the ECF network(on this occasion) a young and active Portuguese or-ganisation of activists which was at the very origin ofthe 2011 social protest movement called PrecariousGeneration - Gerao Rasca, having mobilised about300 000 people in Portugal against austerity and thedisastrous social consequences of the nancial andpolitical crisis.

For more information on the Borders to cross confe-rence visit the website www.borderstocross.comand the LinkedIn group or get in touch with StefanieSchuddebeurs ([email protected]) forfollow-up.

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enough, the o cial website of the European year was completed over the year by a website called Debate on thefuture of Europe, which was di erent from the Join the debate section of the o cial website, but still using thesame graphic charter It was as if the European Commission had suddenly realised that joining the debate was atoo good idea to give it up to a simple European year.

The same trend could be seen on social networks. Lets take for example Twitter, the microblogging website : theo cial keyword of the Year (#eyc2013) was mostly used by institutional actors (representations of the European Com -mission, European Parliament information o ces, Europe direct information centers, etc.) and civil society (EYCA,organisations, bloggers, etc.). The political class, as fond as it is of this communication 2.0 medium, did not show thesame enthusiasm to use it in the frame of the European Year. For instance, Viviane Reding, European Commisioner forJustice, Citizenship and Fundamental Rights and referent for the European Year, never used this keyword in the secondsemester of 2013, including when she tweeted on topics which were clearly related to the objectives of the EuropeanYear, such as the loss of voting right for a citizen residing in another European country. Meanwhile, she took hold ofthe keyword #EUdeb8 (deb8 being the modern version of debate), which was associated to the great debate aboutthe future of Europe the Commission wished for. When comparing the use of these two keywords by Viviane Redingin 2013, it is interesting to point out that after 10 occurrences in the rst semester of 2013, the keyword #eyc2013 wasnever used in the second semester, whereas since its rst appearance in online communication in February, #EUdeb8was used over 50 times in the second semester of the year.

More generally speaking, it is also remarkable, when simply typing European Year of Citizens in any search engine,how this Year was ignored (or neglected) by the European political class. Indeed, very few Members of Parliament orCommissioners used it to tackle the issue of the place of citizens in European democratic life (for example) a fewmonths before the European elections ; one could almost speak of a missed opportunity.

The debate about the future of the Union is certainly too important to be limited to the European year of citizens, butit could have been used to show the openness of public authorities towards those they are suppose to serve. But thiswould imply more coherence than what has been observed when looking closely at the political implementation and

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appropriation of the European Year of Citizens. Fortunately, too few European citizens were interested in the contra-dictions of the European Year to harm the European Union, which does not need this for that matter.

All of those who could not neglect an opportunity to speak about European citizenship used the European Year toraise citizens awareness of the European project and the role they take in it. But all the same, the bitter taste due tothe lack of involvement of the very leaders who insisted on the necessity to open a wide debate about the future ofEurope is still present Bitter is the knowledge one gains from voyaging ! once wrote the poet. And he went on:Must one depart ? Remain ? If you can stay, remain. And remain active, one could add.

David Lopez, Ligue de lenseignement, member of the European Civic Forum

EU citizenship : crossing perspectives

2013 has not only been the European Year of Citizens ;it has also been the Year when the European Union wel-comed its 28 th member : Croatia. On July 8 th 2013, 150European citizens from 30 European countries gatheredby EYCA in Zagreb, capital city of EU new member,exchanged views and experiences in a European confe-rence entitled : EU citizenship : Crossing perspectives.The event was supported by the European Commissionand the French Embassy in Croatia.

In Croatia, in the Balkans, as much as in the rest ofEurope, the current context urges us to re ect on themeaning of the European project and on the role we,as citizens, can play in it. Confronting views, re ectingin hindsight and moving towards a truly citizen-basedEuropean project : those were the aims of this day.

To paraphrase the Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci, wecould summarise the days discussions as an expres-sion of the pessimism of intelligence and the optimismof will. Many speakers agreed upon the bleakness ofthe recent developments and the perspectives of theEuropean Union. In the meantime, many citizens, orga-nisations and movements tend to think that the Euro-pean idea, the idea of a project based upon solidarity,openness and participation, is (well) alive but suchmovements too often face decision-makers for whomcriticisms mean refusals.

As expressed by Marina Blagojevi, a Serbian acade -mic, Europe looks better in dreams and in visions,and this is why civil society should keep defending itsvision of Europe. She added that we need to build avision to be able to move forward, and a vision can onlybe a collective project, not an individual one. Citizens,movements and NGOs can really build up this collectivevision. This is precisely what EYCA has done throu-ghout the European Year 2013.

Read the extensive summary of the discussions whichtook place during this event in English, French andCroatian on www.ey2013-alliance.eu

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The year 2013, the European year of citizens, is about to end. During this di cult year the European democraticambition was too often violated. In this respect, the example of France sadly speaks for itself, as over the lastmonths equality between citizens has been questioned, xenophobic and racist discourses are no longer tabooand openness to others has declined.

All these attacks against democracy in France and in Europe show how all of the players defending democracy,including organisations, should get involved and mobilised.

Therefore, in the French context, the Alliance for the European Year of Citizens essentially focused on promoting thecontribution of organisations to democratic life. With this aim in mind, the actions and the work of the Alliance-Francewere based on three main areas : contribution to working groups at the European level and duplication of these groupsin France, labelling events highlighting commitment, participation to democratic life and citizenship, and nally, orga -nisation of common events.

More Europe in the actions of French organisations As Nadia Bellaoui, president of the Confrence Permanente des Coordinations Associatives (CPCA, representingorganisations at the national level), coordinating EYCA-France, reminds it, on the occasion of the Vilnius closingceremony of the European Year, the European Alliance will present a series of concrete propositions to ensure thatthe European citizenship is high on the political agenda. This contribution from the civil society to the European publicdebate is a major symbol for the Alliance-France.

The Alliance-France has indeed chosen to focus its work and actions on organisations as a catalyst for active citizenship,at all levels (local, national, European). The members have oriented their work on the valorisation of associative dyna-mism in France in many di erent elds in order to promote recognition and interest from public authorities and thegeneral public towards actions which have been carried out by civil society about citizenship and democracy issuesexplains Marion Baby, deputy director of the organisation Civisme et Dmocratie (CIDEM, Civism and Democracy),which acts as executive secretariat of EYCA-France.

Marion Baby clari es the choice made by the Alliance-France : In order to promote the structuring of a strong demo -cratic and citizens life, while enabling the participation of all, it is necessary to focus on the action of organisations.Indeed, either thanks to the integration through sports, popular education, social work, environmental struggle etc.,this work is undeniably the medium of active citizenship and a broader involvement in society, and of the ability tobecome and be a citizen. These are aspects that the Alliance wanted to highlight all along this year of citizens, bylabelling a certain number of events and actions.

The Alliance-France also organised a video contest about the role of organisation in exercising citizenship in Franceand in Europe. The best projects will be broadcasted on December 5 th during an event organised in Paris for theInternational Volunteer Day.

EYCA-France :organisations asa catalyst foractive citizenship

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Moreover, as members of the Alliance came from various elds of activities, a broad and inclusive re ection on therole of civil society in strengthening democratic societies was carried out from the perspective of a stronger dialoguewith public authorities about these issues.

Communicate the French position about topics addressed by the EYCAThe Alliance-France wanted to follow up closely the work of the Alliance at the European level. It was therefore committedto contribute actively in each of the three working groups and take part in the drafting up political recommendations.

Marion Baby represented the Alliance-France in the working group Participatory Citizenship and Civil Dialogue andinsisted on the importance of civil dialogue and the necessity for national organisations to better take into accountof the European level in their activities and national claims : Nowadays, the question of structuring civil society andits contribution to a more democratic and inclusive society cannot be addressed without considering the Europeanlevel. The question of citizenship has also to be tackled at this larger scale. This citizenship is both new and emergingand it should be understood and grasped by the largest number of people. It is indeed essential to take over this newarea of citizenship and to take part in it, in order to promote a strong and democratic European public space. Thisnew space is not to be opposed to the local or national space ; it is rather complementary for an active citizenship forall at all levels.

Ursula Sera n, director of the Maison de lEurope (House of Europe) in Paris, represented the Alliance-France in theworking group called Economic, Social, and Political Citizenship : a coherent whole. She describes the work of thesegroups: Three topics were discussed by the members of thegroup : the social dimension of the Europe 2020 strategy, activeinclusion which includes social rights and responsibilities, non-discrimination and equal treatment. The awareness of activecitizenship notably requires exchanges between all Europeansand a debate about European issues. Ursula also underlinesthe interest of the transversal, transnational and multi-level pro-cess of EYCA : The contributions of experts consulted by thegroup, and those of participants (Germans, Finnish, Cypriots,French, Slovenes, Latvians, British) enabled a comparisonbetween realities on the eld and European objectives. Theanalysis of various national approaches on topics such as ghtagainst poverty or discrimination was an opportunity to enligh-ten both the di erences and the common values between theFrench and other Europeans. Learning how to live togetherwithin a multinational working group like ours helps developingEuropean citizenship.

Clmentine Lafort, in charge of international relations at theorganisation Itinraire International, represented the Alliance-France in the working group An inclusive citizenship for allEU residents. She explains that this group worked on thespeci c approach which endeavours to include all Europeancitizens in the most important topics of citizenship: right tovote, right to take part to the dialogue between the EuropeanUnion and the citizens, freedom of movement. This last theme,freedom of movement for all citizens and access of all to mobi-lity programmes, was the most discussed topic in France.

Many of the recommendations developed in the frame of theEYC2013 Alliance are intended for national leaders, as memberStates are often reluctant to implement community directives.The Alliance-France is aware of the importance of carryingon the mobilization so that these propositions are heard, andfeed into the debates during the upcoming European electioncampaign says Nadia Bellaoui. This European year may notend on December 31 st .

Spain : the Year of assaults to Citizenship

Active citizenship was quite challenged, to say theleast, in Spain during this so called European Year ofCitizens. EYCA Spain ( nd them here: http://ey2013-alliance.eu/spanish-alliance/) was mainly involved in

ghting against these assaults to the exercise of ci -tizenship.

First against an educational reform proposed by thegovernment which includes the elimination of the Edu-cation for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights inprimary, secondary, and baccalaureate programs. Thisproposal deviates from several European decisions andtexts and gathered against it a strong movement ofprotestation, notably from civil society organisations.Through EYCA, Spanish NGOs could raise awarenessof their European colleagues and involve them in theadvocacy campaign (petition to the Council of Europe,letter to the Spanish Minister of Education, etc.) and theSpanish organisations were received at the Parliamentto express their views on this topic. The law has notyet been approved and civil society organisations willcontinue to oppose it in Spain and to ght such trendsin other EU countries.

The second one is linked to the June 2013 Public Administration Reform which includes the closure ofthe Youth Council of Spain (CJE), a Member of EYCA-Spain, with the aim to replace it by an advisory bodyof youth associations. Demonstrations and acts ofsupport are being organised to save the CJE, the onlypublic agency which serves as a channel for youth par-ticipation and that has been representing and defendingSpanish youth for the past 30 years. Active and creativesupport campaigns to the CJE have been launched byyouth organisations and relayed at the European level.Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament,has shared his concern with Prime Minister MarianoRajoy.

As can be seen from these examples, the EYC 2013in Spain was actually marked by serious threats to theexercise of citizenship but civil society showed its res-ponsiveness and ability to mobilise at the Europeanlevel.

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Coordinated by : David Lopez, Alexandrina Najmowicz et Anne-Charlotte OriolTranslation : Eve-Laure GayPublishing : communication department of La Ligue de lenseignementPhoto credits : Benot Debuisser (couverture) Culture Action Europe (pp. 2, 6, 8) CC BY-SA Sebastiaan ter Burg (p. 4) EYCA (p. 10)

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Rebuilding the equality, solidarity and democracy agenda within the European project