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Table of Contents
I. ECAS IN GENERAL The 20TH anniversary of ECAS . The Board of Directors and General Assembly . II. MAIN ACTIVITIES IN 2011 Creation of the European civil society house . C1 CIVIL SOCIETY C2 CITIZENS RIGHTS C3 CITIZENSHIP AND GOVERNANCE Annex 1 Organigram . Annex 2 - Financial results and report of the auditor Annex 3 - Meetings and events in 2011 .. Annex 4 - List of ECAS Members ..... 8 9 9 10 12 13 15 19 5 6
I. ECAS IN GENERAL
The 20TH anniversary of ECAS
In 2011 ECAS celebrated its 20th anniversary with a series of events from 31 August to 2 September bringing together 300 participants: EU policy-makers, members and guests. It was exactly 20 years on from the first European citizens week of conferences also hosted by the European economic and social committee. A special publication - 20 achievements in 20 years showed that ECAS has much to its credit. Firstly, from the citizens week and other events, several new European associations or networks sprang. At ECAS, we can take some of the credit for the strengthening of civil society round the EU, even though there is still an undemocratic imbalance between public interest and commercial lobbying. In the future, the creation of the European civil society house, ECAS flagship project, may make the difference. Secondly, with its hotlines and reaching out to citizens advice services, ECAS pioneered the idea of a European public sphere. In the early years, it was questionable that a European advice service could serve both associations and individuals. Now in the age of social media, the term civil society covers both, and this non-hierarchical openness is one of ECAS strengths. Thirdly, ECAS has advocated corresponding reforms in the EU Institutions to become more open to citizens concerns: creation of a general anti-discrimination clause in the EU Treaties, better access to information and consultation standards, better enforcement of European rights. In the future, what is needed is a more critical mass of citizens using complaints, access to documents rules, petitions, requests to the European ombudsman and citizens initiatives to drive forward the reform agenda. For that, ECAS should keep up the idea of a European citizenship more clearly defined based on a right to be informed. The 20th anniversary was also an opportunity to update descriptions of ECAS and its services and offer training on EU affairs to members. A range of updated or new publications was also produced: A new publication analysed the future of the EU budget on the basis of the Commissions financial perspectives 2014-2020 and contained tips for the would-be European fundraiser ECAS well-known 12 tips for the would-be European lobbyist were up-dated A training kit for would-be organisers of European citizens initiatives was produced
The full package of material and reports for the 20th anniversary are a useful toolkit for any association or citizens movement working out a European Strategy (http://www.ecascitizens.eu/content/view/400/1/).
HERMANNS
Angelina
Belgium United Kingdom Bulgaria Belgium Croatia Belgium Belgium Belgium Belgium
Former Director General for regional policy Open Society Institute - Sofia University of Liege National Foundation for Civil Society Development Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe. ECAS Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Delegation of Saxony-Anhalt to the EU
At the end of the year, Meglena Kuneva, former member of the European Commission accepted to become honorary President and play an active role. 6
In the annexes to this report, there are some useful data about ECAS: Organigram of the staff (Annex 1) Financial results and report of the auditor (Annex 2) List of the main meetings (Annex 3) List of the members (Annex 4)
2011 was a good year for ECAS and an exceptionally active one with a high level of output. This was however against the background of the economic and Euro crisis absorbing the full attention of EU Institutions little inclined to engage with citizens or citizenship until some resolution or economic recovery is in sight.
The ECAS programme of activities follows 3Cs: civil society, citizens rights, citizenship and governance The main activities in 2011 are described under these headings.
C1 CIVIL SOCIETY
In our last annual report, we considered that the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty would have a positive effect on relations between the EU Institutions and civil society in terms of article 11 on participatory democracy. In reality, apart from European citizens initiatives, there were no moves and no visible political will to implement other aspects of this article. ECAS continued to update the research on framework agreements between civil society and public authorities in cooperation with ENNA (European network of national associations) which carried out a survey of its members. In the crisis and with cuts back home, the main interest of the non-profit sector lay in fundraising and European projects, since the EU budget represents a relatively safe haven. In our last annual report, we reported on the ECAS event during the open days for cities and regions where we brought together evidence from a survey by IQnet and Jan Olssons report for the economic and social committee showing that partnership with civil society on cohesion policy was not working or at best working unevenly across member states and should be strengthened. The recommendations in the working paper prepared by ECAS for open days were followed up in the Commissions consultations on the fifth cohesion report. As a result of this preparatory work and evidence accumulated from different sources, the Commission did strengthen partnership including civil society as an obligation on member states and undertook to produce a code of conduct. The proposed article 5 is an improvement in the new draft regulations for cohesion policy 2014-2020. The Commission also recognises that better access to the structural funds requires not just stronger application of partnership but also simplified financial instruments of the type pioneered by the Europe for citizens programme. Following several meetings and briefings by the Commission, ECAS prepared a first draft report on ways and means of involving citizens and civil society in the EU future cohesion policy. In 2010 we also reported on the setting up of the IMPACT office with ECAS to help prepare civil society organisations for Croatian Accession. Several two week traineeships were organised for Croatian CSOs and a group visited Brussels in May to learn more about the social fund.
C2 CITIZENS RIGHTS
The beginning of the year was marked by the response to the Commissions call for tender for the running of Your Europe Advice. In the face of competition, ECAS won the bid to run the service for a further four years, which was a tribute to the quality standards of the team of 60 legal experts and the management. In 2011 Antoine Fobe for the management team produced a particularly useful and extensive FAQ on European citizens rights to free movement. The service has new features with 9
more emphasis on outreach requiring experts to speak at events on free movement of persons organised by Commission delegations in member states or other organisations and offer more faceto-face advice. The year saw a sharp increase in the volume of questions to reach an all-time high of 14,000. There is much to be celebrated in a service where the quality, as well as quantity of questions is improving as citizens become aware of their rights. The deterioration in the economic situation is also leading however to more widespread barriers to free movement of people and violation of European rights. The challenge therefore is to find ways of following up more serious complaints which cannot be solved only by advice and onward referral to mechanisms such as SOLVIT. One answer is the one-stop shop created to start the European civil society house. A visible sign of the deterioration in the European climate was the pressures exerted by the French and Italian governments and the June European Council to extend the safeguard clause in Schengen. This would allow member states to reintroduce internal border controls as a measure of last resort, when an external border was seriously threatened by migratory pressures. ECAS expressed strong reservations about the lack of consultation on the Commission proposals. Schengen in trouble could well be a signal that member states may create or tolerate less visible barriers to free movement and not be held to account. In 2011 ECAS worked with the coalition for a visa free Europe and continued to follow up the hotline on visas in Turkey. However, the internal disputes over Schengen helped slow down the process of visa liberalisation.
collective European citizenship right to set the agenda. A publication was prepared Tips for the would-be organiser of an ECI on the basis of the lessons learned and as a start to a series of training sessions to be launched in 2012. ECAS even wrote a policy paper on social innovation as a basis for a possible future ECI demanding a framework law to clarify this concept.
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Annex 1 Organigram
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Delegation with Barka foundation meets Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament
16 March
Informal dialogue between CSOs and EU Institutions on European citizens initiatives (ECIs)
17 March
Study visit from National civil society development foundation (NCSDF) from Croatia on the social fund 15
ECI Summit organised by the Austrian Institute for European law and policy, Vienna
CEPS and other European think tanks meeting on the state of European democracy and preparation for ECIs, Rome
Speech on ECIs and workshop at the European civil society meeting, Budapest
Citizens panel on establishing the Bulgarian European civil society house, organised by OSI Sofia
18 June 18 June
2 July
Citizens panel, focusing on the role of the European ombudsman, Robert Schuman Foundation, Warsaw
11 July 31 August
Training session organised by the European trade unions confederation ECAS Board of Directors meeting starts the review and reception for 20 th anniversary of ECAS
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15 September 21 September
ECAS delegation visits CSDF and government office for civil society on Croatia accession and the social fund, Zagreb Presentation of a suggestion for a European citizens initiative at a conference on social innovation, Naples
YEA management team and legal experts attend single market forum, Krakow
Meeting with Gerald Hfner MEP on ECIs and European year of citizens in 2013
Meetings with Rowntree Charitable Trust in York and City Council representative in Manchester
24-26 October
Regional Conference on Reflections and Elaborations of IPA CSF Future Perspectives and TACSO2 planning, Prishtina
4 November
7 November
Meeting with Gov2U for the design and launch of the one-stop shop virtual house on European citizens rights
9 November
Open brainstorming meeting of the Board of Directors for the review Steering group for ECSH 17
10 November
Meeting with Commission Secretariat General (Mario Tenreiro and colleagues) on monitoring applications of ECI regime by member states
16 November
Briefing organised by DG regional policy with other DGs on the proposals for EU Cohesion policy 2014-2020
29 November
Speaker at workshop dialogue with non-governmental and religious/philosophical organisations, Austrian Institute for European law and policy
30 November
5-6 December
P2P Seminar, Functional systems for involving civil society in policy development and decision-making process, Shopje
ECAS general Assembly and meetings of working groups for the review
Hearing at Romanian Senate to launch Romani Kriss-ECAS, publications on Roma and hate speech
19 December
Seminar organised with civil society organisations for the year of volunteering by Europe House, Budapest
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HEALTH ACTION INTERNATIONAL (EUROPE) SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR PROGETTO SVILUPPO LIGURIA AGENCE NOUVELLE DES SOLIDARITES ACTIVES LAND SALZBURG TROCAIRE WOMEN ISSUES INFORMATION CENTRE INTERNATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER FOR CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS PACIFIC DIALOGUE CENTRO DI SERVIZI PER IL VOLONTARIATO DI PALERMO PLATFORM LONDON CHANNEL 4 BRITDOC FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL SPORT AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE UNIONS ACCESS INFO EUROPE SOS GLOBAL KYRKLUNDS CONSULTING INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE SCALABRINIENNE AU SERVICE DES MIGRANTS PARTNERAID INTERNATIONAL E.V. TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL LIAISON OFFICE TO THE EU THE GERMAN MARSHALL FUND MARRIAGE EQUALITY START STRONG NIOK FOUNDATION NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL OF SLOVENIA GENERAL RESEARCH SPAIN SL IOGT INTERNATIONAL U.E.M.S. EUROPEAN UNION OF MEDICAL SPECIALISTS THE JORDANIAN HASHEMITE FUND FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR CIVIL SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY - STRUGA EUROPEAN ORGANISATION OF MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS MDM CONSULTANCY DEUTSCHER JUGENDSCHUTZ-VERBAND (GERMAN ASSOCIATION FOR YOUTH PROTECTION) STICHTING NEDERLANDS EUROPEAN HOUSE MEDITERRANEAN INFORMATION OFFICE FOR ENVIRONMENT CULTURE AND SUSTENIBLE DEVELOPMENT COLE POLYTECHNIQUE FDRALE DE LAUSANNE MICHAL GRINBERG ENAME CENTER FOR PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY AND HERITAGE PRESENTATION BODOSSAKI FOUNDATION DUNDALK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY STINE BJORHOLM
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GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA - OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY LEGER DES HEILS ASSOCIATION FOR WOMENS HEALTH INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP - BETHLEHEM UNIVERSITY ALLIANCE ELIANT (EUROPEAN ALLIANCE OF INITIATIVES FOR APPLIED ANTHROPOSOPHY) LEPSTICHTING CIWI GMBH UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
SERBIA NETHERLANDS CROATIA ISRAEL BELGIUM NETHERLANDS GERMANY REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
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