What we want
The Voluntary European Year for Everyone program means that participants move to another European country and learn the local language. They participate in a community project of their own choosing or one which has been proposed to them by the local EU agencies. In terms of the implementation of the Voluntary European Year for Everyone, the organisers suggest: utilising existing programs and structures – specifically the European Voluntary Service and the program Erasmus for all planned for 2014, while at the same time expanding on these in three regards, with a view to creating a European civil society: (1) The Voluntary European Year should be recognised across Europe and be adequately remunerated. While existing EU programs are mainly aimed at young people and elite trainees, the organisers propose that this one should be open to all age groups and employment sectors, including the unemployed and pensioners. They feel that a European civil society should promote inclusion not exclusion. (2) The projects focus not only on Learning (in) Europe, but also on Doing Europe. The objective is therefore not simply to complete educational certificates, but also to experience what it means to have a European identity, and actively to help create the Europe of tomorrow. Funding could be shared by the EU, national governments (or municipalities) and industry. (3) In contrast with the existing structures and programs, the personal initiative of individual citizens and existing occupational networks should be reinforced in support of the creation of a Europe from the bottom up. That would for example include supplementing the licensing of projects by adding systems for self-regulation for initiatives.
