On 11 August 2011, the European Commission proposed 2013 as the “European Year of Citizens” to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the European Union Citizenship under the Maastricht Treaty in 1993.
European civil society organizations and networks, members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) Liaison Group have created a civil society Alliance aiming to advocate on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for a broader understanding of European citizenship within the proposal to designate 2013 the European Year of Citizens.
For a long time, we have been advocating for citizenship to become a transversal dimension of European policies. This proposal is an important step forward in the building of a citizen-friendly European Union that would no longer be reduced to merely economic preoccupations. Nevertheless, we are deeply concerned that, in the framework of the European Year of Citizens 2013, the EU citizenship tends to be confined to an individual rights-based approach and does not tackle the
Europeans’ sense of belonging to the common European Union.
Considering that the main objective of Commission’s proposal to designate 2013 as the “European Year of Citizens” is to raise awareness on union citizens’ rights, with a view to facilitating the exercise of the right of free movement and residence, AEGEE-Europe together with the other members of the Alliance ask the European Parliament:
- to broaden the focus of the European Year 2013 and give European citizenship its full meaning and scope by taking into account the new prospects opened up by article 11 of the treaty on the European Union for citizens’ participation in the democratic life of the European Union.
- to ensure that the preparation and implementation of the European Year 2013 is given appropriate financial means, since the current budget proposal of one million euro would only allow for top-down communication measures and not for tangible actions and does not foresee co-financing for citizens’ and civil society organizations’ initiatives;
- to call on the Commission to closely involve civil society organizations in the preparation and the implementation of the 2013 European Year, since they have a key role to play in carrying forward the European project so that it fully meets the expectations of its citizens.
Since the very beginning AEGEE-Europe has been involved in the creation of the alliance. The European Civil Forum (where we are also board members) is taking the lead of this alliance for 2013.
In the next few months, several Working Groups will be created on the themes of: Participatory citizenship and civil dialogue in the context of crisis, economic social and political citizenship, and citizenship for non EU residents and their mobility (Roma people).
On the 10th of September 2012 AEGEE-Europe was represented by its Secretary General Lucille Rieux and President Luis Alvarado Martinez.
The Comité Directeur is researching all the different ways of getting the AEGEE network involved in this alliance. In the following months you might receive emails from CD asking you to get involved on the different national coalitions, asking you to help translate the manifesto to different languages, participate in international projects etc.
So stay tuned with the European Year of Citizens´Alliance 2013!
Written by Luis Alvarado Martinez, President of AEGEE-Europe and member of AEGEE-Las Palmas