Alliance for a responsible, plural and united world

World citizens assembly
Lille – December 2-10, 2001

Regional Group

LATIN EUROPE 

Firstly, all the European groups gathered for an hour to introduce themselves and valorise the Peles European continental meeting (Rumania). Five participants who were present in Rumania briefly gave their points of view and evaluations and also showed the possible or at least the expected connections between the Peles and Lille meetings. The sub-regions then found themselves together in a room.

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Latin Europe
To identify the primary themes and lines for Europe from the list of strategy lines produced during the thematic sessions on Friday, December 7th.
Choices results : : 1. (7)   1.1 (1)   1.2 (3)  1.3 (5)  1.4 (7) - 2. (6)  2.1(3)  2.2 (9)  2.3 (4) - 3. (7)  3.1(0)  -  4. (3) 4.1 (2) 4.2 (0) 4.3 (0)  - 5. (12)  5.1 (2)  5.2 (10) 5.3 (4)  -  6. (6) 6.1 (0) 6.2 (1) 6.3 (0)  - 7. (6) 7.1 (1)  7.2 (5)  - 8. (10)  - 9. (3)  - 10. (4) 10.1 (1) 10.2 (3) 10.3 (4)  - 11. (8)  11.1 (6)  11.2 (8) 11.3 (4)  - 12. (1)  - 13. (10)  - 14. (2)  -  15. (6)  -  16. (7) 16.1 (1) 16.2 (5) 16.3 (5) 16.4 (1) 16.5 (1) 16.6 (2)  - 17. (8) 17.1 (2)  17.2 (4) 17.3 (2)  17.4 (4). 
These indicative elements enabled us to make out quite clearly four groups for the primary lines for Europe whose titles were : Education – Peace – Ethics – Governance and Social and Economic Responsibility. These four titles were all debated on within the 3 sub-groups that were constituted.

To carry on the identification and to elaborate a plan of action for the Latin Europe sub-continent.
In fact, the 3 sub-groups followed different methodologies : Some chose suggestions that had been elaborated the days before on those four titles ; others chose a new debate with the new participants of the sub-group.

Summary of the work of the 3 sub-groups.
Group 1 : 	work on the Charter
	Personal actions after Lille
	Europe : citizenship building and civil society

Group 2 : concrete suggestions on the 17 themes

Group 3 :  work on 4 titles : education, peace building, the responsibility of the citizen and European networks.

Conclusions of the Latin Europe regional group.

Preamble : 
The European citizen must participate in the definition of a new dimension of education through the networks, to improve democracy, to work on the development of peace and to improve Europe and turn it into a source of collective values and actions.
Keywords : the responsibility of the person, the values of peace, to define a new dimension for education, democracy and the idea of a network.

The Theme of education
Even in Europe, everybody still does not have the right to education even though it is a fundamental right, hence it is a first fight to lead.
The courses : nowadays, too often education is a mere accumulation of knowledge. So education must be given back its true goal : to learn to think, to develop a critical attitude and transmit values. Education must favour the access to citizenship and to responsibilization as well.
To let people know the history and the common values of Europe : cultural openness to the world, historic experiences and moderation in the management of the differences and conflicts, the will to give something to the world, individual and collective freedom, improved democracy (political shifting), limited financial dependence, social preoccupation in the companies and a stronger ecological preoccupation than anywhere else. These values can give a sense to Europe and be inscribed in the future European Constitution.
Ethical educational methods : the competition at school in particular is the source of habits that the individuals reproduce in their lives. Competition should be substituted for emulation.
To favour the exchanges between European people and language teaching. To share experiences in educational methods.
To educate on interculturality through, among others, the discovery of religions.

The theme of peace building
The values that favour peace : tolerance, respect, dialogue, dignity, pluralism, humanism, fraternity. Words may have a different meaning according to the cultures.
Suggestions : 
·	Peace must first be civil
·	To set up structures which favour mediation and dialogue before conflicts
·	To increase in number the meetings on common inter-regional projects (religion and defence)
·	Participation of Europe in peace on other continents : without direct intervention but give the international organisations (such as the O.A.U.) the capacity to solve their conflicts by themselves.
·	The armament policy eludes the citizens and often even the elected representatives. Suggestion of the creation of a European observatory to survey weapons trade.
·	To lead a reflection on new conflicts (terrorism, economic war, and so on.)

The theme of citizenship building
To build a right for all and especially for the most destitute ones
To build Europe-oriented citizenship from local actions that have to be defined.
Citizenship can only be built with the dialogue with the most destitute ones and with the people of different cultures
The particular role of Europe towards the rest of the world
To put into practice the exercise of subsidiarity
To simplify existing European institutions
To invest in the young for a long-term perspective
The responsibility of Latin Europe which is a crossroads of other continents

Tourism : 
Negative points : the problem of prostitution, the capital that the local population does not benefit from and the dangers on the environment.
Positive points : intercultural contacts, the promotion of values such as hospitality, the free circulation of persons but often a one-way circulation for economic reasons.
Suggestion of a lasting and equitable tourism and the realization of that problem

Work on the human responsibilities Charter
The necessity to make versions of the Charter according to the actors and the actions to lead
The Charter should evolve in time
Concrete actions : to valorise and spread the works of the world Assembly and the different workshops on the Charter through articles, participation in colloquia and the networks of actors.
Suggestions on each line :
Theme 1 : To punish intentional and lucrative damage on the environment (ICT).
To backup citizen-associations for the defence of the environment in their juridical actions against polluters.

Theme 2 : The personal responsibility to spread what has been said during the Assembly in Lille.

Theme 3 : To finance a public informative and cultural TV in each country.

Theme 4 : To define a European Charter on the ethical responsibilities of sciences and techniques.

Theme 5 : For educative systems to form teachers that integrate the dialogue for a pluricultural citizenship.
To develop an education for the culture of peace and financed by the Defence budget.
The Alliance : to backup alternative movements.

Theme 6 : In the media : to give the priority to positive citizen actions.
To acknowledge and backup independent and citizen media.

Theme 7 : To do away with atomic armament. To give information to the citizens on the weapons factories in each country.
To reorganize energy consumption. To master nuclear energy (to save it) and solve the question of the wastes.

Theme 8 : To valorise and develop local participative democracy experiences.

Theme 9 : To juridically acknowledge the public and social companies within the European economic territory. To acknowledge and develop economic citizen initiatives (equitable trade).

Theme 10 : To ensure a continuity in social and unionist rights between countries for a free circulation of men and women in Europe. To punish the clients and go-betweens of the sexual traffic and tourism in all European legislations.

Theme 11: A European Foreign policy for peace, especially in the Mediterranean basin. To define a means in the European Union for the building of a culture of peace.

Theme 12 : To substitute invoices, checks, credit cards or paper money by a transparent system with the protection of private information.
To elaborate and standardize an accounting of non-monetary indicators in Europe (accounting of the property, energy accounting, HDI and so on).

Theme 13 : To promote citizen co-management of the territories from the needs of the inhabitants.
To suggest a budget for the European Union for the promotion of the training and organization of a citizen participation process of quality (example : participative budget).

Theme 14: To change the public sector – private sector duality and try to substitute it with more operative and less deceitful concepts : management, profit, non-profit, State, capital and society.

Theme 15 : To suggest a territory (region, county) to realise actual active subsidiarity. To include the right of initiative and a right of a referendum of European citizens.
To found the European construction and institutions following the concept of human security (health, education, food, dignity…) to go beyond the concept of national security.

Theme 16 : To promote contracts of reciprocity between regions and North and South municipalities (a new twinning, a new international cooperation.)

Theme 17 : To give access to the public to the list of weapons industries and trades in all countries.
To set up juridical frameworks that favour negotiations between everybody concerned in big companies (shareholders, leaders, trade unions, consumers, and so on)
To reinforce the alliances between trade unions and consumers to put pressure on the companies that don’t respect the fundamental rights and the States that don’t respect the international agreements.
To change trade negotiations in the European Union on the base of an equitable trade with the South and sustainable development.
To suppress tax havens in Europe and punish the customer countries and companies.