# EUR-Lex - 52011DC0568 - EN

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# 52011DC0568

**COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Communication on EU Policies and Volunteering: Recognising and Promoting Cross-border Voluntary Activities in the EU /* COM/2011/0568 final */**

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1.
Introduction

Volunteering is a creator of human and
social capital. It is a pathway to integration and employment and a key factor
for improving social cohesion. Above all, volunteering translates the
fundamental values of justice, solidarity, inclusion and citizenship upon which
Europe is founded into action. Volunteers help shape European society, and
volunteers who work outside of their home countries are actively helping to
build a Citizens' Europe.[1]
Indeed, volunteering activities are implicitly linked with many European Union policy
areas – such as lifelong learning, rural development and sport – where they add
a valuable dimension to European Union programmes.

For all these reasons and more, the year
2011 has been designated as the European Year of Voluntary Activities promoting
Active Citizenship.[2]
The European Year gives the European Commission the opportunity to take stock
of volunteering in the European Union and its contribution to society. It also
allows the Commission to evaluate what the European Union and Member States can
do to facilitate and promote volunteering, notably in cross-border situations.

Following this Communication, and before
the end of 2012, a report assessing the Year’s outcomes will be submitted to the
European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee
and the Committee of the Regions.

1.1.
Definition and data situation

When it comes to volunteering, each country
has different notions, definitions and traditions. Volunteering is defined as all
forms of voluntary activity, whether formal or informal. Volunteers act under
their own free will, according to their own choices and motivations and do not
seek financial gain. Volunteering is a journey of solidarity and a way for
individuals and associations to identify and address human, social or
environmental needs and concerns. Volunteering is often carried out in support
of a non-profit organisation or community-based initiative.[3]

A Commission-initiated study estimated that
in 2010 some 100 million Europeans are engaged in voluntary activities. Behind this overall
figure, peoples’ participation in volunteering varies widely across the EU.[4]

In many EU Member States, adults aged
between 30 and 50 years are the most active in volunteering, although the
number of younger and older volunteers is increasing across the EU.

Volunteering takes
place in many sectors. The biggest area for volunteering is sport, followed by social care, welfare and health. Other sectors include justice, culture, education, youth, environment and
climate action, consumer protection, humanitarian aid, development policy and
equal opportunities.

Volunteering also has a
great impact beyond national borders. Cross-border volunteering has great
potential for education, employment and citizenship. It can also improve mutual
understanding and contribute to the development of a stronger European
identity.

1.2.
Challenges for volunteering

On the basis of a study of eight
industrialised countries by the Johns Hopkins University[5] and the
experience of the European Year 2011 so far, we have identified the potential
obstacles to volunteering, in particular across borders, as the following:

·
Lack of a clear legal framework: Almost one in five Member States does not have a clear legal
framework and clear rules for volunteers and volunteering.

·
Lack of national strategies for promoting
voluntary activities: National volunteering
strategies need to be created to cover the following aspects: training, holiday
benefits, social security, entitlement to unemployment benefits for cross-border
volunteering activities, accommodation and reimbursements of out-of-pocket
expenses.

·
Financial constraints: Volunteering, while freely given, is not cost free. Organisations based
on voluntary activity often face a lack of sustainable funding, and competition
for available funds is fierce.

·
Mismatch between supply and demand: The increasing trend to professionalise the volunteering sector causes
a certain mismatch between the needs of volunteering organisations and the
aspirations of new volunteers. Volunteers are available for short-term projects
while organisations need people to make long-term commitments.

·
Lack of recognition: Skills that are gained through volunteering activities are not
always sufficiently recognised or given credit.

·
Tax obstacles: Member
States apply different tax treatments to volunteers' income/allowances and to
the reimbursement of the expenses sustained during their service. Consequently,
volunteers may encounter tax obstacles when operating across borders.

·
Insufficient data:
Better comparable data on volunteering in the Member States can help identify
best practices and improve policy making.

Member States made some progress on these
issues in 2006 when they committed to cooperating on overcoming obstacles that directly
or indirectly impede the mobility of EU citizens for learning or professional
development purposes, including volunteering.[6]
But there is still a lot of work to do. Particular attention needs to be paid
to the promotion of an environment for volunteering activities providing equal
opportunities with regard to the access and participation of all individuals.

1.3.
The added value of volunteering

Volunteering contributes to the Europe 2020
growth strategy,[7]
in particular to the EU’s employment rate target of 75% by 2020, by helping
people learn new skills and adapt to changes in the labour market. The above
mentioned Johns Hopkins University study found that the voluntary sector can contribute
up to 5% of Gross Domestic Product.[8]
This can be very important during times of economic difficulty and austerity.
Solidarity is also increased through volunteering, when people learn how to
adapt to technological change, globalisation and the ageing population.

Volunteering directly contributes to key
objectives of EU policies such as social inclusion, employment, education, skills
development and citizenship. Its positive effects are confirmed by new
indicators that measure social cohesion or the happiness, connectedness,
activeness and well-being of volunteers.[9]
This applies also to volunteering in knowledge-intensive areas, such as
education and research, including in international cooperation.

The European Union's involvement in
volunteering issues brings tangible benefits. These are most obvious in the
promotion of cross-border volunteering and the mobility of volunteers in the
European Union. More generally, the European Union can be a catalyst for policy
development in volunteering in the years to come, which, in line with the subsidiarity
principle, would take place at Member State level in the light of national
priorities and the overall strategic objectives of the European Union for the
decade ahead.

The following chapter outlines the ways in
which the Commission currently supports the volunteering sector and how it
plans to address the issues raised in the future.

2.
European policies and Volunteering
2.1.
EU funding
opportunities for volunteering

The European institutions have long
acknowledged the significance of voluntary organisations in making it possible
for people to give something back to their communities and in providing
opportunities for citizen participation in a broader European context. As such,
the EU currently offers funding opportunities for volunteers and voluntary
activities within the following programmes:

Within the
"Youth in Action" programme,[10]
the European Voluntary Service (EVS) offers young
people between the ages of 18 and 30 the opportunity to carry out voluntary work,
for up to 12 months, outside their home country. Beyond benefiting local communities,
the EVS offers volunteers the opportunity to acquire new skills, learn
languages and discover other cultures.

The European
Voluntary Service gave Costica, 27, a visually impaired Romanian, the
opportunity to spend four and half months as a volunteer at the IRHOV school for visually
impaired children in Liège, Belgium. Costica ran computer, sports and cultural
workshops for children and was able to develop personal, social and
professional skills through the experience. At the same time, Costica provided
important support to the hosting community by being a role-model for visually-impaired
children, and acting as an inspiration for their parents and the school staff.
In this respect, volunteering with EVS is a way of being active in society and
expressing solidarity among young Europeans, while enhancing one's
employability.

The EU's Europe for Citizens programme[11] supports a wide range of
activities and organisations promoting European citizenship, such as through
town-twinning projects. Particular attention is paid within this programme to
the promotion of volunteering. Indeed, volunteering has been set as a programme
priority for 2011.

The
"Charter of European Rural communities" (CERC) funded by the Europe
for Citizens programme is a co-operation between 27 small rural communities,
one from each EU Member State. CERC's activities are geared towards creating
opportunities to "meet each other at the kitchen table,’’ giving European
citizens the possibility to interact at a cross-border, people-to-people level,
while exploring themes and cooperating in areas such as participation in local
democracy, the role of young people in local democracy and the well-being of
senior citizens. The activities rely heavily on the support of volunteers helping
with the organisation of CERC events and finding accommodation for invited
guests in the host location.

The Lifelong Learning Programme[12] includes the Grundtvig
programme which promotes the participation of European citizens in volunteering
projects in a European country other than their own, allowing them to learn and
share their knowledge and experience across borders.

The
Manchester Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts of Budapest developed a Grundtvig Senior Volunteer Project focusing on the inclusion of
people aged 50 years and over. At the core of the project was an exchange
programme, where six volunteers from both museums took part in crossover visits
to each museum and had the opportunity to volunteer in a different country.
This project has created a platform to share best practices amongst museums
working with volunteers in different European countries.

In addition to the programmes targeting
volunteers and voluntary activities directly, the EU offers a wide range of
funding programmes accessible to volunteers in the fields of food distribution,
social exclusion and discrimination, gender equality, drugs prevention,
helping victims of crime,[13]
public health, consumer protection and the environment and climate action.

The
Commission is committed to raising awareness amongst EU Citizens and
stakeholders about different funding programmes that can be used by volunteers
and for voluntary activities. This will ensure that funding opportunities for
the volunteering sector are fully exploited.

2.2.
The societal dimension of volunteering
2.2.1.
Volunteering as an expression of European citizenship

Volunteering is closely linked to the
Commission's general political objectives of reinforcing Union citizenship and
putting citizens at the heart of EU policy-making.[14] Volunteering can complement
citizens' entitlements to rights and promote their active participation in
society. This is particularly the case for cross-border volunteering, which has
the potential for inter-cultural learning and the development of a European
identity.

In addition, volunteering is an element of
social innovation that can mobilise people's creativity to develop solutions
and make better use of scarce resources.[15]

The
Commission will continue to support the volunteering sector through its funding
programmes and through EU cohesion policy programmes in various policy areas.

It will
follow up on initiatives promoting cross-border volunteering in the context of
the 2013 European Year of Citizens.

2.2.2.
Volunteers hold society together

Volunteering fosters social cohesion and social
inclusion. Volunteering implies sharing and helping others, and in this way
develops solidarity. Voluntary activities increase
peoples’ tolerance towards disadvantaged groups in society and help reduce
racism and prejudice.

Volunteering has also
been recognised as a way of offering new learning opportunities to senior
citizens and people with disabilities while giving them the possibility to help
shape our societies. At the same time, voluntary activities can improve understanding
between generations when the young and old work together and support each
other.

At the individual level, volunteering can be a means for citizens to acquire social skills, to play a
useful role and to connect or re-connect with society. At the societal level, it
can be a tool for the empowerment of people, especially for disadvantaged
groups in society.

Equally, environmental volunteering plays a
major role in protecting and improving the environment for present and future
generations while at the same time increasing awareness of environmental issues
and the likelihood of carrying out environmentally friendly practices.[16] For instance, in the UK, the British Trust for Conservation
Volunteers (BTCV) works with over 300,000 volunteers each year and in Slovakia,
environmental volunteering accounts for 13.3% of the total share of
volunteering.[17]

In order to raise awareness and tackle the
problem of marine litter in our seas and oceans, the international Surfrider
Foundation organises the annual "Ocean Initiatives: the largest eco-citizens'
rally in Europe", involving 40,000 volunteers spread across more than
1,000 clean-up activities of beaches, lakes, rivers and the ocean-floor in
Europe and the rest of the world.[18]

The
Commission may introduce proposals that specifically cater for volunteering in
the EU's employment strategy, in its fight against poverty and social exclusion
and in the context of the Commission's "New Skills for New Jobs"
initiative.

2.2.3.
Education and volunteering

Voluntary activities can form either
structured learning activities (so-called non-formal learning) in which the
volunteer intentionally participates or unintentional and unstructured learning
(so-called informal learning). In both cases, volunteers’ learning usually is
not certified. Recognising volunteering as a form of learning is therefore a
priority of EU action in education and training. Based on common principles
adopted by the Council in 2004[19],
the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, Cedefop,
published 'European
guidelines on the validation of non-formal and informal learning',
which provide a tool for the development of certification practices that also take
account of the voluntary sector.

Mobility for learning purposes is a way in
which citizens exercise their right of free movement within the EU. Cross-border
volunteering is an example of such learning mobility.

The
Commission is working on a proposal for a Council Recommendation on the
validation of non-formal and informal learning that includes the volunteering
dimension.

On a
practical level, voluntary work experience and skills acquired through
volunteering can be displayed in the Europass documents[20] and will be integrated into the future 'European Skills Passport'.

2.2.4.
Youth and volunteering

The active participation of young people in
society can be fostered through volunteering. If young people are well informed
about volunteering and have positive experiences when volunteering, they are
likely to continue to be active volunteers throughout their life, inspiring other
young people to volunteer in their wake.

The Commission has chosen voluntary
activities for youths as one of the priorities of the youth policy cooperation
process that was launched in 2001, as well as the subsequent Open Method of
Coordination on youth. Within the new EU Strategy for Youth, volunteering has
been recognised as one of the key policy areas affecting Europe's young people.[21]

The Council
Recommendation on the Mobility of Young Volunteers seeks to boost cooperation
between organisers of voluntary activities in the EU Member States. It invites
civil society organisations and public authorities to develop voluntary
activities and to open up these activities to young people from other EU
countries.[22]

Youth
volunteering supports the 'Youth on the Move' flagship
initiative[23]
of the Europe 2020 Strategy, putting young people at the centre of the EU's vision
of an economy based on knowledge, innovation, high levels of education and skills,
inclusive labour markets and active involvement in society.

In 2012,
Member States will report back to the Commission on the implementation of the
EU Youth Strategy and the Recommendation on the Mobility of Young Volunteers
across the EU. On this basis, the Commission will make proposals for further
development.

2.2.5.
Sport and volunteering

Article
165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union calls on the EU to
take account of structures based on voluntary activities when promoting
European sport.

In
2002, Member States recognised the significant contribution of voluntary
activity to sport and its economic value in the “Aarhus Declaration on
Voluntary Work in Sport”. Volunteering was also one of the key issues in the Commission's
2007 White Paper on Sport which found that voluntary activities in the sport
sector strengthen social cohesion and inclusion, promote local democracy and
citizenship and provide occasions for non-formal education.[24] In May 2011, the
Council identified volunteering in sport as one of the priority themes for
EU-level cooperation in its Resolution on an EU work plan for sport.

The
sport sector is able to mobilise more volunteers than any other sector. In most
Member States, the sport movement would not exist without volunteering.
However, differences among Member States are very large, with some having very
low levels of sports volunteering.[25]
Member States with a high level of volunteering in sport tend to have a strong
volunteering culture and appropriate structures, but also support from public
authorities.[26]

Under the 2010 Preparatory Action in the field
of sport, the Commission is funding four pilot projects on volunteering and
sport.

2.2.6.
Employee volunteering as an expression of
corporate social responsibility

As an
expression of their Corporate Social Responsibility, both the private and public
sector can play an important role in promoting voluntary activities. By investing in employee-volunteering, they
not only do "good" in the local community, but at the same time
improve their reputation and image, help create a team spirit, improve job
satisfaction, and raise productivity while allowing employees or officials to
develop new skills.

In 2011 the Commission launched initiatives that seek to promote
volunteering amongst its staff. These include intranet web resources for staff
with information on volunteering opportunities, good practices and practical
guidelines for staff wishing to engage in voluntary activities.[27]

2.2.7.
The EU's relations with third countries and
volunteering
2.2.7.1.
Promoting the mobility of third country
volunteers in the EU

The mutual benefits of volunteering which stem
from the migration of third country volunteers to the EU should also be
recognised. In this context, Council Directive 2004/114/EC[28] creates a reference framework
for common minimum conditions of entry and residence of third country
volunteers which does not depend on the labour-market situation in the host
country. The implementation of these provisions is optional for the Member
States.

In 2011, the Commission will publish a report on the application of Council
Directive 2004/114/EC and, if appropriate, may consider proposing amendments.

2.2.7.2.
Humanitarian aid and volunteering

The area where Europeans consider that
volunteers play the most important role is in the field of solidarity and
humanitarian aid work, and the European Commission is committed to taking
European citizens' opinions seriously: based on Article 214 of the Treaty on
the Functioning of the European Union, the Commission is preparing to set up a European
Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps which will serve as a framework for joint
contributions from European volunteers to the humanitarian aid operations of
the European Union.[29]

This new body will provide an opportunity for volunteers from
different Member States to work together on a common project on EU humanitarian
aid as a tangible expression of their solidarity with people in need. It is also
expected to help create new opportunities for the participation of European
citizens, especially amongst the young. The deployment of European volunteers
is also aimed at strengthening local capacities, an area where volunteering can
make a real difference. The support of volunteers in disaster preparedness and
recovery activities will in particular contribute to laying the foundations for
sustainable development processes linked to the EU's pre- and post-crises
operations in the area of humanitarian aid.

In 2011, the Commission is funding pilot
projects aimed at selecting, training and deploying the first volunteers of the
European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps. The results of this pilot phase and
the outcome of the reviews and consultations and the impact assessment drawing
on years of experience of national and international organisations, will allow
the Commission to adopt a proposal for a Regulation setting-up the European
Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps in 2012.

2.2.7.3.
Development policies and volunteering

Volunteers can play a significant role in
development cooperation, either as individual volunteers or in the framework of
activities pursued by civil society organisations. In general, voluntary work
enhances the effectiveness of the endeavours pursued by these organisations and
confirms their non-profit-making nature.

The Commission does not directly support
individual volunteers, but does so indirectly by using EU legal and financial
instruments to support projects that act in favour of civil society organisations. These groups are increasingly contributing to the design of development policies throughout the
developing world, in particular by sharing more responsibility regarding poverty
reduction. Although the Commission relies to a considerable extent on civil
society organisations in the implementation of overall EU development policy,
ultimately it is up to these organisations themselves to decide whether or not to
resort to the services of volunteers rather than paid professional staff,
either in Europe or across the world.

3.
Conclusions: the way forward

Volunteering is
part of our social fabric. It supports fundamental values of inclusion and
citizenship. That is why the European Commission is stressing the importance of
volunteering during the European Year of Volunteering 2011. The Commission is working
with all relevant stakeholders to ensure a meaningful and lasting legacy for the
European Year.

The following
conclusions will be complemented and further developed during the European
Year:

·
Volunteering is an important creator of human
and social capital, a pathway to integration and employment and a key factor
for improving social cohesion. It is a highly visible expression of European citizenship,
as volunteers contribute to shaping society and helping people in need.

·
Its potential can be further developed within
the Europe 2020 Strategy for growth. Volunteers are an important resource in
our economy and society, but must not be considered as an alternative to a
regular workforce.

·
By promoting cross-border volunteering in
cooperation with Member States and through EU funding programmes, the EU
contributes to the mobility and inter-cultural learning of its citizens and
reinforces their European identity.

Policy recommendations to Member
States

In accordance with
the principle of subsidiarity, the Commission does not
intend to promote one single model of volunteering or to harmonise volunteering
cultures at local and regional level. However, the Commission recommends that Member
States make better use of the potential of volunteering in the following ways:

·
In countries lacking a volunteering framework
and where there is a weak tradition or culture of volunteering, setting legal
frameworks could give incentives to support the development of volunteering.

·
Research and data collection on volunteering
should be encouraged at the national level. In this context, the use of the International
Labour Organisation's (ILO) Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work and the
United Nations Handbook on Non-Profit organisations is recommended.

·
Recognition of the competences and skills gained
through volunteering as non-formal learning experiences is essential as a motivating
factor for the volunteers and one that creates bridges between volunteering and
education.

·
Member States should remove remaining obstacles
which directly or indirectly impede volunteering in general and in particular
cross-border volunteering.

·
Member States are invited to open national
volunteering schemes for across-borders volunteering to contribute to the development
of volunteering in the European Union.

Concrete actions to recognise and
promote volunteering at EU level:

The EU is committed to ensuring a long-term
follow-up to the 2011 European Year of Volunteering and to continuing the
dialogue with the relevant stakeholders in the different policy areas related
to volunteering.

·
The Commission will propose the creation of a
European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps in 2012.

·
EU funding programmes in different policy areas will
further target volunteers and promote cross-border volunteering.

·
The Commission will make it easier for EU citizens
and stakeholders to get an overview of different funding programmes that can be
used by volunteers and for voluntary activities.

·
The Commission is willing to further explore
possibilities to strengthen the link between volunteering and health/welfare,
in particular with regard to the ageing society.

·
On the basis of Member States' reports on the implementation
of the Recommendation on the Mobility of Young Volunteers in 2012, the
Commission will make proposals for further development.

·
The Commission may introduce proposals that
specifically cater for volunteering in the EU's employment strategy, in its
fight against poverty and social exclusion and in the context of the
Commission's "New Skills for New Jobs" initiative.

·
The Commission is preparing a proposal for a
Council Recommendation on the validation of non-formal and informal learning
including the recognition of competences acquired through volunteering.

·
The future 'European Skills Passport'
will give individuals the possibility of keeping a record of the skills and competences they acquire through
volunteering.

·
The
Commission will give the forthcoming European Year of Citizens (2013) an
appropriate volunteering dimension, promoting notably cross-border
volunteering.

[1]               EU Citizenship Report 2010 – Dismantling the obstacles
to EU citizen's rights, COM (2010) 603 final of 27 October 2010.

[2]               Council Decision No 37/2010/EC on the European Year
of Voluntary Activities Promoting Active Citizenship (2011) of 27 November 2009,
OJ L 17, 22.1.2010, p. 43–49.

[3]               Ibid.

[4]               "Volunteering in the
European Union" (GHK 2010).

[5]               "Volunteering in the
European Union" (GHK 2010).

[6]               Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 18 December 2006 on transnational mobility within the Community for
education and training purposes: European Charter of Mobility, Doc.
2006/961/EC.

[7]               Communication from the
Commission. Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive
growth, COM (2010) 2020 final of 3 March 2010.

[8]               "Measuring Civil Society and
Volunteering" (Johns Hopkins University 2007.

[9]               Cf. S. Hossenfelder, On the problem of measuring
happiness, (February 3, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1754423
who refers also to the research of the International Commission on the
measurement of economic performance and social progress established by the
French President in 2008 and the recent approach of the British Office for
National Statistics to measure people's well being.

[10]             Decision No 1719/2006/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 15 November 2006, OJ L 327, 24.11.2006, p. 30–44.

[11]             Decision No 1904/2006/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 12 December 2006, OJ L 378, 27.12.2006, p. 32–40.

[12]             Decision No. 1720/2006/EC of the Parliament and of the
Council of November 15 2006, OJ L 327 of 24.11.2006, p.45.

[13]             Over 20,000 volunteers work for victim support
organisations in Europe (Strengthening victim's rights in the EU, COM(2011) 274
final of 18.05.2011, p. 5).

[14]             "Political Guidelines for the next Commission
(2009-2014)" (2009).

[15]             "Empowering people, driving change: Social
innovation in the European Union" (BEPA 2010). Supported
by the 7th Research Framework Programme the European Commission
intends to support the set up of a 'Social Platform' for innovative social
services that will also address the role of volunteering in the service sector.

[16]             Volunteering
and environment: http://community.cev.be/download/130/434/Fact_sheet_DG_ENV_environment.pdf

[17]             CSVnet – National Coordination Body of Voluntary
Support Centres, 2009. ‘Brief compendium of the research: Volunteering across
Europe. Organisations, promotion, participation’, p. 17.

[18]             Initiatives océanes press kit 2011: http://www.surfrider.eu/fileadmin/documents/io11/dp/20110228_DP-IO2011_EN.pdf

[19]             Conclusions of the Council
and of the representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting
within the Council on Common European Principles for the identification and
validation of non-formal and informal learning (May 2004).

[20]             Decision 2241/2004/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council on a single Community framework for the
transparency of qualifications and competences (Europass), OJ L 390, 31.12.2004, p. 6–20.

[21]             An EU Strategy for Youth – Investing and Empowering - A
renewed open method of coordination to address youth challenges and
opportunities, COM(2009) 200 final of 27.04.2009.

[22]             Council Recommendation on the Mobility of Young
Volunteers across the European Union, 2008/C 319/03 of 13.12.2008.

[23]             Youth on the Move – an initiative to unleash the
potential of young people to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in
the European Union, COM (2010) 477 final of 15.09.2010.

[24]             White Paper on Sport, COM(2007) 391 final of 11.07.2007.

[25]             "Volunteering in the
European Union" (GHK 2010), p. 216.

[26]             "Volunteering in the
European Union" (GHK 2010), pp. 214-215 which is referring also to the
income for sports organisations.

[27]             See http://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/serv/en/Volunteering/. Worthwhile is
also mentioning that Commission staff organises and manages charity initiatives
like the Schuman Trophy, the "Shoebox for the homeless" campaign, the
cancer support group, EU delegation of ATD Quart Monde or the recently created
association GIVE EUR-HOPE.

[28]             Council Directive 2004/114/EC of 13 December 2004 on
the conditions of admission of third country nationals for the purposes of
studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service; O.J. L
375 of 23.12.2004, p. 12.

[29]             How to express EU citizen's
solidarity through volunteering: First reflections on a European Voluntary
Humanitarian Aid Corps, COM(2010) 683 final of 23.11.2010.