To the Lorraine Economic, Social and Environmental Council this morning to ‘give evidence’ to the Council’s Forward Studies Section. The invitation came through the good offices of Roger Briesch, who is a member of the Section, which is currently preparing a study on Lorraine, citizenship and 2030. I was invited to present the European angle on citizenship, which I did through the perspective of a number of important recent EESC opinions, including the Jahier opinion on participatory democracy, the Gobins opinion on 2013, the year of the European citizen, the Sigmund opinion on the citizens’ initiative and the Jahier/Dassis opinion on the cost of non-Europe, all of which I have blogged about previously. Citizenship is a concept of particular importance to the Lorraine, which is a trans-frontier region that has suffered long-term economic decline. Without Schengen and the euro the situation would be far worse. Every day some 110,000 Lorraineans (out of a population of +/- 2 million) cross frontiers to work. About three-quarters go to Luxembourg, some go even further to Belgium and about 25,000 go to Germany (9,000 to Saarburcken alone). With a weather eye on western Germany’s ageing and declining population, the region is encouraging its young to learn German, since Germany will in future be a growing source of employment. In such a region, the complementary concept of European citizenship makes a lot of sense.
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