ecas 2010 annual report

8/4/2019 ECAS 2010 Annual Report

1/18


2/18

2

Editor: Tony Venables

ECAS is thankful to the Europe for citizens programme for its support.


3/18

3

ECAS Annual Report

2010


4/18

4

I. IntroductionOn 1 December 2009, the Lisbon Treaty entered finally into force putting to an end a period of

institutional uncertainty since the failure of the Constitutional Treaty. The new Treaty and the fact

that it makes the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding had a positive effect on ECAS work.

There were at least three important elements of change:

- The creation of a European Civil Society House1. This ambitious project to create first avirtual and then a physical house became ECAS no. 1 priority. A survey was launched, a

series of meetings were held and extensive briefings were

published. The European Parliament refused to add funds to

the special budget line for the house adopted in 2009. This didnot hold up the process of defining the overall objectives or

the planning of the most immediate focus of the virtual house,

becoming a one-stop shop for citizens rights. Awareness of the project and political support

increased in 2010.

- The new Commission and the post for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship.ECAS has constantly asked for such an interlocutor in the Commission. The

appointment of Viviane Reding as Vice President to this post in early 2010

led to a stronger commitment by the new Commission to European

Citizenship as shown by the 6th

report under the Treaty Progress towards

effective European Citizenship. The consultation launched and the action

plan EU Citizenship report 2010 Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens

rights which should lead up to 2013, the proposed European year of the

citizen. ECAS provided input to this process and towards the end of 2010

organised a conference on the enforcement of European citizens rights in

which Viviane Reding participated2.

- European Citizens Initiatives. The most prescriptive aspect of participatory democracy inthe Lisbon Treaty is article 11 para. 4, which requires a regulation to implement the right of

over 1 million European citizens from a significant number of member states to present a

legislative initiative to the Commission. The consultation by the Commission and the hearings

in the European Parliament were a dominant feature throughout the year. ECAS was an

active participant, glad to see the improvements brought about by the European Parliament

1

More Info available atwww.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/2412More info available at http://www.ecas-

citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/

Viviane Reding.
http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241


5/18

5

who, for example, took one of its ideas that there should be a hearing with the citizens on

the initiative3.

These favourable Treaty and institutional charges have come in the context of a distinctly

unfavourable economic and political climate. Certainly the mood in the European Parliament was to

cut rather than increase budgets, so the amendment to add funds to the budget line was narrowlydefeated. More serious was the sense from the Roma affair of August September 2000, where

Viviane Reding took a strong stand on the growing tension between the fine principles of European

law and free movement, and the resistance of member states to implement EU standards correctly.

The report of the ECAS high level panel Mind the gap towards a better enforcement of

European citizens rights to free movement was more relevant than ever4. The tension

between European rights, and growing nationalism with attempts to control migration flows were

apparent in the running ofYour Europe Advice for the European Commission. The service handled

almost 12,000 questions in 20105.

In the course of the year, the ECAS Board of Directors met on 4 March, 3 September and 11November. In addition, there were a number of informal meetings with Board members to prepare

the new statutes and General Assembly. The General Assembly met on 1 July and elected a new

Board of Directors as follows:

CASTBERGER, Anders Chair Headmaster and CEO - the Educational Associationof the Sobriety Movement

Swedish

PONCELET, Andr Acting Treasurer ECAS until 11 November 2010 Belgian

VALLELY, Malachy Treasurer ECAS - after 11 November 2010 Irish

ANDREEN, Thomas Secretaryto the Board

Director of Network youth in Europe Swedish

BARABS, Miklos Director of European House in Budapest, HungaryExpertise on EU policies and NGOs in the applicant

States

Hungarian

FRASSONI, Monica Former MEP Italian

HELLAM, Mall Executive Director, Open Estonia Foundation Estonian

HERMANNS, Angelina Journalist, EU Consultant for NGOs andinternational PPPs Public Private Partnerships

German

KAVRAKOVA, Assya Director of the European Policies and CivicParticipation Program at the Open Society

Institute Sofia

Bulgarian

3More info available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/343/341/

4

Report available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/5

Report available athttp://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htm
http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/343/341/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/343/341/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/343/341/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htmhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/343/341/


6/18

6

LARSEN, Lone Leth Director, Danish Cultural Foundation Danish

MEADOWS, Graham Former Director General for regional policy British

MUNOZ, Rodolphe Academic lawyer specialising in free movement

issues and a lecturer at Liege University

Belgian

PLAVA-MATI, Cvjetana Director of the National Foundation for CivilSociety Development (Croatia)

Croatian

THOGERSEN, Niels Jorgen Former Commission director of communication Danish

VON BONIN, Andreas Partner, Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer German

WOBBEN, Thomas Former President of the youth forum and head ofthe Saxony-Anhalt regional office

German

FRANCIOSI, Maria Laura Journalist with the EJCSECRETARIAT

Italian

VENABLES, Tony Director, ECAS British

The most significant development was the adoption of two new statutes, the first making the

creation of the ECSH a priority, and the second reforming the membership structure to allow not just

associations to join ECAS, but also departments in government, regional, or city authorities working

with civil society. The new articles are attached in annex 1.

2010 was an active year for ECAS, as the schedule in annex 2 of meetings we organised or

participated as a speaker in shows.


7/18

7

II. Main Activities in 2010

Creation of the European Civil Society House (ECSH)

Following the first public meeting in December 2009, ECAS continued the

survey which showed strong support over 90% - for this initiative6. An

extended briefing note with the results and proposals for the activities of the

house under the 3Cs civil society, citizens rights and citizen participation

was published in May7. On 2 June 2010, Jean Lambert MEP hosted a packed

meeting in the European Parliament. The discussion underlined the open

nature of this new facility for citizens and civil society organisations alike as a

way to encourage networking and collective action. This was followed by a

public debate on the occasion of the ECAS General Assembly on 1 July where

the case respectively for and against the virtual and physical house was

put, which helped to generate a consensus on the scope and limits of both

options and showed how the two have to come together. The results were

useful for a business plan produced by Deloitte on a pro bono basis and

which developed a SWOT analysis of the two options. After the survey and

these two public meetings as well as more private ones, ECAS continued to

develop the project with further research and produced a second extended

briefing note in December 20108.

In the European Parliament, an amendment was put down by the Greens to

add 350,000 euro to the budget line. This was defeated by 12 votes to 9 in the

committee on constitutional affairs on 6 September. The following day, ECAS organised a

presentation of the mock-up of a design for the virtual house, a video and the business plan with

speakers from ZN strategy and Deloitte. A new amendment to add 100,000 euro was attempted by

became a victim of a decision by the budget committee to avoid earmarking or to name any

particular organisations in all preparatory actions. In this process cross-party political support for the

house increased rather than decreased despite the fact that MEPs considered that the project could

possibly be funded under existing resources, for example to set up a help desk on citizens initiatives,

rather than by adding funds to a budget line, which will now simply remain awaiting further

developments. By the end of the year, the steering group for ECSH were fine-tuning the strategy with

a view to starting on the second C citizens rights with a virtual one-stop shop covering access to

6Survey available athttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/europeancivilsocietyhouse

7Briefing note available athttp://www.ecas-

citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=651&Itemid=8Extended briefing note available athttp://www.ecas-

citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=767&Itemid=

Briefing notes no.1 and2 on the ESCH.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/europeancivilsocietyhousehttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/europeancivilsocietyhousehttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/europeancivilsocietyhousehttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=651&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=651&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=651&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=651&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=767&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=767&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=767&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=767&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=767&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=767&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=651&Itemidhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=651&Itemidhttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/europeancivilsocietyhouse


8/18

8

Funding guide 2010.

documents, complaints to the European Commission, petitions to the European Parliament, requests

to the European ombudsman and citizens initiatives. It was thanks to a project under the Europe for

citizens programme and support by the Rowntree Charitable Trust that we were able to make

further substantial progress in 20109.

Although pioneering the Civil Society House creation took up a significant proportion of ECAS time, italso attracted increased input from volunteers and students so that there was no let-up in other

ECAS activities, which are summarised below.

C1 Civil society

The European funding guide for NGOs was published and offered as part of

the package for membership. As a result membership did increase,

particularly at the basic level of Friend of ECAS. This involves an annualsubscription of 50 euro in exchange for a copy of the guide and monthly

updates of calls for proposals, alerts to consultations and an extensive

briefing on EU development. Examples of more in-depth work and

cooperation with other organisations included:

- Organisations of a study visit for beneficiaries of the VisionariesProject to the EU Institutions on behalf of the Rowntree Charitable

Trust10

;

- An analysis of European Strategy and access to funds for a European association, Eurocares;- A study visit for civil society organisations from Macedonia.

In the last annual report, we reported on a conference held in Zadar in October 2009 to assess the

implementation of the Ljubljana declaration and which approved a package of guidelines11

. The idea

of a Croatian CSO office in Brussels was re-launched. This objective was fulfilled in 2010, when ECAS

and the Civil Society Development Foundation signed an agreement to set up the IMPACT office run

by Kenan Hadzimusic.

ECAS also followed up the earlier work done in 2008 on describing framework

agreements (or compacts) between public authorities and civil society

organisations.12

The research covered 12 countries or regions. Towards the

end of 2010, the comparative analysis was up-dated in cooperation with

members of the European network of national associations (ENNA). However,

the debate on participatory democracy in the EU Institutions was limited to

the adoption of the regulation on citizens initiatives the 1 million signatures

so other aspects such as civil dialogue were put to one side. There were no

9More Info available atwww.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241

10

More Info available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/337/280/11More info available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/251/243/

12Report available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/173/240/

Compacts update.
http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/337/280/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/337/280/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/337/280/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/251/243/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/251/243/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/251/243/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/173/240/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/173/240/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/173/240/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/173/240/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/251/243/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/337/280/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/171/241


9/18

9

new developments at European level.

On the other hand, there was a much clearer sense of progress towards strengthening the

partnership principle to include civil society organisations in EU Cohesion policy. DG Regional Policy

began an informal dialogue process with NGOs and local authorities in which ECAS was a participant

(see list of meetings). On 7 October, ECAS organised its civil society forum duringthe open days for regions and cities when over 6000 delegates came to

Brussels13

. For the 2010 forum, ECAS up-dated an earlier working paper and

proposed a number of recommendations. The forum brought together

presentations by the Economic and Social Committee (Rapporteur Jan Olson)

which had assembled examples of best practice in partnership and produced detailed

recommendations. There was also a presentation of more extensive evaluation by the IQnet which is

led by a group of researchers and brings together managing authorities. Hopefully this work will

influence the strengthening of partnership in the regulation for the new financial perspectives 2013-

2020.

C2 Citizens Rights

A dominant feature in 2010 was the expansion of the numbers of questions handled by Your

Europe Advice (YEA) to 12000 as well as the increase in their quality and

excellent results of the work of the team of legal experts, which is 60-

strong, in answering questions in all official languages. The entry into force of theLisbon Treaty and the communications presented on citizenship and the single

market act at the same time helped to clarify further the role of YEA and its

relationship with other European networks, as part of a one-stop shop. The YEA

database provides ECAS with a unique knowledge of how Europe works for the citizen and where the

most significant barriers to free movement lie14

.

Against this background, ECAS published the final report of the high-level panel

Towards a better enforcement of European citizens rights to free

movement. At a press briefing held on 19 January at EurActiv, Professor Sir

David Edward, former judge of the European Court of Justice, recommended

the report as readable and practical15

. The report was taken up in the

Institutions and ECAS was invited to discuss the 10 recommendations with

officials from DGs Justice and Internal Market. It became part of the response

by ECAS to the Commissions consultation on the 6th

report on Citizenship of

13More Info available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/346/345/

14

More Info available athttp://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htm15Report available athttp://www.ecas-

citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/

Mind the gap report.
http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/346/345/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/346/345/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/346/345/http://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htmhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_productbook/func,viewcategory/Itemid,59/catid,1/http://ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htmhttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/346/345/


10/18

10

the Union and the conference organised by Viviane Reding on 1-2 July. On 3 November, there was a

further follow-up in the conference Mind the gap (between European law and its enforcement)

which was attended by about 100 representatives of different EU Institutions, information and

advice services as well as local associations dealing with intra-EU migration16

. The issue of the Roma

which had erupted over the summer was a dominant feature17

. The lessons learned from this case

led ECAS to plan a further follow up with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to study the scope for

accelerated action by the Commission when there is a flagrant breach of free movement provisions

by member states.

ECAS has always been an advocate of a closer sense of cooperation and partnership between

European level information and advice services and national citizens advice services, where about

10% of millions of questions and complaints have a European dimension. It was suggested at the

conference on 3 November that the Economic and Social Committee might do a scoping study to see

where advice on European rights is available, where there are serious gaps and where more synergyis possible. The conference was the conclusion of an exchange programme among staff and

volunteers dealing with intra-EU migration flows between countries of origin and host country (i.e.

Romania, Italy, Spain, Poland, N. Ireland and England). Called Flowchart, this project was classified as

a mentoring and training programme for advisors to find out more about the origins or destinations

of the European citizens they advise. It was scheduled to end in early 2011 with the adoption of a

charter.

C3 Citizen Participation

In the last annual report, an original project was described where citizens themselves were asked to

give their recommendations on how experiments with participatory

deliberations such as citizens juries, consultations or town hall meetings

would be organised and above all followed up. Following recommendations

by randomly selected and representative panels of citizens which met in four

countries in 200918

, a final European event was held on 26 February in

Brussels. The closing event recommended the creation of a cross-sectoralclearing house which should act as a focal point for citizens and the EU

institutions alike on the design and follow up to participatory processes,

according to ground rules for methodology and a checklist. The conference

led to a joint publication by ECAS and partners How the participatory

16More Info available athttp://www.ecas-

citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/17

More Info available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/358/280/18More Info available athttp://www.ecas-

citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,292/Itemid,113/

How the participatorydemocracy toolboxcan make theEuropean Union lessremote from citizens.
http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/358/280/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/358/280/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/358/280/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,292/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,292/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,292/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,292/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,292/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,292/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/358/280/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,20/cat,943/task,view/id,353/Itemid,113/


11/18

11

democracy toolbox can make the European Union less remote from citizens19. Despite plan

D under the last Commission and an extensive evaluation of participatory projects, there is still little

sign that the new Commission will follow such recommendations and create a citizens pillar in policy

making despite the provision of Article 11 of the Lisbon Treaty.

As stressed in the introduction to this report, the Article 11 agenda was dominated by the single

issue of citizens initiatives. ECAS responded to the consultation launched by the Commission in its

green paper and was an active participant in the hearings and in commenting to journalists. In the

European Parliament, more political priority was given to the draft regulation and most of the

political groups held hearings in which ECAS was again an active participant. The European

Parliament made a number of improvements to the Commissions dra ft, which did become more

use-friendly. ECAS earlier idea that there should be a hearing between the organisers of citizens

initiatives and the Commission and European Parliament was taken up in the final regulation. A sticky

point however was the insistence by a majority of member states that citizens should give their IDnumber when signing an initiative despite a survey by ECAS which suggested that two thirds of

people would be reluctant to do so, for data protection reasons20

.

Throughout the year, ECAS invested a significant amount of time and energy in following all stages of

the legislative process as part of the process of creating a help-desk under the European Civil Society

House project. At the end of 2010, plans were made to hold the first European event on the new

regulation in Mid-March of 201121

.

19

More infohttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/331/20More Info available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/344/342/

21More Info available athttp://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/372/360/
http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/331/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/331/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/331/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/344/342/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/344/342/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/344/342/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/372/360/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/372/360/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/372/360/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/372/360/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/344/342/http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/content/view/331/


12/18

12

Annex 1

Amendments to the ECAS Statutes from the Board of Directors

Aims of ECAS

These are described in article 4 of the attached statutes.

Amendment no. 1

Add the following to Article 4

In pursuit of these objectives, ECAS should create a European civil society house.

Comments: The Board considers that this has become a significant priority in the ECAS 3-year

strategy and should therefore be included in the statutes.

Membership

Amendment no. 2

Replace article 6 by the following:

Members of ECAS should be non-profit making civil society organizations. If a member is a public or

semi-public authority, it must show support for the objectives of the association and a commitment

to civil society development. Membership of ECAS excludes the pursuit of commercial interests.

Members of ECAS can represent any geographical level local, regional, national, European or

international. Members can be natural or legal persons.

Comments: This would endorse membership to include public or semi-public authorities or rather

more likely specific departments of the city, regional or governments working in partnership with

CSOs. Broadening the membership base is comparable with Belgian law on AISBL (ref..)

Amendment no. 3

ECAS has the following categories of membership:

oFriends of ECAS have 1 vote in the general Assembly (and pay an annual contribution of 50euro). They receive a free copy of the annual funding guide and the monthly newsletter


13/18

13

o Associate members have 2 votes in the general Assembly (and pay an annual contribution of250 euro). They are entitled, in addition to the services of ordinary members, to occasional

individual advice and support from ECAS.

o Full members have 5 votes in the general Assembly (and pay an annual contribution of 1000euro). They receive the services above and also are engaged more intensely in one or otherof ECAS activities and require advice and support

o Partner members have 10 votes in the general Assembly (and pay an annual contribution of5000 euro). This special category corresponds to taking a recognized lead in an ECAS

strategic activity.

Comments: Following the review of ECAS in 2009, the Board of Directors proposes a radical change in

membership structure. Friends of ECASnow have voting rights. They also receive an attractive,

simple offer, - get the ECAS funding guide plus monthly update of EU calls for proposals, consultation

meetings etc. For associate members, there is no change but the contribution for full members comesdown from 1500 to 1000 euro. Partner membership is a new idea, corresponding to an organization

taking the lead in a particular activity of the ECAS 12 point 3-year strategy, or acting as a national

relay point. The organisation signs a partnership agreement providing advantages in terms of

recognition and exposure, European links and delivery of results attributed to their input. The Board

of Directors decides on the level of annual contributions and the services attached to each category of

membership (see annex)

Board of Directors

Amendment no. 4

Replace the first two paragraphs of Article 15 as follows: The Association is administered by a Board

of Directors comprising a minimum of 9 members. If the number becomes too high for all members

to meet regularly, specific tasks may; be delegated to a Bureau. The composition of the Board should

represent a reasonable balance across member countries of the European Union and the activities of

the association.

Comments: The present minimum is 12 which the Board considers too high. Following a one-third of

member states rule is a reasonable minimum but there is no proposal to put a maximum ceiling on

the number of Board members. However, if the Board becomes too big to meet regularly, a smaller

Bureau should be created. The Board should represent a reasonable geographical balance and a

reasonable balance among ECAS activities. The former article which the Board considered too

prescriptive has been made more general and therefore flexible.


14/18

14

Annex 2

Meetings and Events in 2010

12 January Active citizenship network hosted by DG Education and Culture

19 January Press briefing at Euractiv on the report of the high level panel Towards

better enforcement of European citizens rights to free movement

27 January Statement by ECAS to the hearing of the Petitions Committee on citizens

initiatives

3 February Visit from the King Oustav V Foundation in Sweden

11 February Study visit of NGOs from Ukraine at ECAS

26 February Final European conference of the citizens panels on How the participatory

democracy toolbox can make the EU less remote

from citizens

2-3 March Annual training session for legal experts of YEA (Your Europe Advice)

4 March ECAS Board of Directors meeting

12 March Visit to London and participation in a meeting of ENNA (European network of

national associations)

17 March Heinrich Bll Tea briefing 15 years after Dayton: what future for Bosnia and

Herzegovina?

18 March Presentation of the results of the IKV-ECAS hotline on EU visa requirements

for Turkey in Ankara


15/18

15

24 March Visits to the Danish Board of Technology and the Real Dania Foundation in

Copenhagen

29 April Steering group meeting for the civil society house

30 April Informal dialogue meeting with NGOs organised by DG Regional policy

3 May Participation in EESC study group for the report by Jan Olson on the

implementation of the partnership principle in EU cohesion policy

8-9 May Participation in a conference on European citizenship for student leaders

organised by DG Communication in Istanbul

12 May TACSO EU Steering Group meeting in Zadar, Croatia

19 May EESC 3rd

Western Balkans Civil Society Forum

20 May BCSDN Workshop on Civil Dialogue in Western Balkans

26 May Talk to students at Bocconi university, Milan

26 May Meeting with commune St. Gilles on European affairs

27 May Steering group for ECSH

31 May Participation in EFC general Assembly and organisation for Rowntree

Charitable Trust of the seminar with Visionaries

1-3 June TAIEX Seminar in Belgrade, Serbia

2 June Meeting in the European Parliament hosted by Jean Lambert MEP on ECSH

9 June Presentation of ECSH to the civil society contact group

9 June Meeting with Staffan Nilsson President of Group III in the EESC

16 June Informal meeting with DG Justice on the follow-up to the hotline on visas

from Turkey

22 June Active citizenship conference organised by EACEA

28 June Participation in a meeting with a delegation from China at the EFC

1 July ECAS general Assembly and debate on the European civil society house

1-2 July Participation in Commission seminar on European citizenship

5-6 July Participation in a conference in Budapest meeting with foreign ministry and

NIOK


16/18

16

12 July Briefing for journalists on the citizens initiatives organised by the European

journalism centre

14 July Meeting with Gerald Hfner MEP

16 July Meeting with EACEA financial mechanism staff in Brussels

2 August Steering group for ECSH

1-2 September Visit to Strasbourg and presentation of progress with ECSH to a meeting of

MEPs

7 September Board of Directors meeting

17 September Visit to Paris (VISTI & Toute lEurope)

21-22 September Visit to Strasbourg and meetings with MEPs on ECSH budget amendments

30 September TASCO EU Steering group meeting in Brussels

6 October Civil society forum on the partnership principle during the Open days for

regions and citizens

8-9 October Training on EU fundraising in Amersfoort, The Netherlands

14 October Presentation of the Visa hotline report in Brussels

17-18 October Presentation to social economy forum organised by the Barker foundation in

Poznan

22-23 October Meeting with Roma Kriss in Bucharest

3 November ECAS conference on Mind the gap report

8 November Steering group meeting for ECSH

11 November ECAS Board of Directors meeting

16 November Meeting with visiting CSOs from Serbia


17/18

17

17 November ECAS seminar in partnership with the Wielkopolska

region on Migration and Cohesion in Brussels

17-18 November Europe for citizens conference in Berlin

18 November Meeting with visiting CSOs from Pula, Croatia

19 November Presentation on European citizenship at workshop of the European Union

democracy observatory in Brussels

22 November Steering group for ECSH

24 November Informal round table with representatives of civil society and local authorities

on the 5th Cohesion report organised by DG Regional policy

25-26 November Visa-free coalition building meeting hosted by the Stefan Batory Foundation

in Warsaw

3 December Participation in a training session for trade unionists on the European

citizens initiatives

6 December Conference on the Europe for Citizens programme (Croatia)

6-8 December Europe for citizens: first three years in Croatia, Opatija, Croatia


18/18

18

ecas 2010 annual report

Documents