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Activity Report 2019 European Civic Forum

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Activity Report 2019 European Civic Forum EUROPEAN CIVIC FORUM ACTIVITY REPORT 2019 The European Civic Forum acknowledges the financial support by the European Commission under the “Europe for Citizens” Programme operating grants. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. EUROPEAN CIVC FORUM - 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY WORDS 4 ABOUT THE ECF 10 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR 12 THE ECF IN THE MEDIA 22 OUR KEY EVENTS IN 2019 24 EUROPEAN PROJECTS 30 THE YEAR IN FIGURES 34 FINANCIAL REPORT 36 OUR MEMBERS 38 INTERNAL ORGANISATION 40 INTRODUCTORY WORDS Dear members and friends, tens of millions of people who feel being socially left aside in their everyday life and, 2019 was an important year for the as a consequence, loose trust in democracy. European Union, marked by national and European electoral campaigns where “All over Europe, we could witness worrying regressive forces standing more and more vocally and the world, for nationalist and identitarian closures, while “mainstream progressives” seemed millions completely off the mark in taking good of civic organisations stock of the reality in Europe today… and movements The European elections, in spite of gaining play an essential role a little bit more transnational traction, have once more put the terms of the debate as in our societies” a dilemma between “more or less Europe”, narrowing down the fault lines between “liberal and illiberal” approaches of the European project. For us, limiting the debate In this context, civic and social to a confrontation between “populists” organisations and movements are key (in fact the various far-rights’ offers) and actors in alerting and responding with acts “progressives” (in fact the new clothes of solidarity to this societal and political for mainstream refurbished proposals) is crisis. All over Europe, and the world, millions clearly not the real framework to give EU of civic organisations and movements play 5 claimed values a policy-making reality. an essential role in our societies, improving the lives of our communities in terms of The increased participation clearly access to rights, participation and better indicated that voters mobilised all across living together. the political spectrum. If we consider the overall decrease in support for the traditional The role of independent civil society EU political families, disappointment with organisations is recognised by the UN and by current policies appears to be the biggest the international law, by the European Union issue. legislation and by all democratic national Constitutional laws as an essential element With our campaign MAKE EUROPE GREAT of democracy. Yet, many civic activists and FOR ALL, we strived to engage European rights defenders have sacrificed and still civil society and political leaders in a debate are sacrificing their freedom and even their breaking the comfortable circle of “insiders” lives because of their civic commitment. – pro-European progressive organisations and movements, looking at the “outsiders” Today, democratic civil society space which silently say their vote is not their is in danger in many European countries voice, or put on some yellow vests just to (and beyond), as continuously alerted become visible in the eyes of those who by civil society groups and documented take decisions without considering their by our CIVIC SPACE WATCH. Our work is needs and expectations ... Making Europe increasingly under attack through smear Great FOR ALL implies to address through campaigns and legal harassment. Solidarity social and civic action, and through policy- is criminalised, freedom of association and making, the fears and the expectations of expression are becoming more limited and even repressed. ANNUAL REPORT | 2019 In order to address this, in the aftermath of the European elections, we mobilised our network and far beyond advocating towards the Commission President Von der Leyen and the newly elected MEPs to put civic space and dialogue with civil society high on the agenda for the new institutional 5-year term. Thanks to this mobilisation of hundreds of civic organisations across Europe, the mandate of the Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Vera Jurova, has been enlarged to include responsibilities for civil dialogue and the protection of the right to peaceful assembly and the freedom to associate. We ended the year with CIVIC PRIDE! More than a thousand organisations and activists took the social networks between 5 and 10 December to express their Jean-Marc Roirant pride for working in solidarity for rights ECF President and democracy for all. To say hands off 6 human rights, open civic space, support to democracy and civic participation! To say NO to the criminalisation of civic activism and YES to social solidarity! To defend and reclaim the freedom of association, assembly and expression! For two days on 4the and 5th December, the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament have become resonance chambers for these claims, as we alerted EU leaders, but also gave visibility and recognition to outstanding struggles of civic activists showcased in our annual report ACTIVIZENSHIP. All this great achievement would not have been possible without the lively and trustful cooperation inside our network, and Alexandrina Najmowicz with our friends all around Europe, without ECF Director the continuous efforts of our dedicated Board, Steering Committee and staff team and obviously, without the contribution of our funders! We warmly thank them and promise to live up to the new challenged ahead of us, for more equality, solidarity and democracy for all. ANNUAL REPORT | 2019 7 ANNUAL REPORT | 2019 ABOUT US WHO ARE WE? HOW DO WE TAKE ACTION? The European Civic Forum (ECF) is a We connect civil society actors transnational network that brings together transnationally and cross-sectorally through, over 100 associations and NGOs across conferences, forums and alliances; Europe active in various fields such as education to citizenship and democracy, We participate in civil structures within the culture, defence of Human rights, European institutions and Civil Society; environment protection, development cooperation or support to NGO environment. We advocate and campaign for the We strive to foster civic engagement, thus defense of civic space and the recognition contributing to the emergence of a European of civil society organisations in the policy- public sphere where the role and influence making process. of civil society are fully recognized. WHAT DO WE STAND FOR? Since its creation in 2005, the European 2005 Civic Forum has been particularly working to: The European Civic Forum is established in Strasbourg 9 1. Enable civic participation through citizens’ associations and movements for a Europe grounded on Equality, Solidarity and Democracy that guarantees effective access to rights for all; 2. Support the structuring of European civil society movement through alliance 104 building, collective thinking and joint Member organisations as of campaigning for the common good; December 2019 3. Advocate for the institutional recognition of civil society’s role and contribution to society and democracy through the setting up of a genuine European civil dialogue. 5000 Followers and likes on social media channels ANNUAL REPORT | 2019 ECF influence and commitment to In total, the ECF staff had more than 40 ensuring an open and transparent civic meetings and attended 37 events, hearings space for NGOs across Europe brought or conferences, in Paris, Brussels and many concrete results in the last years. In 2019, we other places in Europe. It was committed on intensified our advocacy and campaigning all fronts and communicated widely, with 31 activities. newsletters sent. Communication played a big part in publicising the network. The INTERNAL GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE estimated impact of ECF posts on social media for 2019 is estimated at 6,3 million people, thanks to the 450 messages sent on The European Civic Forum welcomes 3 Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. new organisations in 2019: A Buon Diritto is an Italian association who WORKING GROUPS promotes human rights and civil liberties. The association was founded in 2010, and In 2018, many national platforms of NGOs since then we have been working on a wide joined the European Civic Forum. In order to range of issues, such as migration, right better grasp the needs of civic organisations of asylum, deprivation of liberty, right to at national level, the ECF created a specific housing... working space for national platforms of NGOs within the network. The first physical The Greek Forum of Refugees is a meeting of the national platforms took multinational grassroots network of refugee place in February 2019, with an overview 10 communities, individuals and professionals of national situations and issues, but also working to support asylum seekers, refugees perspectives for joint work at European level. and stateless persons. It advocates for The working group includes platforms that rights and civic and political inclusion of are not members of the ECF. We believe it is refugees/immigrants. crucial to build a joint advocacy strategy for civil society and to facilitate civil dialogue at The European Movement Italy (EM-IT) all levels. is made up of all civil society, political and socio-economic actors aware of the In parallel, ECF plays a key role in the importance, for Italy, to direct towards a working group on civic space within Civil federal system the European integration Society Europe. Its resources rely mostly process, consistently with the principles on ECF members and partners, which are of the Ventotene Manifesto for a free and valuable allies in collecting data from the united Europe (1941). national level. ECF is also actively taking part in the Communication and CSOs outreach The annual elections of a third of the Board working group of Civil Society Europe, which of Directors brought two new organisations notably launched a social media storm in on board: Civic Alliance Latvia and European October 2019.
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