27 february 2009
In preparation for the June E.U. and Local Government Elections the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice is busy travelling to different parts of Ireland to facilitate Training Trainer workshops. To date greater interest has been shown in the Local Government Elections because of the large number of foreign nationals who are entitled to vote in the Local Elections. The renewed attention on the Lisbon Treaty has drawn attention to the whole issue of European Citizenship.
6 May 2008
Friday 9 May is Europe Day! As described on the official EU website:
On the 9th of May 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations.
This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
Today, the 9th of May has become a European symbol (Europe Day) which, along with the flag, the anthem, the motto and the single currency (the euro), identifies the political entity of the European Union. Europe Day is the occasion for activities and festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and peoples of the Union closer to one another.
Last year we dedicated a special issue to this annual event, click here to read all about these festivities. Some of them, and many others, will take place again this year. Surf the web for Europe Day activities in your town/country.
25 April 2008
After the French NON and Dutch NEE to the European Constitutional Treaty in 2005, Europe is now in the process of ratifying the Treaty of Lisbon or the Reform Treaty. It was signed on 13 December 2007, and in order to go into force on 1 January 2009 it has to be ratified by all 27 EU member countries by the end of 2008. How does it work and how far are we?
11 March 2008
The PSOE, the Socialist party of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, won the Spanish elections on 9 March. Zapatero will have another term in office. The PSOE won 43.72 per cent of the votes, the right-wing conservative Popular Party became second with 40.13 per cent of the votes. This brings the PSOE up to 169 of the total 350 seats in parliament . The Socialists did not get a parliamentary majority, which means they will have to govern in coalition with Spain's smaller parties, just as before in 2004. The party lacked only seven seats for an absolute majority.
Young journalists from all over Europe are invited to participate in a pan-European competition on EU-enlargement issues. The European Commission's Directorate-General for Enlargement launched this competition together with European Youth Press to encourage young journalists to reflect and express their views on the European Union's enlargement policy and to exchange their views. Participants are asked to submit a recently published article on EU enlargement via the competition website www.EUjournalist-award.eu until March 15, 2008.
21 January 2008
During the first round of the presidential elections in Serbia yesterday ultra-nationalist Tomislav Nikolić from the Serbian Radical Party received 39 % of the votes, against 35 % for pro-Western Boris Tadić from the Democratic Party. The estimated 61 % turnout is exceptionally high in comparison to the 48 % turn-out four years ago; this shows the importance of the elections for the future of Serbia.
Slovenia is presiding the European Union the first six months of 2008. Just like every presidency, the Slovenian government has formulated its main priorities, focussing on: the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the new Lisbon Strategy cycle, the climate-energy issue, the European perspective on the Western Balkans and the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
The theme of this year's last Politeia Newsletter, which will be published in December, is: WOMEN IN EUROPEAN SOCIETY. Contributions are welcome (e.g. on female participation in politics/society/business life in a European country, national or European policy on the participation of women). Deadline is 10 December and the article should contain 300-800 words. For more information or questions, please contact: s.jansen@politeia.net.
10 April 2007
The quarterly theme of the upcoming Politeia Newsletter will be the situation of Roma in Europe. In follow-up of the International Roma Day on 8 April the next issue, which will be published in May 2007, will be dedicated to the problems around one of the largest minority groups in Europe. If you are interested in contributing to this theme, please send an email to Ms. Suzanne Jansen on s.jansen@politeia.net. Deadline for contributions: 1 May 2007.
In addition to the usual quarterly Politeia Newsletter, a special issue will be published in June, in which attention will be paid to events that took place on Europe Day 2007 (9 May). Organisers of events on Europe Day that are interested in writing a small article about their event can contact Ms. Suzanne Jansen on s.jansen@politeia.net. Deadline for contributions: 18 June 2007.
3 April 2007
Three Politeia member organisations were in February and March quite busy with the organisation of their national consultations of the European Citizens Consultations.
The Centre for Liberal Strategies in Bulgaria, the Partners for Democratic Change in Slovakia and the Dutch Centre for Political Participation are the national partners for the implementation of the unique and ambitious project “European Citizens Consultations”.
On a large agenda setting event in Brussel last year 200 ad random chosen citizens from throughout the EU decided the topics for the national consultations during two days of intensive discussion:
‘Energy and Environment’, ‘Family and Social Policy’, and ‘Immigration and the Role of the EU in the World’ turned out to be the most important issues.
In February and March national consultations were held in 27 EU-member states, where during a weekend groups of representative citizens tried to work out their national vision about the Europe they would like to live in in about 20 years. During these sessions, which were partly taking place at the same time, the participants of the national consultations even got the opportunity to get in touch with national consultations in other countries via Skype.
An impression of the Dutch national consultation will follow, and see the next article of the ‘News’ section for an impression of the Bulgarian discussion on the three European topics.
29 March 2007
Bulgaria joined the European Citizens’ Consultations upon accession to the EU on January 1, 2007. That is why there were no Bulgarian participants at the ECC Agenda setting event in October 2006. The National Citizens’ Consultation in Bulgaria took place on February 10-11 2007 in Sofia. The event was organized by the Centre for Liberal Strategies and the Alpha Research Agency. The CLS and Alpha Research organized back in 2003 the first deliberative poll in Central and Eastern Europe on organized crime. At present, they are in the final stage of the second deliberative poll in Bulgaria on the situation of the Roma minority (April 13-15 2007). The deliberative dimension of the ECC initiative was of special interest for the organizers.
65 participants with just six weeks of experience as EU citizens discussed for two days the three topics agreed upon by 200 citizens from the EU 25 back in 2006: Energy & Environment; Family & Social Welfare; EU’s Global Role & Immigration.
27 March 2007
Last weekend (24-15 March) it was exactly 50 years ago that the Treaty of Rome was signed. While national leaders of the European Union members countries celebrated this in Berlin (see: http://europa.eu/50/), many other events were organised at the same time. One of these was the Conference on the Future of Europe, aimed at more involvement of citizens, initiated by different organisations in combination with individual members of national parliaments; another was the first EU Youth Summit, held in Rome.
26 February 2007
Welcome to the new Politeia website! In the last few months we have been working hard to get the new website online, and in the coming few weeks more alterations will follow.
There is a new format, which will make it easier to search for information. Here you can find a short introduction on the new sections.
In this section, NEWS, you can find news about Politeia, but also about other issues with regard to participation, citizenship, and democracy in Europe.
In the section NEWSLETTER all newsletters have been published, with the newest newsletter on top.
Under THEMES you can find articles catagorized under the themes: Citizenship and Participation, Education, Elections, European Union, Media, Politeia Projects, and Links to other interesting websites.
In ABOUT US you can read all about Politeia goals, members, activities and how to contact us.
In the section COUNTRIES you can articles about a different European countries.
In RECENT PUBLICATIONS interesting publications are published.
If you have any news, articles, remarks or suggestions, please let us know on: info@politeia.net.
Enjoy browsing this new website! Suzanne Jansen, Politeia editor and webmaster.
23 February 2007
Click here for Politeia Newsletter 44, the first issue of 2007.
On some cold and rainy December days, representatives of Politeia member organisations from Ireland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia came together in Amsterdam for the annual Politeia conference. Items on the agenda were the evaluation of the Politeia European exchange project of 2006 (“Exchange of Good Practises in the Field of Participation and Citizenship of Underrepresented Groups”), future fundraising activities for Politeia and the transformation of the Politeia network into an association.
16 December 2005
On 9-10 December 2005 a networking seminar in Amsterdam was organised to revitalize the Politeia Network. Read more about the goals and outcomes on this website.
21 February 2006
On 1st February 2006 the European Commission adopted a White Paper on a European Communication Policy. The White Paper is a call for action on how the gap between the EU and its citizens can be closed. According to the European Commission, communication on Europe is a matter of democracy.
20 June 2006
The new Politeia Newsletter (no. 42) has been published on this website. *Read more* about the new exchange activities of the partners of the POLITEIA network.
24 July 2006
ECAS, the European Citizen Action Service, organises in collaboration with the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions The Partnership Forum - 4Cs for Civil Society. This forum will take place in Brussels(Belgium) on 10 October 2006 in the context of the Open Days - European Week of Cities and Regions.
This Forum is organised by the European Commission. It will bring together a diversity of representatives of municipalities (mayors) and of civil society organisations which are taking part or are interested in the Community Action Programme to promote Active European Citizenship.
September 2006
The weekend of 7-8 October will see Commission Vice President Margot Wallström launch the biggest-ever pan-European debate involving citizens from all 25 EU Member States to find out what they want from Europe and which issues matter to them most.
31 July 2006
Citizenship is still high on the political agenda. This is not amazing if you look at the problems with which governments and citizens are confronted. Governments and the European Commission see citizenship education as a policy tool that has the potential to deal with these problems. Whether this makes sense is an open question and a point of discussion between experts.