Re-elected by a very large majority, the European Ombudsman submits an ambitious work programme

Re-elected to his post by a very large majority, European Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros has presented his priorities over the next five years. In the first place, the Ombudsman aims to ensure that citizens' rights under EU law are respected at every level in the Union, and he will therefore keep on striving to improve the quality of information to citizens and potential complainants.

Given that the implementation of EU law is largely the responsibility of administrations in the Member States, the European Ombudsman will continue his efforts to ensure that public administrations at the European and national levels take full account of these rights in their everyday work. This is why the Ombudsman intends to develop cooperation with his counterparts at the national and regional level by, for example, examining the possibility of creating a single telephone number across the Union for people wishing to contact the ombudsman network. The Ombudsman will also strive to ensure that the EU institutions and bodies adopt a citizen-centred approach in all their activities. He will therefore seek every opportunity to achieve friendly solutions to complaints and will launch more inquiries on his own-initiative in order to identify problems and encourage best practice.

The Constitution for Europe, once ratified, will make the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding. The Ombudsman would like to explore with Parliament how to make sure that citizens' complaints about violations of Charter rights can be looked into as rapidly and effectively as possible and eventually brought before the Court of Justice, if an important issue of principle cannot be resolved in any other way.

First elected as European Ombudsman by the European Parliament in January 2003, Mr Diamandouros has now been re-elected with 564 votes out of a total of 643 votes cast. His new mandate will run until 2009. Comprehensive information on the Ombudsman election is available at: http://www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int/home/fr/default.htm.

News from the institutions

Stakeholder consultation on the Framework Programme for Competitiveness and Innovation

The European Commission's DG Enterprise & Industry of has recently launched a consultation inviting stakeholders to present their views on the Framework Programme for Competitiveness and Innovation. The purpose of this consultation is to adopt a framework programme that integrates a number of existing Community programmes in the fields that have been identified as most critical to boosting European production growth. The following programmes will therefore cease to exist: the Multiannual Programme for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (MAP); the Intelligent Energy-Europe programme; promotion and demonstration of environmental technologies covered by the Life programme; the Modinis, e-Content and e-TEN programmes; certain innovation-related activities of the Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. Care will be taken to ensure the continuity of the ongoing activities until the new framework Programme would take effect as of 1st of January 2007. Deadline: 07/02/2005. For more information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/cip/consultation.htm.

European Year of Citizenship through Education

The Council of Europe has decided to proclaim the year 2005 "European Year of Citizenship through Education". Low election turnouts among young people and their decreasing participation in public and political life lend urgency to the issue of education for democratic citizenship, which should be seen as a long-term investment to promote the democratic values of human rights, tolerance and cultural pluralism. The aim of this "European Year" is to encourage the practical implementation of pledges by political decision-makers and to offer opportunities for exchanges of innovative practices among professionals as well as opportunities to raise public awareness of democratic citizenship issues. The "Year", organised on a decentralised basis, will be punctuated by a series of activities and events in various European countries. Partnerships not only between the different sectors of the Council of Europe, but also between the Council and other international organisations such as the European Union, UNESCO, OSCE etc., will ensure that tangible results are achieved throughout the Member States of the Council of Europe.

The "Year's" launching Conference, "Learning and living democracy", took place in Sofia (BG) on 13-14 December 2004. The conclusions of the conference will be brought to the attention of the Third Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government, which will take place in Warsaw on 16-17 May 2005. For more information, visit: http://www.coe.int/T/E/Com/Files/Events/2004-12-EYCE/communqiue-plan-action.asp.

The most active regions regarding INTERREG IIIC

Some updated statistics were published on 7 January 2005, regarding the INTERREG IIIC Community Initiative. INTERREG IIIC is currently co-funding 195 operations (North 24, East 57, South 71, West 43). This figure is set to rise shortly, following funding decisions that are still to be taken on project applications received in the fourth application round (in the case of South: extended third round for Regional Framework Operations). The operations running involve over 1990 local and regional actors from 49 different countries. The majority of partners (93%) come from the EU Member States, 20% of them from the new Member States. The number of regions involved in approved INTERREG IIIC operations has grown to 191. Half of them are Objective 1 regions. The top regions are Andalusia (ES), Catalonia (ES), Emilia-Romagna (IT) and Saxony (DE), followed by Lithuania, which - within the programme context - is considered as one region. For more information on the activity of the different EU regions: http://www.interreg3c.net/sixcms/detail.php?id=6641&_interregbase=nozonenohome.

 

News from the networks

International cooperation on Undocumented Migrants

The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) aims to promote respect for the basic social rights (such as the right to health care, the right to shelter, the right to education and training, and the right to fair labour conditions) of undocumented migrants within Europe. PICUM member organisations are active in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia. PICUM provides information on national legislation and practices as regards the basic social rights of undocumented migrants, particularly on such aspects as civil rights and access to health care, education and housing. The platform closely monitors the activities of the European Union in this area and has also published a set of "ethical guidelines" for all people, including social workers, who assist - or deal in the course of their work with - undocumented migrants. Read the guidelines on: http://www.picum.org.

 

Funding opportunities

Evaluation of the Media programme

In November 2004, the Commission published a call for proposals concerning the interim evaluation of the "MEDIA Plus and MEDIA Training" programme. The closing date for applications has now been moved forward to 25 January 2005. Contact: European Commission, Directorate-General for Education and Culture, Attn: Mr Daskalakis, EAC C3, 100 rue Belliard, Office B100 4/27, B-1040 Brussels. Tel. +32 2 296.35.96. Fax: +32 2 299 92 14, E-mail: eac-media@cec.eu.int, Website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/calls/callg_en.html. The call for proposals was originally published in OJ S 219 of 10 November 2004. The corrigendum was published in OJ S 7 of 11 January 2005.

Evaluation of Article 6 of the ESF

The Commission is calling on services of experts for an external evaluation of Call for proposals VP/2003/021, published under Article 6 of the ESF Regulation: "Innovative approaches to the management of change". Deadline: 60 calendar days from the date of publication of the call for tender. Contact: European Commission, DG Employment and Social Affairs, Unit C/4, Attn: Ms Donatella Piatto, Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Brussels. Tel. +32 2 2958688, Fax: +32 2 2965989, E-mail: Empl-article6MC@cec.eu.int. Website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/index_en.html. Reference number: VT/2004/110, OJ S4 of 6.01.2005.

Innovation in education

The Commission is inviting proposals for the implementation of "General activities of observation, analysis and innovation" under Action 6 of the Socrates II programme. Proposals should aim to improve the quality of education systems and promote innovation in the field of education in Europe through the exchange of information, experiences and good practice. Closing date: 18 March 2005. For further information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/observation/call_en.html. Reference EAC 73/04, OJ C 5 of 8.01.2005.

 

Coming events

3-4 February, 2005, Brussels

"Science for Society-Science with Society: How to adapt and use the knowledge base for an optimal functioning of the Food-Health-Agriculture System in the European Union?" This conference is organised by EURAGRI (European Agricultural Research Initiative) in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee. Participation is invited from all stakeholders in the Food-Health-Agriculture System: Industry, Civil Society Organisations, Non Government Organisations, Governance and Policy, Media, Education, Trade, Consultancy etc. There is no fee for participation, but participants are responsible for costs and arrangement of travel and accomodation. To obtain the final program, the programme and the registration form, contact: Fons Werrij, EURAGRI Secretary General, Euragri Office, P.O.Box 9101, NL-6700HB Wageningen, T: +31 (317) 485574, F: +31 (317) 485617, e-mail: fons.werrij@wur.nl.

2-3 March 2005, Wels (AT)

The detailed conference programme of the European Pellets Conference is now available online. Around 40 speakers will give an overview of all important technology and market trends in the pellets sector and present the most important results from research and development. The Pellets Conference is held in the framework of the annual World Sustainable Energy Days - which attracted more than 900 participants in 2004 - offering a number of other high-profile events, including the conferences "Innovative Public and Commercial Buildings" and "Energy Sustainable Communities". The events are held in parallel to the "Energiesparmesse", an exhibition and trade show dedicated to renewable energy sources and energy efficiency with nearly 100 000 visitors every year. More than 50 companies will present their pellets-related products and services. The conference fee is 150 euros for the European Pellets Conference and 200 euros for all events. To find more information about the European Pellets Conference, surf: http://www.esv.or.at/esv/index.php?id=217&contUid=0, or contact Petra Friedrich, conference office, T: +43 732 7720 14386, e-mail: office@esv.or.at.

12-14 April 2005, Brussels (BE)

Employment Week is a major European event in the field of employment, economic development and training. The theme of Employment Week 2005 has now been announced: "Meeting Europe's employment goals - The review of the Lisbon Strategy and the revised European Social Fund". Employment Week also offers the opportunity for participants to present projects in the area of employment. Room capacity for presentations is limited to about 30 people, so prospective exhibitors and project managers are invited to submit the title of their presentation and sign up for a time slot as soon as possible. There are also plans to publish an employment project guide, which will be distributed to all delegates participating in Employment Week. For further information, as well as to register, reserve a stand, etc. contact: pbradbury@employmentweek.ce.uk or visit: http://www.employmentweek.com/. Reduced fees are available for those registering before 25 February 2005.

 

Publications

"Social inclusion: Role of the social partners"

This new publication by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions is now available in paper format in both English and French. The increasing involvement of the social partners in social policy matters, particularly in the area of social inclusion, is the focus of this Foundation Paper. It draws mainly on research carried out by the Foundation in the area of social inclusion over the past decade. Foundation Paper No. 5, September 2004, 44 pages. The report can also be consulted on line at: http://www.eurofound.eu.int/publications/fpapers.htm.

Final conclusions of the MEASURE project

Research projects in the field of telematics applications for public services significantly improve the skills and know-how of participants and strengthen research networks. The activities of researchers help to increase competitiveness. Successful projects contribute to the creation of "islands of innovation" and cooperation networks leading to the development of fundamental research and new products. These are some of the main conclusions of the MEASURE consortium's assessment, which also highlights the long-term socio-economic impact of R&D on e-government. The final conclusions of the MEASURE project can be read on: http://www.eu-measure.org.

The European Constitution on-line

The Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe has been published in full text (including all annexes, protocols and declarations) in the OJ C310 of December 16, 2004 in 20 Community languages. Surf: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2004:310:SOM:EN:HTML.

 

Announcements

Students in the service of your region

The students and trainees of the 3rd "cycle" of Regional Development Management (MDT Caen) are offering their services for surveys or other projects lasting from 4 to 6 months (as from 11 April 2005) within the framework of a training scheme. Dou you wish to build a diagnostic tool, develop a regional project, design or assess a development project, make the most of your area? Then contact Daniel Barbe, "3ème cycle en Management du Développement Territorial", Ecole de Management de Normandie, 9 rue Claude Bloch, F-14052 Caen Cedex 4. Tel. +33 2 31 46 78 87, Fax: +33 2 31 43 81 01, E-mail: info@3emecycle-mdt.com, Website: http://www.3emecycle-mdt.com.