Active European citizenship: Europe for Citizens programme 2007-2013

This document presents the main findings and recommendations of the mid-term evaluation of the "Europe for Citizens" Programme 2007-2013, as well as the reactions and conclusions of the Commission to these recommendations.

To recall, the general objectives of the Programme are:

• giving citizens the opportunity to interact and participate in constructing an ever closer Europe, which is democratic and world-oriented, united and enriched through its cultural diversity, thus developing citizenship of the European Union;
• developing a sense of European identity, based on common values, history and culture;
• fostering a sense of ownership of the European Union among its citizens;
• enhancing tolerance and mutual understanding between European citizens respecting and promoting cultural and linguistic diversity, while contributing to intercultural dialogue.

Main conclusions: the evaluation confirms the importance the 'Europe for Citizens' Programme for the promotion of civic participation, strengthening the sense of belonging together, tolerance and mutual understanding. The programme has so far given 2.8 million European citizens and their organizations an opportunity to interact and to participate in the process of the European construction, to express their opinions and to feed into the political process. It has connected people and local communities from different countries. The evaluation has also highlighted the scope for further development.

The evaluation shows that the demand for the programme is strong and that the programme budget is below levels of actual demand. In order to reach out to prospective project promoters and to further strengthen the programme impact, a re-balancing of the financial support within the budget of the current Programme should be seriously considered.

Should the decision be taken to continue the Programme in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the lessons learned from the mid term evaluation might be integrated into the reflections and preparatory work for the 2014-2020 Programme. The mid-term evaluation suggests in particular the need for strengthening the policy impact of the Programme. The possible next Programme should therefore be more closely linked to the key topics on the EU agenda. It needs to be coherent with a view to improving European governance and to exploit synergies with other EU Programmes and policies.