4.1. EM Belgium
‘Europe Day’
The European Movement Belgium celebrated the Europe Day and the open doors day of the European Institutions in Brussels, that was held on Saturday 5 May. The most important goal for the EMB at this day is to inform the many visitors about the European Movement, but also to share ideas and thoughts about Europe with the public. The EMB presented a wide range of activities which offered a playful and original way to communicate about Europe. Watch some of the photos on our website www.mouvement-européen.be . This year the EMB had a special stand with a WEBMATON, where people were asked some questions about Europe. All the answers and reactions were recorded by camera.
You can have a look at these films here.
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‘european debate contest’
Also on the 5th of May, the European Movement Belgium organised a big European Debate Contest between students from flemish high schools. This debate contest is a brand new activity of the EMB, and was a real success. The contest formed an interactive and playful way for young pupils to participate at the festivities for 50 years of European Integration. The students debated about the European agriculture politics, a European army, the advantages and disadvantages of a common migration policy, Turkey and the EU, etc. The members of the jury were Anne van Lancker (MEP), Ivo Belet (MEP), Lieven Tack (cabinet of Minister Bourgeois) and Patrick van den Bossche (secretary-general EMB). The debate was moderated by VRT-journalist Elisabeth Lannoo. “We’ve seen a lot of talented people today who are all potential new MEP’s”, the jury said afterwards.
You can see the pictures at the site www.mouvement-européen.be
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4.2. EM United Kingdom
The EM in the United Kingdom has just completed an important phase of restructuring. Changes in financial support meant we could no longer rely on a strong central office with professional staff but instead required a new structure which put volunteers, particularly from the branches, at the centre of the organisation. Following recommendations from a special Task Force which worked hard during the second half of 2006, a new constitution was adopted last November - one vote short of unanimously - to create a new National Executive alongside a stronger National Council.
Elections were held in the New Year for the National Council and subsequently for the National Executive. Peter LUFF was elected Chairman, supported by Veronica STIASTNY and Stephen WOODARD as Vice-Chairmen, Robert MORELAND as Treasurer, Richard LAMING as Secretary, and Alan BULLION as Branches Chairman. You can see all related changes here.
Speak up Europe update
The past two months have been busy for EM-UK during which the key priority has been the 'Speak Up Europe' campaign with events in Devon and London with more planned for Surrey and Leeds. Unfortunately Margaret DALY, who worked so hard to design and implement the UK contribution to the project, has had to relinquish her role as UK coordinator due to health reasons. In recognition of her great work in driving the project forward she will become President of the Speak Up Europe campaign in the UK. Richard WASSELL, a highly experienced activist in the EM-UK, now takes on the role of coordinator.
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4.3. EM Denmark
9 May, Europe Day
In Denmark Europe Day was celebrated in the streets of seven larger cities. Politicians and active members handed out EU-cake and participated in conversation on EU-topics with interested by passers. In all cities people had the opportunity to test their knowledge on the EU in a quiz and win the prize of two flight tickets to Brussels sponsored by Brussels Airlines. As usual we asked all local municipalities to flag with the EU-flag on 9 May and as many as 45 of 98 chose to do so. For the first time also the busses in Copenhagen had an EU-flag on the roof. As European of the year we announced the former Foreign Minister of Germany Joschka Fischer who kindly accepted to receive the prize at a reception in Denmark on 30 August.
Celebration of the Treaty of Rome
As a part of Speak up Europe campaign and a as contribution to the 50 year birthday of the Rome Treaty the Danish European Movement had organised a party on 26 May. Pub-quiz, champagne, birthday cake, cheerleaders and a very good band made the evening unforgettable for the 200 party-participants. The evening was filmed and the participants asked of their opinion on various EU-matters. This will be edited to a TV “Youth Documentary”.
Contact: Rina Valeur Rasmussen
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4.4. EM Armenia
President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia receives the European of the year award
On May 4 Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia received the members of the European movement of Armenia. He again expressed gratitude to the organization for awarding him the prize - the best European of the Year, which is not only for his personal activity, but it is also the estimation of the work, which has been done in the direction of the European integration over a long period of time. Armenia became the member of the Council of Europe from 2001 and the practical steps of the Euro integration began from that time.
[more]
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4.5. EM Sweden
At a ceremony in Stockholm on the 9th of May, mrs. Anita Gradin, Swedens first member
of the European Commission, was given the award "European of the year in
Sweden 2007".
The award was handed over by Johnny Bröndt, president of
European Movement in Sweden, in the presence of Margot Wallström and Cecilia
Malmström.
Contact: Johnny Bröndt
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4.6. EM Azerbaijan
From 7th until the 10th of May the European Movement in Azerbaijan (AEM) held several meetings on the occasion of the “Europe Day” in the country.
Firstly the representatives of the AEM met with the students from 4 universities and informed they about EMI, european structures and institutes.
After the students was informed about Europe Day in other countries.
In the middle of the day AEM held the round table and discussed about the youth role in the integration of Azerbaijan to Europe. The representatives of European embassies, local youth organization, movements, political parties participated in the meeting amd discussed about the joint seminars, meetings companies. They also discussed related problems and ways to overcome them.
On the 9th of May AEM broadcasted information by radio "Freedom". AEM also met with youth organizations in Gyanja, Guba, Lenkeran, Barda, Mingachevir.
Contact: Ilaha Aliyeva
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4.7. EM Romania
Recent short news from EM Romania
1. On June 5, 2007, the president of the Environment Commission of the
European Movement from Romania, Univ.Prof.Angheluta VADINEANU
participated, with the occasion of the Global Environment Day to the
talk-show on air that took place at the national channel "Antenna 2"
together with Lucia VARGA,the State Secretary from the Environment
Minister.
2. The European Movement from Romania created the Environment Commission
with Univ. Prof. Angheluta VADINEANU as president. We are looking forward
to collaborating with other similar commissions. Nevertheless, the
European Movement from Romania enriched its proffessional team with two
more commissions - the Commission for Human Rights led by Remus CERNEA and
the Commission for Agriculture led by Stefan NICOLAE.
3. The AGROSTAR Union of Syndicates which contains over 150 syndicates
from agriculture with over 30000 members became the honourable member of
the European Movement from Romania. We hope to have a successul
collaboration together.
4. On June 13, the European Movement from Romania will take part to the "Economic Impact of the Climate Changes" Conference sustained by Mr.
Dimitri ZENGHELIS, economic counselor of the British Government together
with Ms. Dumitra MEREUTA, Manager of the Climate Changes in the Minister
of Environment and Long-Term Development.The conference will be opened by
Mr. Nicolae Idu, General Manager of the European Institute from Romania
and His Excellence, Mr. Barnett, Great Britain Ambasador in Romania.
Contact: Cristina STRATULAT
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4.8. EM Finland
Europe Day 9th of May
EM Finland together with its local branches held Europe Day events in 17 cities. The main national event was this year in the city of Turku. In Helsinki the celebrations were organized together with the city’s Eurovision song contest organization as the song contest took place during the same week in Helsinki. Among the festivities in different cities were European cultural programme and seminars. Photos and reports of the events in different cities will soon be published on our Europe Day website.
Fighting the climate change: European Energy Policy seminar
EM Finland organized in cooperation with the Finnish social partners a seminar on European energy policy and the climate change on June 1st in Helsinki. Keynote speakers were Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen. Photos and speeches of the event are on our webpage.
New local branch in Brussels
EM Finland will establish its 15th local branch, this time in Brussels. The constitutive meeting will be held on Tuesday June 12th in the Anna Lindh room of the European Parliament. More information is on our webpage .
De-bfriefings
EM Finland starts to hold debriefings directly after major EU summits. Our partner for the debriefings is the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. First of these debriefings will take place on Monday morning June 25th directly after the EU summit in Brussels. Politicians and officials involved in the summits will be invited to these events to discuss about their fresh experiences and views on the results of the summits. Participating in the first debriefing is among others Under-Secretary of State for EU Affairs, Mr Jari Luoto. More information on the event is on our webpage.
New member
The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) has joined the EM Finland as a corporate member. We expect the number of our corporate members to rise even further in the near future. Traditionally EM Finland’s corporate members have already included inter alia all the major social partners in Finland.
Contact: Mikael von Rabenau
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4.9. EM Serbia
Projects
Connecting Young Leaders in the Region Internet forum has started on Monday, 28th of May. This forum is a part of activities within project Connecting Young Leaders in the Region which is implemented by European Movement in Serbia and supported by National Endowment for Democracy. Young people of pro-European and pro-democratic parties from Serbia (including Kosovo), Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina will have a chance to discuss on three issues: European integration, regional cooperation and inter-party cooperation. Participants of CYLR forum will have a chance to meet and to continue their debates within seminars which will be organized during this summer. They will be offered useful lectures and workshops by eminent experts.
The first presentation of the „Manual for the Instruments for Pre-Accession assistance (IPA 2007-2013)“, within the EMinS campaign organized in order to inform the public about the new financial instruments for the pre-accession assistance of the EU, was held on May 17th 2007 in Banat regional center Zrenjanin. The presentation is the first one out of 10 scheduled for the following months and it gathered representatives of the local governments and civil society of the region.
More about the project here.
News
Association of the South-east European NGOs-CIVIS was launched on June 4th 2007, upon the initiative of the European Movement in Serbia and Foundation for Peace and Crisis Resolution. This initiative should, first of all, provide the contact with the Conference of international NGOs within the Council of Europe (OING), but it will also be a place of volunteer associating of the NGOs from the SEE region. Thus, it would be possible to organize joint thematic discussions and events, initiate joint projects and start common initiatives towards, not only CoE, but also towards the Parliaments and governments of these countries. CIVIS will immediately offer membership to the NGOs in the region but also to the existing associations and movements.
Contact: Maja Bobic
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4.10. EM Switzerland
Simulation of Switzerland as EU member
Switzerland is subject to the EU legislation. Despite the fact that the country is not a member state, it adopts most EU policies and conforms its legislation to the acquis communautaire. But, compared to EU member states, Switzerland has no say in the decision process.
From a democratic point of view, this situation undermines the Swiss democracy. Therefore, EM Switzerland has launched the project active-member.EU which simulates the Swiss representation in the EU institutions. The projects aims to show to the Swiss population that it matters to have a say on the decisions taken in Brussels. In order to do so, EM Switzerland has summoned 18 members of the Swiss parliament who have taken one of the virtual seats in the European Parliament. In the future, they will comment legislative projects within the EU institutions in the way they would do as actual MEP. The Swiss representatives to the other institutions, e.g. the Swiss commissioner, will be appointed later.
For more information, see the website: www.aktiv-mitglied.eu (in German), www.membre-actif.eu (in French).
Contact: Ronald Abegglen
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4.11. JEF
Join European Vibes!
The Young European Federalists (JEF Europe) are inviting you, dear young European, to share your impressions and perceptions of what Europe was, is and continues to be in the new project European Vibes!
You are encouraged to think about where we touch upon the effects of an ever more closely united and connected continent in our daily lives and especially in your daily life. Please speak out about what you like and about what you don't like in Europe today. Let's talk about the values and ideas behind Europe, the tones that make up the European chord. What vibes are there? What vibes do we want? What's the melody that is supposed to guide Europe tomorrow? That's the europeanvibes we're looking for and that's what you can contribute on the europeanvibes website WWW.EUROPEAN-VIBES.EU!
An exhange platform and a competition interface at the same time, the europeanvibes website is an exciting place to be. Join the crowd by opening an account and express yourself with photo, video and audio contents that you can upload on your profile. But europeanvibes isn't a one-way street: have a look at the contributions of others, comment them, rate them and get inspired. Start a dialogue with someone you don't know and start creating a network of friends who share our excitement about a united Europe!
Your effort to care about the future of Europe is appreciated...Not only your contribution will be visible to all visitors of the
europeanvibes platform but all submissions entered before 20 July 2007 will further be considered for the selection of the europeanvibes exhibition, which will tour the European Union in autumn 2007. The winners of the first prize will be travelling to Copenhagen for the closing of the exhibition tour in October, while many other interesting prizes await the runners up!
For more information on the project and related events and of course to contribute yourself please visit WWW.EUROPEAN-VIBES.EU
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JEF-Europe sends 6-point-strong open demand letter to Merkel and European leaders
JEF-Europe Press Release – 13.06.2007
Young people expect more from Europe: Today the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe) are sending a demand letter to Chancellor Merkel, all European governments, the Commission President, the European Parliament President and the sherpas (those known) to ask them not to castrate the European Constitution. On 16 June, their demands will be backed up by a pan-European action in support of a European referendum.
JEF Europe's president, Jan Seifert, firmly rejected the idea of a mini-compromise. “If anything in the Constitution must be changed, then it is that we need supplementary articles creating closer integration to solve pressing challenges like immigration, energy security and climate change.”
The JEF President continued: “Young people in Europe are tired of governments sacrificing the Constitution in domestic political games. After decades of patchwork, we finally got a Constitution that provides more democratic and efficient institutions, codified fundamental rights and a framework understandable to the citizens. Why boil the balanced compromise from the Convention down to nothing?” Seifert asked the governments. [more]
Read: Open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel
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4.12. ELDR
European Liberal Democrats are shocked by the violence against peaceful demonstrators in favour of gay rights in Moscow
European Liberal Democrat MEP Marco Cappato was detained by police on 27th May in Russia’s capital, Moscow, as, together with his colleague MEP Sophie In't Veld (D66, Netherlands), he tried to present a letter signed by 40 MEPs from 15 countries and 5 different political groups to Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, protesting against his renewed ban of the Moscow Gay Pride Parade and intolerance towards homosexual people in Russia.
The European Liberal Democrats condemn the Moscow authorities and police for failing to protect peaceful demonstrators from attacks by extremist anti-homosexual groups and for arresting peaceful gay and lesbian rights activists.
“Peaceful demonstrators should be able to demonstrate. Russia, as a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, has a responsibility to allow the right to peaceful protest.”
“European Liberals are fully committed to eliminate discrimination and harassment for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. We will keep on campaigning for European values that we can be proud of and that includes giving equal opportunities to the LGBT community”, said Annemie Neyts, European Liberal Democrat and Reform (ELDR) Party President.
Link.
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Liberal Success in Bulgarian Elections
The liberals have led a successful campaign in Bulgaria’s first European elections, which took place on 20th May, where more than 200 candidates were campaigning for the 18 MEP positions available. Despite a rather disappointing turnout of around 30%, ELDR member parties, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and the National Movement of Simeon II (NMSII) earned a total of 5 seats in the European Parliament.
ELDR Party President Annemie Neyts offered her congratulations to the two liberal parties noting the results emphasise that liberals are seen as leaders on the European stage and in representing Bulgaria in the European Parliament. Commenting on the elections, Mrs Neyts stated “these elections are a significant step in the integration of Bulgaria into the EU and represent an important victory for liberalism in Bulgaria and across the Union.”
Link.
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4.13. ELEC
On June 1st the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC)held its Enlarged Central Council meeting in Vienna, hosted by its Austrian and Liechtenstein sections and attended by delegates from 11 countries, under the chairmanship of International President Anton van Rossum. Also in attendance were EMI's Secretary General Henrik Kröner and Bernard Snoy, Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities.
In addition to attending to regular ELEC business, the Central Council heard speeches by Gerhard Westdickenberg, German Ambassador in Austria, on "Priorities of the German-Portuguese-Slovenian trio presidency and assessment of the results achieved so far" and Klaus Liebscher, Governor of the Central Bank of Austria, on "EMU and globalization: chances and challenges", followed by a debate. It also discussed and adopted a resolution proposed by its Economic and Social Commission on "Economic nationalism or European patriotism?" and heard a progress report on its Cahier Comte Boël n° 13, an outcome of its Monetary Panel's activity, soon to be published and dealing with "Retail Banking in Europe".
On June 12 its Mediterranean Commission meets in Brussels and on June 19 ELEC organizes, jointly with Eur-Ifri and the European Economic and Social Committee, a symposium on EU-China relationship.
Contact: Anne BANDIN
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4.14. UEF
“The June 2007 roadmap- A new vision for the Project Europe”
On 9 May, the UEF organized a public debate in the Eastman Building of the European Parliament on the future of Europe in the perspective of the June 2007 European Council summit that will have to decide on a roadmap for a new EU Treaty.
The debate, that took place in the framework of the Speak up Europe debate series, featured a panel of experts assembled by the UEF. The panel was composed of two MEPs, Jens Peter BONDE (Independence / Democracy Group) and Ínigo MÉNDEZ de VIGO (European People’s Party) and a representative of the civil society Raymond Van ERMEN (Permanent Forum of Civil Society). The debate was moderated by UEF Secretary General, Friedhelm FRISCHENSCHLAGER and commented by Simon TAYLOR (Senior Political Reporter of European Voice).
To read the full article, please click here:
http://www.federaleurope.org/index.php?id=5923
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Brussels section of Europa-Union Deutschland
On 14 June 2007 the Europa-Union Deutschland (German section of the UEF) inaugurated its Brussels branch.
The aim of the EUD Brussels section is to act as a link between Brussels and Berlin, where the main office of the EUD is located. Thanks to their professional expertise, the members of EUD Brussels can provide the national section with first-hand information and contacts in the European institutions. Furthermore, the new section intends to take care of German visitors groups and to thus bring Brussels closer to citizens from all parts of Germany, all political groups and all confessions. Last but not least, EUD Brussels will hold especially close ties with all German interns in Brussels who will go back to their home towns with a “suitcase full of Europe” which will be of great interest to their local EUD section. EUD Brussels intends to cooperate with the UEF Secretariat and UEF Belgium.
The event took place in the representation of the Land of Baden-Württemberg (Rue Belliard 60-62, 1040 Brussels) opened by Mr. Peter Altmaier MP, Parliamentary Secretary of State, Federal Ministry of the Interior and President of Europa-Union Deutschland.
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UEF Public debate:
“The EU and Russia - uncomfortable neighbours or strategic partners?”
27th June 2007, European Parliament
This panel debate is organised as part of the Speak up Europe - series by the Union of European Federalists and takes place on 27 June 2007 in the Eastman Building of the European Parliament.
We would like to highlight the burning issues of EU-Russia relations, such as energy policy, human rights, international affairs or bilateral disagreements (for example Soviet war memorial in Tallinn and border dispute with Estonia…). How can Europe on the one hand urge Russia to obey to “Western” standards in legal and economic terms, while it must on the other hand maintain good relations due to its dependence on energy supply?
Two members of the European Parliament with present their opposing views on the issue. The debate will be critically commented by a journalist. More information will be available on the UEF website shortly at: www.federaleurope.org
The debate is scheduled to start at 18:00 and end at 19:15, followed by a small cocktail reception.
Venue:
Eastman Building
Rue Belliard 135 (Parc Leopold)
1040 Brussels
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