OPEN INVITATION TO THE PRESS AND PUBLIC TO THE ANNUAL ECIT CONFERENCE 2020
When? Tuesday I and Wednesday 2 December
Where? Online! Registration at this link. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/annual-conference-on-european-citizenship-2020-tickets-127872681633)
About? A more inclusive and resilient European citizenship
This event, to which the press and the general public are cordially invited, is the greatest annual caucus on European citizenship gathering together civil society activists, scholars and policy-makers. 2020 has thrown into sharp relief the paradoxes of this first transnational citizenship of the modern era. EU citizenship is at once popular and fragile with its first right to freedom of movement swept aside during the current pandemic. It is at once a fundamental status reflecting the core of the EU, yet fragile and all too easily lost or put up for sale.
You can join us on a journey of discovery of weakness and strength by participating in 6 sessions debating the following questions:
1.What is the current state and outlook for European citizenship?
2.How to strengthen the enforcement of European rights, values and the rule of law?
- How to make European citizenship education central to the EU recovery plan?
- How to push back the boundaries of European citizenship within the EU and in neighbouring countries?
- How can the Voters Without Borders initiative, civil society and the European Parliament achieve full political rights for 14 million EU citizens on the move?
- Should new social, environmental and health rights be added to EU citizenship?
The full programme can be found here:
The ECIT Foundation is asserting a more inclusive and resilient EU citizenship which should respect and bring together our different cultures and historical identities. It should be inextricably linked to the same charter of fundamental rights and core values of democracy and the rule of law across all Member States to have meaning. This common basis for living together in Europe must be built for the future too: every child should have access to citizenship education and its European dimension. A centrepiece for the conference will be the Declaration by NECE giving priority to European citizenship education, the poor relation in the EU budget and recovery plan.
If citizenship is the right to have rights, EU citizenship is incomplete. Why is that EU citizens have the right to vote and stand in local and European elections in their country of residence, but not in the national ones which really count or in regional elections or referenda? It is a start for the European citizens’ initiative “voters without borders” that the Commission is committed to revising the directives on the existing rights which are not fit for purpose, but there is a long way to go to achieve full political rights linked to freedom of movement. Finally, is it enough that EU citizenship is seen as primarily relevant to the movers, rather than to the majority of stayers? 27 years after Union citizenship was established as an evolutionary concept by the Maastrcht Treaty new European social, environmental and health rights should be established.
Interested? REGISTER here.
After the registration, Join the Howspace Community to find all the background material, explore speakers and program and network with participants: For press enquiries: Tony Venables,info@ecit-foundation.eu or Anna Comacchio, team@voterswithoutborders.eu