We need to pay attention to the younger democracies of Europe

2009-11-11

In June 2009 the European Commission (EC) made a proposal to the Council to make 2011 the European Year of Volunteering. The aim of the Commission’s proposal is to enhance the role and weight of volunteering activities in European societies.

The European Parliament’s (EP) Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) will debate the proposal next week through the co decision procedure. Previous to this, the EP’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) drafted a report on the social implications of the matter. Being a substitute member in this committee, Mr. Sógor Csaba, MEP acted as the shadow raporteur in the debate. This means that the MEP’s amendments reflected the standpoint of the European People’s Party (EPP).

In his speech Mr. Sógor Csaba underlined his amendments and pointed out that volunteering as a social activity shows weaker opportunities in the younger democracies of the European Union (EU) due to the fact that this kind of activity is not such an integral part of the fabric of social activities as it is in the founding member states where more funds are available in support of it.

The Hungarian MEP from Transylvania asked his colleagues to make a clear delimitation between different types of activities in order to eliminate the opportunity of volunteering from the employment relationship. – Let us encourage every employer to favor volunteering, but restrain him from imposing this kind of activity on his employees. Let us draw a clear line between volunteering and paid work.

Mr. Sógor Csaba also analyzed the budget of the proposal, sustaining the need of raising the level of funds available: the doubling of the 6 million euro budget was eventually accepted through vote by the MEPs. – I honestly hope that the interest in volunteering can be maintained even after 2011 – said Mr. Sógor Csaba.

Vissza