March
Citizens meet and discuss at national conferences

30 randomly selected Maltese citizens gathered and debated the question “What can the EU do to shape our economic and social future in a globalised world?” on the 21st and 22nd of March at the Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa in San Anton, Balzan. These are the top 10 proposal from Malta:

1. The EU should speed up the enactment of the Small Business Act, specially set up to provide more Technical Assistance to SMEs and the self-employed, and assist in the reduction of the administrative burden for the Small Enterprises in Europe.

2. The EU should create a common EU immigration and integration policy based on solidarity including assitance with education and support of illegal immigrants and training of care personnel. Once the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, the EU should ensure that mandatory burden sharing comes into play immediately so that the countries on its external border will not be over-burdened by the influx of migrants.

3. The EU should ensure non-discrimnation between Member States so that all have equal and truly borderless status despite peripheral geographical position (eg Malta being an island) by ensuring that there is removal/revision of all travel taxes, by regulating travel in isolated states to avoid over-dependence on particular transport providers and by providing assistance to reduce the burden for passengers and traders in goods in view of additional transport and travel costs.

4. The EU should ensure compliance with its already existing anti-discrimination Directives as well as the upcoming Framework Directive (when this is adopted) particularly in relation to the elderly and to persons with special needs to ensure their active and continuing role in the labour market and society.

5. The EU should setup a NEW financial regulatory framework to prevent another economic crisis and ensure long term stability. An effective monitoring and advisory body should be created. Furthermore, dependence on subsidies must be discouraged. EU should increase funds for short and long term projects in the growing sectors.

6. The EU Commission should increase schemes for member states to invest in R+D, new innovative technologies for a more competitive EU internal market. The EU Council should agree on better, effective incentives for member states programmes for renewable energies and technologies, in particular in addressing climate change.

7. The EU should improve its communication of information to the citizen about its funds and grants, as well as the existing sources of assistance that are in place to help in the application for them and to put in place better transparency procedures as to their allocation and use.

8. The EU should regulate and safeguard state pensions so as to secure that there is no discrimination between younger and older generations. It should also promote private pension schemes and safeguard present ones whilst ensuring that relevant directives on pensions are implemented effectively.

9. The EU should promote and entice local government to promote training at all local levels (eg. schools, universities, onsite training) as well as exchanges between countries (depending on country soecialisation e.g. Malta could host trainees in tourism, maritime sector or geriatrics). It should raise awareness and make its assitance easily accessible in simple language with less bureaucracy.

10. The EU should further develop legal certainty regarding the mobility of patients. This legal framework should cover cases where the service is not provided in your country and where there are long waiting lists. EU regulatory framework should be setup to set helath insurance premium fees at a minimum.

April
Debate the recommendations!

A synthesis of the 270 recommendations from the 27 European Citizens’ Consultations is now available online at the national websites. You can comment on these proposals before they are voted on by the 1,500 citizens who took part in the national conferences.

May
15 European recommendations for our economic and social future in a globalised world

The citizens’ European recommendations future of the EU have been selected – see them here. These 15 recommendations are finalised at the European Citizens' Summit in Brussels on 10 and 11 May 2009 and are presented to European political leaders. Ten percent of the citizens who attended the 27 national conferences take part in this event.

June – December
Citizens’ recommendations debated all over Europe

The European Citizens’ Summit is followed this Autumn by a series of outreach events, bringing together policy makers, citizens and civil society to further discuss the outcomes of the European Citizens’ Consultations 2009.

To continue taking part in the debate with other European citizens, visit the European portal at www.european-citizens-consultations.eu !