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GEF-11-30 Seminar Report Greening Europe

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GEF-11-30 Seminar Report Greening Europe Greening Europe: Toolkit for the European Green Activist 30 June – 2 July 2011, Brussels Seminar Report The Green European Foundation organized a three day course on the work and functioning of the European Union institutions and politics. The seminar took place in Brussels, between June 30 th and July 2nd 2011 and gathered 23 participants from 16 European countries within and outside the EU. The seminar gave the participants a chance to learn about, discover and experience the European Union's political system as well as Green European actors for three intensive days of presentations, study and debate. Below you will find a short overview of the main session of the course, as well as relevant links to websites offering more information on the respective topics. Thursday June 30 th Introduction Damian Connon, Course facilitator We started the seminar with a short introductory session, led by the courses’ facilitator Damian Connon. In that session the participants had the chance to briefly present themselves and their background, and talked about issues that they wanted to see addressed during the seminar. This initial exercise gave us the chance to discover the different background of activism of all the participants, be it NGOs, Green parties, Green youth organisations or foundations. Key concepts: The EU’s institutions Anna Cavazzini, Co -Spokesperson Europe working group German Greens Anna Cavazzini, the co3spokesperson of the Europe working group of the German Greens and assistant to Greens/EFA MEP Ska Keller led this session. In a group exercise, the participants had to connect certain key terms to several European institutions, all of which were discussed in detail thereafter. This offered the participants a first introduction into the main EU institutional actors, as well as their specific roles and competences. More information: http://www.gef.eu/publication/news/manual -for -europe -a-beginners -guide -to -the -eu/ - GEF’s short introductory book to the European Union Key concepts: Decision making Claude Turmes, Greens/EFA MEP Using the example of the European Commission’s current proposal to merge the two existing directives on energy efficiency, the Luxemburgish Green MEP Claude Turmes explained the functioning of the legislative procedure in the European Union. Concerning the role of the European Parliament in this process he stressed the key role of rapporteurs and the importance of building majorities inside the Parliament. He equally stressed the large impact of lobbying on dossiers linked to European industries and thus their impact on energy issues. More information: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/eed/doc/2011_directive/com_2011_0370_en.pdf - The European Commission’s current proposal for merging the energy efficiency and repealing directives http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public/geoSearch/view.do?language=EN&partNu mber=1&country=LU&id=4432 – Claude Turmes on the EP’s web site Feedback round Damian Connon, Course facilitator In a first feedback round we then discussed open questions from the morning. Many of the participants voiced just how complex they found the EU’s system to be. Using the results from a preliminary homework for which participants were asked to argue which is in their view the most important actor in the EU, we explored the difference between perception and impact, institutionalized and non -institutionalized power. Brussels Lobby Tour Corporate Europe Observatory The Brussels lobby tour offered an introduction to the massive lobby machine working around the EU institutions. Two tour guides from the research and campaigning organization Corporate Europe Observatory guided us through the EU quarter in Brussels – presenting some lobbying giants on the way, as well as some concrete examples of successful lobbying in the EU. They also insisted that not all lobbying is “bad”: for instance, the lobbying work of environmental NGO’s is very valuable for the Greens. However, it is important to remember the power balances between different lobbyists. Industry has by far more resources to lobby, and the results can indeed be seen in many EU policies. More information: http://www.corporateeurope.org/ - Website of the Corporate Europe Observatory http://archive.corporateeurope.org/docs/lobbycracy/lobbyplanet.pdf - 2005 guide to the lobbying machinery in Brussels http://www.eulobbytours.org/tour.html - Virtual lobby tour through the EU quarter http://www.alter -eu.org/book/bursting -the -brussels -bubble - Book on attempts to counter lobby influence in Brussels (pdf download) The European Parliament: The Greens/EFA Group Vula Tsetsi, Secretary General Greens/EFA Group Vula Tsetsi offered us an insight into the work, impact and functioning of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament. She explained the differences between collective work by the group and that done by individual MEPs, as well as policy priorities and successes of the Group within the Parliament. More information: http://www.greens -efa.eu/ - Greens/EFA group web site The European Parliament: How does it work? Ska Keller, Greens/EFA MEP Ska Keller answered the participants’ questions on the functioning of the European Parliament from an MEPs point of view. With this different perspective from the prior meeting we were able to get a diverse look at the work of the European Parliament as such, as well as the different responsibilities of individual MEPs. More information: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public/geoSearch/view.do?language=EN&id=9673 4 – Ska Keller on the EP’s web site The European Parliament: Tour David Morrison, Greens/EFA Web editor Our visit to the European Parliament ended with a tour of the building, as well as of the offices of the Green staff. Along the way David explained the work and responsibilities of Greens/EFA staff in greater detail and thus offered another valuable perspective. European Green Dinner The day ended with a dinner during which the participants could meet different Green activists working at the European level. In an informal setting, they could thus interact with individuals working for the European Green Party, the Greens/EFA Group and the European Commission. Friday July 1 st Policy focus: Common Agricultural Policy Antje Koelling, Policy Coordinator IFOAM Antje Koelling from the International Organization of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the umbrella organization of Europe’s organic farmers gave an overview over the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). She stressed the importance of its different elements and explained why a reform of the system is so complicated. Last but not least she offered an overview of possible improvements to the CAP in favour of local and organic farming. More information: http://www.ifoam.org/ - IFOAM’s web site http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/simplifying -cap/article -158555 - Euractiv’s section on the CAP reform http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap -post -2013/communication/index_en.htm - European Commission communication on the CAP towards 2020 EU Policy in action: European Parliament simulation Using the input from the session on the CAP, we explored the difficulties’ linked to European decision making during a simulation of the European Parliament. Each participant was assigned a political party as well as a country, before debating on a reform proposal by the European Commission on the CAP. In the different debates the participants then had to combine their national position with party preferences, before voting on amendments to the Commission’s proposal. Policy focus: Migration policy Judith Sargentini, Greens/EFA MEP Yves Pascouau, Senior Analyst, European Policy Centre The Dutch Green MEP Judith Sargentini, and Yves Pascouau, an expert on migration questions from the European Policy Centre (EPC) offered an insight into migration -related issues and debates at the European level. This broad policy focus included elements such as the EU’s internal freedom of movement, as well as refugee and asylum and border control issues. Coming from different backgrounds, the two speakers complemented each other in presenting migration related issues and answering the participant’s questions. More information: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/assistantAlphaOrder/view.do?id=96815&la nguage=EN - Judith Sargentini on the EP’s web site http://www.epc.eu/ - EPC’s web site http://www.epc.eu/team_details.php?hr_id=50&dept_id=3 – Yves Pascouau on the EPC’s web site European Democracy Juan Behrend, GEF Board Member Juan Behrend, a member of GEF’s board and former Secretary General of the European Green Party and the Greens/EFA Group led this debate on European democracy and how to increase participation in Europe’s political life. Main topics of this session were the upcoming legal instrument of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), the alarmingly low turnout of voters at European elections and the lack of democratic participation at the European level. The potential addition of European3wide lists for the European Parliament elections, the so3called Duff report, was also briefly introduced. More information: http://www.gef.eu/publication/news/european -citizens -initiative -handbook -your -guide -to -the - worlds -first -transnational -direct -democr/ - GEF’s publication on the ECI http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/pressroom/content/20110418IPR18099/html/EP - elections -should -include -an -extra -25 -MEPs -from -EU -wide -lists - The Duff report on introducing transnational lists for the European Parliament elections
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