What ECPs actually are and do? 

The majority of countries participating in the 'Europe for Citizens' programme have designated National Contact Points. These structures play the role of strategic partners for the programme implementation in the participating countries. They disseminate information on the programme and on other European actions related to citizenship. They  organise information sessions, provide advice for applicants and offer support for partner search.

Meetings of the 'Europe for Citizens' Contact Points (ECPs) take place twice a year. They are organised by the Contact Points themselves (informal meetings) in one of the participating countries or by the European Commission and Executive Agency in Brussels (formal meetings).The aim of the meetings for the Commission and Executive Agency is to pass on information and to debrief the network of ECPs on selection results, future work programmes and other important issues. At the same time, these meetings provide a useful occasion for Commission and Executive Agency to find out how the programme is perceived and implemented in the participating countries, which are its strengths and the weaknesses at national, regional and local level and to discuss any outstanding issues.

Points on this meeting's agenda

The latest ECPs meeting took place from 14 to 16 October in Paris. It was organised by the French organisation CIDEM hosting the French Contact Point. Thirty participants representing Contact Points from 21 countries and two officials representing the Commission and the Executive Agency met and discussed the following points:

• integration of the 'Europe for Citizens' programme to DG Migration and Home Affairs;
• second round of selections 2015 (September deadline);
• how to improve the cooperation between the network of Contact Points and Commission/Executive Agency?
• the multi-annual thematic priorities of the Europe for citizens Programme for the years 2016-2020

Four French projects showcased

As it is usually the case, several best pratices projets from the hosting country of the meeting were presented:

• the multilateral town-twinning project of Châtillon-sur-Indre, an impressive network of 18 towns co-operating in a sustainable way through citizens' meetings and thematic exchange with the participation of hundreds of direct and thousands of indirect participants;
• the Remembrance project "Les voix étouffées" by the music and remembrance organisation "Forum voix étouffées". In the context of this project, concerts of musicians prosecuted under the 3rd Reich have been organised in 7 European countries in combination with exhibitions, round table discussions, pedagogical activities explaining the historical background;
• the civil society project "EU by Citizens" proposed by "Maison de l'Europe de Paris" was selected in 2015 and has not started yet. In the context of this project, handbooks for schools explaining EU citizenship in a user-friendly way to young people will be developed;
• the network of towns on peace, solidarity and tolerance "Citipart"  developed by the municipality of  St-Germain-en-Laye (Maison de l'Europe des Yvelines) for the promotion of fundamental values of the EU amongst partner cities.