The fifth Berlin Conference, organised by the civil-society initiative “ ASoul for Europe”, will take place on 10 November 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The 2012 Berlin Conference aims to take a stand by working to strengthen both the level of participation and the partnerships between European civil society, the European institutions, and European citizens. These partnerships should work together to foster positive European development, which can be achieved by motivating all parties to become actively involved in a “Cultural Coalition for a Citizens' Europe”. In the course of Europe’s debt crisis, national interests have grown. The bailout funds and the austerity packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal have further fuelled an anti-European atmosphere and put social peace under threat. Although governments and parliaments are taking a growing variety of measures, European citizens feel neglected and not taken seriously regarding their responsibilities and their right to take part in decision-making processes. After 60 years of prosperous common economic growth and welfare, the EU is not perceived as the solution, but as part of the problem of the current crisis. Europe’s citizens must be offered more incentives for active citizenship and democratic participation. At its very core, a Citizens’ Europe is a cultural concept. It has to encompass the wealth of languages, traditions, cultural knowledge and experiences of people in Europe, regardless of where they are originally from. A Cultural Coalition for a Citizens’ Europe proposes this basic and activating role of culture to politics and business. It expresses a demand for supporting the development of Europe from the bottom up. The Coalition believes in the catalytic and innovative role that culture – in all its diverse forms – can play in developing a more responsible and vivid civil society. Without such a coalition the current level of indifference, hostility to and alienation from the European project will hardly be tackled by challenging citizens initiatives that are strengthening the hand of those who wish to deliver answers to the tendencies to revert to narrow nationalism. The “A Soul for Europe” initiative’s 5th Berlin Conference will include three panel discussions featuring prominent intellectuals, policy-makers, entrepreneurs and representatives of civil society who will debate the following issues: • Democracies at Risk, • Cities, Citizens and their Responsibilities, • Environmental Challenges: Cultural Approaches. Discussants will include EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding, former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Klaus Töpfer, former Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany Klaus Kinkel, author Noémi Kiss and the artistic director of European Capital of Culture Wroclaw 2016 Krzysztof Czyzewski. Among the speakers will be MEPs Jo Leinen, Doris Pack and Hannes Swoboda as well as representatives of the “A Soul for Europe” Strategy Group. The conference takes the form of an open workshop. It is to develop concrete proposals for action that can be implemented at the European decision-making level with the help of a parliamentarian working group. The official conference languages are German and English and simultaneous interpretation services will be available. Please register online. The Berlin Conference 2012 is the first in a series of three events dedicated to a Europe from the bottom up under the title of “A Cultural Coalition for a Citizens’ Europe”. Together they form “A Soul for Europe’s” kick-off to the “European Year of Citizens” 2013. The series includes the Berlin Conference 2012 by “A Soul for Europe” on 10 November, the Brussels Conversations 2012 by the partners of the European House for Culture on 16-17 November, and Felix Meritis Foundation’s the Amsterdam Conversation 2012 on 30 November in Amsterdam. “A Soul for Europe” is a civil-society initiative that is seeking to make more effective use of Europe’s cultural resources than in the past to promote the European development and integration process. In this endeavour, it relies on cooperation between citizens and political decision-makers. From its partner offices in Amsterdam, Belgrade, Berlin, Brussels, Porto and Tbilisi the “A Soul for Europe" initiative is building an international network of European cities and regions, the cultural sector and business as well as European policy-makers. At the very heart of the initiative is the Strategy Group: About 50 civil society actors from more than 20 countries are responsible for the conceptual development of “A Soul for Europe” through projects and initiatives. Contact: Initiative „A Soul for Europe“ c/o Stiftung Zukunft Berlin Petra Hottenroth Klingelhöferstr. 7 D-10785 Berlin Tel. +49 (30) 26 39 229-40 Fax. +49 (30) 26 39 229-22 press@asoulforeurope.eu www.asoulforeurope.eu