Thursday, 31 January 2013

Let's talk Europe!

So, as I explained previously, we had lots of questions that we wanted an answer to – answers that are crucial to the whole I AM EUROPE project. And, of course, we couldn’t tackle all these questions by ourselves. We needed many helping hands and much expertise.  We were very lucky to find both in the 12 partner organizations that were more than willing to join us in this challenging quest.

Some of our partners are contributing their expertise on European affairs or citizens’ participation. They ‘open doors’ for us. They are renowned institutions – some of them think-tanks, others leading organizations in promoting citizens’ participation in the process of unifying Europe – with lots of influential power.

However, most of the project partners are grassroots and/or civil society organizations, from all over Europe. Through them I AM EUROPE will be able to work directly with about 250 citizens from eight EU countries, all of whom are playing an active role in their communities. 

We believe that active citizens can be the motor of change within the European Union. If the EU becomes more appealing to its citizens and generates greater participation, it will be mainly thanks to committed and active citizens like our participants. Needless to say, they are the backbone of the project.

I AM EUROPE will try to create a framework for these citizens so that they can learn from each other, exchange ideas, assess new opportunities and seek ways to maximize their impact on European policy and in the public domain. In the coming weeks, all the participating citizens will create profiles and become visible on this website. Gradually the ‘gray grid’ will come to life as the project becomes ‘peopled’, and the ideas, expertise and imagination of lots of enthusiastic citizens begin to build up its momentum.
Keep in touch!

Tim Verbist
(EF)

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