Tour de Table - ECP members and associates presenting their projects - From left to right: Eugene Gioni and Michele Calabro' (EU Events), Martin Maréchal (JEF Belgium), Raphaël Moncada (Eu-Logos), Bertrand Wert (Ixelles City Councellor), Hélène Decottigny (Stand up for Europe), (Eyes on Europe), Delphine Bourgeois (ECP founder)

On Wednesday 18 October 2017 European Citizen Platform (ECP) celebrated its first year of activity with a concert event by Olla Vogala Band.

On this occasion, several EU-oriented organisations based in Brussels gathered to present their projects and ideas for a common action in the framework of ECP chart and mission. Together with EU Events, other participants included representatives (in alphabetical order) from Eyes on Europe, EU-Logos Athéna, Stand Up for Europe, Young European Federalists, and Union for Unity.

For the very first time, European civil servants and EU trade unionists met younger euro-enthusiastics and Brussels local administrators... Finally! As far as we know, nothing alike has never been undertaken.

The ECP project, founded by Delphine Bourgeois and Georges Vlandas, is indeed ambitious: creating synergies in the dispersed world of European civil society in a crucial local dimension like Brussels. And here in the European capital, where most key-decisions are taken, the expat and local bubbles never cross each other and have never been able to present themselves as a single interlocutor before the Institutions.

So on the 18th October, the galaxy of EU-oriented movements seemed for a short while less scattered. No doubt, all organisations present at the event share the same enthusiasm. While the way ahead is extremely promising, the near months will already show if things will work out fine.

Here at EU Events we find this initiative extremely timely, as too often too many energies are dispersed in a jungle of small organisations and initiatives, while the European project is in extreme need of a proactive, present, and vigilant civil society. Only from these organisation could possibly stem a new generation of down-to-earth, resourceful and result-oriented young European leaders to lead the EU integration process in the future decades.

We do feel like belonging to this process, as for its very nature our mission remains breaching the often opaque world of EU communication and boosting citizens participation by means of information in the specific field of events. Besides, having Brussels as our main center of action represents a common intuition that cannot be easily disregarded.

Thus we are looking forward to cooperating with ECP and its members. We will deploy all our skills and tools in order to spread the message on key EU-related debates and initiatives they/we will organise together.

#EUevents

Picture on the left, Michele Calabro', President of EU Events, explains the possible synergies with the other orgnisations