Civil Society Europe

Civil Society Europe underlines how the discussions related to a 28th regime are focused on the for-profit sector, which has a well established jurisprudence and enjoys the four freedoms of the Single Market. On the other hand, the non-profit sector is not recognised at the EU-level, which creates several problems of legal certainty, difference of treatment and stability of the legal framework when non-profit…

We are sceptical of the European Solidarity Corps being merged with Erasmus+ without a specific investment in solidarity, volunteering and civic engagement (beyond youth), and remain sceptical that the increased Erasmus+ funding will suffice, given its merger with the ESC and planned expansion to new accession countries especially when considering inflation in the funding period.

We understand the clustering of several current MFF programmes into a single European Competitiveness Fund as a way to support the industrial development and technological sovereignty of the European continent. We underline, however, how a key recommendation from the Draghi report to reach these goals, namely European common debt to finance investments in European public goods, has not been included in the MFF…

Freedom of association for citizens is a fundamental right recognised by article 12 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) and enshrined in the democratic principles of the Treaty in article 11 TEU. Despite this, citizens cannot exert this right across borders contrary to citizens that have a business and they face many and sometimes insurmountable challenges in operating across borders.

AIM, CSE, PHILEA, SEE, SSE and CEDAG welcome the proposed Directive for the establishment of a European Cross-Border Association and consider as it can pave the way for future similar legal initiatives for other non-profit organisations such as foundations and mutual benefit societies.

The next MFFs Performance Framework is an attempt at simplification, which however eliminates some of the key features of the shared management programmes in the current MFF, namely the thematic enabling conditions.

We support the aim of increasing the civil protection, preparedness and crisis response, mainly via the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, including via specific capacity building actions for civil society organisations especially those that engage volunteers. It is important that the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network is strengthened, and the inclusion of civil society organisations is ensured.