MEPs affirm importance of volunteering

People across Europe should be encouraged to volunteer more to help themselves and the wider community, MEPs said in a resolution on 26 November. Volunteering can take many forms and should be used to bring in those who find themselves at the margins of society according to MEPs. However, it should never be a substitute for paid work.

The resolution came ahead of International Volunteer Day on 5 December, and 2011 which has been chosen as the European year of voluntary activities.

Can combat social exclusion

MEPs called for €10 million to be made available to encourage volunteering - while EU governments represented in the Council of Ministers want just €8 million.

Volunteering can be useful for “developing professional and social skills”, the EP said. Moreover, it can be used to “promote high unemployment and combat social exclusion”. Italian MEP Marco Scurria of the centre-right EPP party drafted parliament's report.

Volunteering affirms capacity for gifts

Mario Mauro, his Italian colleague in the EPP, who has been President of a non-profit organisation, told us that volunteering is an essential ingredient of democracy: “In those countries without democracy, volunteering is forbidden or strongly opposed.”

He said, “volunteering is important to affirm the human capacity to make a gift, to affirm an ideal greater than ourselves and our interests” and he encouraged the EU to take action in this field.

The resolution also states that “voluntary activities do not replace professional, paid employment opportunities, but add value to society by virtue of their social and cultural aims”.