The year 2013 was proclaimed as the European Year of
the Citizens by the European Commission. It is an initiative focusing on the rights that come with
EU citizenship.
Over this year, dialogue between all levels of government, civil
society and business was encouraged at events and conferences around Europe.
The purpose was to discuss those EU rights and build a vision of how the EU
should be in 2020. (europa.eu)
The launching of this initiative
took place in Dublin last January, as the country was holding the EU Council
Presidency, but the closing conference took place in Vilnius Lithuania, as part
of the Baltic country’s presidency, between the 12th and 13th of December 2013.
Around 350 participants participated from various EU
NGOs, governmental and European institutions. On Lithuania’s initiative,
several representatives of the EU Eastern Partnership countries’ NGO sector also
participated, as well as a number of bloggers. I was very honored to be one of
those invited by the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council. (EU2013LT)
Lithuania has a historic tradition with its citizen
journalism, today’s blogging, and the samizdats that were being published
during the country’s struggles for independence from the Soviet Union. Like the
"Sąjūdis News" (Lithuanian: Sąjūdžio žinios) written by a group of reformist,
pro-democracy and independence activists. (Wikipedia)
It is heartening that a
group of bloggers from across Europe were also invited and included in the
conference, though I believe that such incidents should become more often from
now on. Europe has a number of very competent bloggers that like the Sąjūdis
can influence the European political reality, given the chance.
The main topics of
discussion were how to rebuilt Europe “from the bottom up,” discussing the role
and future of civil society organisations in building Europe’s future, focusing
on the upcoming European elections in 2014 and how we can we boost citizen’s
participation in them. But also fostering EU citizens’ rights and finding new
ways for citizens to influence European policy makers.
There have been many key speakers in the conference,
like the European Commission’s Vice-President Viviane Reding, Lithuania’s Prime
Minister Algirdas Butkevicius, Minister of Justice of
Lithuania Juozas Bernatonis and Emily O’Reilly the European Ombudsman.
From the start of the conference the discussions
were focused on how to encourage us all to be active citizens, creating a “Union
of the People”. Raising awareness on our EU citizens’ rights was one of the
most discussed topics, as well as the effect that the economic crisis had on
how citizens view the EU institutions and how we can restore faith to them.
“The attitudes of the people can change, if people
feel that their concerns are heard,” stated Ylva Tiveus, Director “Citizens”,
from the Directorate General for Communication of the EU Commission.
Involvement of the citizens in the decision making
process, especially that of the younger generation by teaching them about the
functioning of EU institutions and reviewing the treaties was proposed by some
participants.
Europe should build a bridge between civil society
and EU institutions. Especially since 50% of the citizens believe that they can
make a change on EU level, if they are given the opportunity. The EU must come
closer to its citizens and for this to happen, their voices must be heard in
Brussels.
Europe should focus on promoting its identity and
promoting active citizenship in all local communities and the cooperation of
various NGOs between EU states. It should secure the rights of citizens residing
in another EU member state and those of minorities, eliminate poverty and give
special care to the most vulnerable, in order to eliminate inequalities.
European culture should be used as a way to unite
people, while citizen mobility and engaging in volunteering will also
contribute to the creation of a more active European citizenship.
Because of the crisis the European population does
not feel ownership of the EU project. For this the lack of synchronization
between national institutions and organizations is to blame and all states must
cooperate intensively to solve such issues.
Mr. Vytautas Landsbergis, former Head of State of
Lithuania, mentioned that we should be concentrating on the significance of
being in the EU, while understand what it means to be a citizen. Citizenship
should not just be on our passports, but we should practice “responsible
engagement”.
We should be proud of Europe plus its cultural
richness and contribute to it. The Vice-President of the EU Commission Mrs Reding
also supported this idea and proposed that every year from now on, should be dedicated
on the citizens.
Mrs Reding stated that the lack of information and
complacency are the greatest challenges that Europe has to overcome, in order
to achieve its goals. The European Year of Citizens changed the way politicians
connect to citizens and for the first time in 2013, people had the chance to
confront their politicians.
The European elections in 2014 will act as a “moment
of truth” for the citizens’ participation in the continent's politics. In these
elections, the citizens will be asked what kind of Europe they want and
their answer will shape the EU.
The European Ombudsman Mrs O’Reilly added to Mrs
Reding’s comments by expressing that EU citizenship does not replace our
national one. Active citizenship is in decline both on European and national
level and that clearly states that the crisis in our continent is not just
economic, but a social one as well.
The EU Ombudsman receives many complaints from
citizens on the lack of transparency in EU institutions. That reveals the
extent of the damage of the image of EU in the citizens’ appreciation, but also
their will to participate and get involved.
“The EU is a work in progress, but its achievements
must not be forgotten,” stated Mrs O’Reilly.
The civic society is very important in creating
active citizenship and the internet is one of the tools for citizen expression
between elections, engaging voters in debates on EU, European and national
related issues.
It is crucial to have the European civic society
getting organized through the various portals on the internet, just as we are
experiencing now days in the Ukrainian protests. In this way, we can
counterweight the various businesses lobbyists that promote their interests in
a European level.
The internet can help to organize and mobilize people,
but it is only a first step towards a functioning new democratic model for
Europe. We still need political parties and a government to achieve such goal.
Education programs in schools must also play a role
in educating and informing our youths on their rights as citizens, but also
focus on creating a European identity.
The debates continued over the two days of the
conference, giving an opportunity to every participant in expressing their
views. Most of us bloggers admitted that such ideas were for long circulating
in Europe’s social media and such ideas are not something new.
The question is if this time the EU Commission and
our governments will uphold their promises and materialize the plans that for
years us bloggers, but also NGOs and European Think-Tanks were debating on.