E.M.E.R.G.E. - European Mobility Enabling to Reduce th Ground of Exclusion - European Project hosted by Istituto Sturzo in partnership with ESA and FCASEC

Social inclusion beyond the European Year 2010

Society and poeple with disabilities: future challenges for the EU

The fight against poverty and exclusion is still a key challenge for EU. The Member States are committed to reinforcing the institutional mechanism adopting an integrated system, considering themes on social inclusion in national-level policies.

Promoting inclusion means to work in order to assure equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation and to guarantee unquestionable dignity and participation opportunities to all. All the citizens should not be left apart in the personal life and work but actively involved in their community and in the European context.

It also means to act with the aim of making the society truly inclusive and capable of adapting to correspond to the citizens’ concrete rights.

Even if there is an intrinsic solidarity which fully acknowledges the need of adaptations for people with mild disabilities in European societies, people with severe or multiple disabilities need more help in terms of human rights and inclusion. Many disabled people continue to suffer discrimination with regard to the lack of equal recognition before the law and justice. Member States have to remedy these deficiencies including electoral rights.

Compared to the average, people with disabilities have more chance of being poor; around 80 million people with disabilities are poor, including one million deaf people.

In line with what emerged during the European Year for Combating Poverty and social, we need to consider that it is impossible to reduce poverty without integrating people with disabilities in the labor market and to adjust policies supporting incomes in case of disability.

The current systems of education and training do not prevent the dropout among people with disabilities. Its high rate leads to greater social disadvantage and employment especially in this time of economic crisis.

Succeeding in the workplace is still very difficult for people with disabilities, but there are good examples that could show the possibility of a change involving all the EU countries in implementing non-discriminatory and inclusive policies.

An example of this success is the experience of Hungarian Ádám Kósa EPP deputy who oversaw the report on "European strategy on disability 2010-2020. 

An example of this success is the experience of Ádám Kósa, MEP of  PPE, author of the report on EU’s disability strategy 2010-2020.

An interesting interview with Ádám Kósa on problems that disabled people face is published on the European Parliament website here.

European Union between defense of the Treaties and electoral consensus

From 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion to 2014 Year of European elections

The full text of the E.M.E.R.G.E. publication can be read here:

European Union between defense of the Treaties and electoral consensus

The E.M.E.R.G.E. publication

The transnational research staff at work

The E.M.E.R.G.E. partnership has realized the volume European Union between defense of the Treaties and electoral consensus. From 2010 Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion to 2014 Year of European elections, co-financed by the European Union under the "Europe for the Citizens" Programme.

The publication gathers the results achieved by the trans-national staff of Italian, Bulgarian and Romanian researchers. It focuses on the activities held by the European Parliament and other EU institutions in relation to the main social problems in Italy, Bulgaria and Romania and the role of European parties through the study of the campaigns promoted on the occasion of the European elections.

This publication enables to deepen the new tool of democratic participation that from April 2012 will allow the citizens to directly begin the European legislative process: the "European Citizens’ Initiative".

For further information and for a copy of the book, plaese email: g.fiaccarini@sturzo.it.

Copertina

News on ECI

More details about the new European tool of democracy

The Regulation of the "European Citizens’ Initiative" was approved on February 16th and published on March 11th 2011.

It can be read and downloaded here:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:065:0001:0022:EN:PDF

Volunteer! Make a difference! Volontari! Facciamo la differenza! Стани доброволец! Дай своя принос! Oferă te voluntar! Schimbă ceva!

The year 2011 is dedicated to the people that give their spare time to others, to those working unpaid to improve the life of a person or the community, to all the people hoping for a more democratic and inclusive growth.

After long debates and thanks to the requests made by the associations working in the volunteering field, on 22nd of January 2010 the European Council published on the Official Journal the decision that stated: “Volunteering is one of the most important dimensions of democracy and active citizenship, where the European values such as solidarity and not-discrimination become a reality and for that reason will contribute to the harmonious development of European societies. "

More of 20% of European citizens are involved in volunteering activities and they consider it as a basic element of democratic life, that enables to foster social connections, to make a contribution to the welfare and, at the same time, acquiring new skills.
The European Year of volunteering aims at increasing the relationship between the organizations working on local and European level, in order to create a stronger and a larger network of solidarity, able to involve new sectors, such as, for example, sports.
A National Agency will coordinate all the planned activities, and will be the reference for any kind of information for the volunteer and the people who wish to undertake a volunteer experience.
The programme of events planned in the European offices and major cities of Member States, is crowded with appointments.
A team of volunteers along with a group of shifting volunteer reporters, like in a relay race, are going to spend 10 days meeting social operators and politicians in each country of the Member States. At the end they will publishing all articles and audiovisual services done around Europe on the media.
Four thematic conferences will be organized on the key issues of volunteering.
(The program is available at http://europa.eu/volunteering/it/home2).
Although the lack of social policies, the economic crisis involving all member states and the impact that this had on the citizens’ life and on the social organizations, the 2010 European year combating poverty and social exclusion and 2011 Year of Volunteering, demonstrate the will and the need, at European level, to fill a void of conscience and to restore a shared sense of cohesion and solidarity for the common wellbeing.

What kind of help is a constructive kind of help?

Exchange of ideas between E.M.E.R.G.E. researchers Elena Kirova and Federica Chiezzi

Elena Kirova (Bulgaria): "Sofia is a beautiful city. The streets are often covered with holes (that become craters in the winter months), traffic jams during business hours on Mon-Fri can be real bad, parking spots are a scarce, but what really makes it a horrible experience when driving on the streets of Sofia are the people who stay at the traffic lights waiting for the red signal to ambush your car and racket you for your money.
In this article I’m going to open a topic for a debate on an issue that affects a large percent of the drivers in Europe. It may at first sound insignificant, but as we go further into the issue, I believe we could find some general problems with social integration rooted in the following scenario.
This is how it usually happens:
1. A driver stops at an intersection.
2. A windshield cleaning “professional” comes to offer the service.
3. The driver politely or not so politely declines the service.
4. The cleaning professional performs the service.
5. The driver feeling intimidated and not wanting to enter a confrontation gives a small amount of money in return.
6. Cleaner accepts and repeats.
Many cities are already taking action against what is seen as pure form of racket and exploitation of minors. In Florence it is now illegal to clean the windscreens of cars waiting at traffic lights. The act of Florence city officials was prompted by citizens’ complaints of window-washers "becoming more aggressive, especially to women alone in their cars." The first patrol which resulted in 15 people being charged was led by Florence police Chief Alessandro Bartolini. "There are no more on the streets. Word has got around, apparently," Bartolini said.
The people that are performing this type of cleaning service fall in the poor and socially excluded category. In Bulgaria, the majority of them are Gypsies. For most of them it is their only source of income. If we take this venture out of their hands does it mean that we will exclude them even more from the society and make them poorer? 

Federica Chiezzi (Italy): As in Florence, also in Rome, from the 1st of November 2009, window-washers, jugglers and hawkers are strictly forbidden to walk through the city streets and offer any kind of services. The “first citizen” Gianni Alemanno issued and signed new measures to eliminate illegal services performed by those people which can both disturb and bother drivers. Alemanno set the imposition of a fine of 100 euro for those who don’t respect that ordinance.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE SLAMS ITALY’S TREATMENT OF ROMA

The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg (France), now covers virtually the entire European continent, with 47 member countries. Founded on 5 May 1949 by 10 countries, the Council of Europe seeks to develop throughout Europe common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals. Even if not belonging to the European Union, it is often mistaken for one of its bodies.

Recently, the Council of Europe’s European Committee of Social Rights found Italy to have violated the rights of its Roma population. The Committee found Italy in violation of the prohibition on discrimination and violations of the rights of Roma people to adequate housing; social, legal and economic protection; protection against poverty and social exclusion; and the right of migrant Roma families to protection and assistance. The Committee said that Roma camps have been destroyed and their inhabitants illegally evicted and expelled from Italy, often without notice and without the option of alternative housing. Many camps in various regions throughout Italy have also been the target of arson or vandalism based on racial hatred. The perpetrators of these crimes are rarely prosecuted or even investigated by local authorities.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe announced the ruling in the case brought against Italy by the Geneva-based international human rights organization the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and the Italian organization OsservAzione. The organizations accused Italy of violations of the Revised European Social Charter. The ground-breaking decision in COHRE v. Italy finds Italy guilty of policies and practices that have left Roma residents living in segregated and grossly inadequate housing conditions. The mass expulsion of non-Italian Roma who are citizens of other EU countries has increased dramatically in Italy since following the formation of a new national government in 2008.

Roma settlement in Torino, Italy (2008 © COHRE)

This decision will reverberate throughout Europe, as it establishes new jurisprudence confirming that the mass expulsion of migrants is a violation of the Revised European Social Charter,” said Bret Thiele, COHRE’s Senior Expert for Litigation and Legal Advocacy. “This is very relevant to the current situation of Roma in France, and the French government needs to take serious note of this as the recent evictions and deportations of Roma in France place the government in violation of the European Social Charter too.”

The Italian delegation to the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council reacted to the ruling, pledging to the Committee to “ensure the effective implementation of the rights deriving from the Revised European Social Charter for every individual, including for persons belonging to the Roma communities.” Salih Booker, COHRE’s Executive Director, said that “COHRE and its Italy-based partner, OsservAzione, will continue to monitor the housing rights situation of Roma in Italy to ensure that the Italian authorities live up to this commitment.”

France and Italy seem to be countries “under surveillance” in this period. A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Italy from 21 to 26 November 2010 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During its visit, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on the implementation of the recommendations it made to the authorities in its previous report of 2006 and discussed new issues that had emerged since. The delegation held meetings in Rome, Venice, Padua and Naples with representatives of all relevant ministries, public officials, human rights NGOs and minority groups. Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report in which it will make a fresh set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in the country. Among these, three will be revisited two years after the publication of the report as part of an interim follow-up procedure.

In the meanwhile the European Parliament – the elective institution of the European Union with a much higher level of political representation than the Council of Europe – is expressing a very similar position. The hearing by the Civil Liberties Committee on 30 November – 1 December brought together all those involved and affected by the EU's "Strategy on Roma inclusion". Hungarian MEP Lívia Járóka has just drafted a report on the strategy and the issues involved. It formed a basis for much of the debate. France and Italy were criticised by Lívia Járóka herself and civil society organisations for their treatment of the Roma. Ms Marilisa Fantacci from French organisation "Collectif des Roms en Europe" reported that nothing had changed since the summer and Roma are still being expelled from France. "We wonder how in these conditions France can develop an inclusion strategy" she asked.

The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion is going to be concluded but the strategy on Roma inclusion will remain in the European political agenda.

Sources:

COHRE

Council of Europe

European Parliament

Citizens initiative, a challenge to change social Europe

New participatory instruments to ask for new European law. Citizens, stakeholders, Ngo's and political parties will be able to use another tool to stand up their voice inside the EU institutions

"Freedom is involvement" Italian folk-singer Giorgio Gaber used to sing. Involvement could also mean freedom and wish to play an active role within the public European sphere thanks a new participatory democracy tool. Our vote to the European Elections won't be anymore the exclusive way to participate to the European institutions’ life. The Lisbon Treaty (article 11 TEU and article 24 TFEU) introduces a new form of public involvement in European Union, the so called "European citizens initiative". This tool enables at least one million citizens who are nationals of a still undetermined number of Member States to call directly on the European Commission to bring forward an initiative of interest to them in an area of EU competence. The right to petition to the European Parliament differs substantially to the new "initiative". European citizens will be able to sign a political document to urge European Commission to prepare a law proposal.
It is now necessary to wait that European Institutions will define the operational aspects of this new instrument. Considered the importance of this new tool for citizens, civil society and stakeholders, the Commission carried out a broad public consultation on the basis of a green paper in order to seek the opinions of all interested parties on how the citizens' initiative should work in practice. The Commission adopted a proposal on March. This is the basis to begin negotiations with the European Parliament and the Council. The goal is the adoption of a specific Regulation. The effectiveness will also depend on the answers of this Regulation to various points that are still object of negotiations: minimum number of EU countries, minimum number of signatories per country, minimum age of signatories, form and wording, rules on collecting, verifying and authenticating, time limit for collecting, rules on transparency and a possible time limit for Commission response. The citizens initiative system should become operational during the first six months of 2011.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bulgaria in the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion

2010 was announced by the European Commission as Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. This is the year, during which European citizens should pay special attention to social groups at risk, groups that are deprived of active social life and/or active participation in the labor market. These groups most often include disabled people, people suffering from long-term unemployment, ethnic minorities. The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion aims to raise the awareness of society regarding the groups at risk and to contribute to increasing social tolerance and improving of policies targeting those groups. 2010 is a call for decisive measures in order to fight the causes of poverty in order to secure a respected active role of each individual in society.
The faces of the campaign in Bulgaria and goodwill ambassadors who will promote the concepts of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion include popular people, as well as people who belong to social groups at risk. The popular faces of the campaign include the pop singer Vladimir Ampov-Graffa, as well as the frontman of the popular pop group D2 Deyan Kamenov. “My goal is to inform people that need help about how the state can actually help them, because everyone deserve to get education, to work and sustain their families”, Deyan says. Little Dzhem from a small village near Plovdiv is also one of the faces of the campaign. Kapka Panayotova, chairman of “Center for Independent Life” Foundation has been working in the field of protection of human rights and rights of people in disadvantaged position, a representative of whom she is herself, for many years.

Read the rest of this entry »

Roma people repatriations seen from Bucharest

Towards the social inclusion of Roma people

"Roma, Gypsies … It is extremely important. I have come to realize that, politically speaking, Romania has made a terrible mistake when it changed the name of this minority from Gypsies into Roma. No one is intentionally supporting the confusion. It was our political decision, but the confusion happens often and at the moment, many of the European citizens are confused whether Roma means all the Romanian people, that is 22 million or just one ethnic group" Traian Basescu told for RRA (Romanian Radio Broadcasting ).
"They have this culture to travel from one place to another. In order to take decisions of financial support of nomads’ integration process, politicians must not be contested by their own folk. It is different when French, Germans, British politicians stated: we have to integrate half a million nomad Gypsies and another where the taxpayer says that we must integrate 22 million Romanians. We are speaking here of an ethnic group and Romania is supporting this group. We cannot condone the French government’s decision,” the head of state added.
“Without deviating from the obligations that Romania has for its citizens, there is a shared European responsibility to resolve the Roma problems” stated Emil Boc in the discussion he had last week with the French Minister for Immigration, Integration and National Identity, Eric Besson and the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche.

Read the rest of this entry »