EUROPE INSIGHT
“Citizens’ engagement is at
the core of the Europe for
Citizens programme”
INTERVIEW to Gilles Pelayo
Head of Unit of the programme
Europe for Citizens, Education,
Audiovisual and Culture
Executive Agency (EACEA)
Picture by Johan François
European Commission EACEA
What is the specific role of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive
Agency?
The European Commission delegates the management of some EU programmes to
Executives Agencies (there are 6 of them, all in Brussels). The Education, Audiovisual and
Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) is responsible for the management of certain parts of the
EU’s funding programmes in the fields of education, culture, audiovisual, sport, citizenship
and volunteering, including the Europe for Citizens programme.
Within this structure, what are the main aims of the Europe for Citizens programme?
Under the overall aim of bringing the Union closer to citizens, the two general
objectives of the Programme are: first, to contribute to citizens’ understanding of the
Union, its history and diversity; second, to foster European citizenship and to improve
conditions for civic and democratic participation at Union level.
In regard to the current socio-political situation (the immigration crisis, the rise of
the extreme-right political parties, etc.) can remembrance policies help strengthen
values of freedom, democracy and human rights? How?
Indeed our hope is that thanks to the remembrance projects we support with the
programme, more EU citizens understand not only the process of European unification
since the end of WWII, but more broadly Europe’s contemporary history and how it has
shaped who we are. It has shaped each of us as individuals given that most European
families have been directly impacted by the often tragic events of the last century. And
also as citizens because this history explains the price we had to pay to enjoy our current
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Observing Memories
ISSUE 2