From Lisbon to the world

“To give real responses to citizens’ needs and tackle the major questions that concern the EU as a whole – such as migration from North Africa and the energy question – Europe is more than ever needed today”, said Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission, in Rome on 27 April. The Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship was speaking at the press conference for the presentation of the first Festival of Europe, due to be held in Florence from 6 to 10 May. The aim of the festival, he added, is to “bring citizens, and especially the young, closer to Europe and reinforce the process of European integration”.More conscious EU citizens. “The Lisbon Treaty, which ought to represent the constitutional pact of the European Union, defines itself as a stage. Europe is not a goal that has been reached, but a building still in the process of construction: the greatest political project of all time”, observed Carlo Casini, chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the European Parliament. He then expressed the hope that the Festival of Europe in Florence would become “a biennial event to reflect on the steps that still need to be taken”. The Festival is being promoted by the European Commission and Parliament with the European Policy Department of the Italian Government, and coordinated by the European University Institute in Florence (EUI – a European academic institution founded in 1972 by the member states of the then European Community and funded by the EU) in collaboration with the City, Province and University of Florence. In the view of Josep Borrell, President of the EUI, “increasing the consciousness of citizens about the way European institutions work” is one of the main objectives of the first Festival. “I know what importance is played by a better knowledge of the Union to ensure a more convinced participation of citizens in the decision-making processes”, underlined Borrell, former President of the European Parliament, according to whom the Florentine festival “is a contribution to the debate on the future of Europe” and demonstrates the need to “forge ever closer links between Brussels and Florence, where the European Institute plays the role of ‘factory’ of citizens”.The “State of the Union”. The central event of the Festival in Florence will be the international conference “The State of the Union” on 9-10 May. It will be inaugurated by the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek and by the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. “Europe after Lisbon” will be the theme of the first day of the conference, which will be divided into two sessions: “Lisbon and beyond” and “Europe in the globalized world”. The main speakers will include Borrell himself, the European Commissioner for Education and Youth Androulla Vassiliou, and the historian and jurist Joseph Weiler. The 10 May, in turn, will be dedicated to “The euro after Lisbon”. Mario Monti, former European Commissioner and President of the Università Bocconi in Milan, and Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, member of the Executive Committee of the European Central Bank, will speak during the session “The euro and global economic governance”. The afternoon session will be devoted to “Growth, employment and financial stability after the crisis”, when the main speakers will include Richard Portes (London Business School), André Sapir (Université Libre de Bruxelles), and Dimitri Tsigos, President of the European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs.Three pavilions. According to Emilio Dal Monte, vice-director of the office representing the European Commission in Italy, “the heart of the Festival will be Piazza Signoria which will be transformed into Piazza Europa with three pavilions installed to offer Florentines and visitors a magnifying glass on all the opportunities and experiences that Europe can offer”. Dal Monte especially focused on the pavilion “Youth on the Move”, dedicated to the initiative of the same name promoted by the European Commission to reduce the phenomenon of school dropouts and support youth mobility, one of the seven flagship initiatives of the “Europe 2020” strategy aimed at “achieving high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion by 2020”. The Florentine event, he explained, will represent “the Italian launch of the pan-European publicity campaign for Youth on the Move, which has already involved thousands of young people in debates and exchanges in Hungary, France, Germany and Poland” to heighten “awareness of the importance of acquiring skills abroad and of European integration”. In the “Europe Pavilion” the programme of events and workshops is aimed instead at the public at large and will focus on issues and policies relevant for citizens, who can request information on rights, opportunities and funding offered by the various programmes of the European Union. Third, the “Pavilion of Nations” will host the stands of France, Germany, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Hungary, to which will be added Turkey which, the organizers explain, “with its own participation intends to give a strong signal of rapprochement to the old continent”. Info: www.festivaleuropa.eu.