Pro-I3T project: Why do we need it? – 29/02/2012

The lack of information on the EU and its activities is common for the majority of local and regional authorities around Europe. The problem is even more intense for peripheral entities such as Cyprus, but even Local and Regional entities in the Centre of Europe do not always know how the EU can help them implement their ideas and projects.

By informing regions, local authorities and citizens on the possibilities offered by thematic town twinning and other EU grants and on the way these can be used to help develop local/regional communities, the Pro-I3T project will help local and regional officials and citizens understand that the European Union is not only the Brussels based administration, that it has programmes which can help the local and regional communities in any aspect of their daily functioning and that ordinary people can really participate and benefit from them.

Up to now, the Europe for Citizens programme has been discarded by a lot of municipalities, since it has been considered to give limited resources and only for a limited variety of projects (mainly cultural exchanges). Pro-I3T aims to demonstrate that this is not the case, and that cooperation in the framework of the Europe for Citizens programme can really extend to any aspect of the daily life of European citizens. This will trigger reflections and discussions on the local/regional impact of EU policies, their capacity to change societies and daily life. Additionally, by making the information on the Europe for Citizens and other programmes available in different ways, the Pro-I3T will make the programme accessible to all (IT literate or not, different ages etc).

The participation of the AER in the project will bring in a multicultural aspect to the events and the material produced. Trainers and trainees participating to the events will originate from various European countries, and thus provide for a pan-european dimension of the project. The participation of the AER will also bring up the questions of Multi-level governance and subsidiarity which are in the epicentre of the EU, especially after the Lisbon Treaty.