The annual meeting of contact points for the EU programme "Europe for Citizens" (EFC) was held on March 20 and 21, 2017, in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was attended by representatives of most contact points for the EFC program, representatives of the European Commission and the EACEA. The meeting was opened by the EACEA Director and the Head of the Unit responsible for the EFC programme, who actively participated in both days.
During the meeting, a new initiative of the European Commission European Solidarity Corps (ESC) was announced, aiming at involving volunteers in as many activities as possible at the EU level. 20,000 young people from all over the EU (18-30 years old) have already registered in this volunteer base. Young people from Serbia cannot apply, but the initiative can be promoted through the involvement of ESC volunteers in EFC projects. Also, there is a possibility that at some future stage the initiative will open for participants from Serbia. EFC projects that involve ESC volunteers will have added value in the evaluation, although applicants will not receive additional funds for engagement of ESC volunteers.
Within the March Call for Proposals, 40% of the submitted projects under the European Remembrance and Civil Society Projects envisaged involvement of ESC volunteers, and most of these projects came from Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria ...
The meeting also discussed the preliminary results of the mid-term evaluation of the program and the European Parliament's report on the implementation of the EFC program. The EU Citizenship Report for 2017 was also presented. According to the findings of the report, EU citizens see the freedom of movement as the EU's biggest success. The European Commission planned for 2017 and 2018 awareness-raising campaigns for citizenship rights, and for 2018 a campaign to promote good practice in order to raise voter turnout for the European Parliament. A campaign against violence against women and discrimination against the LGBT population is planned for 2017.
During the second working day, the participants had the opportunity to formulate ideas for strengthening the role of contact points in the future, improving their results and evaluating the work of the contact points. Examples of good practice of contact points in the areas of attracting new applicants, online promotion and establishment of partnerships were presented. One of the topics also was a ca;; for operating grants, which will be announced in the second half of the year.
