Europe 2020 – European Citizens and the EU institutions

On April 26, Monday, 11.00h, at the Information Office of the European Parliament in Milano will be held the final presentation of the book “Europe 2020: Civic Vision” . It summarizes the two-year campaign “Interacting with the European Parliament”, implemented by the Bulgarian foundations “European Institute”,  “Centre for Policy Modernisation” and the online media Europe Gateway. The book has been presented at the European Parliament in Brussels and the Information Office of the EP in Paris. There will be a discussion meeting as part of the event - “Europe 2020 – European Citizens and the EU institutions”.

Host of the event and moderator of the discussion will be the director of the EP Information Office - Mrs. Cavenaghi-Smith. “Europe 2020: Civic Vision” will be presented by the director of the European Institute Foundation Lubov Panayotova. Present to the discussion will be Mrs. Lara Comi (EPP/PDL) - Vice-Chairwoman of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, member of the Delegation for relations with Afghanistan and  Substitute of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee).

Representatives of the non-governmental sector will also take part in the meeting.

 The book "Europe 2020 - Civic Vision" presents a summary of the two-year campaign for promoting the interaction between European citizens and the European Parliament - the only directly elected European Union institution. In the frameworks of the debates about the future of Europe, the ambition of the book is to contribute to paving the way forward and to the role of citizens and of civil organizations in the process of building a united Europe.

The President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek addressed the participants in the events in a special video message which is to be played during the presentations in Brussels, Paris and Milan in April and will be published on EUROPE Gateway. "This remarkable collection of proposals touches upon a concept, which is very dear to me - the concept of citizenship. To me an active citizen is someone who does not take things for granted, who questions power, who takes an active role in improving the community of which he is part and who respects the rules when they stem from real democracy", Prof. Buzek shared in his video message.