Foundation on European Citizens’ Rights, Involvement and Trust
Acronym: ECIT Foundation
General Information
Identification Code: 494832735094-65
Website: [object Object]
Entity Form: Public foundation
Registration Category: Think tanks and research institutions
Registration Date: 6/11/2019
Last Update: 2/28/2024
EP Accredited Number: 1
Mission & Interests
Goals: The ECIT Foundation (Foundation on European Citizens’ Rights, Involvement and Trust) is a Brussels-based public foundation established under Belgian law on 3 June 2015 to work exclusively on topics pertaining to European citizenship. It serves as a ‘think-and-do tank’: producing not just research and policy analysis, but also actively campaigning and organising public events to bring together civil society organisations, academics and policy makers. ECIT’s raison d’être is to ensure the concept of European citizenship becomes more than the sum of its parts. ECIT has pioneered the idea of a statute on European citizenship. The proposal is supported by the European Parliament and the Conference on the Future of Europe. For specific projects such the ECI "voters without borders" or the new one "I'm going European" ECIT works with a youth task force.
Interests Represented: Does not represent commercial interests
Interests:
- Communication
- Culture
- Digital economy and society
- Education and training
- Employment and social affairs
- Enlargement
- Environment
- Institutional affairs
- Justice and fundamental rights
- Migration and asylum
- Public health
- Regional policy
- Research and innovation
- Single market
- Youth
Levels of Interest:
- european
Activities
Main EU Legislative Proposals: - Reinforcing democracy and integrity of elections package;
- Recast of Council Directive on the electoral rights of mobile EU citizens in European Parliament elections;
- Recast of Council Directive on the electoral rights of mobile EU citizens in municipal elections
- Recast of Regulation on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations;
- Directive on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States;
- Regulation on strengthening the security of identity cards of Union citizens and of residence documents issued to Union citizens and their family members exercising their right of free movement;
- Regulation (EU) 2021/953 on a framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable COVID-19 vaccination, test and recovery certificates (EU Digital COVID Certificate) to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic;
- EU Citizenship Report;
- Conference on the Future of Europe;
- Revision of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) instrument;
- Eurobarometer surveys on democracy, elections and electoral rights;
- Europe for Citizens Programme;
- Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV).
Communication Activities: - The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), ‘Voters Without Borders’, which aims to reform existing rights and to extend them to regional, national elections and referendums. Having been launched in September 2020, the signature collection ran until 11 June 2022 after several extensions. The plan is to follow up the ECI with a European symbolic election on 26 April 2024 just before the next elections to the Europen Parliament.
- A ‘Cross-Party MEP Group on European Citizenship’, which functions as a platform to the MEPs to interact and promote a dialogue between them and civil society on legislative topics pertaining to European citizenship, European political rights and the future of Europe.Quarterly meetings are planned. Around 14 MEPs - from different groups, committees and nationalities – have formed an informal collective to bring together a broad spectrum of political opinion on relevant topics and legislation;
- Lobbying the European Commission and European Parliament for EU voting law reform, specifically the recent package concerning ‘Reinforcing democracy and integrity of elections.’ ECIT is also lobbying the European Parliament to follow-up to the 2020 Citizenship Report, and lobbying both the European Commission and European Parliament for ECI Reform in an effort to improve the signature collection system and the visibility of ECIs on the Commission webpage;
- A ‘Statute on European Citizenship’, a drafted ‘Charter of European Citizens’ Rights’, codifying the rights and responsibilities of European citizens. The Statute has featured input from MEPs, academics and civil society representatives and has been published on the online platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe;
- Submitting complaints to the European Commission requesting it launch infringement proceedings against EU Members states, specifically concerning the disenfranchisement of EU citizens in five EU Member States; Thanks to the support of The Good Lobby , ECIT has an agreement with the law firm Latham and Watkins which provides pro-bono legal assistance. A first complaint is being followed up by anew one relatiing to disenfranchisement of EU citizens living in the UK in the June 2024 European elections
- Organizing an Annual Conference, bringing together civil society activists, researchers, policymakers and students to discuss relevant topics pertaining to European citizenship. The 2024 edition will be held on 31 October and will focus on the role of the EU institutions in developing this unique transnational citizenship
Inter-institutional or Unofficial Groupings: Unofficial groupings
Head Office
Address: Rue de la Loi 261000 Bruxelles Belgium
Post Code: 1000
City: Brussels
Country: BELGIUM
Phone: [object Object]
EU Office
Address: Rue de la Loi 261000 Bruxelles Belgium
Post Code: 1000
City: Brussels
Country: BELGIUM
Phone: [object Object]
Financial Data
New Organisation: false
Closed Year: [object Object]
Current Year: [object Object]
Complementary Information: - Funding received in the form of grants from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation was mostly spent on activities related to the 'Voters Without Borders' ECI; When the ECI came to an end in June 2022 support has focussed on the cross-party group of MEPs on European citizenship. The budget in 2023 was just under 18.000 euros with a small additional fee for a senior consultant to help steer the activities. For the future, ECIT will relaunch the group after the June 2024 European elections, hopefully with support from other political foundations
Membership Information
Members10 Percent: 8
Members25 Percent: 0
Members50 Percent: 0
Members75 Percent: 0
Members: 11
Members F T E: 3.799999952316284
Info Members: The ECIT Foundation operates as a task force of young Europeans and Erasmus students working full-time. One member of the team is employed by the foundation under a 'convention d'immersion professionnelle' . The majority of the ECIT foundation's operational funds are spent on activities, not salaries. While the dependence on students and volunteers means operational costs are relatively low, the level of turnover in the task force is high. The number of persons involved from in the organisation's activities is liable to fluctuate. The ECIT Foundation's founder, Tony Venables, is also active in providing strategic direction and ideational input to the task force. Other members of the foundation's board also provide strategic input into the organisation's activities on an irregular basis. Suzana Carp, another Board member is particularly active especially to support the cross-party group of MEPs
Structure
Structure Type: Structure
Is Member Of: -
- ECIT has a cooperation agreement with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (European Dialogue) (Link: https://www.freiheit.org/european-union/focus/about-us-brussels);
- ECIT had a cooperation agreement until 2022 with NECE (Networking European Citizenship Education) (Link: https://www.bpb.de/die-bpb/partner/nece/);
-Other affiliations are created in the context of EU funded projects such as MobileCIT, NOTE, European Union Democracy Rally or an Erasmus plus project-Eurocartoons
Organisation Members: - ECIT is a member of the board of Europeans around the World (ETTW) (Link: https://euromonde.eu/);
- ECIT is a participating member in the EU Sign Day coalition (Link: https://eusignday.eu/);
-The Foundation works closely on political rights with VRAR(voting rights for all residents) ;
- Tony Venables is a member of the constituent assembly of the Democratic Odyssey
-The ECI "Voters without borders" led to the creation of an ad hoc coalition of 50 organisations on voting rights and it is expected that the new ECI "I'm going European" would involve similar coalition- building