Within the first half of the year 2014, in the project „Active civic participation: Latvia = EU(Me)” has actively participated and organised a variety of events. To sum up the experience in the first six months, European Movement in Latvia has:
- Regularly published news about the project activities in our newsletter (22 newsletters), as well informed our followers via social media (at least 3 times a week) and our website.
- Mainly EML president Andris Gobiņš, but also board members, have collaborated with local and international media on a various topics. Some of the media articles in this period:
o 08.01. participation in the expert panel in the LTV1 „Sastrēgumstunda” about the creation of the new government
o 07.03. Interview to LR2 programme „Eiropas Atslēgas” about the civil paricipation on EU level
o 11.03. Interview to LTV1 programme „Viss Notika” about the impact of EP to Latvian society
o 13.03. Interview to LETA about the 10th anniversary of Latvia in EU – success stories and failures
o 22.03. Interview of EML board member I. Ķelpe to LR4 about EP elections
o 23.04. Interview to the new multimedia portal of Parliament about the upcoming NGO and Parliament cooperation forum
o 28.04. Interview of EML board member I. Ķelpe to LR5 youth programma about Latvia’s decade in EU
o 29.04. Interview to LETA about the success stories and failures of Latvian decade in EU
o 30.04. Interview of EML board member I. Ķelpe to LTV1 about EP groups and elections
o 01.05.2014 – comment on LR1 programme „Krustpunkti” about the opinions expressed regarding the decade in EU
o 08.05.2014 – interview to LR1 news about the EML Europe day activities
o 12.05.2014 – Interview to newspaper „Diena” about Latvia’s media environment, suggestions to LTV1 programma about the MEPs assessment.
o 14.05.2014 –interview in the programme „Krustpunkti” about EU migration policies, as well for De Facto and TV5
o 14.05.2014 – interview and suggestions to LTV1 programme de Facto about assessment of MEPs
o 20.05.2014 – interview to portal LV.LV about the previous MEPs’s activities
o 24.05.2014 – interview to news agency BNS par the participation in EP elections
o 25.05.2014 – interview to LETA about EP election results
o 26.05.2014 – participation in LR1 programme „7 dienas Eiropā”
o 27.05.2014 – participation RīgaTV24 programme „Globuss” about EU and foreign affairs
o 13.06.2014 – particiaption RīgaTV24 programme „Globuss”
o 27.06.2014 – interview to portal LV.LV about the necessity of European affairs minister in Latvia
- EML president, the bureau personnel and members of board have tried to participate in the events organised by the partners in the relation with EML core activities. In this period, the main activities are related to:
o European Year of Citizens;
o Upcoming European Year of Development
o Upcoming Latvian Presidency
o Open Government Partnership
- In the field of events, EML together with our partners have tried to pay particular attention to the latest discussions and include them into our events, therefore in the period we have organised a discussion „The development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia and Europe” on 27th May together with European level expert Ariane Rodert and EESC and Latvia NGO „SUSTENTO”.
Within this project EML has organised and participated in some events for youth:
o SCHOOL 2014 – from 28th February to 2nd March – EML organised a set of activities;
o In Jekabpils 27th February EML personnel together with volunteers organised a workshop „”From an idea until implementation”
o On 9th May, EML organised EUROPE DAY for a group of 10 year olds (the first European generation in Latvia) to discuss about Europe in an interactive way.
- EML president has participated and EML has organised training and provided information about the civil participation:
o On 15th April to The Latvian Fededation of Retired – about the role of civil participation before EP elections, the functions and duties of MEPs, etc.
- Cooperation with local and international NGOs has been a priority throughout the whole project. In this period, EML has paid particular attention to 1) Cabinet of Ministers and NGO memorandum meetings – this involves many formal and informal meetings: 2) Participation in European Year of Citizens (EYCA) events also in Brussels on 20th February; 3) Cooperation with GovFaces before EP elections.
- Cooperation with EU information providers in Latvian has been done on a regular basis via newsletters and group on Facebook, informing about the actual events and asking to send information.
- The dialogue about EU multiannual budget is mainly carried out through the Cabinet of Ministers and NGO memorandum meetings which covers a variety of relevant questions and issues of this topic, as well EML president has attended and expressed his opinion in the commission meeting in the Parliament.
- Similarly the work on the new model of civil participation is mainly done by participation in the formal and informal meeting around Ministers and NGO memorandum meetings and the relevant commission meeting in the Parliament. In the project period, EML has actively cooperated with the Parliament and partners in the organisation of NGO Forum on 19th May, as well follow-up with the commissions and introducing them to the results of the event. The evaluation of the event was discussed also with foreign partners in the second part of 2014.
- Cooperation and advocacy, as well coordination activities are done regularly by EML president, bureau personnel and members of the board in the following meetings (whose topics are relevant to the project and EML activities):
o Meetings of the Senior Civil servant in MFA;
o Meetings regarding Council of Europe in MFA;
o Cooperation with EYCA within European Year of Citizens;
o Cooperation and meeting with partners regarding European Year of Development in MFA;
o Cabinet of Ministers and NGO memorandum meetings;
- Regarding the preparation for the Latvian Presidency, EML president, bureau personnel and members of board have actively participated by expressing the opinion in the media and meeting with the official authorities:
o Meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the preparation for the Latvian Presidency;
o Meetings with the NGOs and Secretariat of Presidency;
o Individual and informal meetings with the personnel from Secretariat of Presidency;
o Presentation by Italian and Greek presidencies and their priorities;
- EML personnel has visited seminars and informational meeting, as well monitored online resources for additional funding possibilities. Within the first half year, EML has submitted an application for EVS project that was approved in the second half of 2014.
- The work with EML members, staff and volunteers is one of the main priorities. The year 2014 has brought many new changes in the personnel of EML, as well the organisation has tried and succeeded to involve many new volunteers. We have developed a database of volunteers and established a stable relationship with several volunteers, who mainly assist in the organisation of events.
- The capacity building of EML personnel is mainly related to the attendance various seminars. In this period:
o Social media and the 2014 Elections (webinar)
o Electronic application forms for EVS
- As there was no need, EML has not created any materials in this period.
- EML personnel and president has attended several events organised by partners:
o Events by EYCA in the diffusion of elaborated recommendations;
o Participation in the member meeting by Latvian Civil Aliance;
o Experience exchange in Lithuania in the context of Presidency;
o The Erasmus + programme release
- EML has provided information about the implementation both on our social media and website (see more in the Latvian version).