Brussels, 11/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - Three out of ten Europeans take part in some form of voluntary activity and eight out of ten of them consider helping others an important part of their life. Recognising voluntary work - as distinct from "volunteering" Catherine Soullie (EPP, France), which is remunerated, unlike voluntary work, which is not - as an essential aspect of life in society and in solidarity towards others, the European Commission has officially proposed that 2011 should be the "European Year of Volunteering/Voluntary Work" (EUROPE 9913). This proposal has yet to receive the official approval of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, but is unlikely to encounter any obstacles. In order to tackle the major problems faced by volunteer organisations in Europe and to define the actions the European Union could take to make their work easier for them, the education and culture committee of the Parliament held a well-attended public hearing on Tuesday. The MEP Marco Scurria (EP, Italy) has been asked to prepare a report on the subject of volunteer work in preparation for the European Year of Volunteering.
Voluntary work is underestimated in Europe, unlike the United States, where it receives greater recognition, said the president of the Parliamentary committee, Doris Pack (EPP, Germany). We need awareness-raising to highlight voluntary work, give it greater transparency and take decisions at European level to help volunteer organisations. Too many associations today are automatically excluded from calls for tenders because they are not worded adequately, Ms Pack noted. "At the end of 2011, we need results for added value and to see which actions deserve support" she said, at the start of the public hearing. Several representatives of volunteer organisations attended the hearing, including Paolo Giuseppe Di Caro, the director general of the national youth agency in Italy. He pleaded in favour of coordination of voluntary activities at government level, the exchange of best practice and greater distribution of information. Mr Di Caro also laid emphasis on the mobility problems of volunteers, the lack of financial support for volunteer activities and their non-recognition as informal assets on the employment market. A general database would help to share experiences of the voluntary sector and would provide information on existing associations, the type of project they support and their geographical location, added Mr Di Caro. Addressing the European institutions, he called for long-term action and a change of strategy to help "those who devote part of their lives" to helping others. Today, there is no shared definition of the voluntary sector at European Union level - each merits only a mention in the paragraph on sport in the Lisbon Treaty referring to volunteer activities - with the result that a number of organisations are not recognised as voluntary, even though their activities blatantly are, said Renzo Razzano, the president of the regional support centre for voluntary organisations, SPES. He regretted the fact that there is no single contact point within the European institutions for voluntary activities, which makes dialogue extremely difficult, and lamented the lack of support plan with structured financing of the activities, on top of which come security and insurance problems for volunteers in the exercise of their activities. A member of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement, Pieter Willems, summarised the problems in four points: 1) recognition. Volunteers give their time to look after others free of charge; the state should recognize their work; 2) time. Society is increasingly ambitious and materialistic: it is increasingly difficult to get people to volunteer; 3) motivation. The administrative obligations to be fulfilled in order to carry out voluntary activities are enough to discourage even the keenest; 4) the financial element: voluntary activities take a great deal of time and do not receive enough subsidies for long-term planning, obliging the organisations to work on a project-by-project basis. Impenetrable procedures for funding, red tape, lack of recognition, the director of the European Volunteer Centre Markus Held spoke along the same lines. "More could be done at European level (...) and the skills acquired by volunteers could be made more visible", he stressed, recommending the publication of a White Paper at the end of the European Year of Volunteering/Voluntary Work. "100 million Europeans are involved in voluntary activities. We must also commemorate the activities of these citizens", he concluded. By proposing 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering/Voluntary Work, the Commission is recognizing its importance and is currently busy preparing for the event, said Pierre Mairesse, director at DG Education and Culture. Acknowledging that voluntary work is not recognised in its full complexity, he voiced his hopes that the conclusions of a pan-European study into the situation of the member states would help to create a clearer picture. This European Year must allow us to clarify concepts and establishment of standards, said Mr Mairesse. The current programmes end in 2013 and we must start thinking today about the new generation which needs to give voluntary work the attention it deserves, he concluded. (I.L./transl.fl)