The Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) yesterday announced it will be participating in an EU project that is aimed at encouraging the public, particularly young people, to discuss issues related to the EU.
The UHM will be funded with e100,000 that it aims to use for activities as part of the one-year project by the name of Radio Web Europe, which the European Commission developed in the context of what it called “Plan D for democracy, dialogue and debate”.
The need for Plan D came about after European leaders felt there was a division between EU institutions and citizens.
The European Commission had issued a call for European organisations representing civil society to propose initiatives that may help the EU to better understand public opinion on a number of levels with regard to European issues.
The UHM got together with Spanish, Portuguese, Austrian and Lithuanian associations, as well as the Centro Nazionale Associazionismo Sociale Cooperazione Autogestione (Cenasca), which is an association that was set up by the second largest confederation of trade unions in Italy – CISL.
Together they proposed one of the six projects chosen by the EU, Radio Web Europe, which focuses on new means of communication, both in structure and content.
Radio Web Europe and the other chosen projects will lead to extensive and intensive debates on European policies that should involve citizens, civil society, social partners, national parliamentarians and political parties, said the union’s secretary general Gejtu Vella.
He explained how the project allows for young people to express their opinion on three specified themes by means of podcasts through the project’s web portal www.radiowebeurope.eu.
Young people and anyone else who would like to participate will be asked to express their views on European economic and social development, sentiments towards Europe and towards the work of the EU, and the borders of Europe and its role in the world, said Mr Vella.
This will serve as an important exercise for European policy makers, since they will be able to analyse the expectations of its citizens and its views for the future.
The UHM will be organising themed focus groups next week, but a number of workshops, seminars and meetings will be among the activities that the union is planning to organise during the course of the project.
The activities will involve at least 50 young people from every country participating in the project.
Mr Vella said the union intends to incorporate the project into its annual activity held in summer, which provides the UHM with a very good opportunity to meet citizens.
“We will be able to continue collecting information from citizens – particularly young people because they are catalysts for change – to understand the way they feel about the EU and to see how it may be beneficial,” said Mr Vella.
Radio Web Europe was launched last December by means of a meeting held in Florence, which included the participation of two representatives from the UHM.
The end of the project will be marked by a conference to discuss the outcomes and proposals that the EU will be able to take into consideration in its various decision-making processes.