The Treaty of European Union
                              1996 Inter-Governmental Conference

                                                      Draft Submission by
                                                The European Foundation Centre

                                                       Brussels, Belgium

                                                         August 1995
 

AUTOR :  The European Foundation Centre
 

RECOGNITION OF THE SPECIFIC NATURE AND ROLE OF FOUNDATIONS

Foundations play an important advocacy role in the development of a citizen-based Europe where individual responsibility, solidarity and participation for public
benefit are central.

In the majority of European Union Member States, foundations have been accorded special legal status; in all EU Member States, however, a foundation is
recognised as an institution which has irrevocably been attributed goods, rights and resources for the performance of work in the public interest on a non-profit
making basis.

The Preamble to The Prague Declaration, a statement of principles and reciprocal commitment for independent funding community approved by the collective
membership of the European Foundation Centre in 1993, holds that, by providing resources and undertaking operational projects, independent funders promote
innovation, flexibility, diversity and voluntary citizen involvement.

The EFC and its members now call on governments and European and international institutions to take all appropriate action both to acknowledge a
strong independent funding community as an essential component of civil society and to uphold the rights of citizens to establish new foundations and
associations within the European Union.

The right to associate funds and property (foundations) and the right for persons to associate for the benefit and interest of the general public
(associations) must be clearly and unequivocally recognised in the Treaty of European Union and acknowledged as a means of reinforcing European
citizen participation and the role of the individual European citizen.
 

To this effect, the following is proposed:
 

TITLE II

Provisions amending the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community with a view to establishing the European Community

Part Two

Citizenship of the Union

 Existing Treaty Text

 None
                                      Proposed Amendment to Treaty

                                      Add to Article 8(b):

                                      "3. Every citizen residing in the European Union shall have the right to set up a foundation provided
                                      that its purpose and activities conform to European and national laws in those jurisdictions where it
                                      operates.The Council may adopt provisions with a view to facilitate this right. The Council shall act by
                                      a qualified majority in cooperation with the European Parliament."
 
 
 

UNEMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND SOCIAL POLICY
 

Europe currently faces an overriding challenge identified in the European Commission White Paper of 1993 on Growth, Competitiveness, and Employment- The
Challenges and Ways Forward into the 21st Century, namely restoring the capacities of EU Member State economies to tackle the problem of social exclusion
and long-term unemployment.

A significant chapter of EFC foundation and corporate citizen members view these issues as major concerns on the grounds that combatting unemployment and
social exclusion can no longer be exclusively constrained to the traditional infrastructure and configuration of the employment market: other initiatives to improve job
prospects and job creation must be considered, notably in the area of the social economy.

Although the EU Commission has submitted proposals to combat exclusion, the current Treaty of Union does not provide for intervention in this sector at EU level -
subject to respect for the subsidiarity principle - as it at present does in other sectors, e.g., public health.

To that end, it is proposed as follows:

TITLE II

Part One

Principles

 Existing Treaty Text

 Article 3 (1)

 "... a policy in the social sphere comprising a
 European Social Fund..."
                                      Proposed Amendment to Treaty

                                      Article 3 (1) "... a policy in the social sphere aiming in particular at combating social exclusion and
                                      comprising a European Social Fund..."
 
 
 

TITLE II

Part Three

Community Policies

Title VIII

Social Policy, Education, Vocational Training and Youth

Chapter I

Social Provisions

 Existing Treaty Text

 "Article 117. Member States agree upon the
 need to promote improved working
 conditions and an improved standard of
 living for workers, so as to make possible
 their harmonisation while the improvement is
 being maintained.

 "They believe that such a development will
 ensue not only from the functioning of the
 common market, which will favour the
 harmonisation of social systems, but also
 from the procedures provided for in this
 Treaty and from the approximation of
 provisions laid down by law, regulation or
 administrative action."
 
 

 Article 118 (1)
                                      Proposed Amendment to Treaty

                                      "Article 117. Member States agree upon the need to promote improved living and working conditions
                                      so as to make possible their harmonisation while the improvement is being maintained and with a view
                                      to creating sustainable high employment and combatting social exclusion.

                                      "They believe that such a development will ensue not only from the functioning of the common
                                      market, which will favour the convergence of social systems, but also from the procedures provided in
                                      this Treaty and from approximation of provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative
                                      action."

                                      (Article 118(1), insert new text:)

                                      "... the fight against exclusion ..."
 

The role of foundations and voluntary organisations should be fully recognised as partners in the social dialogue, particularly with regard to educational and vocational
training and youth policies. Specifically, there must be full enactment of the Declaration on Cooperation with Charitable Organisations appended to the
Maastricht Treaty must be enacted in full which stresses the importance of pursuing the objectives of Article 117 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community,
namely cooperation between the latter and foundations and charitable associations as institutions delivering social services and promoting social welfare:
 

 Existing Treaty Article

 Article 118 (9)

 "To this end, the Commission shall act in close
 contact with Member States by making studies,
 delivering opinions and arranging consultations
 both on problems arising at national level and on
 those of concern to international organisations."
                                      Proposed Amendment to Treaty

                                      "Article 118 (9). In order to attain the objective set out in Treaty Article 117 (as amended), the
                                      Commission shall act in close contact with Member States by making studies, delivering opinions, and
                                      arranging consultations both on problems arising at national level and on those of concern to
                                      international organisations, and shall cooperate with those concerned, including foundations and
                                      charitable organisations as institutions delivering social services and promoting social welfare."
 

Increased participation in the conception, orientation and management of the Structural Funds is advocated for organisations identified in Article 118
 
 

Chapter II

The European Social Fund

 Existing Treaty Text

 Article 124. The Fund shall be administered by
 the Commission. The Commission shall be
 assisted in this task by a Committee presided
 over by a member of the Commission and
 composed of representatives of governments,
 trade unions, and employer organisations."
                                      Proposed Amendment to Treaty

                                      "Article 124. The Fund shall be administered by the Commission. The Commission shall be assisted in
                                      this task by a Committee presided over by a member of the Commission and composed of representatives
                                      of governments, trade unions, employer organisations, charitable organisations and foundations."
 

As a membership-led association which promotes the work of foundations and corporate citizens in the development of the New Europe, the European
Foundation Centre (EFC) represents 150 independent funders and some 7,000 associated and affiliated organisations linked via networking centres
throughout Europe. This independent funding constituency is active across a broad sector of interests, including culture, heritage, the environment,
research and development, health, social policy, youth, education and training, the common goal being the promotion of civil society and voluntary
citizen involvement.

On behalf of its collective membership, the European Foundation Centre urges that appropriate recognition be given at European level to the unique role
played by independent funders in building a just, equitable and sustainable civil society. Accordingly, the following Submission gives expression to the
principal concerns of independent funders with respect to revision of the Treaty of European Union within the framework of the 1996
Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC).
 

     The European Foundation Centre
     IGC Secretariat
     51 rue de la Concorde
     B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
     Tel.: +32-2-512.8938 - Fax.: +32-2-512.3265
     E-Mail: efc@aries.eu.int
 

FONTE : http://europa.eu.int/en/agenda/igc-home/instdoc/ngo/efc.htm