The network of some 500 walk-in offices known as Europe Direct Information Centres  is one of the main tools of the European Commission to engage with citizens on EU-related topics at local and regional level. 12 Million Euro were spend on grants for these information centres in 2015.

The European Commission now wants to know in a public consultation if it is worth the effort and money. The consultation is part of the mid-term evaluation of the Europe Direct Information Centres and will have a direct impact on their future role and funding.

A significant number of our members are also acting as a Europe Direct Information Centre. Therefore we strongly encourage you to take part in the public consultation and express your opinion.

The consultation is open until May 4th 2016 and available in English, German and French. The remaining EU languages will be added on 19.02.2016.

Take part! Public consultation on Europe Direct Information Centres

As member of Civil Society Europe, EUNET supports the call for EU action to safeguard democracy and fundamental rights, which are recently under threat in a growing number of EU member states.

Read and share: Call for EU action to safeguard democracy and fundamental rights

Civil Society Europe and Civicus, the World Alliance for Citizen’s participation are launching a survey open to associations and leading activists in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, and the candidate countries to the EU Accession: Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

The purpose of the survey is  to map out key trends on civic space in Europe.
Given recent developments, the survey will allow us to assess how operating conditions for civil society have changed in Europe over the past 12 months, what are the emerging trends and challenges that civil society organisations have to face, as well as the possibility to develop common responses. The survey deals with civic space, civil society collaboration and support, obstacles and challenges facing civil society at national level and broader political trends in Europe.

In order to ensure the broadest possible range of views, we would like to invite you to disseminate the survey widely.
The findings will be made freely available for your information and use. All responses will be confidential, will not be shared with third parties and will be analysed as a collective dataset.

The survey includes 30 questions and should not take more than 15 minutes.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Civic_Space_In_Europe_ENG

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Lespace_civique_en_Europe_FR

If you have any problems submitting your information or if you require a printable copy, please contact civicpulse@civicus.org .

Please respond by 15 February 2016

EUNET is member of Civil Society Europe.