EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 295/19

Tuesday 2 September 2008

Announcing 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering

P6_TA(2008)0389

Declaration of the European Parliament on announcing 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering

2009/C 295 E/05

The European Parliament,

having regard to its resolution of 22 April 2008 on the role of volunteering in contributing to economic and social cohesion (1),

having regard to the resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 16 May 2007 on implementing the common objectives for voluntary activities of young people (2),

having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas there are more than 100 million Europeans of all ages, beliefs and nationalities who volunteer,

B. whereas a Eurobarometer survey published in February 2007 revealed that 3 out of 10 Europeans claim to be active in a voluntary capacity and that close to 80 % of respondents feel that voluntary activities are an important part of democratic life in Europe (3),

C. whereas the voluntary sector contributes an estimated 5 % to the gross domestic product of Member States' economies, and develops innovative actions to detect, voice and respond to needs arising in society,

D. whereas the European Volunteer Centre, the European Youth Forum, the Association of Voluntary Service Organisations, the World Organisation of the Scout Movement, the Red Cross/European Union Office, volonteurope, the European Older People's Platform (AGE), Solidar, Caritas Europa, ENGAGE, Johanniter International, the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation and others — together representing thousands of organisations involving millions of volunteers — have all called upon the institutions of the European Union to announce 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering,

1. Calls upon the Commission, supported by all the institutions of the EU, to announce 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering;

2. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Commission and the Council.

List of signatories

Adamos Adamou, Gabriele Albertini, Jim Allister, Alexander Alvaro, Jan Andersson, Georgs Andrejevs, Alfonso Andria, Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Emmanouil Angelakas, Roberta Angelilli, Stavros Arnaoutakis, Francisco Assis, Elspeth Attwooll, Marie-Hélène Aubert, Margrete Auken, Liam Aylward, Mariela Velichkova Baeva, Enrique Barón Crespo, Alessandro Battilocchio, Katerina Batzeli, Edit Bauer, Jean Marie Beaupuy, Zsolt László Becsey, Angelika Beer, Ivo Belet, Jean-Luc Bennahmias, Rolf Berend, Pervenche Berès, Sergio Berlato, Giovanni Berlinguer, Thijs Berman, Adam Bielan, Guy Bono, Josep Borrell Fontelles, Victor Boștinaru, Catherine Boursier, Bernadette Bourzai, John Bowis, Sharon Bowles, Emine Bozkurt, Iles Braghetto, Mihael Brejc, Frieda Brepoels, André Brie, Elmar Brok, Danutė Budreikaitė, Kathalijne Maria Buitenweg, Ieke van den Burg, Colm Burke, Philip Bushill-Matthews, Cristian Silviu Bușoi, Simon Busuttil, Jerzy Buzek, Martin Callanan, Mogens Camre, Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos, Marie-Arlette Carlotti, Giorgio Carollo, Paulo Casaca, Michael Cashman, Carlo Casini, Françoise Castex, Giuseppe Castiglione, Pilar del Castillo Vera, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Zdzisław Kazimierz Chmielewski, Ole Christensen, Sylwester Chruszcz, Philip Claeys, Luigi Cocilovo, Carlos Coelho, Richard Corbett, Giovanna Corda, Titus Corlățean, Jean Louis Cottigny, Michael Cramer, Corina Crețu, Gabriela Crețu, Brian Crowley, Marek Aleksander Czarnecki, Ryszard Czarnecki, Daniel Dăianu, Dragoș Florin David, Chris Davies, Bairbre de Brún, Jean-Luc Dehaene, Panayiotis Demetriou, Gérard Deprez, Proinsias De Rossa, Marielle De Sarnez, Marie-Hélène Descamps, Harlem Désir, Albert Deß, Mia De Vits, Jolanta Dičkutė, Koenraad Dillen, Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos, Alexandra Dobolyi, Beniamino Donnici, Den Dover, Avril Doyle, Mojca Drčar Murko, Petr Duchoň, Andrew Duff, Árpád Duka-Zólyomi, Constantin Dumitriu, Michl Ebner, Lena Ek, Saïd El Khadraoui, James Elles, Maria da Assunção Esteves, Edite Estrela, Harald Ettl, Jill Evans, Robert Evans, Göran Färm, Richard Falbr, Markus Ferber, Emanuel Jardim Fernandes, Francesco Ferrari, Elisa Ferreira, Ilda Figueiredo, Petru Filip, Hélène Flautre, Alessandro Foglietta, Hanna Foltyn-Kubicka, Glyn Ford, Janelly Fourtou, Armando França, Duarte Freitas, Ingo Friedrich, Urszula Gacek, Michael Gahler, Milan Gaľa, Gerardo Galeote, Vicente Miguel Garcés Ramón, Eugenijus Gentvilas, Georgios Georgiou, Bronisław Geremek, Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, Adam Gierek, Maciej Marian Giertych, Neena Gill, Ioannis Gklavakis, Bogdan Golik, Ana Maria Gomes, Donata Gottardi, Genowefa Grabowska, Dariusz Maciej Grabowski, Vasco Graça Moura, Nathalie Griesbeck, Lissy Gröner, Elly de Groen-Kouwenhoven, Mathieu Grosch, Lilli Gruber, Ignasi Guardans Cambó, Ambroise Guellec, Pedro Guerreiro, Umberto Guidoni, Zita Gurmai, Fiona Hall, David Hammerstein, Małgorzata Handzlik, Gábor Harangozó, Malcolm Harbour, Marian Harkin, Rebecca Harms, Joel Hasse Ferreira, Satu Hassi, Anna Hedh, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Esther Herranz García, Jim Higgins, Jens Holm, Milan Horáček, Richard Howitt, Ján Hudacký, Stephen Hughes, Alain Hutchinson, Filiz Hakaeva Hyusmenova, Monica Maria Iacob-Ridzi, Sophia in 't Veld, Mikel Irujo Amezaga, Ville Itälä, Lily Jacobs, Anneli Jäätteenmäki, Stanisław Jałowiecki, Mieczysław Edmund Janowski, Lívia Járóka, Elisabeth Jeggle, Rumiana Jeleva, Anne E. Jensen, Romana Jordan Cizelj, Jelko Kacin, Filip Kaczmarek, Gisela Kallenbach, Othmar Karas, Sajjad Karim, Ioannis Kasoulides, Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, Piia-Noora Kauppi, Tunne Kelam, Glenys Kinnock, Evgeni Kirilov, Ewa Klamt, Wolf Klinz, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Silvana Koch-Mehrin, Eija-Riitta Korhola, Miloš Koterec, Holger Krahmer, Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis, Urszula Krupa, Wiesław Stefan Kuc, Jan Jerzy Kułakowski, Sepp Kusstatscher, Zbigniew Krzysztof Kuźmiuk, Joost Lagendijk, Jean Lambert, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Vytautas Landsbergis, Esther De Lange, Anne Laperrouze, Romano Maria La Russa, Vincenzo Lavarra, Henrik Lax, Johannes Lebech, Bernard Lehideux, Lasse Lehtinen, Jörg Leichtfried, Jo Leinen, Katalin Lévai, Janusz Lewandowski, Bogusław Liberadzki, Marcin Libicki, Eva Lichtenberger, Alain Lipietz, Pia Elda Locatelli, Andrea Losco, Caroline Lucas, Sarah Ludford, Astrid Lulling, Elizabeth Lynne, Linda McAvan, Arlene McCarthy, Mary Lou McDonald, Mairead McGuinness, Edward McMillan-Scott, Jamila Madeira, Eugenijus Maldeikis, Toine Manders, Ramona Nicole Mănescu, Vladimír Maňka, Thomas Mann, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Catiuscia Marini, Sérgio Marques, Maria Martens, David Martin, Jean-Claude Martinez, Miguel Ángel Martínez Martínez, Jan Tadeusz Masiel, Antonio Masip Hidalgo, Marios Matsakis, Yiannakis Matsis, Maria Matsouka, Manolis Mavrommatis, Hans-Peter Mayer, Erik Meijer, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, Emilio Menéndez del Valle, Marianne Mikko, Miroslav Mikolášik, Gay Mitchell, Nickolay Mladenov, Claude Moraes, Eluned Morgan, Luisa Morgantini, Elisabeth Morin, Roberto Musacchio, Cristiana Muscardini, Joseph Muscat, Sebastiano (Nello) Musumeci, Riitta Myller, Pasqualina Napoletano, Michael Henry Nattrass, Robert Navarro, Cătălin-Ioan Nechifor, Bill Newton Dunn, Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, James Nicholson, Angelika Niebler, Lambert van Nistelrooij, Ljudmila Novak, Vural Öger, Jan Olbrycht, Seán Ó Neachtain, Gérard Onesta, Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Ria Oomen-Ruijten, Dumitru Oprea, Miroslav Ouzký, Siiri Oviir, Doris Pack, Maria Grazia Pagano, Borut Pahor, Justas Vincas Paleckis, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Marco Pannella, Pier Antonio Panzeri, Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Georgios Papastamkos, Neil Parish, Aldo Patriciello, Vincent Peillon, Alojz Peterle, Maria Petre, Markus Pieper, Sirpa Pietikäinen, João de Deus Pinheiro, Józef Pinior, Mirosław Mariusz Piotrowski, Umberto Pirilli, Hubert Pirker, Paweł Bartłomiej Piskorski, Lapo Pistelli, Gianni Pittella, Zita Pleštinská, Anni Podimata, Zdzisław Zbigniew Podkański, Samuli Pohjamo, Lydie Polfer, Mihaela Popa, Nicolae Vlad Popa, Miguel Portas, Vittorio Prodi, John Purvis, Luís Queiró, Reinhard Rack, Alexander Radwan, Bilyana Ilieva Raeva, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Karin Resetarits, José Ribeiro e Castro, Marco Rizzo, Bogusław Rogalski, Zuzana Roithová, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Dariusz Rosati, Wojciech Roszkowski, Libor Rouček, Paul Rübig, Heide Rühle, Leopold Józef Rutowicz, Eoin Ryan, Aloyzas Sakalas, Katrin Saks, Antolín Sánchez Presedo, Manuel António dos Santos, Sebastiano Sanzarello, Amalia Sartori, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Toomas Savi, Luciana Sbarbati, Christel Schaldemose, Pierre Schapira, Agnes Schierhuber, Margaritis Schinas, Frithjof Schmidt, Olle Schmidt, Pál Schmitt, Elisabeth Schroedter, Inger Segelström, Esko Seppänen, Czesław Adam Siekierski, José Albino Silva Peneda, Brian Simpson, Kathy Sinnott, Marek Siwiec, Nina Škottová, Alyn Smith, Csaba Sógor, Bogusław Sonik, María Sornosa Martínez, Sérgio Sousa Pinto, Jean Spautz, Bart Staes, Grażyna Staniszewska, Margarita Starkevičiūtė, Dirk Sterckx, Struan Stevenson, Catherine Stihler, Ulrich Stockmann, Dimitar Stoyanov, Robert Sturdy, Margie Sudre, David Sumberg, László Surján, Eva-Britt Svensson, József Szájer, István Szent-Iványi, Konrad Szymański, Hannu Takkula, Charles Tannock, Andres Tarand, Salvatore Tatarella, Britta Thomsen, Marianne Thyssen, Silvia-Adriana Țicău, Gary Titley, Patrizia Toia, László Tőkés, Ewa Tomaszewska, Witold Tomczak, Jacques Toubon, Antonios Trakatellis, Kyriacos Triantaphyllides, Claude Turmes, Evangelia Tzampazi, Feleknas Uca, Vladimir Urutchev, Inese Vaidere, Nikolaos Vakalis, Frank Vanhecke, Johan Van Hecke, Anne Van Lancker, Ioannis Varvitsiotis, Armando Veneto, Donato Tommaso Veraldi, Bernadette Vergnaud, Cornelis Visser, Oldřich Vlasák, Diana Wallis, Graham Watson, Henri Weber, Manfred Weber, Anja Weisgerber, Åsa Westlund, Anders Wijkman, Glenis Willmott, Iuliu Winkler, Janusz Wojciechowski, Anna Záborská, Zbigniew Zaleski, Mauro Zani, Andrzej Tomasz Zapałowski, Stefano Zappalà, Tomáš Zatloukal, Tatjana Ždanoka, Gabriele Zimmer, Marian Zlotea, Jaroslav Zvěřina, Tadeusz Zwiefka

(1) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2008)0131.

(2) OJ C 241, 20.9.2008, p. 1.

(3) ‘European Social Reality’, Special Eurobarometer 273, Wave 66.3.