The EU Council has designated 2011 as the “European Year of Voluntary Activities”-a time in which the 27-member countries are celebrating the activities of all their citizens who freely dedicate part of their time to helping individuals and society as a whole.
It is estimated that about 20% of the continent’s population devote some of their free time to volunteer services. The Council document promulgating the decision to celebrate this special year says that the purpose is to encourage volunteers to take a more active role in society in the hope that this “will contribute to showing that volunteering is one of the key dimensions of active citizenship and democracy, putting European values such as solidarity and non-discrimination into action and as such contributing to the harmonious development of European societies.”
The European Year of Voluntary Activities coincides with the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers, established by the United Nations in 2001.