Quote of the week
“A new partnership with Africa means that Europeans shift their focus to development through investments, democracy, good governance, and education, whilst Africans also have their share of responsibility. To this end, the implementation of a long-term EU development plan for Africa is essential”
Gianni Pittella


Past activities
Summer may be approaching, but our work in the Group is far from going on holiday! This past week we’ve been dealing with important topics. Among them - cooperation with ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries to fight climate change, fighting tax avoidance, the EU post 2020 budget, EU-Turkey relations and our new, strengthened partnership with Africa.

 

Activities (summary)
We are now just a few days away from our next Europe Together event! This time we will be joined by our partners at the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) as we join forces for the seventh edition of the Call to Europe conference.


Upcoming activities
We are already preparing for a great collaboration with our partners at FEPS. On June 28 - 29 our TOGETHER initiative will be joining the seventh edition of their Call to Europe conference. With an array of exciting speakers and a great topic on the table, it is safe to say that we’re looking forward to having another successful event under the TOGETHER umbrella. Group President Gianni Pittella and our MEPs Maria João Rodrigues, Udo Bullmann, Miapetra Kumpula-Natri and Jo Leinen will also join the debate on the future of Democracy.
Not to mention that this time we have an interesting competition - send your 140 character quotes on Democracy online and you could see them printed on beer mats.
Registrations are open and we encourage you to see the programme on our website.

On June 28-29 we are also looking forward to hosting an event on the peace process in the Middle East. The conference will be structured into three round tables, each dealing with topics such as the two state solution, the role of civil society and the role of the European Union in the peace process.

Wednesday, June 28, our vice-president Joseph Weidenholzer will be hosting a hearing on Protecting fundamental rights in an era of ever-expanding counterterrorism measures.
The three debates of the event will be focused on the general legal landscape and current law-making trends, non-discrimination, profiling and the presumption of innocence and on large-scale databases, predictive policing and encryption, data protection and privacy.

On Thursday, June 29, our focus will also be on consumers’ rights. Our MEPs will be hosting a roundtable on Algorithmic Opportunities, Transparency and Accountability.
Registrations are open until June 28, and all those interested can ask our IMCO team for more details.

Our partners at SOLIDAR have also opened a new call for nominations for their annual Silver Rose Awards. This is an occasion to celebrate Civil Society Organisations and individuals whose extraordinary struggles contribute greatly to social justice and solidarity throughout the world. This year's edition will take place on 10 October 2017 in the EP.
You can make a nomination of an organisation or individual whose efforts should be recognised with a Silver Rose Award in one of the three categories, Together for Social Europe, Building Learning Societies or Organising International Solidarity.
On Monday 3rd July we'll close the call for nominations upon which the Silver Rose Jury will decide on the three best candidates per category.

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