European civil society convention in Brussels The European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Youth Forum (YFJ) are organising the II Youth Convention on Volunteering scheduled to take place next 7th-11th September 2011, in Brussels. The event falls within the initiatives of the European Year of Volunteering, addressed to young people involved in volunteering activity across EU 27. 800 under30s have been invited by the European Parliament to discuss the contribution of volunteers, Community citizenship, the construction of a democratic Europe, based on the principles of solidarity and social inclusion. The Convention is ideally linked to the International Year of the Youth proclaimed by the UN, which closed past August 12 – New York’s UN building on July 25-26 held a world-level debate on themes related to the youth. The European Youth Forum underlines the importance of the event following the "wake of the World Youth Year, whose spirit must linger on also after August 2011." The EU-China Youth Year also constitutes the ideal springboard of the Convention. EP, two public spaces to honour Solidarnosc and VeilOn August 30 two public spaces in front of the Parliament’s building in Brussels were inaugurated with an official ceremony attended by EU institutional leadership. The "Solidarnosc 1980 Esplanade" and the "Simone Veil Agora", a square and a street, were created upon the completion of the Parliament buildings across Place du Luxembourg. Lech Walesa, the founder and first leader of the Polish trade union that contributed to the fall of the dictatorship in Warsaw in the 1980s, is a Nobel peace prize recipient. Simone Veil, born in France, arrested in 1944 and sent to the Nazi concentration camps in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bobrek and finally Bergen-Belsen, was the first President of the directly-elected EP in 1979. She and Walesa were both present for the inauguration ceremony along with the presidents and representatives of the European Parliament, Commission and Council. A release by the EP (www.europarl.europa.eu) explains that the intention was to dedicate the public areas to "a woman and a social movement that have deeply marked the history of the European Parliament and Europe." "The two names will enrich the list of illustrious European politicians to whom are dedicated roads and buildings of the European Parliament." These include Louise Weiss (French activist who founded the newspaper "Europe nouvelle" at the turn of the past century), Paul-Henri Spaak (Belgian, an "architect" of the European Common Market) Altiero Spinelli (Italian, founder of European federalism), Willy Brandt (German Chancellor, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, proponent of the Ostpolitik, namely, "politics towards the East") as well as Winston Churchill (GB), Bronis³aw Geremek (Poland), József Antall (Hungary). G20 Ministers: "social" governance The social dimension of world governance is the theme of the labour and employment ministers G20 summit, scheduled to take place in Paris next September 26-27 under France’s G20 presidency. The G20 was set up in 1999. It represents 19 States, in addition to the European Union, represented in Paris by the Commission and Council. "The two-day ministerial meeting the EU presidency states in a communiqué is based on four priorities: the improvement of structural employment policies, in particular for young people and the most vulnerable; the strengthening of social protection, notably through the development of the social protection floor; the promotion of social and labor rights; improved coherence between the international organizations and the economic, financial, trade, development and social policies." These are new themes and tools for the G20, traditionally engaged in discussing issues relating to economic governance, monetary system and markets, financial market regulation, prices, business agreements. The French presidency, (that concludes its mandate in 2012, when it will be replaced by Mexico), underlined the importance of better taking into account also "the social dimension of globalization", along with support to sustainable development: hence the decision to focus on social issues.
