The European Parliament is stepping up its initiatives to bring the European Union closer to its citizens. While voter turnout in the European elections has been steadily declining for 30 years, the legislature launched a website on 14 November to show the EU's positive impact on its citizens.
Under the name ‘What Europe is doing for me’, this site contains 1,800 examples of EU-funded projects and actions that can be searched by location or area of interest. These ‘sheets’ are divided into 3 sections: territories (1,290 localities), social groups (professions, hobbies, etc.) and close-ups (detailed briefings on EU action).
Asked at a press conference about what Europe really does, in a few sentences, for its citizens, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, replied: "Europe has given young people the opportunity to live in peace; my parents were not so lucky. Young people can now travel in Europe without a passport, but with the same currency. And then there was the opportunity to study in different countries, Erasmus," he said, before lamenting the fact that the government of his country, Italy, did not recognize this wealth.
The website ‘What Europe is doing for me’ was created by the Research Service of the European Parliament, in collaboration with the Communication and Translation Services of the European Parliament. "It is the result of the work of 140 colleagues, launched in July 2017 without additional funding. It will be followed by an application for citizens that will be launched next week," Tajani said. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)