GWU project wins praise from EU

Making Sense Of Europe, a project submitted by the General Workers Union for a series of seminars in Malta and the UK using EU funds, has won Malta's largest trade union praise in Brussels.

The European Commission yesterday announced that it had decided to nominate the GWU as "the trade union for active European citizenship", one of the awards given under the Europe For Citizens programme.

This is a new programme that responds to the need of enhancing citizen participation in the construction of Europe.

According to the Commission, the GWU's project merits special recognition "as an encouragement to their efforts" of bringing citizens closer to the EU.

The GWU's project seeks to answer questions on the role of trade unions and how they can influence the debates at EU level.

The project also tries to create links between unions and civil society on a European level in order to make it easier to work together in post-project activities.

The GWU was opposed to Malta joining the EU in the country's 2003 referendum on EU membership.

Announcing the selected projects under this programme, Ján Figel, the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth said that he was delighted to see such engagement, involvement and mobilisation from citizens all around Europe, on so many varied issues, spanning from environmental awareness to intercultural dialogue.

"This dictates the clear need to maintain this permanent platform for the recognition and endorsement of projects promoting civic participation, and a continued effort on our side to reach out to an even wider public," he said.