Active Citizenship Network (ACN), the European Consumers Union (ECU) and the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (AsviS) are glad to invite you to the digital conference

“Making sustainability an easy choice for EU citizens”,

during which will be presented the informal

Inter-Institutional Group “SDGs for well-being and consumers’ protection” 

on February 16th, 2021 from 10:00 to 12:00

The Inter-Institutional Group represents the desire of the civil society to contribute to the SDGs and the Green New Deal, aiming to discuss and raise awareness on how the individual can give her/his contribution. In fact, we strongly believe that citizen and consumer empowerment should be the pillar of the transition towards a more inclusive and sustainable Europe.
The initiative is already endorsed by the “SDGs Multi-Stakeholders Network”, that today counts 47 among National and European Associations, and is in line with European Commission’s initiatives as the European Green Deal, the “New Consumer Agenda” and the “Consumer Day”, organized  last December by the DG for Justice and Consumers, titled: “Consumer policy in the service of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda”.

Click here to read the Conference’s programme.

To join the conference, please register here

 (registration is mandatory)

#SDGsCitizenAlliance

www.interestgroupsdgs.eu

Manifesto
The idea to encourage an informal Inter-Institutional Group able to interconnect the goals of the Agenda 2030 with the consumer protection was announced by Cittadinanzattiva and the European Consumer Union on March 2019 during the event, held at the European Parliament, “Towards EU election: strengthening the European Union to a more effective consumers protection”. Later on, just after the 2019 European elections, Active Citizenship Network (ACN) - the EU branch of the NGO Cittadinanzattiva–and the European umbrella association European Consumers Union (ECU) have invited the civil society coalition Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS) to co-promote this political initiative.
Why the informal Inter-Institutional Group “SDGs for well-being and consumers’ protection”? Read more
Download the Manifesto

SDGs Multi-Stakeholder Network
The SDGs Multi-Stakeholder Network is the broader civic society-led network of SDGs stakeholders, promoted to endorse the Inter-institutional Group “SDGs for well-being and consumers’ protection”. One of its aims is collecting and sharing best practices, as well as comparing experiences coming from different EU Member States.
To know the first 47 organizations which have decided to support the activities of the new Inter-Institutional Group click here and download the descriptive document.

Secretariat & contacts
The secretariat is co-provided by Active Citizenship Network (ACN) the European branch of the NGO Cittadinanzattiva, the European Consumer Union (ECU) and the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS). To contact us, click here.

Endorsement by the European Institutions
The Inter-Institutional Group is opened to members of the EU Institutions that have accepted to work together with the civil society to ensure that Europe will be a global leader in the development and implementation of the SDGs. Here you can find the list of the first MEPs that have decided to support the Inter-Institutional Group during the current mandate (2019-2024).

More information:
Towards the Inter-institutional Group “SDGs for Well-being and Consumers’ Protection”
Agenda 2030, the future of Europe & citizen engagement

“Making sustainability an easy choice for EU citizens”

MEP Nikos Androulakis
Nikos Androulakis is a Greek member of the European Parliament, member of the Socialists and Democrats Group, since 2014. At the moment he is Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) and the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (DLAT). He’s also a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (DACP).

Laura Esposito
Laura Esposito is a Sustainability Projects Manager at TIM – Telecom Italia and is in charge of the main ESG initiatives that Telecom Italia is leading at the moment and that are integral part of the company business plan. With a degree in Economics and 2 executive MBA, Laura is an experienced manager with more than 20 years of experience with broad skills in managing projects and people in complex environments, with a proven record in different areas of business such as digital marketing, sales, governance and communication.

Enrico Giovannini
Enrico Giovannini is full professor of Economic Statistics and Sustainable Development at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, of Sustainable development at LUISS and at the National School of Administration (SNA). He is the co-founder and director of the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development, a coalition of more than 240 organisations established to implement in Italy the UN 2030 Agenda 2030.

MEP Jose Gusmão
José Gusmão is a Portuguese economist, activist and politician working as a Member of the European Parliament for Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda). He is Vice-President and Coordinator for GUE-NGL (Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left) in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). He is also a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and of the Delegation for Relations with the United States (D-US).

Brian Maguire
Brussels-based journalist, producer and broadcaster, Brian Maguire, hosts live radio and television debates with European Commissioners, Ambassadors, Members of the European Parliament and independent experts. A EURONEWS Contributor and co-host, he also presents the EURACTIV series ‘The Presidency’ and ‘Over A Coffee’. He specialises in European politics and business; producing short documentary films and news reports exploring Europe’s competing policy dimensions.

Alessandro Mostaccio
Alessandro Mostaccio, 49 years old, lawyer specialised in consumer affairs, has been Secretary General of the MovimentoConsumatori association since 2013, member of the Italian National Council of Consumers and Users since 2014 in which he coordinates the EU Policy Commission since 2019, member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) representing all Italian consumer associations since October 2020.

Valeria Palmisano
Valeria Palmisano is the Head of Institutional Relations with the European Union for Edison in Brussels with more than ten-year experience in European Affairs, Valeria holds a bachelor degree in International Relations. Currently Chair of the Eurogas Task Force on Market Transparency and Integrity, she has gained experience in stakeholder and institutional dialogue on energy policy design, market and infrastructure development, cooperation programs and multi-stakeholder platforms and Fora.

Paolo Patruno
Paolo Patruno serves as Deputy Secretary General of CLITRAVI, the European Association representing the meat processing industry, and Visiting Professor of Food Legislation. He served as a Legal and European Affairs Manager at Federalimentare, the Italian Food Industry Federation and worked for Italian Small Business in Europe and a primary law firm. He worked as a journalist too for “Il Corriere della Sera” and “Il Gazzettino”.

MEP Sabrina Pignedoli
Sabrina Pignedoli (1983), is a journalist and politician, Member of the European Parliament. She obtained a Masters in Media, Journalism and Law and International Economy. She is a PhD Candidate in Communication, Social Research and Marketing. Starting her career as professional journalist in 2008, she specialized in Investigative and Crime News and she worked for different media outlets. In 2019, she became an Advisor for the Italian Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on Mafias and Other Criminal Association.

MEP Marcos Ros Sempere
Marcos Ros is a Spanish member of the European Parliament. He is a member of the Socialists and Democrats Group and sits on the Committee on Culture, Education and Sport; on the Committee on Legal Affairs and is substitute member of the Committee on the Environment. Previously, he was vice-rector of the Universidad Polytechnic of Cartagena and is a professor on leave of absence from urban planning at the School of Architecture of Cartagena. He has a PhD in architecture, specialises in urban planning issues and has a long experience in university education.

Roberto Tatò
Roberto Tatò graduated in Economics from the University of Cassino in 1996. In 1995, as part of the Erasmus project, he obtained the Advanced Certificate in International Business at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston (UK) and then he completed his studies with the "Master in Business Administration. Public Utilities ", achieved in 1999 at the University of Milan Bicocca. He worked for 15 years in the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, dealing with regulatory activities in the public utilities sectors, including in the NARS area.

Francisco J. Verdera Marí
Francisco Verdera is Acting General Director of CITIZENStandards, an International non-for profit association established under the Belgian law for the promotion and education of citizens, including consumers and non-professional users, on safety standards and product safety, environmental performance and digital transformation. Francisco is an Industrial Engineer and has an Executive MBA, with more than 25 years of experience as a Director in non-for profit associations linked with Standardization and Certification at national, European and international level.

Sergio Veroli
Sergio Veroli is the President of the European Consumer Union and Vice-President of the Italian consumer organisation Federconsumatori. For more than 20 years, he worked in the trade union Italian General Confederation of Labor (CGIL) becoming in 2001 the National Secretary Nidil. Since 2005, he is Vice-President in the Italian consumer organisation Federconsumatori coordinating also in 2012 the project “EU4consumers”. In 2009, he was appointed as President of the Consumers’ Forum and in 2015 Deputy Secretary Vice-President at Federconsumatori.

Luca Visentini
Luca Visentini was re-elected ETUC General Secretary in 2019, having already served four years as General Secretary. Luca is responsible for guiding and coordinating ETUC policy. Luca has taken part in negotiations on the European Pillar of Social Rights, the future of Europe, relaunching European social dialogue, public investment, economic governance, EU legislation and many other issues of importance to European workers.

Mariano Votta
Director of Active Citizenship Network and Responsible for European Affairs at Cittadinanzattiva. He is also Secretary General at European Consumer Union. Passionate about healthcare and consumer issues, he has 20 years of experience in the field of advocacy, stakeholder engagement, European projects, communication and civic information. His were the ideas to encourage and promote both the Member of the European Parliament Interest Group “European Patients' Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare” in 2015 and the newborn Inter-Institutional Group “SDGs for well-being and consumers’ protection”.

The European Commission will be represented by Ms. Liene Balta, policy officer at the Directorate General for Justice and Consumers, Consumer Policy Unit.

The organizers thank the media partner

FoodSafety4EU: Towards closer European collaboration on food safety
Last 29th January 2021, Cittadinanzattiva - trough its EU branch, Active Citizenship Network –participated in the Kick-Off Meeting of the new multi-annual EU-funded project called “FoodSafety4EU” with the role of “Supporting Partner”. The main goal of the project is to start planning integrated actions to put the basis for building together the platform dedicated to the future European Food Safety System. Read more

ECU Annual General Assembly
Last 29th January 2021 took place the General Assembly of the European Consumer Union (ECU), an umbrella consumer organization on whose board Cittadinanzattiva is also involved. In that occasion, Massimo Serpieri - Deputy Head of Unit at the European Commission DG Justice & Consumers, Unit E1, Consumer Policy - provided an overview on the New Consumer Agenda. The Assembly welcomed two new members, TALENTED BORDERS from Latvia and ADOC from Italy. With them, the consumer associations members of ECU become 25.
To know more about the event, click here. You can find the event recording here.

Agreements to reinforce ACN’Europlanning skills at the national & EU level
Active Citizenship Network has recently signed an official agreement with the Italian research and technology transfer centre SINERGIE. ACN and SINERGIE have agreed to collaborate and support each other’s initiatives and projects on the topics of common interest such as: sustainability, energy transition, health & consumer issues, digitalization. Read more about the new ACN partner.

Italy: free call center on local public services
The call center managed by Cittadinanzattiva provides - free of charge - the Italian citizen with information, assistance and advice on local public services such as waste management, water service, public transport and municipal nurseries. Read more (IT)

Italy: Civic consultation on Local public services and Sustainable Development Goals
Not fully satisfied with the public services of their city, with a level of satisfaction that decreases from North to South of Italy. The most appreciated is the water service, then that of waste collection, at the bottom of the ranking there is the local public transport. But how is Italy classified with respect to the achievement of the sustainable development goals? According to citizens, not really good: about half have little faith in the possibilities of improving and making these sectors sustainable, as indicated by the objectives of the 2030 Agenda. These are among the main data that emerged from the civic survey on local public services and the Sustainable Development carried out by Cittadinanzattiva as part of the “Consciously consumer, equally citizen” project, financed by the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development.
Read more (IT – EN).

The use of behavioral science to make European citizens adopt energy-friendly behaviors  
Within the European project NUDGE, Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network aims to collect information on the behavior and awareness of European citizens regarding energy consumption and efficiency. Fundamental to this research is the collaboration of Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network with a number of civic and consumer organizations of different European countries that have shown their interest in the initiative and will collaborate in the dissemination of an online questionnaire in their country. To learn more, read the article (in IT language) published by our national media partner CanaleEnergia.

More information:
Local public transport. 2020 Data from Cittadinanzattiva’s Observatory (IT – EN)
The Observatory prices and tariffs of Cittadinanzattiva (IT – EN)
The policy of Cittadinanzattiva on mobility and transport (IT – EN)
The commitment of Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network for the European Mobility Week
How Cittadinanzattiva advocates for the consumer protection: the Citizens’ Advocates
The Citizens' Charter for Consumers' Rights drafterd by Cittadinanzattiva (IT)

The voice of youth on Italy’s Recovery Plan
The Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS) will host an online event on February 10 in which the younger generation will discuss and evaluate the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) that the country is preparing to approve. Italy will have to implement the Next generation Eu program, launched by the European Union to combat the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and to make the Union more sustainable, resilient and just.
In this context, it is necessary to give voice to the aspirations and proposals of the younger generations, also to reaffirm the perspective of intergenerational justice at the basis of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. It will be possible to follow the event on asvis.it and on the ASviS Facebook page.
More information and the program of the event are available at this page.