July 2009 English edition. eclau project. eclau project promotes e-partecipation of young people

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1 ASOCIACIÓN ARAGONESA DE ENTIDADES LOCALES eclau newsletter This project is being co-funded by the European Commission July 2009 English edition eclau is the electronic key to get young Europeans involved in fighting climate change with a cool tool: Internet! INDEX PAGE 2-3 Who we are and What we do Contact details ALDA workshop in Strasbourg - France Institute of Entrepreneurship Development workshop in Larissa - Greece ASAEL seminar in Zaragoza - Spain ADMMRB seminar in Bansko - Bulgaria workshop - Italy PAGE 4 European elections 2009 Forums Forums in French, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian and Italian PAGE 5 Upcoming events Upcoming events for eclau International Meeting in Zaragoza April 2010! Other upcoming events e-clau project promotes e-partecipation of young people Visit our website: and download our brochure in any of the 6 languages! Climate change is a challenge which concerns all of us, that does not stop at borders and thus requires transnational solutions, therefore European solutions. The European Union showed it was ready to assume global leadership in tackling climate change, in facing the challenge of secure, sustainable and competitive energy production and in making the European economy a model for sustainable development in the XXI century. However, its action hardly reaches through to the EU citizens and this is why the was implemented: our aim is to reach the EU citizens, and specifically the younger ones, and encourage them to participate in the fight against climate change, through tools they know perfectly well: ICTs. eclau created a website in 6 languages (English, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish), where you can download information about environmental policies and also express your opinions on different forums. We also promoted our project through national workshops, inviting youngsters, representatives of local authorities, NGOs, academia... The project will end with an international meeting in Zaragoza. Young Europeans in action: Participating against climate change Active citizenship, stages, workshops and e-participation Provincia di ASOCIACIÓN ARAGONESA DE ENTIDADES LOCALES Provincia di

2 Who we are and what we do Contact details ASAEL - Asociación Aragonesa de Entidades Locales Contact person: Yolanda Matas Mail: directorproyectos@asael.es, euprojects@asael.es Address: Plaza del Pilar Zaragoza (Spain) Tel Fax Web page: ALDA - Association of Local Democracy Agencies Contact person: Antonella Valmorbida Mail: antonella.valmorbida@ aldaintranet.org, aline.schwoob@ aldaintranet.org Address: c/o Council of Europe, European Palace Strasbourg (France) Tel Fax Web page: Provincia di Contact person: Pietro Gentili Mail: politiche.comunitarie@ mbox.provincia.re.it Address: Corso Garibaldi (Italy) Tel Fax Web page: Association for development of mountain municipalities in Republic of Bulgaria Contact person: Tchavdar Roussev Mail: bulmonte@mail.bg Address: 23, Tvardishki Prohod Str., Floor 3, Office Sofia (Bulgaria) Tel. (+359 2) Fax (+359 2) Web page: Institute of Entrepreneurship Development Contact person: Joanna Leontaraki Mail: info@entre.gr Address: Ioustinianou Larissa (Greece) Tel./Fax Web page: What we do ALDA workshop in Strasbourg On June 25 th, Strasbourg welcomed the French national workshop dealing with international environmental policies, e-participation and the European elections results. 24 youngsters, representatives of local authorities, NGOs and private ALDA workshop in Strasbourg (France) Institute of Entrepreneurship Development workshop in Larissa The Greek national workshop with the title ACT-IVE European Youth: You can make a difference was materialised with success on June 04, Participants, including youth, representatives of local authorities and other such institutions joined in an active discussion on issues concerning the EU Elections, Youth and Technology and the European Parliament and how it can and should influence the environment. A general lack of information to the 5 national workshops for young people abaut climate change sector participated. Presentations about climate change and EU/UN policies created interactions and debates among these 24 participants. Then a workshop on e-participation presented e-networking technicalities and showed the strengths and weaknesses of our website. The day ended with a debate about European elections concluding that Europe has to communicate more with its citizens. public of Greece was pointed out, resulting in a low level of awareness and participation of individuals throughout and the need to overcome such problems. IED Workshop in Larissa (Greece) eclau Newsletter 2

3 ASAEL seminar in Zaragoza On April 29 th, ASAEL held the Seminar Youth Participation in Europe: fighting together against climate change, in Zaragoza, Spain. The seminar was materialised in four round tables concerning Participation in Europe, Youth and Environment ; The new technologies as a tool for Environment s participation, Climate change as an area of participation, and counted in all of them with experts all over Europe on the different fields. Given to the high level of the speakers there were many debates and a high public participation. The audience was very large and very heterogeneous: representatives of municipalities, counties, Aragon s Government, Youth Associations, Political Parties, Scouts of Aragon, Sporting clubs, youth and general public. The conference had a great impact in the Aragonese media and press, and was disseminated by sending more than invitations to organizations and entities representing the Aragonese society. ASAEL seminar in Zaragoza (Spain) Who we are and what we do ADMMRB seminar in Bansko On 4 th and 5 th June 2009, the Association for development of mountain municipalities in Republic of Bulgaria (ADMMRB) successfully carried out a seminar Crosspoint in Bansko. The main aim was to increase the awareness of youngsters towards local dimension of EU policies against climate change and to present the opportunities for youth participation in decision-making at national and EU level. Another aim was to activate the dialog and debate with Bulgarian members of the European Parliament, on ADMMRB seminar in Bansko (Bulgaria) problems in contributing in the realization of ideas for sustainable development and good governance. 33 young people, representatives of local authorities and NGOs attended the seminar and many issues were covered in relation to the project eclau. The forum ended with the signing of a memorandum which included young people s ideas and desire for active participation in the EU initiatives against climate change in the context of sustainable development of the mountain areas. workshop Young people, representatives of authorities and other institutions joined in an active discussion on issues concerning innovation and creativity as tools for development and European regulations and investments for energy and waste. Young people seemed very interested to be involved in these activities because they feel they can contribute positively to their society. The first event was particularly interesting to them, since they had the opportunity to talk about instruments, such as innovation and creativity, that they usually use and that can help them to find their place into the labour market. The second event showed a general lack of information concerning European policies for environment and its fight against climate change. Anyway, people seemed to be really interested in this issue, and they were very impressed by the EU strategy for energy and waste. eclau workshop in (Italy) eclau Newsletter 3

4 European elections 2009 Forums French Forum One main reaction: communication on the European Union is practically non-existent. Young people declared that they didn t know the functioning of the European parliament, but are very eager to understand. Others reacted by saying that the debate about Europe in France, is too much oriented on the French themselves. This situation is mostly the media s fault; they focus too much on the national ambitions of the political leaders. The French media think that Europe is not a selling theme... The European Commission communicate better on its institutions to attract the media and thus the electors. The eclau forum initiative was welcomed, especially for young people who are rarely involved. Spanish Forum Four topics were discussed in the forum: In general, there isn t enough information about the European Elections ; Importance given to the youth in the different European Programmes (Election Manifestos) ; Youth representation in political parties ; Partnerships and youth. The general contribution was the concern about the lack of European Elections information shown in the media and in the speeches of the politicians. There were other interesting contributions that affect youth directly like the lack of reference in the Spanish election manifestos concerning the youth role in Europe and their future. To sum up, it is important to highlight youth disenchantment with politicians, and the low interest for young people to participate actively in politics. Nowadays, it is evident that there is a lack of confidence and mistrust in the system and the decision makers. Greek Forum The first Online Greek forum was materialized with success, with 20 persons participating and more than 190 views. The high degree of significance of the EU Elections was agreed upon by all participants, while it was generally accepted that youth, institutions, organizations and the public throughout the EU should be involved in all aspects relating to the EU to a greater degree and be kept informed, something that Greece is lagging behind in. Bulgarian forum Four topics were discussed including motivation of young people to vote for the EU Parliament, interest of the EU institutions and the information about them. The opinions shared discovered that young people are not motivated enough to vote for EU Parliament due to no sufficient information about the EU, its bodies and policies, political platforms defended, as well as the lack of contact between the Bulgarian members in EU Parliament and Bulgarian citizens. Italian Forum The 1 st topic developed was WE and Europe, which expressed the main problem about the EU Elections being the lack of information. Most of the youngsters think that voting is useless. But, some of them said that the forum is a very good idea, because people can exchange their opinions about Europe. Moreover, Europe is trying to involve youngsters using instruments like social networks (e.g. Twitter and Facebook), on-line lessons or MTV ( Can you hear me Europe? ), but they seem too passive. It was also said that Europe is not as far as it seems, especially if someone thinks about all the European programs that let young people move across EU, such as Erasmus or Leonardo. The 2 nd topic was WE and Environment, it was just talked about nuclear plants. In conclusion, it was agreed on the necessity to think in a more European way and to consider Europe as the freedom of choice. eclau Newsletter 4

5 Upcoming events for eclau E-Participate in the fight against climate change! Forest Fires on 20 th July Mountains on 7 th September Air Pollution on 7 th October Climate change: what can you do individually on 9 th November Water Management on 10 th December September ALDA is organizing in the frame of the multi-lateral cooperation program between French local-authorities and the Balkans, the first transnational workshop on development in rural areas and sustainable tourism (with Région Auvergne as leader and with the support of the Hautes-Alpes and Haute-Loire) in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 25 th -26 th September ADMMRB will take part in the General Assembly of European Association of Elected representatives from Mountain Regions, in Turin, at Piedmont Region headquarters on 9 th and 10 th July 2009 with a presentation of a report: For a single responsible policy for sustainable development of the mountain regions in Bulgaria. Many issues will be discussed at the Assembly as: results of the European Parliament elections, and in coming months, the nomination of a new European Commission, strategic political debates (CAP, Cohesion Policy, Energy plan, multilevel governance, etc.), in the context of the current economic crisis and preoccupying environmental considerations. International Meeting in Zaragoza The International Meeting that will take place in Zaragoza, Spain in April 2010 will welcome all the partners, organizations and working teams that have been involved in the Project in one way or another. Main project objectives: a. Development of training activities with young people in order to introduce the concepts of active citizenship and e-participation, mainly in rural areas. b. Analysis of the results of the participation in the web page in both quantitative and qualitative ways. c. Creation and development of an environmental and youth issues platform. d. Dissemination of information through the media. Working together with young organizations, and with the youth departments of local and regional authorities in the countries involved in the project to spread the activities and their results. e. Actions to make young people, mainly in rural areas, aware of their role in the representative democracy. f. Development of a network of municipalities in order to promote the Youth European Citizenship. g. Promoting citizens participation in equally politics. 3 rd International Conference Towards Sustainable Development: Assessing the footprint of resource Utilization and hazardous waste management, Athens, Greece, 7-9 September. The aim of the Conference is to provide a forum to allow for discussions on the main issues and key challenges related to all aspects of resources and hazardous waste management in the beginning of the 21 st Century in order to improve the industry s sustainability, reduce its environmental and health impacts and enhance resource recovery efficiency and consumption. Visit the site for more information: heliotopos.conferences.gr/?amireg2009 The International Conference On Climate Change organised by the United Upcoming Events April 2010: International Meeting in Zaragoza (Spain) In order to obtain a set of conclusions concerning the main topics of the project, Youth, eparticipation and Climatic Change, the meeting will be organised in two parts: the first one will be addressed to regional and local authorities and to civil servants of municipalities, especially those working in Youth, Participation and Environmental departments. The main aim of the first part is to analyse and spread the results of eclau web page concerning these issues, emphasizing climatic change. The second part will be addressed to young people, citizens, association s members, school teachers, etc whose activities concern Youth. It will promote reflection and debates among municipalities and participating associations to put in common the different points of view. Youngsters will have another chance to express themselves and to be heard. Nations in Copenhagen from 7 th to 18 th December 2009 could be considered as a big opportunity to reflect on a global way on social, economic and environmental policies for the 21 st century, as well as Rio was for the 20 th century. The Global warming, the economic crisis and its consequences will generate heated debates and this may change the course of the priorities of all countries economic policies, in addition to the fact that it causes major changes in the life style of the human race. eclau Newsletter 5