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Press Release: December 7th, 2009

Contact:

Tony Venables

Britney Wehrfritz

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Tel : +32(0)2 548 98 21

European Civil Society House: One Step Forward

On December 4^th ECAS held the first open meeting for its ambitious European Civil Society House project. The meeting was held at Mundo B [1] in Brussels, an NGO house focused on sustainable development. Frederic Ancion of Ethical properties ltd. presented the facilities of the house, such as “the hive“(where workers share desk space), the common facilities, meeting room and reception area. Other examples were mentioned during the meeting, such as “the Hub” where social entrepreneurs meet to share new ideas and collaborate on various projects.

 

Tony Venables, ECAS Director, said NGO’s needed to follow in the footsteps of the environmental movement which is further ahead, and create a similar facility for associations in areas in which European activity is more recent such as civil liberties, active citizenship and participatory democracy.

ECAS spent its early years helping to set up new European associations- now the challenge is to bring them together to increase capacity and support by sharing facilities. Ideas and possible models for making the house as much virtual as real, and most importantly accessible from anywhere in the Union, were presented. Participants were enthusiastic about the possibilities and suggested that a virtual house could and should be set up as quickly as possible and realistically even before the actual building is established.

ECAS currently estimates the project will take three years. So far the idea of creating a European Civil Society House has received a reasonable amount of political support. An amendment by Jean Lambert MEP was accepted by the European Parliament’s Committees on constitutional affairs and Budgets during the negotiations for the 2010 budget, but without an amount attached. [2]

It is now up to NGOs to prove there is a need for this project and convince the European Parliament to put money on the new budget line accordingly.

ECAS would encourage a public-private partnership approach, since foundations are also becoming involved in creating a common space.

  The meeting was chaired by Monica Frassoni who said: “I think one aspect of this project follows an approach already tried and tested in many association houses. What is original here is the broad approach to civil society and that the help-desks for NGO’s whether virtual or face-to face could also be adapted to individual citizens”. 

  From her own experience in the European Parliament, Frassoni stressed the need for the provision of sound independent legal advice so that more citizens would present better petitions, complaints or requests to the European Ombudsman and above all see them followed up. It was also a good idea that such a facility for citizens could provide help and support for citizens’ initiatives under the Lisbon Treaty whereby over 1 million people from a significant number of countries could request the Commission to propose legislation.

Participants advised ECAS on the need to situate this project so that it does not overlap with other ways to develop civil society. The house should be a practical facility, not an umbrella body. It should also seek to support the efforts of the EU to reach out to civil society for example through the Economic and Social Committee or the European Parliament’s Agora. 

The next step will be to design a market survey on the basis of the consultation with the participants, which will be launched across the Union and in neighbouring countries with the help of NGOs and Associations in Brussels starting in January 2010.  

[1] http://www.mundo-b.org/

[2] More background information on the amendment by Jean Lambert, and about this project in general is available at http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/172/205/

November 2009  

Thank you for attending our first open meeting on the European Civil Society House Project. If you missed the meeting, or just want to learn more about our ECSH project, please download the following documents:

Budget Committee Briefing for ECSH Project

If you are unable to clearly read the above invitation please download it here:

ECSH Invitation - December 4th Meeting

August 2009 

ECAS is back to work with an ambitious proposal which could make a difference: a real and virtual European Civil Society House with helpdesks, sharing of facilities – a mechanism to strengthen the position of the citizen with the EU.

  Proposal for creation of a European Civil Society House:

Related publications in other sources:

Paul Jump, Third Sector, 25 August 2009 (to read whole article click here)

At the meeting on 1 September of the European Parliament’s powerful Committee on Constitutional Affairs the amendment from Jean Lambert was adopted with the support of all the main political groups. A eurosceptic minority was against. To achieve a compromise and support the idea, the MEP’s took out the amount of 350,000 euro on the grounds that NGO’s could come back with a more developed plan and take the lead, whilst the European Parliament could find out more what the new Commission would think of the scheme. The amendment will now go to the Committee on Budgets at the end of September and for a vote in the full Parliament in October. After the second reading it could become an official line in the EU budget by December. It is not unusual for the European Parliament to start an initiative with a pm-or pro memoria in the budget one year-and then add an amount in the following year. ECAS is keen to stress the citizen not just NGO dimension of this imitative and is involving the Petitions Committee which we hope will also lend its support. This is a significant step forward and whilst there will be some regrets that MEP’s did not seek to commit funding straight away with a new Parliament and a new Commission their caution is not unreasonable. What counts is the political support for the idea.

There is a lot of interest in this project, but we need all the support we can get. If you agree to the general idea, please sign up by sending an e-mail to Tony Venables a nd we will keep you informed and involved:

Tony Venables
Director
ECAS
Tel: +32 2 512 08 84
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