From our President

by Felipe Criado-Boado, EAA president, on the behalf of EAA Executive Board and Committees (felipe.criado-boado@incipit.csic.es)

This is turning out to be a very busy but productive year for the EAA and its Officers and Secretariat.

External affairs. As your president, I have represented the EAA at the annual conferences of the SAA (Vancouver), CIfA (Newcastle) and the Prehistoric Society (Southampton), and in the final meeting of the ARIADNE project (Florence), as well as a number of other official meetings and commitments that I attended myself or delegated to other EAA officers, such as the EAC general assembly (Athens), attended by our Vice-president, and the European Heritage Alliance meeting (Brussels), attended by our Treasurer. The EAA has become a member of the European Heritage Alliance, and has participated in the meetings to prepare the European Year of Cultural Heritage.

The SAA in Vancouver was marked by the presentation of its new president, Susan Chandler. We are looking forward to maintaining the same strong connections the EAA has enjoyed in the past with the former SAA presidents Diane Gifford-González and Jeffrey Altschul. In the coming months we will be exploring ways of promoting interaction between our members and organizations. We are also discussing inroads for common complementary cooperation with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), and we are working on a Memorandum of Understanding between both organizations with Chief Executive Peter Hinton. One year after Brexit we are still keeping a close eye on its potential effects on our British members and those who work in and with UK Archaeology. Amidst the new wave of nationalisms that are currently appearing in Europe, the EAA will continue to defend and support the advantages of a pan-European perspective on archaeological practice, heritage and research. This is an interest that we share with many other different organizations, with whom we will foster cooperation in the near future; this is the case of The Prehistoric Society, with whose president, Alex Gibson, we are considering the most practical venues to enhance symmetrical cooperation. Moreover, I have been elected, as EAA president, to the Council of Europa Nostra, which will help to nurture mutual relationships.

Forthcoming Annual Meetings. The plans for the Barcelona 2018 annual meeting have intensified over the past few months, and have now received full support from the Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the regional government of Catalonia (the Generalitat) and the Department of Culture of Barcelona City Council. The Scientific Committee has already been created, headed by Margarita Díaz-Andreu. Apart from this, plans for Bern 2019 will soon be announced, and progress has been made in organising Budapest 2020. In addition, the EAA is exploring a series of promising options for arranging meetings after Budapest.

Maastricht and the new media strategy. 2017 will be the first Annual Meeting where we will experience a number of new developments for our conferences. Beyond many others that have been already announced, Maastricht will be the first meeting where we expect to host a full delegation of journalists from different European countries, including a number of prominent journals. In addition to this, the EAA will shortly be rolling out its own media strategy. You will have realised by now that we are using mass e-mails to provide you with practical information, albeit with a firm commitment to avoid frequent and repetitive use of this system: the last thing EAA wants is to spam its members. There are alternative ways of disseminating different kinds of information, and you will have seen that the EAA is increasingly present in social media. We encourage you to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Forthcoming organisation of EAA Communities. The announcement of the new system to engage members in the social life of the EAA and promote your basic interests through the creation of the new “EAA Communities” has opened the way to new initiatives. There are detailed plans for the creation of a new “Community of Research on Wild Plant Resources”. But we also expect that those of us engaged in Contemporary Archaeology, Archaeology of Mountains and certain other issues will start up their own movements and consolidate them as an organized interest group within the EAA. In general, we envisage the quick and effective transformation of the current Working Parties into more active and empowered Communities, for whom a special meeting with representatives of the EAA Working Parties and Committees will be held in Maastricht (see the meeting programme for details).

Publications. This has been a successful year for EAA publications. The release of the first volume of the EJA published with CUP has been a success. We recently found out that the EJA is listed in the SCIMAGO journal, in 23rd position amongst 262 international archaeological journals. Work is underway to develop a strategy to update and promote our Themes series. Also, a new series of CUP will be soon launched, under the editorial direction of the EAA. The series, entitled “Elements on the Archaeology of the Europeans”, will cover the period from the Palaeolithic through the present day, and will boost the visibility of the EAA and the type of archaeology that the EAA considers necessary at this current moment in time. After a public call to select the editor(s) of the series, this will be announced after the summer once the formal decision has been taken. EAA members should note that they will benefit from a 40% discount when buying individual copies.

Europe and beyond. A number of important decisions will be submitted for approval by members at the next Annual Members Businesses Meeting (AMBM, see the meeting schedule for details; if you have still not registered to make up the quorum of the AMBM, please do not forget to do so), including a minor change in our fees system which, without causing any increase in current membership fees, will facilitate the engagement of archaeologists outside of Europe. This is important because the EAA, as part of the strategy to promote an ideal of continental perspectivism for archaeological practice and heritage, also intends to become global in scope, in order to incorporate different inputs and diverse archaeological traditions. By looking beyond regional and nationalist approaches, and then going even further by way of a global critique of Europeanism, we will be able to develop the perspective we need to promote the interests of our members, of those working in Archaeology, and of those societies we serve.

Strategic Planning at the next AMBM. In order to facilitate this, at the AMBM we will also present the EAA Action Plan, Government Plan and Secretariat Plan that develops our Strategic Planning, as announced in Vilnius.

Please use your personal profile on the EAA website. I will finish with two remarks, the first of which is eminently practical, and the second quite general. As members, you should take advantage of the new capabilities of our new web-based system that not only includes personal services but also enhanced personal profiles that support your visibility and further interaction. Please take the time to explore them and make use of them.

Archaeology matters. Finally, I would like to make a closing comment. When I became president two years ago, I said that the future of archaeology lies in the process of connecting it with the big issues currently facing mankind. I proposed that whatever we do, whichever session or paper we review for being presented at our Annual Meetings, should clearly address these big issues. This means accepting that we should become politically engaged on many occasions, not in partisan politics, but in the social and cultural policies that go hand-in-hand with the societal dimensions of archaeological heritage and practices. This also means that all of us, and the EAA, should start thinking about why archaeology matters, what it means, and to whom, in terms of other fields of knowledge, research and social action. I share with all of you the sensation that our future as a discipline and professional activity –a future that is under threat, despite archaeological research continuing to be highly dynamic and archaeological heritage becoming significant for many sectors of the general public– will depend on our ability to convince others of the social relevance of what we do, what we know, and what we learn every day.

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Calendar for EAA members July 2017 – October 2017

  • 28 July - Deadline for session organisers to express interest in filming of sessions in Maastricht, Netherlands
  • before 1 August - EAA election open on-line in the members' only section of the EAA web
  • 13 August - Deadline for submission of papers for Student Award
  • 15 August - Deadline for last Annual Meeting cancellation
  • 25 August - Deadline for postal ballot papers
  • 30 August-3 September - EAA Annual Meeting in Maastricht
  • 30 August - Opening ceremony
  • 31 August - EAA Annual Party
  • 1 September - Deadline for ballot papers to be returned to the ballot box at the conference and for electronic voting at 12 pm; AMBM and announcement of the election results
  • 2 September - Annual Dinner
  • 15 October - Deadline for sending in articles and announcements for TEA autumn/fall issue
  • end October - TEA autumn/fall issue 

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Upcoming Events

2017

  • 18 - 19 August 2017: 6th European Meeting on Forensic Archaeology (EMFA 2017), Roma
  • 30 August - 3 September 2017: EAA 23rd Annual Meeting, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • 13 - 15 September 2017: Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG) 2017 Annual Conference, Pula, Croatia
  • 16 - 17 October 2017: 4th meeting of the Central European Theoretical Archaeology Group (CE-TAG), Vienna, Austria
  • 17 - 20 October 2017: Meeting of the Italian Institute of Pre- and Protohistory "Preistoria e Protostoria della Lombardia" (Pre- and Protohistory of Lombardy), Milano, Italy

2018

  • 22 - 26 May 2018: 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Cologne/Bonn, Germany
  • 10 - 16 June 2018: XVIII° UISPP mondial congress, Paris, France
  • 5 - 9 September 2018: EAA 24th Annual Meeting, Barcelona, Spain
  • early summer 2018: SAfA (Society of Africanist Archaeologists) meeting will take place at Stony Brook University, New York
  • November 2018: 5th Congress of the PanAfrican Archaeological Association of Prehistory and Related Studies, Rabat, Morocco

2019

  • 4 - 8 September 2019: EAA 25th Annual Meeting, Bern, Switzerland

2020

  • 26 - 30 August 2020: EAA 26th Annual Meeting, Budapest, Hungary

 

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Filming of EAA sessions

As in previous years, Landward Research Ltd. has volunteered to video or audio record sessions and roundtables at the 23rd EAA Annual Meeting in Maastricht to enhance the reach and impact of the EAA Annual Meeting. Please see the filmed sessions of past EAA Annual Meetings.

We are contacting you to see if you would be interested in having your session or roundtable filmed or if requested just audio recorded. This is 100% voluntary and your speakers can opt out too.If you are interested, the process is as follows: 

  • Speakers are contacted ahead of the conference to get their permission to film.
  • Speakers can opt out and any speaker who opts out will not be filmed.
  • The session is filmed and audio recorded by trained volunteers. Unless specifically requested, questions and the audience will not be recorded.
  • The videos are then edited, if there are slides, they are inserted into the video. Speakers are then sent a link to their video or audio and they can request changes i.e. edit out certain sections, etc. or ask that the video not be aired. Speakers will have final editorial control over their own video.
  • If the speakers approve their video it will go up on the EAA's YouTube channel. Audio would go up on ITunes and APN. The videos and audio are released under a Creative  Commons license and speakers can have a copy of their videos if they want them.

If you would like your session or roundtable to be filmed or audio recorded or if you have any questions please email Doug Rocks-Macqueen (doug@landward.org).

The number of sessions and roundtables that can be filmed is limited  so please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested.  Depending on demand it may not be possible to film your  session/roundtable. The deadline for responding is 28 July.

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Voices of Culture and Heritage: EAA ’wins a seat’ within a critical planning forum in the European Commission for the European Year of Cultural Heritage

by Margaret Gowen, EAA Treasurer (mmgowen@live.com)

As one of 35 organisations chosen out of 310 applications to participate in the European Commission’s Stakeholder Committee, EAA is now participating with a significant group of cultural heritage organisations in the planning process for the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH).  In addition, EAA has joined with over forty heritage organizations to promote and develop the work of the European Heritage Alliance 3.3.  The Alliance, together with Europa Nostra can claim responsibility for the tireless promotion that has led to the success of this important conceptual development within the European Commission.

The first of three meetings planned for 2017 took place in Brussels during April a day after a meeting of the Heritage Alliance. Another meeting will be held in late September and a third in December. EAA’s participation in the European Commission’s planning forum during 2017 and during 2018 presents a very significant opportunity for the Association. It will build the profile of EAA and help to establish significant contacts with sister organizations and civil society groups across Europe and further afield.  In this new context EAA will align with and collaborate with other key 'players' in cultural heritage promotion and management around Europe. The Commission has also undertaken to send its information directly to all those 310 organizations that applied for participation in the Stakeholder Committee.


Photo: Meeting participants (© Margaret Gowen)

As with other European Years, 2018 will be implemented through initiatives and events at European, national, regional and local levels. National coordinators have been appointed in all EU member states and some countries have already allocated significant funds to support the year at a national level.

Quoting the Commission’s text:
“At European level, implementation of the Year will be a joint effort of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council and also the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee.

Activities will encompass awareness-raising and knowledge-sharing events. Up to 10 highly visible European initiatives will build a legacy for the Year following 2018. A large amount of transnational projects will be funded, with the support of the Creative Europe programme, Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, Citizens for Europe, and a number of other EU funding programmes.

The Commission is preparing a visual identity for the Year, which will be available for both national and European initiatives. The name and the logo of the Year may be used in the branding of events and projects taking place between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2018, which contribute significantly to achieving one or more of the objectives of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage.”

Under four headings (Engagement, Value, Protection and Innovation) there are ten areas in which activities will be promoted.

Engagement: Shared heritage; Bringing Europe’s cultural heritage, history and shared values closer to people; Heritage at school - discovering Europe’s treasures at an early age; Youth for heritage - engaging the younger generation

Value: New uses for heritage - re-imagining industrial, religious or military sites; Tourism and heritage - promoting sustainable cultural tourism

Protection: Cherishing heritage - developing standards for quality interventions in the historic environment and at heritage sites; Heritage at risk: fighting the illicit trade in cultural goods and managing risks at heritage sites

Innovation: Heritage-related skills - enhancing education and training for the traditional and the new professions; Heritage for all - fostering participation and social innovation; Science for heritage  - using research, innovation, science and technology for the better conservation and presentation of heritage

EAA is now in a position where it can (and must) take on a visible and active role in the planning of the EYCH in its own activities. In addition, other opportunities will undoubtedly be identified within the context of planning for the year and active participation within the EYCH Stakeholder Committee and membership within the European Heritage Alliance 3.3. EAA will gain insight and information on the types of projects the Commission is seeking to support during the year and will also gain information on other European-sponsored projects that are aligning with and contributing to the year's activities.

The EAA Annual Meeting in Barcelona presents a very significant opportunity in the context of the year. In equal measure the EYCH provides an opportunity for significant additional identity to the Barcelona meeting and add its own dynamic to the event.

EAA’s challenge at a general level will be to articulate ourselves clearly, forcefully and coherently within this multi-vocal environment, not least as advocates for the cultural and social value of archaeology. In addition EAA now must consider the need for an improved articulation of what archaeology adds to European cultural life and find its 'place' confidently within all those the existing voices that support European cultural heritage.

Further information: 
EAC-EYCH2018@ec.europa.eu
https://ec.europa.eu/culture/european-year-cultural-heritage-2018_en

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Congratulations to Gerhard Ermischer

by Sophie Hueglin, Vice-President, European Association of Archaeologists (s.hueglin@web.de)

We congratulate Gerhard Ermischer and CIVILSCAPE to having been elected Vice-Chair in the Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges Committee at the Conference of the International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) of the Council of Europe (CoE)!

EAA member Gerhard Ermischer is Vice-President of CIVILSCAPE, an international association of civil society non-governmental organisations, which dedicate their work to landscape protection, management and planning, according to the “European Landscape Convention”. Gerhard Ermischer has already spent many years representing CIVILSCAPE in the Conference of the International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) at the Council of Europe (CoE) in Strasbourg. During the Summer Session 2017, he was elected Vice-Chair of the Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges Committee together with Luminata Petrescu. In the coming three years, they will work under the President of the Conference of the INGOs Anna Rurka, Committee Chair Thierry Mathieu, and the Committee members on statements and will participate in the formulation and implementation of conventions of the Council of Europe. With his profound background in archaeology, heritage protection, and civil engagement, Gerhard Ermischer aims to give guidance with the further implementation of the European Landscape Convention. EAA, which has INGO participatory status with the CoE, is looking forward to close cooperation with CIVILSCAPE and Gerhard Ermischer in Strasbourg.


Photo: Gerhard Ermischer (© Sophie Hüglin)

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The Conference of INGOs at the Council of Europe

by Gerhard Ermischer, Vice-President of CIVILSCAPE (gerhard.ermischer@civilscape.eu) and Sophie Hueglin, Vice-President of EAA (s.hueglin@web.de)

EAA and CIVILSCAPE are both among the about 300 organisations, which have been granted participatory status with the Conference of the International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs). Therefore, it is important to know how these organisations function and in which way archaeologists can get involved through their institutions and organisations in Strasbourg.

How does the Council of Europe (CoE) work?

The Council of Europe (CoE) is an intergovernmental organization (IGO), a union of states, just as the United Nations (UN) or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The CoE includes all 46 sovereign states and dependent territories of Europe with the exception of Belarus. Belarus is the only state in Europe that still has the death penalty and therefore cannot become a member state of the CoE. Any potential member state must firstly adhere to the European Convention on Human Rights, which explicitly forbids the death penalty. The Vatican has been granted a special status with the CoE. Since its foundation in 1949, the CoE has undergone many reforms. Today it is made up by the Quadrilogue or the four columns of the CoE:

  1. The Committee of Ministers (CM) is formed by the foreign ministers of the member states. As these meet only in a longer sequence, they are deputized by the ambassadors of the member states of CoE. They have a status as deputy ministers and can make binding decisions. In this configuration, the Council meets very regularly and makes all the important decisions for the Council of Europe.
  2. The Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) is the law-making body of the CoE. It is not a parliament of elected members such as the European Parliament of the European Union (EU), which holds regular meetings just across river Ill, but the parliaments of the member states delegate members to PACE.
  3. The Congress of the Regions is the assembly of the local and regional governments or parliaments. Its members are also delegated by the appropriate bodies of the member states. Their meetings are called Congress of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR). The CoR has a consultative and participatory role.
  4. The Conference of the INGOs at the Council of Europe is the assembly of the delegates of all international NGOs with participatory status. It has a consultative and participatory role.

The administration of the CoE is situated in Strasbourg, mainly in two buildings: the older “Palais” and the younger “Agora” close by. It is organized in General Directories and Directories.  At present, it is chaired by the Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland and Deputy Secretary General, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni. The political presidency is held by one of the member states in a half-year rota system, just as it is practised in the EU. In the first half of 2017, the presidency is with Cyprus and in the second half of 2017 it is with the Czech Republic. Of course every presidency tries to set its own accents. The Secretary General and/or his deputy are present at all INGO conferences and answer questions by the NGOs.

The Council of Europe has a number of different institutions and initiatives:

  • The European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) is the oldest institution of the Council of Europe and it is unique. The seat of the court is in Strasbourg; it is situated next to the buildings of both the CoE and the European Parliament of the EU. Each potential member state of the CoE must join the convention and make a binding obligation to follow the rules of the ECHR. In recent years, this obligation has come under massive pressure in a number of member states and the court has no real means of enforcement at hand. This differs from the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) situated in Luxembourg, which is responsible to sanction breaking of EU law.
  • The Commissioner for Human Rights was introduced in 1999 and monitors the state of human rights in the member states, advocating for human rights and strengthening their impact in the member states.
  • The European Pharmacopeia (EDQM) is also situated in Strasbourg, next to the Agora building. It is a legally binding institute that ensures quality of medicines and health care. After the Lisbon Treaty entered into force in 2009, the EU has acceded to the institution and so EDQM decisions have now also standard setting force in the EU. According to the Lisbon Treaty the EU can now join international treaties such as conventions etc. of the CoE, and is doing this more and more.
  • The European Youth Centre (EYC) and European Youth Foundation (EYF) are the two institutions at the Youth Department of the CoE. The EYC has two locations, one in in Strasbourg and one in Budapest; apart from conference rooms these buildings offer also accommodation. The EYF, on the other hand, finances youth programmes.
  • The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international bank of the CoE; it was established in 1991 with the task to finance social projects. It is situated in Paris, where there are also seminar rooms for the use of the CoE. The Development Bank works on the basis of a so-called Partial Agreement. This term is used within the CoE to describe a major activity of European cooperation organised by the CoE that does not include all member states.
  • The European Institute of Cultural Routes is also the result of a partial agreement. Situated in Luxembourg, it is responsible for awarding the title “European Cultural Route” according to strict criteria. The title can be recalled, if the partners fail to live up to the standards.

At present, more Partial Agreements are being prepared. They allow for progress in projects and the creation of institutions, if not all member states want to participate. It also helps the budget of the CoE, as the implementation of such partial agreements is mainly self-financed.

The CoE drafts conventions, chartas and other agreements, the texts of which are all international treaties in the sense of the Convention of Vienna of 1969. The CoE Treaty Series (CETS) groups together all the conventions concluded since 1949. With the exception of the human rights convention, the accession to these conventions is not mandatory. Some conventions are meant only for members of the Council of Europe, others are open also to non-member states. The access to the conventions normally requires two steps: the signing of the convention by the government and the ratification by the national parliament, which is the law-making body in a parliamentarian democracy. After a pre-agreed number of states have ratified the convention it comes into force, which means it from then on has binding character for the signatory states. As conventions are mostly formulated very generally and are setting a framework for goals and obligations, they normally have to be implemented into national legislation and – where competences of federal states are affected – often also in the individual laws of these sub-states. Conventions have different institutional bodies to evaluate and further develop the conventions, which can vary in size and binding character from convention to convention. One of the most important conventions is the European Social Charter from 1961. In the field of cultural heritage, we find the Convention for the Archaeological Heritage (Valetta 1992), the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage (Granada 1985), the European Landscape Convention (Florence 2000), the Framework Convention on the Value of the Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro 2005) or the brand-new Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property. Most conventions strengthen the position of the civil society and citizen engagement.
What are INGOs and how does the Conference of INGOs work?

The Council of Europe is unique, as it gives NGOs not just an observatory or consultative status but a participatory status. Therefore, they can contribute to all processes of drafting conventions, regulations, guidelines etc. and fully participate in the policy making at the Council of Europe.


How to obtain participatory status as an INGO?

The status must be applied for and INGOs have to fulfill a number of criteria, e.g. to be independent, active in at least five European countries, and work on themes covered by the agenda of the CoE. They have to give proof of their activities. The application is evaluated by CoE and commented by the governing body of the Conference of the INGOs. The recommendation to accept or deny participatory status is forwarded en bloc once a year to the Committee of Ministers. The CM decides by “quiet approval”; that means, if there is no objection during a certain period, the recommendations will be accepted. If a member state wants to challenge a decision, it has to comment, only then, the CM will decide by vote.

How are the INGOs evaluated?

There is a major evaluation process every four years. The INGOs have to fill in a detailed form and give reports on their activities, especially with the CoE and other European and international organizations. The formal criteria are re-checked as well. Failure to proof the formal criteria, to comply with the report obligations or to show sufficient activities will lead to loss of participatory status. The INGOs effected are given a set time to comment, hand in additional information and show their commitment. Again the ruling body of the INGO Conference will comment. Finally the list of INGOs to be removed will be forwarded to the Council of Ministers, who will decide as in the case of new applicants.

How is the INGO Conference structured?

The INGO Conference has undergone changes through the 40 years of its existence. Currently, it is structured in three thematic committees:

  1. The Committee for Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges
  2. The Committee for Education and Culture and
  3. The Committee for Human Rights

There is also an Expert Council on NGO Law, the Gender Equality Expert and INGO-Service, which is the self-administrating body of the Conference, financed through voluntary financial contributions from INGOs. Additionally, there is a secretariat, which is part of the administration of the Council of Europe.

Each Thematic Committee has a Chair and two Vice-Chairs. The conference has an overall board consisting of the President and three Vice-Presidents. All positions are elected for a three-year period of office and can be re-elected once into the same position. The election of the overall board of the Conference is held half a year after the chairs of the committees: the election of the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Thematic Committees is always in the summer session and for the President and Vice-President in the following winter session. The Conference meets twice a year parallel to the sittings of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). President and Vice-Presidents of the Conference of INGOs and the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Thematic Committees form the Standing Committee. It includes also the head of the Expert Commission on NGO Law, the Gender Equality Expert and the Head of INGO-Service in a consultative function.

The three Thematic Committees decide on their own working program, which they develop in line with the overall strategy of the Conference of INGOs. The overall strategy is decided on every three years with the start of a new working period. Most of the practical work is done in working groups, active inside the committees but sometimes also transversal, meaning across committees. In cases of special urgency, ad hoc working groups can be formed. Working groups have to be approved by the chairs of the committees or by the Standing Committee. They normally are created bottom-up by members, but they also can be installed top-down by the chairs.

How does the administration of the Conference of the INGOs function?

The administration of the INGO Conference has two columns:

  1. The Secretariat is part of the administration of the Council of Europe. It is part of the Forum of the Future of Democracy (FFT) and here responsible for the interaction with civil society. It does all in-house administration, like the allocation of rooms, simultaneous translation, translation of official documents, etc. FFT’s budget for this is allocated within the greater budget of the CoE.
  2. INGO-Service is the self-administration of the Conference of INGOs. It is organized as an association, which the INGOs with participatory status should become a member of. As there is still no legal form of a “European Association” it is registered in Strasbourg under French law. As there can be no legally binding mandatory membership the Conference depends on the good will of its members – as the membership fees are essential to allow independent work of the Conference and running its own projects. Actually, the association collects about half of the annual budget of the Conference of INGO’s.

How does the Conference of INGOs cooperate with the Council of Europe and its other columns?


It is intended that the four columns of the CoE work closely together. So their representatives are invited to participate in meetings and actions of the other columns. The CoE administers a great number of conventions. These conventions have their own instruments – e.g. the Landscape Convention has the Conference of the Landscape Convention, the Work Shops and the Landscape Award – and are followed up by the appropriate steering committee within the CoE – e.g. the Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape is responsible for all conventions in this field. Individual INGOs can apply to be granted observatory status with all these institutions, while the INGO Conference, as one of the four pillars, can attend in a participatory function. Invitations are issued by the administration of the CoE or by the appropriate institution. The invitations are either addressed to the president of the Conference or the Chair of the appropriate thematic committee. Questions of representation are decided within the board. The Conference of INGOs can comment on strategies, participate in the drafting of conventions and create own suggestions, declarations, guidelines etc., which are forwarded to the other columns of the Council of Europe and finally are adopted by the CM.

What other programs and projects are pursued by the Council of Europe?

The CoE runs many different programs, like the European Heritage Days, the European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) etc. Now, they are often pursued in cooperation with the European Commission. Individual INGOs as well as the Conference of INGOs as an institution participate in most of these activities. The Conference of INGO also cooperates closely with the various institutions and Partial Agreements of the Council of Europe.

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