Several days ago I got an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania to take part in the European Year of Citizens 2013 Closing Conference. Below you can find the text of the letter and agenda of the conference:
Dear Mr Paweł Rogaliński,
Lithuania has an honour to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013, the European Year of Citizens. The year was dedicated to raising awareness of the rights that EU citizenship entails, fostering civic engagement in the EU and encouraging the dialogue between all levels of government, civil society and business.
We kindly invite you to take part in the “European Year of Citizens 2013 Closing Conference” which will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on the 11th-14th December 2013.
This event will be an opportunity to gather citizens and policy makers of the EU for a dialogue on deeper citizens’ involvement in building our Europe.
Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union invites a blogger from each EU member state to take part in this event, to contribute to the discussions on civic engagement in policy process. It will also provide you with an opportunity to share your experiences with both – officials and active members of the civil society from other EU countries.
The conference will start in Vilnius in the afternoon of 12th December and will be concluded in the evening of 13th December. (…)
Please find the draft programme of the conference attached to this email.
Kind regards,
(…)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania
2013 EUROPEAN CLOSING CONFERENCE
YEAR OF CITIZENS
Venue: Seimas (Lithuanian National Parliament), Vilnius
Dates: Thursday, 12 December & Friday, 13 December
Title: “How to make every year a year for citizens!”
THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER 2013
BLOCK 1
“The role of Civil Society in European Democracy”
12:00 – 14:30 Arrival of participants and registration
14:30 – 15:00 Plenary session : “Taking stock of the 2013 European Year”
Welcome words by Lithuanian Presidency
Chair: Ylva Tivéus, Director ‘Citizens’, DG Communication,
European Commission
Opening speeches (7 minutes each):
-Ylva Tivéus (European Commission)
– Jean-Marc Roirant, chairman of EYCA (France)
– Andris Gobiņš, European Economic and Social Committee,
Rapporteur on EYC2013 (Latvia)
|
15:00 – 16:30 |
15:00 – 16:30 | |||||
|
Parallel Session 1 |
Parallel Session 2 | |||||
| The role and the future of civil society | Shaping Europe from the bottom up! | |||||
| organisations in building our Europe | ||||||
| Chair: Sophie Beernaerts, Head of Unit, | Chair: Andris Gobiņš, Member of European | |||||
| ‘Citizens programme’, DG Communication, | Economic and Social Committee, President of | |||||
| European Commission | European Movement – Latvia | |||||
| Panellists: | Panellists: | |||||
| 1. Niccolo Milanese, European Alternatives – | 1. | (tbc) … Unit ‘General Institutional Issues’ , | ||||
| Citizens Pact (UK) | Secretariat General, European Commission | |||||
| 2. Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary General, | (European Citizens Initiative-ECI) | |||||
| CIVICUS (Australia) | 2. Alessandro Giordani, Head of sector | |||||
| 3. Oliver Henman, President of the Board of | “Communication, information and networks”, | |||||
| Directors, The European Network of | European Commission Representation | |||||
| National Civil Society Associations – | ||||||
| Office in Rome (Citizens’ Dialogues) | ||||||
| ENNA | ||||||
| 4. Edgaras Leichteris, Knowledge Economy | 3. | Philippe Cayla, Euronews Development – | ||||
| ECI: “Let us vote” (France) | ||||||
| Forum (Lithuania) | ||||||
| 5. Elena Curtopassi – European Local | 4. Carla Scaramela – ARCI – Laboratories of | |||||
| Inclusion & Social action network – | European Democracy (Italy) (tbc) | |||||
| ELISAN (tbc) | 5. | Olga Jurkowska or Małgorzata Steiner, | ||||
| EYC2013 National Contact Point (Poland) | ||||||
| Q&A with the audience | Q&A with the audience | |||||
| Rapporteur: (To be identified) | ||||||
| Rapporteur: (To be identified) | ||||||
| 16:30 – 17:00 | Coffee break | |||||
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Plenary session | |||||
| Collecting questions to be put to participants in panel debate of next morning | ||||||
| Closing remarks by John Macdonald, Head of the EYC2013 Task Force, DG | ||||||
| Communication, European Commission. | ||||||
| 17:30 – 18:30 | EYCA Plenary meeting | |||||
| 18:30 – 19:30 | Cocktail dînatoire | |||||
| FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER 2013 | ||
| OPENING SESSION | ||
| 08:00 – 08:50 | Arrival of participants and registration | |
| 08.50 – 09.30 | Plenary session – Official Opening | |
| Moderator: | Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, Chair of | |
| the Committee on European Affairs | ||
| Keynote speeches by Lithuanian Dignitaries (names tbc) and Viviane Reding, | ||
| European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Justice, | ||
| Fundamental Rights and Citizenship | ||
| 9.20 – 09:30 | Sąjūdis movie “Lithuanian Road to Freedom” and speech by | |
| Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, Chairman of the Supreme Council | ||
| of Lithuania – Reconstituent Seimas, Former Head of the State of | ||
| Lithuania | ||
| 09:30 – 09:35 | Official handover of the EYCA Policy Document (title tbc) to Vice | |
| President Viviane Reding by Jean-Marc Roirant, EYCA Chairman – short | ||
| political statement | ||
| 09:35 – 10:35 | Panel debate : Putting EYCA ‘s policy recommendations in perspective | |
| Moderator: | Vladimir Vasak, ARTE TV Channel | |
| Panellists: | Antigoni Papadopoulou, MEP (CY/S&D) (Cyprus) | |
| Mercedes Bresso, Vice-President of Committee of the | ||
| Regions (Italy) | ||
| Emily O’ Reilly, European Ombudsman (Ireland) | ||
| Conny Reuter, SOLIDAR/ EYCA (Germany) | ||
| Juozas Bernatonis, Minister of Justice of the Republic of | ||
| Lithuania | ||
| Ylva Tivéus, Director, Citizens Directorate, DG | ||
| Communication, European Commission | ||
| 10:35 – 10:40 | Family photo of all participants at the Kovo-11 Hall | |
| 10-40 – 11:00 | Press conference at the Parliament press conference room, participating | |
| Chairman of EYCA, Commission representative and Juozas Bernatonis, | ||
| Minister of Justice – other VIPs from the Panel debate … | ||
| 10:40 – 11:00 | Coffee break | |
BLOCK 2
“EU citizenship in action – How citizens can influence policy-making“
| 11:00 – 12:30 |
11:00 – 12:30 |
|||||
| Parallel Session 3 |
Parallel Session 4 |
|||||
| Fostering EU citizens’ rights | New ways for citizens to influence | |||||
| policymakers | ||||||
| Chair: Chiara Adamo, Head of Unit, ‘Union | Chair: DG CNECT or Eurofound (tbc) | |||||
| citizenship and Free movement’, DG Justice, | Panellists: | |||||
| European Commission | ||||||
| Panellists: | 1. …. E-participation in Estonia (Estonia) | |||||
| 1. John Kellock, Advisor on fundamental | 2. Anne Davidian, Evens foundation, Head of | |||||
| Paris office – I am Europe | ||||||
| rights issues and policy , European | ||||||
| (Belgium/France) | ||||||
| Union Agency for Fundamental Rights | ||||||
| 3. Anna Triantafillou – OurSpace (DG | ||||||
| (Integration – Populism – Discrimination) | ||||||
| CONNECT – CIP funded project) (Greece) | ||||||
| 2. Yulia Pererva, Head of Unit for | (tbc) | |||||
| Education for Democratic Citizenship & | 4. Josien Pieterse – Netwerk Democratie | |||||
| Human Rights, Council of Europe | (eGoverment/social media project | |||||
| 3. Claus Larsen-Jensen, Director of FIC | “Volgdewet.nl” )(The Netherlands) | |||||
| (Forum for International Cooperation) | 5. Gunta Anca, Vice-President of European | |||||
| (Denmark) – project “Real Democracy | Disability Forum (Latvia) | |||||
| Civil Society Europe” | ||||||
| 4. Nuola Mole, The AIRE Centre (UK) | ||||||
| 5. Assya Kavrakova – Head of board of | Q&A with the audience | |||||
| Directors – ECAS – “EU rights’ clinic” | ||||||
| (Bulgaria) | ||||||
| Q&A with the audience | Rapporteur: (To be identified) | |||||
| Rapporteur: (To be identified) | ||||||
| 12:30 – 14:00 |
12.30 – 14.00 |
|||||
| Buffet Lunch |
MARKET PLACE at the Parliament lobby |
|||||
13.00 Guided Tour of the Seimas
BLOCK 3
“Participative and representative democracy: Two sides of a same coin”
| 14:00 – 15:30 | 14:00 – 15:30 | |||||
| Parallel Session 5 | Parallel Session 6 | |||||
| Why wait to vote? Other ways to engage | Towards the 2014 European Elections | |||||
| Chair: Professor Leonidas Donskis, Member | Chair: Aleyda Hernandez Laviades – Policy | |||||
| Unit, Directorate General for Communication | ||||||
| of European Parliament – ALDE/LT (tbc) | ||||||
| European Parliament | ||||||
| Panellists: | Panellists: | |||||
| 1. | Raquel Freire – From “Generação a | 1. | DiogoPinto,EuropeanMovement | |||
| International (Portugal) | ||||||
| rasca” (Precarious Generation) to | ||||||
| Citizenship Academy (Portugal) | 2. | Joana Nyman, European Youth Forum – | ||||
| 2. Jens Seipenbusch, Pirate Party | ‘League of Young Voters’ project (Finland) | |||||
| (Germany) | 3. European Political Mentoring Network | |||||
| 3. | Professor Engin Isin – The Open | (European Women’s Lobby) Mentor MEP | ||||
| University – ENACT, FP7 funded project | & aspiring MEP Mentee from Diversity | |||||
| (UK) | 4. Representative from ATD Quart Monde | |||||
| 4. Freedom House in Lithuania (name tbc) | ||||||
| 5. Andrej Pevec – Foundation for | 5. | Jean-Pierre Dubois, Président d’Honneur- | ||||
| Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (on the issue | ||||||
| Partnership and Civil development – | ||||||
| of residents) (France) | ||||||
| Active Communities for Europe (Croatia) | ||||||
| (tbc) | ||||||
| Q&A with the audience | Q&A with the audience | |||||
Rapporteur: (To be identified)
| 15:30 – 16: 00 | Coffee break |
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Plenary Closing session: The way forwards |
| Moderator: Vladimir Vasak | |
| Reports from the 6 parallel sessions (7’ max. each) | |
| Closing remarks | |
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| Communication, European Commission | |
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| 17:00 – 18:30 | Back to Hotels |
| 18:30 – 19:00 | Transfer from hotels to venue of social event |
| 19: 00 – 21:00 | Reception at the Grand Dukes’ Palace |