The European Commission has been committed to promoting volunteering for a long time. A milestone was achieved with the establishment of the European Voluntary Service in 1996 as part of the Youth in Action Programme.

The "European Year of Voluntary Activities Promoting Active Citizenship"—to give it its formal title—in 2011 will be the next step in the Commission's efforts to foster volunteering in Europe and to help civil society, local and regional communities and Member States to achieve the following objectives:

• Work towards an enabling and facilitating environment for volunteering in the EU;
• Empower volunteer organisations and improve the quality of volunteering;
• Reward and recognise achievements gained in volunteering activities; and
• Raise awareness of the value and importance of volunteering.

The European Year of Voluntary Activities Promoting Active Citizenship is widely supported by civil society and the European Parliament and is envisaged as a bottom-up campaign, in which civil society will play a large role.

The European Parliament has approved EU funding for the Year, as follows: € 3 million for preparatory actions in 2010, and € 8 million during the Year itself.

"The euro: What does it mean to us?" is a photo competition for EU residents from 14 to 18 years old, working together in teams to explore the theme of the euro in the European Union. To participate, you need to submit an original photo, taken by your team, illustrating your vision of the euro. What does the euro mean to you? What is it that you like about the euro?

This contest is organised by the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission. The first round of the competition will be at national level: there will be one winning team per participating EU Member State. All team members will receive a prize. The seven best teams from among the 27 national winners will be invited to Brussels, where the overall winning team will receive their prizes at an award ceremony.

website (EN)

site internet (FR)

The project Waves of Democracy 2010 which was developed by the Committee on Content and Methodology has its own website now.

Waves of Democracy 2010

The General Assembly of EUNET will take place from September 10th to 12th 2010 at Europahaus Bad Marienberg .

Ten years ago, European leaders pledged to end poverty in the EU by 2010. As this deadline approaches, the goal is still some way off.

Not confined to developing countries, poverty is a blight on European societies too. A complex issue, poverty excludes people from leading the type of lives most of us take for granted. It often stems from causes as diverse as poor education, addiction or a deprived childhood with limited access to cultural, social and material resources.

In the EU, people are defined as poor if their income is below 60% of the median wage in the country where they live. By this definition, nearly 80 million Europeans - more than 15% of the population - are living on or below the poverty line. One European in 10 lives in a household where nobody works, and for 8% of Europeans having a job is not enough to work one's way out of poverty.

Yet the situation is not hopeless. One of Europe's key values is solidarity. Accordingly, the EU has declared 2010 the year for combating poverty and social exclusion. Among the many initiatives and activities planned, there will be a meeting bringing together people living in poverty across Europe (in May) and a roundtable discussion (in October). In addition, each EU country will have its own programme - designed to address specific problems.

Ending poverty was one of the main goals of the growth and jobs plan, (Lisbon strategy), adopted by member countries in 2000. It is hoped that the European-year campaign will be the catalyst needed to keep the fight against poverty a priority, transforming these ambitions into reality.

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EUNET ist Partner in einer Grundtvig-Lernpartnerschaft. Ziel des zweijährigen Projekts ist die Entwicklung von methodischen Materialien für Erwachsene zum Thema „Europäische Integration". Die Methoden sollen insbesondere die persönliche Lebenserfahrung des Einzelnen und seiner Familie berücksichtigen. 

Das erste Treffen der Projektpartner hat vom 26. bis 28. Oktober 2009 in Toulouse stattgefunden.

Projektpartner sind:

innerhalb EUNET:
Maison de l'Europe Toulouse (F)
The House of Europe in Rhodes (GR)

außerhalb EUNET:
Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe (L)

The Citizenship Unit of DG Education and Culture of the European Commission has created on its Citizenship website a new section dedicated to the diffusion of information and results related to the Programme Europe for Citizens.

website

Im Rahmen des Projektes: „Lernen in und über Europa hinaus" bietet das Europahaus Aurich ab September 2009 eine Qualifizierung für ErzieherInnen und FrühpädagogInnen an. Ziel der Qualifizierung ist es, das Thema Europa in die Kindergärten zu tragen und den pädagogischen Austausch über die nationalen Grenzen hinweg zu unterstützen.

www.europakinder.org

Ein neues Präsidium für das European Network for Education and Training - EUNET

60 Mitgliedsorganisationen aus 19 europäischen Ländern wählten auf der Mitgliederversammlung des European Network for Education and Training - EUNET e.V. am 21.06.2009 einstimmig Catherine Guy-Quint, Abgeordnete des Europäischen Parlaments und Vertreterin des Maison de l'Europe en Auvergene, zur neuen Präsidentin von EUNET.

In ihrem, gemeinsam mit den Kandidaten für den 1. und 2. Vize-Präsidenten entwickelten Wahlprogramm, betonte Catherine Guy-Quint die Notwendigkeit auch weiterhin bürgerschaftliches Engagement zu fördern und die Vorstellungen und Werte die hinter der Idee der europäischen Integration stehen den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern zu vermitteln. Eine finanzielle Grundabsicherung von EUNET ist dazu ebenso notwendig wie die Entwicklung gemeinsamer Projekten und deren Unterstützung durch europäische Institutionen.

Neben Catherine Guy-Quint wurden Hanns Christhard Eichhorst (Bonn) zum 1. Vize-Präsidenten und Wolfgang Forthofer (Salzburg) zum 2. Vize-Präsidenten gewählt. Weitere Mitglieder des neu gewählten Präsidiums sind Kamil Sládek (Bratislava), Richard Stock (Scy-Chazelles), Maria-Eleni Sokianou (Rhodes) und Karsten Lucke (Bad Marienberg).

Das neue Präsidium von EUNET (von links:) Wolfgang Forthofer, Marilena Sokianou, Karsten Lucke, Hanns Christhard Eichhorst, Catherine Guy-Quint, Kamil Sladek, Richard Stock sowie der Ständige Repräsentant Thomas Heckeberg

EUNET welcomes the following organisations as new members.

• House of Europe in Cyprus, CY-Nicosia
• Karl-Arnold-Stiftung , D-Königswinter
• Maison de l'Europe des Yvelines , F-Chatou
• Maison de l'Europe en Auvergne , F-Beaumont
• Maison de l'Europe Pyrénées Roussillon , F-Perpignan

Our member Centre International de Formation Européenne offers a Master in EU Studies Online.

With the European Online Academy, the Centre international de formation européenne in cooperation with the Jean Monnet Chair of the University of Cologne organises the Certificate (one-year) and Master in EU Studies Online (two-year).

Through a combination of e-learning and concentrated face-to-face-learning phases (at weekends mainly in Berlin, Rome, Brussels, Istanbul and Budapest) the European Online Academy allows the participants to deepen and to supplement their knowledge of the EU integration process. The programmes are an outstanding opportunity for young professionals to continue their studies while pursuing their career at the same time.

Both programmes offer an accurate blend of theoretical and practical knowledge. In the first year participants gain an enhanced knowledge of recent developments in the European integration process. After having successfully completed the first year, the participants obtain the Certificate in EU Studies Online (30 ECTS). In order to specialise in one of the core subjects (Political Science, Economics and EU Law), the participants may join the second year of the Master programme - whereby the general approach to the issues and tasks is an interdisciplinary one. After having submitted and defended a Master thesis they are awarded the Master in EU Studies Online (60 ECTS).

Deadline for the online application is 5 September 2009. A limited number of scholarships are awarded to particularly qualified candidates to cover part of the fee.

For further information and application please consult our website www.eu-online-academy.org or contact Aline Palige ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

The Committee on Methods and Contents of EUNET, European Network on Education and Training, in May 2009 published the pocket-size guide book to the European Union.

This easy-to-read guide gives young people and anyone else interested an overview over the developments and the reasons for the European Integration process.
This reader provides recent information such as facts and figures concerning the member states, the Euro, the history of the European Union and explains the organs and the procedures within the European Institutions. But this booklet comes also up with the latest information about the Treaty of Lisbon and the distribution of the seats in Parliament, background information useful not just for those who are going to vote for the first time.

Download: Europe in your pocket

The booklet is also available in German

Download: Europa in der Tasche

an IUC-Europe project linked to the European Parliament election for Danish highschool students.

Watch the projectvideo on youtube

The European Commission and Courrier International are launching PRESSEUROP.EU - the first multilingual website for press articles on European affairs on May 26th. PRESSEUROP.EU offers a selection of European and international press articles in 10 languages (Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish).

The PRESSEUROP.EU portal aims to become a major provider of general and political information - gathered independently from a wide range of sources - concerning European current affairs. Under the terms of its contract it enjoys complete editorial freedom.