We All are Europe - AESAEC

2. Citizens Projects and Support measures which provide support for citizens projects which
are aimed at assisting Europeans from different countries to come together around common
issue and promote the exchange of good practice and to help pool experience.
Ad 1. Town Twinning
Town twinning is a reality in Europe today as a significant number of municipalities are linked to
each other through town twinning agreements. Town twinning encourages exchanges of experiences
on a variety of issues of European interest, and it provides unique opportunities to learn about the
daily lives of citizens in other European countries. The Town Twinning measure is subdivided into
two sub-measures:
Citizens meetings, the objectives of which are defined as:
- a commitment to European integration
- active participation
- building up friendship
- intercultural dialogue.
Networks of twinned towns, whose objective are (in addition to 1.1.):
- networking among municipalities on issues of common interest appears to be an important
means for enabling informed discussions and exchange of good practice. Twinning is
a strong link that binds municipalities; therefore, the potential of the networks created
by a series of town twinning links should be used for developing thematic and long-lasting
cooperation between towns. Activities should have a defined target group for which the
selected theme is particularly relevant and involve community members active in the
subject area (experts, local associations, citizens and citizens groups directly affected by
the theme etc.).
Ad 2 Citizens projects and support measures
Citizens meetings: a major challenge of the European Union today is to bridge the gap between
the European citizens and the European institutions. This measure aims at exploring innovative
methodologies and approaches to encourage the active participation of citizens
at the European level and to stimulate dialogue between European citizens and European
institutions.
Support measures: this function is a tool to develop the quality of projects submitted within
Action 1. It also supports the exchange of experiences, expertise and good practice.
Exercise / Reflection / Research Discuss
Visit the official website of the Europe for Citizens Programme
(http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/index_en.html), look up an appropriate language version (it is
available in English, German and French) and find the Programme Guide in your national language.
There you can find detailed information about the programme in general as well as about Action 1.
Please form 4 groups, and split the 4 measures between these groups; each group should now insert
the missing information concerning the measure it is has been allocated in the wanted table below.
Present the results to each other and discuss what advantages and disadvantages are generally connected
to the different frameworks of the measures when applying for and implementing a project
(such as being eligible in the first place, the effort needed to apply for a project, the demands of
implementing a project, amount of grant money received etc.)
Do also discuss which of the measures you think are more suitable for submitting a project application
in order to increase the participation of senior citizens in the Europe for Citizens Programme
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