The European Civic Forum is a young network with a strong European ambition: to encourage a civic and popular ownership of Europe by its citizens.

Last week the forum organised the European Civic Days in La Rochelle, together with the European Commission and the French EU-presidency.

The ECF describes the current situation in Europe thus: The European Union suffers from a reject from more and more citizens. Abstentions, vote of protesters, incomprehension, rejection of the European institutions : Europe suffers today from a shouting deficit of civic and popular ownership. Built in the end of World War II in order to establish a long-lasting peace, Europe has today an absolutely need of a new democratic breath. Associations and NGOs have a crucial role to play in this civic ownership.

The European Civic Forum (FCE) is a transnational network gathering today 85 associations and NGOs from 21 countries of the European Union. It was created on 17 December 2005 in Strasbourg after a meeting of European NGO leaders that took place in the Council of Europe.

The members of the FCE are national, regional and local associations and NGOs engaged, in their country, in matters relating to citizenship and civic education. Some European networks involved in these questions are also members of the network.

The objectives of the European Civic Forum are the following ones :

1. to work in order to bring to the foreground a real European civic dialogue based on clear thinking, exchange and the elaboration of propositions on the use of civic rights for all and on the link between citizens and the European institutions and administrations;
2. to encourage meetings and exchange programmes between associations and NGOs in each of the countries involved during initiatives and events of civic nature, organised by network members;
3. to carry out information and awareness campaigns for the European citizens, but also claiming campaigns through the collection of signatures in order to influence the policies of the European Union;
4. to organise, every year, in a different European country, a meeting of European NGOs leaders. These civic forums, all the while promoting the human, cultural and festive dimensions of European construction, will make it possible to clarify and to precise the civic and democratic model that we want for Europe.